Narrator: The automobile is being reinvented
By humans and robots.
High-tech tools are ushering in
The fourth industrial revolution.
Cutting-edge technology is combined
With japanese tradition
To create one-of-a-kind musical instruments.
And one of the fastest-growing energy-generation sources
Requires hands-on attention.
These groundbreaking innovations are all taking place
Inside some of the most incredible factories
On the planet.
-- Captions by vitac -- www.Vitac.Com
Captions paid for by discovery communications
In the desert just outside reno, nevada,
An electric-vehicle pioneer is on a mission
To change the world.
Since 2003, tesla incorporated has been working
To accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy
By manufacturing electric vehicles and energy products.
Tesla produces over 500,000 cars per year.
Their best seller is the tesla model 3.
Launched in 2017, the m3's sleek design,
Speed, and technological capabilities
Are a cut above all its electric-vehicle competitors.
Tesla's induction motor is six times lighter
And 93% more powerful
Than a similar-sized internal-combustion engine
Like the ones found in standard cars.
Like it or not, the internal-combustion engine
Is coming to the end of the road.
And more and more countries in europe and asia
Are set to ban all base fuels in the next 20 years.
The automotive industry has got the message.
And now most big firms are hard at work
Designing electric models.
Narrator: A key component of the m3 is manufactured here
At one of the most technologically advanced
Factories in the world --
Tesla's gigafactory 1.
Construction on this cutting-edge facility
Started in 2014.
At over half a mile long, the current structure spans
Over 1.9 million square feet,
Housing approximately 5.3 million square feet
Of operational space.
And it's only 30% done.
Tesla's c.E.O., elon musk,
Believes that in order to keep up with demand
And our changing environment,
Factories must come up with new ways to manufacture products
Using sustainable energies.
So I'm really excited about revitalizing manufacturing.
I think it's -- it's sort of -- it needs love,
And we're gonna give it.
Narrator: Once complete, gigafactory 1
Will be entirely powered by renewable energy sources.
Compared to a traditional lighting system,
This factory is designed with led lights,
Which will reduce power,
Saving 114 megawatts of energy per month.
Inside, excess heat from equipment
Like compressors and high-temperature ovens
Will be used to run equipment efficiently
And keep the factory warm in the colder months.
The north-south axis of the building
Was designed to maximize the generation of solar energy.
The roof will contain 200,000 solar panels
That will expand
Across 1.8 million square feet of the factory.
Since this facility is located in the desert,
The solar panels will absorb a great amount of sunlight.
But this super factory
Also repels extremely low temperatures,
Thanks to its unique water-cooling system.
Because of the way the air is here in nevada, it's dry
And really hot during the day, but it's very cool at night.
We do have a 10-million-gallon water tank out back,
And it allows that water to cool down.
Yeah, we use it for air-conditioning.
A lot of the equipment also requires chilled water
To operate, to keep it running.
We really wanted to get to a point
Where this is going to become a fully net-zero facility,
Leaving zero carbon footprint,
Creating products that also leave zero carbon footprint.
Making factory sustainable is really popular right now.
And if you're doing it for economic reasons
And you've got so much free sunshine in the nevada desert,
Why not use it?
For tesla, since they're making gas-free cars,
It's really vital that they are seen to be ultra green.
Narrator: But the key to this factory's success
Is not only its unique structural design,
It's also what's being manufactured inside.
The tesla m3's most vital component
And main power source --
The lithium-ion battery.
Battery technology
Is one of the most exciting areas of research right now,
And all our mobile technology depends on it.
To make electric cars a reality,
The key was to develop the right battery.
This is a battery cell that is being made --
That will eventually make into a model 3 vehicle.
On average, 4,000 of these cells
In every -- in every model 3 vehicle.
Narrator: This super factory produces
13 million individual battery cells per day
And that number is growing.
So what makes these batteries so powerful?
Laughlin: The battery is really a metal tube
Containing reactive elements.
If it's a rechargeable one, when you charge it,
That incoming electricity causes a chemical reaction.
And when you want to draw that power out,
The chemical reaction is reversed.
If it's a non-rechargeable one like this --
This sort of battery is probably in the remote control
Of your tv right now.
This is a one-way reaction.
This is a zinc and magnesium oxide battery.
