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There are a LOT of industries with this problem. Specialist stuff like military shipbuilding is an example, but also things like precision ball bearings. Knowl
by foobiekr 6y ago
There are a LOT of industries with this problem. Specialist stuff like military shipbuilding is an example, but also things like precision ball bearings. Knowledge gets lost all the time and old timers have to be brought back in after the fact. Or the technology is just lost and a replacement has to be reinvented (famously, the production of tamper material for the US thermonuclear nuclear weapons).
- shagie 6y agoThe precision ball bearings thing reminded me of a news item from a few years ago: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/01/18/finally-china-manufactures-a-ballpoint-pen-all-by-itself/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/01/18... The relevant part of the article: > To anyone outside of the ballpoint pen manufacturing world, it might seem hard to understand what, exactly, is so surprising about this development. China already produces 38 billion ballpoint pens a year, according to China Daily, which is about 80 percent of all ballpoint pens in the world. That's a lot of pens, but there was a catch: China had long been unable to produce a high-quality version of the most important part of the pen, its tip. > The tip of a ballpoint pen is what makes it a ballpoint pen. At the tip, a freely rotating ball is held in a small socket which connects it to an ink reservoir that allows the pen to write or draw lines. Manufacturing a ballpoint pen tip that can write comfortably for a long period of time requires high-precision machinery and precisely thin steel, but for years China was unable to match those crafted by foreign companies.