Super Factories (2020–…): Season 1, Episode 8 - World's Largest Steel Plant - full transcript

Narrator: A hot sauce
making super scale history

On a salt dome in louisiana.

♪♪

Inside this online giant,

How amazon processes millions
of orders at lightning speed.

♪♪

Kia, a south korean
car manufacturer

Are breaking records
in slovakia.

And in south korea,

The world's largest steel plant
is melting iron ore

To keep the world supplied
with this versatile alloy.



These groundbreaking innovations
are all taking place

Inside some of the most
incredible factories

On the planet.

[ beeping ]

This is avery island,

137 miles west of new orleans,

The heart of bayou country.

This is the home
of an iconic sauce brand

That's been heating
up the world for 150 years...

Tabasco.

Today, the spicy red hot
liquid is grown,

Processed, and sold
on a super scale

From a self-sufficient farm
on the island.

700,000 bottles a day
are produced



By using a centuries
old family recipe.

♪♪

Sixth generation family member
john simmons manages the crops.

So we're here on avery island,
on our farm,

Our process from seed to bottle
takes about five years

And this is the beginning
of it right here.

Every pepper that goes into
the making of tabasco sauce

Comes from seed that are grown
right here on avery island.

Narrator:
The chilies grown here

Are specifically
tabasco chilies,

A variety that originated
far away from u.S. Soil.

The founder, edmund mcilhenny,

Got hold of pepper seeds
from central america.

He sold them on avery island.

And as it turns out, the taste
is just what he was looking for.

Narrator: Mcilhenny grew his
first commercial pepper crop

In 1868.

The next year,
he sent out 658 bottles

Of sauce at a dollar apiece.

Today, the seeds are chosen
from a cultivated crop.

As near as we know,
those seeds are identical

To the seeds
that edmund mcilhenny,

My great-great-great
grandfather with,

Started 150 years ago.

We do our seed here
because we can make sure

That that seed is perfect,
that it's exactly what we want.

We'll come out here
and look at those plants

And we'll pick the best ones,
the strongest ones.

And we'll say these plants here
are the ones

That we want to make
our seed crop with.

Narrator: Avery island doesn't
have the space or staff to grow

And pick all the chilies

Needed to supply
the global tabasco industry.

So the seeds are sent
all around the world to grow.

But central america is where
most of the chilies used today

Are cultivated.

Pickers ensure ripeness

By comparing
the color of the peppers

To a small wooden dowel

Which is painted the preferred
hue of tabasco red.

The color indicates whether
or not it's the optimum time

To pick in order to ensure
maximum heat.

Once picked,
they're mashed up with salt.

After a month of fermenting,

The mash is then shipped back
to avery island,

Where it's poured into these
80-year-old wooden barrels.

So we're in the mash warehouse
sometimes we call it

The barrel warehouse,

And this is the building that
really sets tabasco sauce apart

Because we take two of our
three raw ingredients

And we age them in oak barrels

For up to three years
to give tabasco sauce

That unique flavor
and unique smell

That people all around
the world know.

We have between 65,000
and 70,000 barrels.

In this building
and here we have about 15

Or 20,000 barrels
at any given time.

And then we have a building
next door with all the rest.

That's a three-year supply
of tabasco sauce

Right here on avery island.

Narrator: Over the years,

The mash and salt
will break down.

Fermentation is an ancient
method of food preservation,

And it's an amazing process.

It kills off bacteria,
which is harmful to food,

Which would make food decay.

But the great news is
it encourages bacteria,

Which makes food
tastes delicious.

Edmund mcilhenny started
with clay jars

And then he moved
to using oak barrels

And he found that oak barrels
imparted a flavor

And a color and a smell

That was really powerful
and interesting.

Narrator: Before the mix
can be left to ferment,

They have to complete
a crucial part of the process,

Covering each barrel
with a thick layer of salt,

Which is extracted from mines
located beneath avery island.

The enemy of pepper mash
is oxygen, oxygen and sunlight,

Those are the things
we want to keep out.

So the best way
we can keep oxygen out

Is to close up that container
seal it as tight as possible

And put this block on top.

But we need a permeable thing

Because there's carbon dioxide
being created inside that barrel

And we need a place
for it to go.

