Super Factories (2020–…): Season 1, Episode 2 - McLaren Supercar - full transcript

Narrator: A supercar is
overtaking its rivals

With formula one science
and sophisticated production.

♪

Robots and humans
are working in tandem

To create a high tech tool
that chops down the competition.

♪

Modern technology is keeping
a centuries old

Writing tradition alive
on a super scale.

And the world's oldest condiment
is being made for the masses.

♪

These groundbreaking
innovations are all taking place



Inside some of the most
incredible factories

On the planet.

♪

Surrounded by the green fields
of woking, England

Is a factory producing
a vehicle unlike any other.

♪

This is the mclaren 720s.

It's sleek, fast,
and very expensive.

One of these supercars
will set you back

Nearly $300,000.

Mclaren cars are a unique
type of car.

They're something special.

They're not cars
that people need,

They're cars that people want.



Narrator: The 720s
is brought to life here

At the mclaren
production center.

This 371,000 square foot
facility

Was designed by superstar
architect norman foster in 2004

At an estimated cost
of $386 million.

And the inside of
the mclaren production center

Is as impressive
as its exterior.

It's bright, spacious, quiet,
and extremely clean.

Most high volume
car manufacturers,

You'll see hundreds of robots

Making thousands
of identical cars.

Well, not here.

Narrator: Mclaren makes fewer
than 5,000 cars a year

And each one is special.

Assembling a road car
is a very, very complex process.

Mclaren make a car to order.

It's like a bespoke suit.
They are handcrafted.

♪

Narrator: And that requires
a very hands on approach

Down on the factory floor.

Because of their decades
of experience

Building formula one race cars,

This individual craft-based
approach to car manufacturing

Lies deep in mclaren's dna.

Breece mclaren, the founder,
was from new zealand.

He built his first
formula one car in 1966.

Only ferrari has been
in the racing game longer.

In the early '90s, they got into
road cars with the seminal f1.

A lot of the lessons
of the racetrack

Are then brought over
into their production cars.

Narrator: This is
the main building block,

Or chassis of a mclaren car.

It's called a monocell or cage

And the rest of the car
is built around it.

The monocells are
premanufactured in austria

And are made
from the same material

Used in the modern
formula one race car.

One of the major parts
or major materials we use

Is carbon fiber.

Carbon fiber is at the heart
of every mclaren.

Mclaren revolutionized
formula one

When they brought
in carbon fiber in 1981.

It made the chassis five times
lighter and 10 times stronger

And it is a key component
in the road cars today.

If you compare carbon fiber

To something like aluminum
or steel,

That can be strong, actually
the strength to weight ratio

Of carbon fiber
is what's so important.

You don't need very much of it
to get the equivalent strength

Of a much bigger amount
of another material.

Narrator: But what exactly is
this wonder material,

Carbon fiber?

Carbon fiber is really
high-performance

Composite material.

It's something which contains
thin fibers of carbon,

Which on their own
would be sort of floppy,

But they have a certain
tensile strength to them.

And then those fibers
are embedded in a polymer resin,

Which is strong and has
a certain flexibility to it.

But actually,
when you combine the two,

You get something that's greater
than the sum of its parts.

You get a super lightweight
high-performance material.

Narrator: Just like their
formula one cars,

Mclarens road cars are designed
with the driver in mind.

They are built and designed
around the driver,

So the driver is literally
at the center of the action.

And then the monocage
and monocell

Designed around the occupant.

Narrator:
As soon as the monocage

Chassis arrives
on the production line,

The team starts to assemble
a car around this

One essential building block.

The first stage
is to add crumple zones

And crash protection
around the car's interior.

It's then taken for
what they call geometric

And surface validation.

Here, over 450 different
points of the car

Are measured
to make sure every curve, line,

And corner is perfectly aligned

And in proportion.

We ensure
each mclaren car is perfect

In every detail.

Really, right from the off,
right from when we start

The whole project
it's almost like watchmaking.