But those batteries we all have in our mobile phones
And would be inside electric cars
Use an entirely different type of material.
They are lithium-ion batteries.
♪
Narrator: Inside gigafactory 1, more than 7,000 technicians
Are hard at work making these batteries.
But what makes this factory truly unique
Are the several hundred industrial robots
Working alongside the employees.
These automated machines can move materials
Between workstations faster, lift heavier loads
And stay charged for up to 19 hours a day.
Some robots can navigate through the factory using digital maps,
While others,
Like the autonomous guided vehicles, or agvs,
Use floor magnets or internal gps systems.
Tesla say that the gigafactory was laid out
On a precise north-south axis.
This is so it's easier to plot the routes
That the satellite agvs are going to take.
They're really on a fixed path.
And so it's very predictable.
They're going to the same location.
They're picking up from one location,
Emptying off at another location.
And what it allows us to really do
Is have things moving from inventory to line side
All day long without a whole lot of human intervention at all.
Narrator: The gigafactory is equipped
With highly advanced technology
That assists in the battery-production process.
Before assembly, multi-tiered conveyor belts
Sort and separate the cells into batches.
A robotic arm arranges them into a bandolier,
A long belt of cells surrounding a cooling tube.
This prevents the battery from overheating while in use.
♪
The 4,000 assembled lithium-cell battery packs
Are placed into a metal shell,
Which will be secured into the floor of the vehicle.
♪
Next, the wiring that connects the packs to the drive motor
Is installed.
Unlike most of the automated processes
Implemented at this facility,
This step is done by human technicians.
There are places where we started
With an automated solution
That didn't work as well as we thought it would.
So we backed down and put a manual operation in place.
Narrator: Once wiring's complete,
The battery packs are ready for shipping
To the m3 assembly plant in california,
Where they will be installed into the electric vehicles.
Although they're out of sight,
They're the most technically advanced,
The most expensive, and the most revolutionary element of the m3.
♪
This technology is helping to shape our future.
And that's what makes this incredible gigafactory
One of the world's undisputed super factories.
Coming up...
This smart factory is optimizing productivity
By utilizing the latest automated technologies.
And later, one factory combines modern technology
With japanese tradition
To create a legendary musical instrument.
♪
Narrator: Located in gimo, sweden, is sandvik coromant,
The world's leading supplier of machining tools.
This high-tech global-engineering company
Is at the forefront of the metalworking industry,
Manufacturing cutting tools and machining solutions
For over 200 companies in over 130 countries.
Sandvik coromant produces an extensive range
Of metal cutting tools
For a number of metalworking industries,
Including automotive, aerospace, construction, and milling.
Established in 1862 in sandviken, sweden,
Sandvik was originally an iron and steel factory.
The company was founded by goran fredrik goransson,
The first iron master
To implement the bessemer steel process.
By 1871, sandviken's ironworks
Was the largest producer of iron in sweden,
Employing tens of thousands of workers.
As the world moves into an age of rapid digitalization,
The manufacturing industry continues to evolve,
Blurring the lines between manual labor
And emerging technologies.
Today, sandvik has increased its productivity exponentially
By incorporating machines and robots
Into its assembly lines.
We are getting information down to our machines,
Totally seamless and touchless.
Our machines are fetching data from our main computer.
So there's no people punching in some numbers
And codes or programs into a machine.
Narrator: This high level of automation
Has put sandvik at the forefront of what engineers are calling
The fourth industrial revolution.
Stirling: The first industrial revolution was defined
By steam and water power, the second by electricity,
And then in the 1970s and '80s by computerization.
We're now in the fourth industrial revolution,
Which has been defined by buzzwords
Such as the internet of things and digitalization.
It sounds good, but what does it mean?
Well, primarily, it means connecting devices in factories
And in supply chains so that products and machines
And people are more connected to deliver customized products
To the individual in a mass-produced way.
Narrator: Sandvik is using
Fourth-industrial-revolution innovation
To produce a cutting tool that was invented over 250 years ago.
Gough: A welsh inventor by the name of john wilkinson
Came up with a drilling device for boring a hole
The length of the cannon built from one solid lump of iron.
It was a complete success, and the boring bar was born.
A boring bar is an essential piece of kit for any engineer.