So there's a one way valve
that you can't see

Covered by this block of salt,

But that salt
is permeable enough

To allow that carbon dioxide
through it.

If we didn't have that,
the pressure would build up

Inside that barrel
and it would explode.

Salt has been used
as a preservative

For thousands of years.

Now salt dries out food

And all living things
require water to grow,

Including bacteria,
harmful bacteria,

Which can create food poisoning.

So salting food not only
makes it last a long time,

It makes it safe.

Narrator: The three-year
fermentation process

Is the only change
to the original recipe,

Which mandated fermenting
for just 30 days.

Every morning,
a team member checks the batch

That will become today's sauce.

Simmons: Here we have a barrel,
three years old.

This is ready to be turned
into tabasco sauce.

So you can see a few things.

We've got this really,
really deep red color.

And the other thing you can see
is how much evaporation

We've had inside the barrel.

The whiskey companies call
that the angel share,

The evaporation of whiskey
inside the barrel.

We call it the same thing,
essentially.

It's the evaporation
of tabasco pepper mash,

The moisture inside tabasco
pepper mash inside that barrel.

♪♪

Narrator: The fermented mash

That is ready
to be turned into sauce

Is pumped into big steel vats

Where it's drained of remaining
moisture for eight hours,

Losing 25% of its weight.

Then it's pumped
into 2,600 gallon wooden barrels

And churned with vinegar.

The acidity of the vinegar
breaks down most of the pulp,

And the liquid is strained
to remove skins and seeds.

♪♪

Tabasco sauce is graded
for hotness.

Here they use
the scoville scale.

It was invented by pharmacist
wilbur scoville in 1912

And measures the level
of capsaicinoids.

This is the component
of chili peppers responsible

For most of the burn.

In our mouth, our receptors,
which can detect heat,

Now, they can detect
actual heat,

But they can also detect heat
from food like chilies.

Capsaicin, which is the chemical
compound found in foods

Like chilies and peppers,
actually fools our bodies

Into thinking that
we've eaten something hot,

Hot to touch that burns,

Even though is actually a food.

♪♪

Narrator: The flagship red
variety of tabasco pepper sauce

Measures 2,500 to 5,000
scoville heat units.

Our hottest sauce right now
is our scorpion sauce

That comes in and around

33 to 35,000
scoville heat units.

Just under that
is our habanero sauce,

Which is about 9,000.

Narrator: Each sauce is tested
by a panel of 20 employees.

We do some pretty rigorous
sensory testing that way

And it has to get the thumbs up
from everyone

Before we go ahead
with it to market.

Narrator:
Once it passes the test,

It's sent to be bottled.

And this is where modern
production methods kick in.

♪♪

There are 720 drops in a single
bottle of tabasco sauce

And 700,000 bottles of sauce

Are produced here
in a single day.

The signature bottle derives
from the original ones

Used in 1858,

Which were based on a perfume
bottle produced in new orleans.

It takes five years

To produce a bottle
of finished sauce.

It's a highly complex process
with global ends,

Labels are printed
in 22 different languages,

And exported to over
180 different countries.

As long as this super factory
holds the secret to tabasco,

They'll be producing it
for centuries to come.

♪♪

But while tabasco
has spent 150 years

Perfecting one product,

This next company has spent
the last two decades

Attempting to corner the market
on every product imaginable.

By using the latest and greatest
industrial technology available

And relying on a steadily
growing workforce,

Amazon has revolutionized
the online shopping industry.

♪♪

In northern England
lies a facility

Whose interior doesn't look like
a traditional factory,

But that's because the people
and machinery here

Are working to transform
modern production methods.

This is amazon, a company
that's part of what experts call

The fourth
industrial revolution.

Here, they use high levels
of automation,

But that doesn't
mean fewer people.

♪♪

Narrator: The amazon factory
in northern England

Is a pioneer in the fourth
industrial revolution,

Using technology
to maximize productivity

And minimize mistakes.

But they haven't abandoned
their human workforce.

In fact, they're relying
on their workers more than ever.

They've invested heavily
in robots

To improve the efficiency
of their operation,

But their staffing has gone up.

The global workforce more than
doubled between 2016 and 2019

To more than 650,000 people.