Narrator:
Once the body has passed

The surface validation test,

The team can then start to build
up the car's exterior...

The wing panels, side panels,

And for non-convertibles...
The roof.

Now it's ready to be painted.

Before spraying,

The whole body is wrapped
in plastic

And the individual panels
are exposed,

Primed, and sanded flat.

Any contaminants are removed
with an anti-static gun

And mclaren's secret
to their supercar's high speed

Can be found
in the painting process.

By using special particles
within the paint

And a special paint process,

We're actually able to decrease
the amount of paint

We have to put on the car.

And essentially deliver...
[ speaks indistinctly ]

Narrator: It takes 24 hours to
paint a typical mclaren car

And another 40 minutes in a hot
oven for it to fully dry.

Finally, it's time to start
putting the car together.

A loom of wires
is fed through the car

To provide it with power.

A typical mclaren is made up
of over a mile of cables

And 2,000 individual circuits.

Next, the beating heart
of the car.

The most common engine type

Is the m83018, a 3.8 liter
90 degree twin turbo

Charged flat plain v8.

The mclaren 720 s goes from
not 62 miles per hour

In 2.9 seconds.

Top speed... 212 miles per hour.

♪

Narrator:
Like most of the other parts

That make up the mclaren,
the engine is made offsite.

For mclaren,
outsourcing the parts

Makes the most economic sense.

To try to actually build
every single little bit of a car

As well as assemble
the cars themselves

Would be inefficient
from a process perspective,

But also from
a cost perspective.

Narrator:
Back on the assembly line,

The brake discs and pistons
are installed.

The brakes will slow
these high-performance wheels

From 124 miles per hour

To zero in just 4.6 seconds.

Now another team finishes
the interior of the car.

A mclaren supercar

Is made up of over
1,200 individual components.

It takes two to three weeks to
put one of these cars together.

But no car is really complete
until it's been taken

For a spin
out on the test track.

♪

♪

♪

♪

The final stage consists
of an inspection and clean

And polish of the vehicle.

Then it's off to the customer
and out onto the open road.

We have this incredible passion
for what we do.

We're normally very,
very precise

And logical in our approach.

But actually, no, the thing
that drives it is pure passion.

Narrator: Mclaren is one
of the world's

Most high-tech brands.

The skill and sophistication

Found inside
their production center

Make it one of the world's most
spectacular super factories.

Coming up, an american icon is

Chopping down the competition.

And later, new technology
is keeping one of

The world's oldest
writing traditions alive.

♪

Narrator: In a popular beach
town along the east coast,

One factory is manufacturing

One of the most iconic products
in america...

The mighty chainsaw.

With teeth turning
at 60 miles per hour,

Some chainsaws can
fell trees in minutes

And cut logs even faster.

Behind all that power
is a polished production line

That harnesses more than
40 years of expertise and skill.

This is the steel super factory
in virginia beach, virginia.

Inside this 1,000,000
square foot facility,

Man, machine, and robots

Assemble more than 12,000
products a day.

Once you get inside, you realize
what a super factory is.

Narrator: Steel has produced
a staggering 75 million

Chainsaws since it opened here
in 1974.

But the origins of the chainsaw
itself go back much further.

The first ever chainsaw
wasn't invented by a lumberjack.

Actually, it was invented
by a physician.

The concept of a saw tooth
chain device dates

From the 18th century
and was worked by hand

When surgeons needed a quick way
to cut through bone.

Narrator: In the 1920s,
inventors began looking for ways

To further develop the concept
for the forest industry.

Swiss born, andreas stihl was
one of the pioneers.

He produced his first
powered chainsaw in 1926.

The advent of the chainsaw
completely revolutionized

The forestry industry.

Before then,
you had gangs of men

Toiling with axes and hand saws.

Now one man could do the work
of a half a dozen,

And stihl's plans
have come a long way.

♪

In the '70s, when we started,

We were just
building one product...