In fact, anyone that wants to cut a hole in metal
Would use a boring bar.
Now, if you're using a drill, the diameter of the hole you cut
Is always the same as the drill bit.
But with a boring bar, you can maneuver it
To cut a hole with any shape and any size.
And a boring bar cuts holes
With absolute straightness and accuracy,
Which you don't get with a drill.
Narrator: The boring bar is just one of 7,000 different
Standard tools made by sandvik.
So every piece of steel in this factory
Is issued a unique bar code,
A code that will follow it along the whole production process.
What we do is when we get the steel
From our steel supplier, we just shoot the barcode
With a barcode reader on the packing now.
And then we automatically download nc programs
And robot programs to this machine.
Nc, or numerically controlled, programs are the key
To the internet of things.
They can be used to drive machines digitally.
They're able to instantly communicate with one another
And follow coded, digital instructions
To make a final product.
Narrator: Once the steel rods are identified by barcode,
They're entered into the system
And the boring-bar process begins.
This state-of-the-art robotic machining system
Manufacturers the various shapes and sizes of boring bars.
This incredible machine works alongside a second robot
To continuously sort hundreds of rods a day.
The first robot's custom tool-management software
Communicates exactly which set of bars
To place in the machine for drilling.
Every step of the process occurs automatically,
Eliminating the need for manual intervention.
Before it took -- to make a set-up,
To change from one order to another --
Took almost half an hour.
And now we do it with zero hours, zero minutes,
Zero seconds.
It's done totally by itself.
Narrator: And in this factory,
Sandvik has implemented another innovative concept
That drastically cuts down on production time.
♪
Narrator: In gimo, sweden,
Sandvik coromant is the world-leading producer
And supplier of industrial cutting tools.
This global manufacturing company is at the forefront
Of the industry, driving productivity
And innovation forward into the next generation.
Their latest product is a modern-day version
Of the boring bar,
A cutting tool first invented in 1775.
And inside sandvik's factory,
You won't find workers out on the floors.
Instead, trained personnel work behind the scenes,
Overseeing machines and robots
That are programmed with the highest level of autonomy.
These machines sort and then drill steel rods
To create the various shapes and sizes of boring bars.
Then automatically guided vehicles
Transport the rods to a multitasking machine.
It's a turn/mill machine.
We can do turning where we do
The profile of the boring bar.
And then in the same machine, we do the milling.
We mill the flats, make sure that these are flat.
Narrator: First, the robotic arm selects a tooling attachment
To perform the turning process.
♪
Next, it picks up the steel rod and places it onto a lathe.
♪
Once the rod has turned,
The robot switches to milling mode.
♪
The next robot shapes the top of the rod
Where the boring bar's cutting head will be attached.
The shaping tool slices
Through the stainless-steel rod with incredible accuracy.
Now that the cutting head is shaped,
The rod is placed back in the rack
And transported to the final machining process.
♪
The bars are hardened for six to eight hours in a furnace
At 1,598 degrees,
Hardening individual particles in the metal,
Making the bars solid.
This step is essential for boring bars
That will be subjected to high impact
And heat during metal cutting.
After hardening, the bars are cooled
And lowered into a bath
Containing an anti-corrosion agent.
The anti-corrosion agent
Gives the bars a matte-black protective coating.
Now that the raw steel has been shaped,
Hardened and coated, there's just one more step
To turn these rods into boring bars.
This triangular insert at the top
Is what gives the bar its cutting edge.
It's produced from one of the toughest
Of all man-made materials -- cemented carbide.
There are a number of different scientific scales
For measuring hardness.
One is the mohs scale, but looks at the ease or difficulty
With which you can scratch a material.
So if something's a 1, it's easily scratched.
If something's a 10, it's impossible to scratch it.
And that's diamond.
But coming in at number 9 are cemented carbides.
Narrator: The key ingredients are cobalt and titanium,
Mixed with ethanol, water and an organic binder.
The mixture is dried, powdered and crushed
With 26,500 pounds of pressure.
The resulting pressed inserts are then sintered
At 2,732 degrees for 13 hours.
Once sintering is complete,
The inserts are ground to size with a disc
Studded with 150 million industrial diamonds.
The finished inserts are inspected by eye,
One of the only stages of this highly automated process
That doesn't require robots.