They're now the second
biggest employer

In the whole of the usa.

Narrator: It all began when
ceo jeff bezos

Started selling books
in his garage in 1994.

With a net worth of
$113 billion,

He has become
the world's wealthiest man,

And amazon now controls
50% of online commerce

In the united states.

All over the world,

Amazon is building giant
delivery facilities called

Fulfillment centers or fcs.

By 2019, 175 of amazon's fcs

Were in operation.

On the inside, it's a giant
machine with one task...

To package parcels
in record time.

When those robots are moving,

It's like a ballet or a waltz,
they're definitely dancing.

♪♪

Narrator: One of amazon's
most modern fcs

Is located in bolton, England,

Covering almost 366,000
square feet,

It's a state of the art facility
designed to ship

Millions of packages every year.

Products arrive on
a constant stream of trucks

Carrying any of
the 370 million products

Currently listed on amazon
in the u.K.

We have product coming over on
truckload coming from sellers,

Vendors,
and from our own warehouses.

It comes in where we upload this
and stage it on our yard,

Ready to go into our warehouse
for storage

Where it's gonna be ready
to ship for our customers.

♪♪

Narrator: Inside black plastic
tubs called totes,

Products begin their journey
along a network

Of five miles of conveyor belts.

♪♪

The first destination
is the storage area.

♪♪

Where traditional warehouses
have static rows

Of shelving with staff
walking back and forth,

Here, it's the shelves
that do the walking.

The key to this entire operation
is remote controlled robots.

The orange devices pick up
the yellow shelf units

And drop them off
at their next destination

Within the warehouse.

Narrator: There are thousands
of shelf units

Supported by these robots.

Every item is placed
by a picker on the shelves.

It's given a barcode
so a robot can find it later.

But crucially, the shelves
are deliberately stacked

In a completely random way.

This places items
all around the factory.

So when robots or pickers
need something,

They can get to a quicker.

But that's not all they do,

These robots do a neat little
bit of machine learning,

Which is to realize if they
happen to have on board an item

Which is currently trending
and is somehow proving popular

Instead of returning back
to the middle,

They actually hang around
the outside

Expecting to be called
upon again.

There's a direct link
between the customer

As they shop online

And what's happening here
on the floor.

Once they're full,

The shelf units disappear
back into the storage area

Until someone maybe hundreds
or even thousands of miles away,

Decides to purchase an item
stored on that particular shelf.

♪♪

As soon as that happens,

A robot is directed to grab
that individual shelf unit

Among thousands that contains
the specific item.

♪♪

It's then hurried over
to the picking area

Where the journey to
the customer is about to begin.

♪♪

Once the robots arrive
at the picking area,

Items are readied for customers
who ordered for that day.

The tote heads off again,

This time for
the packing department.

♪♪

But with hundreds of thousands
of items passing back and forth,

What happens
if one goes missing?

♪♪

An alert's gone out saying
there's something on the floor

Which shouldn't be there.

Adam cunliffe is a specially
trained troubleshooter

Who is one of very few people

Authorized to enter the cage
where the robots are.

Adam's jacket is emitting
a radio pulse,

Which tells the robots
to avoid him.

This crucial safety measure,

Protects the automated units,
the merchandise,

And most importantly,
the workforce.

♪♪

With time of the essence,

Adam must find the lost item
as soon as possible.

♪♪

Now that the item is found,

He just needs to retrace
his steps and exit the cage.

♪♪

♪♪

With that mini crisis averted,

The latest batch of items
to be selected

Has reached
the packing department.

Preparing them for dispatch
is a complex process.

But it's designed this way

To preserve
a customer's anonymity.

Here, the item is boxed up

And the first of two labels
is attached.

But this first label
carries only

An impenetrable digital code.

This means that the person
doing the packing has no idea

Who placed the order
or where the package is heading.

It protects the customer's
privacy,

Including the people
who actually work for amazon.

I often get packages
from my own warehouse.

I'm not sure that
I would want anyone

Knowing what I'm ordering.

And the same would go for every
person who's working here.

♪♪

Narrator: The anonymous package
then heads to the machine,

Which will finally print
and apply the label

Carrying the customer's name
and address.