A small handheld chainsaw.

But we always had a vision.

And now we are the world's
largest selling chainsaw.

Narrator: Several hundred
components make up a chainsaw.

It needs to have an incredible
strength to weight ratio.

Magnus: The chainsaw is quite
a complex machine.

You've got to start
with the crankshaft,

The piston, and the cylinder.

Eventually, that crankshaft
turns the clutch drum,

Which in turn, turns the chain
on the bar,

Which you use to cut wood.

But it's not quite that simple.

There's a lot of parts in there
that make that chain turn.

Narrator:
Production of every chainsaw

Starts with the piston.

Its main function is
to transfer explosive energy

From inside the engine
to the cutting chain.

Leaves are like
small racing engines,

Turning as many as
10 and 11,000 rpm piston.

It is the heart of the engine.

Narrator: Raw piston castings
made of aluminum

Are placed into a machine
to be shaped, drilled,

Cut, board, and finished

With computer
controlled precision.

I know it just looks
very simple,

But the intricate machining

Is not just a round piston.

It's actually oval shape
in this direction

And barrel shape
in this direction.

Narrator: These pistons
need to be milled

With incredible precision.

They're measured in microns.

If I were to measure
the thickness

Of a sheet of notebook paper,

It would measure
.1 of a millimeter thick.

In order to achieve the micron,

You would have to slice
the thickness

Of a sheet of notebook paper
100 times.

Narrator: The room for error
on these pistons

Is just two microns

About 25 times smaller
than the width of a human hair.

I have measured the outside
diameter of pistons

And had fingerprints
on the piston,

Making it out of specification.

♪

♪

The perfect piston
has been engineered,

But to transfer power
to the cutting chain,

You need a crankshaft.

The crankshaft transfers that
in and out, back and forth,

Energy of the piston
into a rotational force,

And that rotation turns

The gears and fixes
to an exact sprocket

That is the thing that's driving
the chain round and round.

♪

Narrator: Using computerized
milling machines,

The steel forgings
are transformed

Into the crankshaft components

In just 12 seconds,

But before they can be used,

They need to be strengthened.

We're taking crankshafts
and putting them

Inside of the furnace
to make them very hot.

It's 1,700 degrees
to make them porous.

So that way the air comes out

And the carbon is pumped in
to harden the metal.

Narrator: The carbon-infused
components are baked

At 3,900 degrees fahrenheit,

Which gives them
an extremely durable

And wear-resistant surface.

The reason why they infuse
the steel with carbon

Is basically to make it harder.

And the reason why they need
to be hard or strong

Is because these components
are under enormous stress.

Narrator: Once out of the oven,
the parts are milled some more

And measured.

Anything two microns out of
alignment will be rejected.

They are then assembled
in a pressing station

Where over 27 tons of pressure
can be applied.

Finally,
the assembled crankshaft

Is checked for straightness,

Ensuring that it's balanced
and runs smoothly.

But there's still a long way

To go
before the finished chainsaw

Is ready to leave
this factory floor.

To help move things along,

Stihl has invested
in some high tech helpers.

♪

Narrator: From lumberjacks
to landscapers,

Stihl makes a product
for everyone.

And when it comes to chainsaws,

They are the number one
selling brand in the world.

Inside stihl's state of the art
super factory in virginia beach,

Robots mill, test, and deliver
a continuous supply of parts

To the assembly line
24 hours a day.

Magnus: There's a central
guidance system.

They know exactly where they're
at out on the shop floor,

Which assembly line
they're going to,

And which material
they're dropping off

Or in some cases picking up.

When the battery gets low,
they charge themselves up again,

Then they start back
in operation.

Narrator: There is even
a robot that threads

And ties the knot
in the drawstring

That starts the engine.

But when we first started
the first year,

We made 12,000 units
that first year.

And the process back then
was air screwdrivers

And a lot of hand assembly.

So the whole process
has really evolved.

