Chinese Manufacturing: Working Conditions

Too often I find myself taking modern technology for granted. In my lifetime alone I have seen the transition from dial-up internet to fiber-optics and high speed cable internet. While my dad would often tell me stories of huge corporate computers, I, among a majority of Americans, carry a super computer in my hand. With a smartphone I can contact a relative across the globe, within seconds, with only the physical expense of pushing a few buttons. 

   It is beyond me to comprehend the electrical and data engineering that allows this communication. Likewise, I found myself equally ignorant of the manufacturing process that physically enabled me to have a smartphone --a product, in the first place. 

   In class we discussed the controversy behind large Chinese manufacturing companies such as Foxconn. Working conditions there were so atrocious that the company had to install suicide-prevention nets around its campus. These workers were not being treated well.

   I feel guilty that I can so carelessly use a product that was so laboriously assembled. I am upset that such conditions are ignored or otherwise accepted to maintain economical efficiency. I feel helpless to change this situation, and I am afraid that those tired, working hands are gears in a mechanism that, if left unchecked, will continue indefinitely. 

Unfair Coffee Trade

Better technology doesn't make everyone better off. Unfair coffee trade is a common problem. Most of the coffee in the United States is being imported from all over the word. Farmers in those coffee growing countries work hard day and night to produce the best coffee they can; however, they do not get much in return. American companies buy bags of coffee beans for a couple of cents. If farmers try to raise the prices for their coffee then the companies would find someone else to buy it from. When the coffee gets imported to the US it is now up to the machines to roast, distribute and even make it for customers. In many places machines make coffee for the customers. With technologies advancing, it is only a matter of time before baristas in coffee shops are replaced with the machines. This will make coffee companies better off because the would no longer have to pay for labor, but it will not benefit the farmers. It is unlikely that the American coffee corporations will start paying more for the coffee they buy from the farmers. It might not seem like it, but we all can help those farmers by buying fair trade coffee. It might not completely cover the cost of growing and distributing the coffee, but it will help and it will make the farmers better off.

http://www.coetail.com/dekokera/2012/10/25/a-visual-take-on-fair-trade/

When our technological advances ends up shortening our lives...

When an idea develops into action or product without thoughtful contemplation, the innovative products designed and made could potentially harm humans rather than benefit. For example, a product may disturb the mental well-being of individuals during production. In the case of producing cell phones, mental health is destroyed when factory workers are pushed to their limits to create the highly valued phones. While we have our expensive phones, these workers are minimally paid and mentally exhausted; so stressed that the factory put up anti-suicide nets to prevent workers from jumping from their residential rooms. As the world advances more into the unknown, it is critical to stop and think, “Are we doing the right thing?” Published in the Journal of Science Advances, scientists concluded that human activity has caused mammal extinction to quicken by 20-100 times when compared to the past. As we inevitably develop more technology, we must consider many aspects: sustaining the environment, sustaining humans, and sustaining the culture many have built. 

Bike Helmets

When I researched how my bike helmet was made, I was stunned to find out that every single component was synthetic.  That meant that each and every piece was, at its beginning, either crude oil or natural gas.  After watching this video and jogging memory for vague chemistry understanding, I realized that you could truly make anything synthetically.  Incredible! 

Another cool thing about the bike helmet manufacturing process is that the outside shell is vacuum formed, a process I have personal experience with in the Advanced Concepts Lab.  I never realized that vacuum forming is a process used in industry; until now, I had always thought of it as merely a prototyping tool.

Sennheiser Momentum Over-ear headphones

   

  As average consumers in modern society it is too easy to concern ourselves only with the process that is driving to the store, picking a product and paying for it. A more discerning eye will find that every product has an extensive and unique lifeline pre-market. Whether it be in the countless conceptual design iterations, the gathering of various materials, or the assembly of these materials, a product passes through many hands before it can reach our own.

       If it is within a scope of sustainability that we choose to examine this pre-market process, we must ask many questions. How carefully is the product designed? For whom? How are the materials gathered? Are these natural resources preserved or cared for? Are the assembly workers treated well? 

Surely it is the equal responsibility of the company, manufacturer, and consumer to ensure the utmost quality and integrity of the product's entire lifeline! Yet how unfortunate is it, that each entity often functions as an individual, blissfully ignorant of the others' agenda. I believe this is a trend in "complacent consumerism" that plagues modern society. If left unchecked, we will continue to deplete our natural resources until exhaustion. That being said, there is hope to be found in responsibility and diligence in the preservation of our environment. 

My Product was the Sennheiser Momentum Over-ear Headphones: they are a luxury headphone produced by Sennheiser as a "fashion" headphone and this much is made clear by the lush and liberal use of leather that covers both the headband and the ear cushions. While I'm not too sure myself of the manufacturing conditions/ process I can imagine that there is a considerable eco-price associated with the mass production of leather-bound products. 

Plastic Toy Dinosaurs!

Plastic Toy Dinosaurs! If I didn't have this same one, I definitely had some like it growing up. Though the final result is made only from glue, acrylic paint and hard plastic (Most likely PVC, or Polyvinyl chloride), many materials are used in the production process.

This one comes in four different pieces -- the body, the lower jaw, the tongue and the upper jaw.

Original models of each piece are sculpted from wax, and a relief is made by surrounding them with Silicone. The Silicone cavity left behind is used to create several hard plastic copies of the originals. One of each is then surrounded with clay puddy and plaster to create production molds of either half of each part. A final mold of each part is made by filling the production copies with molten Zinc, alloyed with Copper, Aluminum and Magnesium. This final mold is finally filled with PVC to create the actual plastic parts. These parts are cooled, glued together and painted using acrylic paint.

Though the PVC used in toys will hopefully stay in circulation for a long time, it is rarely able to be recycled and will likely end up as landfill waste. This is because it often contains additives such as chlorine, lead and several carcinogens which are difficult to remove in the recycling process. However, if pure PVC is used, it can be ground down to a powder to create equal quality plastic products.

How it's made glass container

Glass, as one kind of material that is highly widely used and manufacture, is relatively environmental friendly and saving more energy than metal and plastic in the process of making. Glass container always present green. Glass was consisted of several raw material, such as natural ore, silica sand soda ash, quartz stone, caustic soda, and limestone. Glass container, possessing high degree of transparency and  resistance to corrosion, is always used to store the chemical agent. Also the making process is relatively simple.   About 45 percent of silica sand, 15 percent of soda ash which helps melt the silica evenly, 10 percent of limestone which make the finished product more durable and recycled glass, is putted into the furnace and heated under the 1500 degree celsius in 24 hours. Then the molten glass pulls out of furnace and was split into precise amount that is required for making each glass container. Then those precise amount were transported into each bottle forming machine and comes out as miniature version of the bottle, and each bottle moves into the blow mold, which blows and stretch the glass outward to form final shape of bottle. 

Glass also is known as 100 percent recyclable and can be fully recycled without any loss quality. A great amount of releasing of carbon dioxide us saved by recycling waste glass into new item, and the ingredient of making glass is largely contained by the recycled glass. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYWKUB6bP7I