♪♪

That label is printed in
under two seconds

From the moment
the package is rescanned

To when a robot arm descends
and applies the label.

♪♪

The speed of labeling
is incredible,

But it also obscures

One of the most important
details of the process.

Amazon has developed
a critical method

To protect their more
delicate inventory

Without sacrificing efficiency.

♪♪

Narrator:
Amazon undeniably dominates

The online shopping market

With such a high volume
of products

Passing through their massive
fulfillment centers.

The company needed a strategy
to quickly apply shipping labels

Without damaging
fragile merchandise.

The items are now ready to go
to their final destination.

The last conveyor directs them
towards a row of more

Than 100 separate bins.

Each one represents
a different city

Or geographical region.

Now, all the packages are ready
to be loaded onto a truck

For delivery.

♪♪

Across the u.K.,

Fulfillment centers
like this one dispatch packages

To tens of millions
of customers across europe.

♪♪

And with drone delivery
in development,

Amazon continues to secure
its place at the forefront

Of the new
industrial revolution,

The world of robotics
and artificial intelligence

Are undoubtedly merging.

No more will a robot
just be a thing programmed

To perform a specific task,

But actually, it will become
something which learns

From the task it performs,
observes the world around it,

And changes its behavior
accordingly.

Narrator:
Amazon has forever changed

What it means to go shopping.

The revolution ushered in by
super facilities like this one

Shows no sign of slowing down.

♪♪

Much like amazon's fcs,

This slovakian car factory
requires that robots and humans

Work in tandem
to maximize productivity.

♪♪

[ beeping ]

♪♪

Wedged in between
three mountain ranges

And slovakia is jelena,

A picturesque town
with a proud industrial history.

♪♪

Now it's home to
a 40.3 acre super factory

That can make up
to 63 cars an hour

And produce eight models
on the same production line.

This is the european hub
for south korean car giant kia.

♪♪

Established in 2004,

This plant can build
350,000 cars a year.

Rows of robots work in tandem
with 3,800 workers

To produce the ceed, venga,
and sportage models,

Which are exported
to 95 countries worldwide.

Once the underdog of the car
industry,

Once they teamed up
with hyundai,

They became the fourth biggest
car manufacturer in the world

After volkswagen, toyota,
and general motors.

Narrator: It all starts here
with 18-ton giant rolls of steel

And two 5,952-ton presses.

The outer skin panels
are different shapes,

Punched out of sheet steel
called blanks.

The blanking line produces
53 of them a minute,

With so many cars
being made a year,

The choice of metal is key.

Right now,
steel is plentiful and cheap,

Which makes it the ideal choice
for car bodies

Produced by the millions.

Aluminum is lighter

And has a similar strength
to weight ratio,

But it's significantly
more expensive.

In fact,
four times more expensive.

Narrator: The steel blanks are
then sent to the stamping line

To become panels.

Here, they use a method
called cold stamping.

The metal sheets are turned
into the desired form

Using intense pressure
rather than heat.

The robotic presses stamp

1,500 panels each shift.

♪♪

Doors, roofs, hoods, and bumpers
are all stamped here

With robots moving
and transporting the parts.

The factory operates
around the clock

And is able to make
1,450 cars a day.

♪♪

The panels are cut, but even
robots can make mistakes,

So the human eye is brought in
to double check the panels.

♪♪

Any surface defects
will create a problem

When the car is painted.

So being thorough is key.

Once the check is complete,
an electric monorail

Takes the panels to a vast
two-story hangar area.

♪♪

This automated warehouse

Has a capacity of 6,850 pieces.

The parts are retrieved
on demand.

It's called the just-in-time
philosophy that was developed

By car manufacturers
in japan in the 1970s.

Just in time is about receiving
goods in within minutes

Of requiring it,
assembling the products,

And moving us out
very quickly, too.

This eliminates stock,

It saves money, reduces waste,

And it really drives efficiency
within the plant.

Narrator: But the robots in this
super factory aren't limited

To cutting
and distributing parts.

Kia has also incorporated them

Into the assembly
process itself,

♪♪

Narrator: Once the newly minted
steel panels are quality checked

By a human eye,
kia's robots step in again.