And right now, we're producing
12,000 units a day

Out of the facility here
in virginia beach.

Narrator:
With the engine assembled,

The next step is to make
the polymer housing.

It all happens here
in the polymer zone

At the north end of the factory.

What's in these are what
we call gaylord boxes

Is a raw resin that is applied

To the injection molding
machine.

One may be going
to a motor housing,

One may be going to shroud.

♪

Narrator:
The raw resin pellets

Are melted
at extremely high temperatures

And injected under tons of
pressure into custom made molds.

♪

The resin cools, hardens,

And forms the shape
of the polymer part.

A chainsaw will turn
its cutting chain

At over 10,000 revolutions
per minute.

So to be able to safely hold
and control the chainsaw,

Stihl has designed
its polymer handle

To be lightweight
and super strong.

To bring down weight
and increase rigidity,

What we do is we actually
come in here

And we have a needle valve
that opens up,

Injects nitrogen
through here and it'll escape

Out through here,
through a dam gate.

And it just makes the part
real rigid and real lightweight.

♪

Narrator: The chainsaw engine is
built and housed,

But now it's time
to assemble the business end.

This is a guide bar.

A guide bar is basically
the blade of a chainsaw.

The part that the chain
actually rides around.

Narrator: The process
starts with rolls of steel.

Steel is an alloy
of iron and carbon.

It's harder
and stronger than iron.

To make the guide rail,
a steel strip is cut

And stamped
into three different pieces,

Which are then fed
into a 20-ton metric press.

Here, they're bonded together

With a supercharged
electric well

And then hardened with
an induction heat treatment.

Well, the guide bar
and the chain

Are obviously very critical
to the function of a chainsaw

Because you need to cut wood.

The guide bar and the chain

Are matched
according to the sprocket

That you have on.

They're different pitches
of chain.

Depending on what kind of trees
you're cutting

And the area you're cutting in.

Narrator: The chain is
manufactured at another factory.

The cutting teeth
and a top plate

Are angled at 30 degrees
to aid cutting.

[ chainsaw whirring ]

Finally,
before they're shipped out,

Every chainsaw is
started up and tested.

♪

The stihl factory
was founded here

Partly because of its proximity
to the port of virginia.

Now, products made
in this super factory

Are shipped across the u.S.

And to 80 countries.

Coming up, german technology
is keeping

The world's oldest
writing traditions alive.

And in japan, a popular
condiment is being made

On an industrial scale.

The scale is hard to believe,

And that is really
a super factory.

♪

Narrator: The city of stein
in bavaria, germany

Is home to a uniquely
charming super factory.

The facility may have
a quaint medieval exterior,

But inside, it is truly
an industrial powerhouse.

♪

This is faber-castell,

The world's oldest
and biggest pencil business.

And in this factory,

They have perfected
a centuries old process,

Producing 2.3 billion pencils
a year.

The scale is hard to believe.

And that is really
a super factory.

Narrator: Faber-castell
defines tradition.

Founded in 1761,

It's been in the same family
for nine generations.

And despite the current age
of computerization,

The pencil business is booming.

Sales have increased

By almost 10%
in the last three years.

♪

Grown ups really got
into coloring,

What, three, four years ago

When mindfulness was a thing
and there was a big push

Towards life drawing
and landscape drawings.

Narrator: Faber makes two basic
types of pencil...

The traditional lead type

And a wide range
of colored pencils.

They may seem similar
on the surface,

But the materials
that run through them

Are made in very different ways.

What we know as a lead pencil
isn't actually made from lead,

But from a soft natural mineral
called graphite,

Which was mistaken for lead
back in the 16th century.

It was discovered that graphite
made legible marks on paper.

So it was trimmed into thin
strips wrapped in string.

And lo and behold,
the pencil was born.

The word graphite literally
means a stone for writing with.

This is a piece of graphite
I've got here.

It's basically a crystalline
form of carbon and carbon

Takes many forms.

On one end of the spectrum,
you've got super hard diamonds.