The cemented carbide cutting insert enhances
The strength and stability of the boring bar.
Laughlin: They're very, very hard.
So they resist wear as they're worked with.
But also they have a very high melting point.
So they also resist the temperatures
That will be produced by the friction of wear.
Narrator: Finally, the process is complete,
And the bar is now ready for distribution.
Steps that once took many manual working hours
Are now achieved entirely by robots
In just a matter of seconds.
And this is a trend that shows no sign of slowing down.
Stirling: The world economic forum has concluded
That 2.1 million new jobs
Will be created by new digital technologies,
Jobs such as the design engineers,
Coders and programmers that keep these sandvik robots running.
Narrator: More than 70% of businesses
That invest in technologies
Like artificial intelligence or 3d printing
Are not able to take projects beyond their pilot phase.
Developed countries struggled to compete
With low-cost economies
And increasingly rely on digitalization --
Technologies such as 3d printing and robotization.
But governments and industry urgently need to respond to this
To create training programs for those new jobs.
Narrator: But in the factories of the future,
Companies like sandvik, who are able to adapt,
Survive.
Coming up, one factory is going back to the basics
To create a new sound for the future.
And later, this high-tech company is manufacturing
Energy-producing machinery for a burgeoning industry.
Somara: It's actually a game changer,
An absolutely staggering feat of engineering.
It's the future, and it's happening right now.
♪
Narrator: Kakegawa city, japan,
Is home to the japanese industrial giant yamaha.
Yamaha manufactures a wide variety of products
Ranging from electronics to motorcycles.
But in one area in particular, they dominate the competition.
Yamaha is the world's largest producer of musical instruments.
Their beautifully handcrafted grand pianos can be found
In prestigious concert halls across the globe.
At the yamaha factory,
Traditional japanese craftsmanship is combined
With modern manufacturing technology
To create this signature sound.
The process starts with a master craftsman
Selecting wood panels
That will make the frame of the grand called the rim.
[ speaking japanese ]
Thin sheets of wood called laminates
Are glued together under high pressure.
Laminating several layers together provides
Much more strength than just one thick piece of wood.
Once the layers of wood are shaped and glued together,
The craftsman tap the panels, listening for the correct pitch.
The rim is then set aside to bond and harden for seven days.
♪
Once the rim is dry,
The craftsman begins the strengthening process.
Dovetail joints create an interlocking support panel,
Which will hold the soundboard, strings, and keyboard together.
The reinforced rim is then stored
To settle for another 24 hours.
Next, the rim is painted in an electronic spray chamber.
Six coats of paint are sprayed as a fine mist onto the wood.
♪
Once the rim is dry,
It goes through a final polishing process
That gives it the lustrous satin-black finish
That distinguishes a world-class grand piano.
[ piano music playing ]
Such highly polished, lacquered finishes
Are strongly associated with japanese culture.
The term "lacquer" is used for a number of hard
And potentially shiny finishes applied to the surface of wood.
In japan, they've been perfecting lacquering techniques
For thousands of years.
Modern lacquering techniques
Essentially apply to the application
Of clear or colored surfaces
That are formed by solvents evaporating from the liquid
And leaving behind a very hard, robust, smooth, shiny finish.
Narrator: The next stage of creating a grand piano
Is installing the soundboard.
A high-quality soundboard acts as an amplifier of the sound
Produced by the vibrating strings.
Yamaha uses premium-quality wood sourced from around the world
To create their soundboards.
Like all wood used here,
The soundboards are seasoned to reduce moisture content.
To prevent swelling and shrinking
That could deteriorate the piano's sound,
The wood is left to dry
In japan's first-ever computer-controlled drying room.
Here, the moisture content is precision controlled
And adjusted to the climate of the region
The piano will eventually be exported to.
On the top of the soundboard are two attachments --
A short and long bridge.
The bridge plays a crucial role in producing sound.
It connects the notes of the strings to the soundboard.
♪
Piano makers call these big cast-iron frames harps.
And just like the harp,
They're designed to hold multiple strings,
But in this case, over a piano's soundboard.
Once the heavy frame is in position,
The pins that will hold the strings are fastened
Into the soundboard through an automated process.