♪♪

They select and transport
panels to the welding shop.

Here, welders will make
the mainframe.

Over the past 30 to 40 years,

Car welding robots have
transformed

The automotive industry.

They are very, very good
at doing multiple

And repeatable tasks.

Robots can also work efficiently
in hazardous conditions

In environments
such as an automotive paint shop

Where chemicals,
structures, and heat

Would be either intolerable

Or potentially dangerous
to humans.

Narrator: There are more than
3,000 welding points

On the body,

374 robots work in synchronicity

At 40 stations.

The robots weld
using diode disc lasers,

Which are small,
light energy efficient systems

Compared
to conventional welders.

♪♪

The robots can reach hard
to access spaces quickly

And weld with pinpoint accuracy.

♪♪

The mainframe is almost
complete and the humans

Are again
required to do visual checking.

One car is checked every minute.

From the body shop,

The car frames are moved
into the paint shop

Via a conveyor system

With a total length
of 4.8 miles.

The paint shop is
a highly specialized dip tank,

Rotating the car 360 degrees.

Bodies are rotated
through a forward somersault

While immersed in the tank.

This ensures the crucial rust
preventative primer paint

Gets into all
the small crevices of the car.

An army of more than
80 painting robots moves in,

Spraying with speed
and accuracy.

♪♪

Now it's time to assemble
the car's internal components.

This area
is much less automated.

More than 1,400 employees work
in the assembly shop.

In this super factory,

The hall is nearly
1,640 feet long,

Totaling nearly
1.1 million square feet.

♪♪

First, the doors are removed
for easier access.

♪♪

Then the assembly starts,

Wiring, pedals,
and interior trim,

Ending with the cockpit.

This is another step
requiring robotic precision.

They've been programmed
to fit this part

With pinpoint accuracy.

♪♪

Next is the crucial marriage
between engine and drive train.

♪♪

It's too intricate
for robots to handle.

So the assembly team oversees
this important step.

This assembly line
has the ability

To produce multiple car designs
on the same line,

Eight different models,

Including the sportage and four
styles of c can be built.

Computers are programmed
with multiple different models.

So it's possible to change
equipment configurations

By selecting different settings

On the computer controlled
machines.

The assembly line reaches
its final stages

With four final lines
of interior

And exterior fittings,
bumpers, and doors,

A robot moves in
with the windshield.

It receives data telling it
which car it's working on

And makes the adjustment
for this model.

♪♪

The car is now assembled.

[ horn honks ]

♪♪

Now it's time for testing,

Using a mix of machines
and extensive driving.

♪♪

The whole process has taken
just 14 hours.

♪♪

This plant has helped
establish kia

Has the fourth largest
car maker in the world.

In the future,

This slovakian super factory
should be

At the forefront of motor
manufacturing for years to come.

♪♪

Coming up, there's one product

Which the modern world
simply can't live without.

Whether you're building
a laptop, a skyscraper,

Or anything in between,

You're going to need
this versatile alloy.

♪♪

Narrator: In gwangyang,
on the coast of south korea

Lies the biggest steel plant
in the world.

Here, workers go above
and beyond to meet

The insatiable demand for steel.

It's the world's
biggest steel plant.

This plant turns out roughly
21 million tons

Of steel every year.

That is enough to make around
12 million cars annually.

Steel is one of those materials

That really defines
our modern age.

There was a moment before steel,
after steel,

And the industrial revolution
is on that line.

When we started to make
a material that enabled us

To make things
that changed the world.

Narrator: The biggest advance in
steel production in recent years

Has been the degree
of automation,

The pohang iron
and steel company, or posco,

Is one of the most
highly automated plants of all.

All around the world,

While the production of steel
has increased significantly,

The number of steel workers
has fallen drastically

By about 1.5 million
people over 25 years.

♪♪

Narrator: Even with the decrease
in workforce,

The factory still requires
a vast site,

Including 50 smaller
sub factories,

Each with a specific role
in the production process.

In order to make steel,
you need two raw ingredients...

Iron ore and coal.

It all starts underground
in australia,

Where iron ore is blasted
out of the ground

From mineral rich land.

Once blasted,

It arrives by ship
to this steel plant's port,

So to take iron
and turn it into steel,

You need to add carbon.