And at the other end you've got
these really soft graphite.

It's so soft.
I can rub it off with my finger.

♪

Narrator: At faber,
the pencil making process

Starts in the measuring room

Where graphite is mixed
with clay and water.

The amount of clay

Will determine the grade
of the finished pencil.

♪

We have 16 grades of pencil
going from 8b to 6h.

8b pencil is really soft

Because it contains
lots of graphite

Only a small amount of clay.

And the more you move
towards the 6h,

The harder the pencil gets.

This is what the h stands for

And the more clay you start
adding to the whole thing.

So it is really crucial to get
the right ratio into that lead

Before actually starting
the pencil making process.

Narrator: Different grades make
a significant difference

To the look of a line
on the page.

For technical work,
hard grades are ideal.

While most artists prefer

The denser black line
of the softer grades.

♪

When it comes to making
colored pencils,

There's no graphite involved,

Different pigments are mixed
with china clay or kaolin,

And combined with a binding
agent to hold it all together.

♪

The mix is squeezed
like thin toothpaste

Through a 2 millimeter hole,

Coming out in 18.5 centimeter
pencil-sized lengths,

Graphite black or colored,

The leads are still soft
and flexible.

At this stage.

So they're dried for 3 1/2 hours
in an electric oven

At 248 degrees fahrenheit.

The colored leads are removed,

Any longer and their pigments
would be destroyed.

But the graphite leads still
aren't hard enough for writing.

So they're packed
into a second oven

With a much higher temperature.

♪

After 45 minutes in the oven,
the hardened graphite leads

Are doused into a wax bath.

This increases their strength,

Ensures a smooth stroke
when writing or drawing,

And also
helps with water resistance.

♪

So now we have our pieces
of lead ready.

This is where the magic happens.

This is where we start
making our pencils.

Narrator: Cedar and lindenwood
are used to make up

The casings of faber pencils.

The wood arrives
as precut slats.

What's important about
the slats themselves is that

They have a really fine grain
to allow once

For good production.

But later on,
when the customer has the pencil

At home for good sharpening,

We don't want
the wood to splinter.

We want it to sharpen nicely

And this is what we need
the grain for.

Narrator: Each slat is exactly
the length of a pencil,

But just half the thickness.

♪

First, grooves have to be cut
in the slats.

Glue is now laid
into each groove.

This will keep the leads
firmly in place

When they're inserted
into the wooden casing.

♪

Now, a second groove slat

Is placed
exactly on top of the first.

The workers here call this
das sandwich and each sandwich

Then goes into the drying wheel.

The sandwiches are in the drying
wheel for one hour.

The wheel rotates, squeezes
the sandwiches together,

And this way leaves no gap.

Just two pieces of wood
glued together.

Narrator: A planing machine now
cuts them into pencils,

Round, hexagonal, or triangular,
depending on the time.

Up to 10 pencils can be cut
from a single sandwich.

Faber prides themselves

On producing strong
and durable pencils

Qualities they ensure by putting
each one through a stress test.

To figure out
if a pencil is good or not,

A quick way of doing so
is to take a pencil,

Hold it at a 45 degree angle,
and push down onto the scale.

And the pencil will not break
before 2 1/2 kilos of pressure.

If it would break before,

We'd know there's
something wrong with it

And test a couple of more to
figure out what's wrong with it.

Let's see if the pencil
that we've just made

Is of good quality.

So 45 degrees
push down onto the scale

And two and a half.

Way past four or five kilos.

So that pencil
is definitely good.

Narrator: The pencils that pass
the stress test

Move on to the next stage...

The paint shop.

This is where the pencils get
their first coating of paint.

The pencils come through
the machine like that.

So basically from here to here,
the felt ring would remove

All the leftover dust
on the outside.

In here then is the paint.

In this case, dark green.

The blue ring here
removes all the paint

Except for the pencil
that has soaked into the wood

And the pencils that come out
on the other end

Go onto the band
and go through the drying tunnel

To have the paint dry.