[ speaking japanese ]
But attaching the strings
Requires a fast yet delicate human touch.
It's a big job.
There are 230 strings on a grand piano.
♪
With the strings now secured,
The grand moves to the next assembly process.
Here the craftsmen work on the underside of the piano.
Thankfully, in this super factory,
Flipping a massive musical instrument
Weighing over 2,000 pounds is an easy feat.
It's now time to assemble the keyboard.
And though the days of ebony and ivory are long gone,
The feeling for tradition remains.
♪
Narrator: At the yamaha factory in kakegawa, japan,
Grand pianos are manufactured using a combination
Of traditional craftsmanship and modern technology.
With the piano's frame and strings in place,
It's time for the keyboards to be assembled.
Instead of ivory keys, yamaha has developed
A specialized plastic substitute called ivorite.
In the 1970s, piano keys made from elephant ivory
Went out of fashion because of conservation.
Some pianists say that ivory keys just feel better to play.
They absorb sweat
And -- and they have the right amount of friction.
So yamaha has tried to replicate those properties
With a plastic alternative.
Narrator: The assembled ivorite keyboard
Is effortlessly fitted into position.
It's connected to the keyboard and action rest,
Or what piano makers refer to as the action.
When the keys are struck,
The action initiates a rapid motion of small,
Felt-covered hammers fitted on the keybed.
The hammers strike the strings
And the piano creates its wide range of sound.
Back in the day, keyboard instruments like the harpsichord
Pretty much gave the same sound output
No matter how hard you hit the keys.
And that's not the case with the piano,
The harder you hit, the louder it is.
It sounds simple, but it's actually a game changer.
And that's why it has the full name pianoforte,
Because in italian,
"piano" means "soft" and "forté" means loud.
Narrator: Once the strings, keys, and action
Are all in position,
The piano now needs to be broken in through a process
That wears the stiff felt pads to ensure a bright sound.
♪
This operation once took many hours of manual labor,
But in this super factory,
This process is completed automatically.
♪
This piano is almost finished.
The legs and pedal board are attached.
And finally, the grand's crowning glory.
The highly distinctive curved lid is secured into position.
And it's not just for show.
Before electronic amplification,
Musicians relied on the acoustics of the instrument.
Today, the lid is still lifted outwards,
Reflecting sound out towards the audience.
This grand piano is finally all in one magnificent piece.
But before leaving the factory, it needs to be tuned.
♪
Tightening or loosening the tuning pins
Adjusts string tension to get the correct pitch.
But to do it on the tightly strung grand piano,
You need a wrench.
[ speaking japanese ]
Tamakazu nakajima tries out this fresh, off-the-line piano
With his very own composition.
The next time it's played
Could be at one of the world's top concert halls.
The workforce here is dedicated to producing excellence,
And it's their ability to mix tradition with modern innovation
That makes this factory a super factory.
Coming up, this factory is contributing
To a revolutionary project
That will transform one region into a hub
For clean, renewable energy
And has the potential to power nearly one million homes.
It's hard to argue that they're not going to be
Essential in our future.
♪
Narrator: Today, wind power
Is the world's fastest-growing source of energy.
And increasingly the action is taking place not on land,
But at sea, where winds are stronger
And more consistent.
Somara: There are big advantages.
One is that there's loads of wind,
And two, for anyone that thinks that wind turbines
Are an eyesore,
They don't get to see them there.
Narrator: Britain is the world's leading producer
Of offshore wind energy,
Accounting for almost 40% of the global total.
The key to harvesting all this sustainable energy
Are these massive turbine blades.
They produce clean, renewable power
With zero carbon emissions.
Just one turbine will save
250,000 tons of co2 in its lifetime.
That's the equivalent of one jumbo jet
Flying around the world nonstop for 329 days.
Narrator: Due to their considerable height
And large blades, modern wind turbines
Are instantly recognizable
And manufacturers continue to build them bigger
And more powerful than the last.
Siemens gamesa is the u.K.'s biggest
And most advanced wind-turbine- blade-manufacturing facility.
Here, engineers and technicians have developed
A 246-foot-long fiberglass blade.
Its size equivalent to the wingspan of an airbus, a380.
Smyth: One of the challenges
In making a blade for wind turbine
Is that their shape is controlled with great precision.