And what happens is the carbon
atoms are actually

Getting inside the crystal
lattice work of the iron

And plumping out these crystals
and turning them from just iron

Into an alloy of iron
and carbon, which we call steel.

♪♪

Narrator: The iron ore at this
early stage

Resembles a kind of gray dust,

Extracting the usable metal
from this

Is a multi-step process.

The technical term for the first
process is called sintering.

♪♪

The iron ore is roasted,

Removing excess sulfur
and other impurities,

Causing what was once dust
to bind together

Into pea-sized nodules.

After sintering,

The ore looks
almost like a sea of baked mud.

♪♪

Next, the ore is mixed
with purified coal

Inside one of posco's
five giant blast furnaces.

♪♪

Blast furnace number one,

Measuring in a 361 feet tall

And 66 feet across

Is the pride and joy
of gwangyang steel makers.

♪♪

To make steel, carbon is needed,

The primary source of carbon
is coal, which is coked.

Coke is a modified form of coal.

Essentially coking
is taking coal

And heating it around
a 1,000 degrees celsius

And then holding it there
for a good 24 hours,

Even longer period of time.

And what's happening is you're
essentially purifying the coal,

You're burning off impurities

And you're reducing it down
to pure carbon.

So lumps of coke
are pure nuggets of carbon.

♪♪

Narrator: This high grade coke
will both fuel the fire

Inside the blast furnace
and make steel.

But how does purified coal
and purified iron come together

To make one of the world's
most durable alloys?

The posco team relies
on a complex chemical reaction

And a lot of heat
to keep this super factory

Churning out quality steel.

♪♪

Narrator: In south korea,
but super factory posco

Is one of the world's
most important steel suppliers.

After iron ore and coal
have been purified using heat,

The refined iron and carbon

Are combined
in an enormous blast furnace

To burn off remaining oxygen
and produce molten metal.

♪♪

Layers of ore and coke
are poured into the furnace

To ensure a good distribution
of both.

From below, hot air
At 2,732 fahrenheit

Is injected through nozzles.

Laughlin:
You have to smelt it.

You have to extract the oxygen
out from the iron.

And you do that
by burning it with coke

And you rip the oxygen away,
bonds with carbon,

Goes up into the atmosphere.

You're then left with the iron.

Narrator: At the base
of the blast furnace,

This iron then turns
into molten metal

Due to extremely high
temperature.

But it can't yet
be called steam.

The liquid iron is then

Poured into a torpedo
shaped transporter,

Which will then take the molten
metal to a second furnace,

Also known as a converter.

It's there that the process
of converting iron to steel

Will actually take place.

Once there, the liquid iron
is poured in.

Scrap, steel, and oxygen
are then added to the mix.

♪♪

This process makes
the impurities float

To the top where they're remove,

Leaving us with
the final product... steel.

It's essential that
the temperature

During conversion
is precisely regulated

Or the steel
will lose its strength

And durability.

At gwangyang,

The computerized control room
keeps the huge fire

In check with high tech heat
monitoring.

Once purified, the molten steel
is then poured into molds,

Which are then cooled into
a solid semi-finished state

Called a slab.

♪♪

The slab can now be made
into finished steel products

By a process called hot rolling.

♪♪

With thousands of tons
of pressure,

These rollers squeeze the red
hot steel like a rolling pin,

Pressing on a soft pastry,

Turning it into sheet steel.

♪♪

Now it's ready to be used
in industries

Such as car making,
shipbuilding, or construction.

♪♪

The steel being produced here
is rolled steel,

But it can be produced
to different strengths.

So, for example, like food can

And it's relatively strong
and lightweight,

But actually you could still
crush them with your bare hand

Once the lid's off.

And you compare that
to an object like scissors

That are made out of
a high carbon steel

That actually is really hard

And will hold an edge and will
make a great blade from.

It's the same material family,

But it's actually
very different stuff.

Narrator: The gwangyang plant
is one of those facilities

Which operates largely
in the background,

But without it,

The world would be
a very different place.

Every 24 hours,

Posco produces enough steel
to make 80,000 brand-new cars,

Making this giant steel plant

An undisputed
global super factory.

♪♪