Narrator: The graphite pencils
are painted faber green

And the colored pencils

Are painted to match
whatever color is on the inside.

Once the paint's dried,
the pencils come back

And do this again.

They come back and do this again
and they do this up to six times

Because the pencils need
numerous layers of paint

To have
a really nice finished coat.

Narrator: The company's logo,
two jousting knights

Is stamped in gold leaf
on every pencil,

And the colored pencils
are also stamped

With their color identification.

In this case, cadmium red.

So the last thing that
we're now missing

Is only the sharpening.

And, of course, quality control.

And this is
what's happening here.

Narrator: Each pencil goes
through a sharpening machine,

A combination of blades
faster than the eye can see.

And an endless belt
of sandpaper.

And no pencil leaves the factory

Without one final
quality control check.

♪

It's taken 15 hours to make
pencils from a lump of graphite,

Clay, pigments,
and blocks of wood.

♪

Now they're packed.

500,000 every day
ready to send out

To 100 countries
all around the world.

♪

Coming up, a centuries old
japanese recipe

Is being produced
on a massive scale.

It is hard to believe
how much they are making

In just one day.

♪

♪

Narrator: Because of
the huge steel vats,

The articulated tankers,

And the network
of industrial pipes,

This may look like
an oil refinery,

But this massive factory
is making something

Perhaps more important
to the japanese...

Soy sauce.

And they're doing it
on an industrial scale.

Shoda makes nearly 10 million
gallons of soy sauce a year,

Enough to fill
15 olympic swimming pools.

Soy sauce is the most
popular condiment in japan,

Featuring in 80% of dishes.

And I would wager
if you open any cupboard

In any home across the country,
you will find a bottle.

Narrator: Soy sauce
is so important,

It's now being referred to
as a fifth flavor.

In the west,
we've traditionally talked about

Four flavors... bitter,
sweet, salty, and sour.

But in japan and now
increasingly in the west,

We also acknowledge
a flavor called umami,

Which roughly translates
as savory or brothy.

Narrator:
Scientists have identified

The common denominator of umami

Tasting foods as having
a high concentration

Of certain amino acids.

Naturally brewed soy sauce
is one of the most widely used

Umami ingredients
in japanese cooking.

Shoda has eight supersized
factories across japan,

Producing 375 million

Small bottles
of soy sauce a year,

10 million of them
are made right here.

Japanese tradition
meets modern innovation

On a super scale
in this super factory.

It's an intense,
exacting process

And it all starts
with a simple bean.

The soy bean comes
from the pea family.

And it provides
essential nutrition,

Especially protein,
for millions of people.

It's comprised of about 17% oil

And a high protein content,
making it very healthy.

It's economically the most
important bean in the world.

Narrator: Making or to be
more specific,

Brewing soy sauce, isn't new.

In fact, it's over
2000 years old.

It's a fermentation process
similar to making alcohol

Where a few
essential ingredients,

In this case soybeans,

Combined with bacteria and yeast
to cause chemical reactions.

Those reactions bring out a host
of over 200 different flavors

In the dark golden liquid
that is soy sauce.

[ speaking japanese ]

The soybean
has been farmed throughout asia

For thousands of years.

Chinese buddhist monks
introduced soy sauce to japan

In the 7th century.

Narrator: 115 tons
of defatted soybean flakes

Arrive at the factory
every week.

They're hard and inedible
at first,

So they need to be softened
with a bit of heat.

The beans are put into a giant
rotating pressure cooker

And steamed at 150 degrees
for a few minutes.

The softened beans are then
turned into a fine mash

By high speed blades
that pound the mix to a pulp.

Wheat is the next ingredient.

A cutting machine with powerful
blades slices through it

And reduces it
to a powdery consistency.

But soy sauce's most important
ingredient comes next.

And it's not something you'd
normally want in your food.

In order for it to be called
natural soy sauce,

It has to use mold.