Older blades like those on windmills
Will tend to be flatter,
Whereas new blades on wind turbines
Are really aerodynamically curved and quite complex.
Narrator: The blades are shaped by hand in prefabricated molds.
The process takes technicians up to a week to complete.
Once the molds are prepared,
A machine cuts hundreds of sheets of fiberglass matting
That will make up the body of the blades.
Laughlin: Fiberglass is a composite material
That typically contains teeny, tiny fibers of glass
That are embedded in a plastic, embedded in a polymer resin.
But actually now it doesn't have to be fibers
That are made of glass.
These fibers can be made from bamboo,
Little bits of wood.
Other fibers will do the job.
So fiberglass isn't always containing glass.
♪
Narrator: The first layers of fiberglass matting
Are carefully laid into the mold.
Then 800 sheets are individually cut by hand
To a precise computer-generated pattern.
It's essential that the sheets are perfectly flat.
Any creasing or air pockets will compromise
The strength of the blade when assembled at sea.
♪
Once the layers that make up the blades' surface
Are fixed into the mold,
The team uses balsa wood to add structural support.
The cell walls in balsa wood are very thin.
And inside the cell, there's a large proportion of air,
Which means that not only is balsa wood quite rigid,
It's also very, very light.
Narrator: The layers of balsa and fiberglass matting
Vary in weight and thickness
And are arranged in a complex pattern
Depending on how strong or flexible
Each section of the blade needs to be.
It's an extremely precise and repetitive process.
Next, the team adds epoxy resins
To transform the fiberglass and balsa into a solid
Yet flexible form.
To achieve this,
The top to the mold is cradled in a metal frame
And carefully lowered into position.
The two sections are sealed tight
And the air is sucked out, creating a vacuum.
The super-strength epoxy resin and hardening agent
Is drawn into the double skin mold.
When the finished blade is removed,
It needs to be hard and flexible.
Laughlin: Glass has amazing properties,
But when you have glass and little fibers,
Like fiber optics,
Actually it's really flexible and relatively strong, again,
To its size and weight.
So when you take those glass fibers
And you embed them in the resin,
You actually build a composite material
That takes the best of the resin in terms of rigidity
And moldable material mass,
But then you add in that strength
And the slight flexibility of the glass.
Narrator: The resin and hardening agent
Saturates every pore of the fiberglass matting,
Eliminating any air bubbles that could weaken the structure.
It's then heated to a high temperature and left to harden.
So the final blade of the turbine
Is itself a composite material.
You've got the glass fiber, almost fabric-like matting, skin
That's then impregnated with the resin to make it stiff.
But it's still really light, which is important.
But then inside that, then there's a layer of that
Balsa wood which adds rigidity, but also a little bit of flex,
Which is really important when you're dealing with a structure
That's got to stand in the middle of the north sea
In a massive gale.
You want a little bit of give.
Narrator: Once curing is complete,
The fiberglass blade is lifted out of its mold.
This massive 246-foot-long structure
Can produce enough energy to power 8,000 homes.
This is the widest end of the blade.
This section will be assembled
Onto the turbine tower out at sea.
♪
Now the walls of the cavernous interior of the blade
Are thoroughly examined.
♪
Before the open end is sealed...
...A thick coat of epoxy-based primer paint
Is sprayed over the blade and left to set.
♪
Once the primer is dry,
The surface is sanded to provide extra adhesion
For the final layers of paint.
Multiple layers of paint provide essential weatherproofing
So that the blade can withstand the unpredictable winds at sea.
It's taken almost seven days
Of intense, handcrafted precision labor,
But finally, this blade is finished.
The blades are transported 55 miles out into the north sea
To become part of the world's largest offshore wind farm.
When completed in 2022, the next wind-farm project,
The hornsea project two, will provide enough energy
To power 1.3 million homes.
The hornsea project
Is an absolutely staggering feat of engineering,
And it covers a massive area of the north sea.
It's the future, and it's happening right now.
Narrator: Once at sea,
The energy the blades will generate is clean, green,
And will never run out.
Wind turbines are going to become
An icon of the 21st century.
They are incredible pieces of technology.
Narrator: And all of the sustainable power
Produced by these massive structures
Will be the legacy of this building --
The u.K. Turbine blade super factory.