The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Colorado has developed some technological breakthroughs that will change the way we manufacture solar cells. The lab is sponsored by the Department of Energy and the new breakthroughs could not only save costs and reduce the environmental impact of producing “eco-friendly” power sources, but this innovations will also [...]
We take the recycling to the curb knowing basically one thing: they’ll take this bin of recyclable goods away and magically turn it into new products. But many people don’t think of recycling as what it truly is: a manufacturing process. After the plastics are picked up from the recycling bin, they are separated from [...]
The incandescent light bulb: a revolutionary invention that some have recently called outdated and inefficient. Congress even went so far in 2007 as to pass legislation that would have banned the production and sales of the incandescent bulb in America, starting in the coming year. With a last minute amendment, the ban was reversed. Congress [...]
If you’re old enough to be reading a blog about manufacturing, you’re probably also old enough to remember one of the most well-known Mr. Rogers segments of all time—the tour of the crayon factory where we, America’s curious schoolchildren, got to watch the Crayola people make a batch of yellow crayons. It was pretty cool. [...]
Innovation and production are crucial and important parts of our economy and lifestyle in the twenty-first century. In fact, many of our manufacturing processes create a more efficient system than we had even fifty years ago. Whether insulating industrial processes, controlling the flow of precious resources, creating a repair for a failing product rather than [...]