♪

Narrator: At the shoda
factory in japan,

Soy sauce
is made using soybeans,

Wheat, and a third ingredient
that may come as a surprise.

♪

Mold is a form of fungus
and it gives soy sauce

Its distinct flavor
and characteristics

During the fermentation process.

Together,
soybeans, wheat, and mold

Make something called koji.

Koji has been declared
the national fungus.

Not just because it's essential

For the brewing
of traditional soy sauce,

But also because it's essential
for other traditional japanese

Foods like rice vinegar,
miso, and saki.

Narrator: The soybeans and wheat
are combined.

It's then transported
on a high speed production line

To a massive, heated room
where it's put into a giant vat

And air is blown through it
for 72 hours.

The mold reacts with the mix,
breaking down the wheat

And beans releasing starch
and sugars.

When it comes out,
it looks slightly green.

♪

The second part
of the fermentation process

Starts with salt.

It arrives in the factory
in 11 ton tankers,

And the sodium chloride
is dissolved in water

To produce a huge pool
of 20% salt brine.

The brine is pumped
through the koji mix.

It prevents the growth of
any undesirable microorganisms

And acts as a preservative
for the koji.

Once that's done,
lactic acid bacteria,

Which is brine-friendly,
is added along with yeasts

That further promote
the fermentation process.

This transforms the koji
into moromi.

The moromi mash is then
transported by spiral pumps

Through a network of pipes

Into gigantic
steel fermentation vats.

This plant alone has
50 in constant use,

It's stored for six months
and watched over as the soy

And wheat paste turns
into a semi-liquid,

Reddish brown, mature mash.

A lot of soy sauce you buy
in shops will be made

Using chemical processes.

But the traditional method
uses mold and is natural.

And in order for it
to be called natural soy sauce,

It has to use mold.

Narrator: Aspergillus mold has
broken down the grain protein

Into free amino acids

And the protein fragments
into starches

And then into simple sugars.

Now the lactic acid bacteria
ferments those sugars,

Which gradually develops

The 200 flavors
typically found in soy sauce.

♪

After six months
of fermentation,

It's time to extract the sauce.

♪

This step requires linen,

Over a mile of it.

♪

The reddish brown mash is spread

Evenly onto the highly
permeable cloth,

Which is folded 600 times
back on itself.

♪

This massive tower is wheeled
over to a hydraulic plunger.

Which slowly applies tons
of pressure onto the linen.

♪

The moromi is continuously
squeezed

Until a liquid sauces oozes out
through the folds of linen.

♪

The process takes three days.

And what's left is a dry stack
of linen caked in leftover mash

And 8,000 gallons
of raw soy sauce.

The matches emptied into trucks
and sold as cattle feed.

The all important liquid
stays in the factory.

♪

Narrator: Pasteurization
is a crucial step

In the soy sauce making process.

The pasteurized raw soy sauce

Needs to be filtered,
then blended before

It's ready to be sent
to the lab for testing.

Here, its aroma and color
are tested

As well as
its chemical composition

To determine how much nitrogen
is present.

Then it's sent to
the bottling plant

Where eight filling lines
operate 24/7

To pump the sauce
into bottles in seconds.

They can bottle over
20,000 gallons a day.

It is hard to believe how much
they are making in just one day.

♪

Narrator: Shoda produces several
different styles

Of soy sauce at this plant.

Dark soy sauce has a higher
bean content

And has been fermented
for longer

Giving it a stronger flavor.

Light has more wheat

And is used for delicate foods.

Here, 13,000 gallons
of bottled sauce

And 120,000 gallons
of commercial tins

Are all labeled and stored
on 3,000 pallets.

They even pipe 26,000 gallons
of soy sauce

Directly into trucks every day
for commercial customers.

In the future, it's possible
that advances in biotechnology

Might lead to shorter
and better fermentation methods.

For now, though,
shoda and its super factory

Is sticking with tradition.