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How pencils are made in a Japanese factory [video]
- StevePerkins 3y agoIt's been ~40 years, but this brings back a delightful memory of being bored in middle school, and drawing out a design for a pencil factory. I don't remember all the details, but their design is probably a little better.
- jpn 3y agohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67tHtpac5ws https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67tHtpac5ws
- elteto 3y agoIt is not immediately obvious, but the video has subtitles explaining the whole process.
- dylan604 3y agoI wouldn't say it's exactly the "whole" process.
- Arrath 3y agoTo make a pencil, you must first create the universe.
- heattemp99 3y ago[flagged]
- RetroTechie 3y agoI, Pencil https://fee.org/articles/i-pencil/ https://fee.org/articles/i-pencil/ True for so many 'simple' items in our world of mass-production. 100's if not 1000's of people laboured to bring even the simplest items into existence.
- dylan604 3y agoShallow depth of field looks really cool when the subject is actually in focus, but just looks like crap when nothing is in focus. Lots of close ups of random parts of machinery that is not obvious what so ever is the intent of what's supposed to be shown. It was almost a cool video.
- chongli 3y agoI’m guessing they did that deliberately to hide some of their trade secrets.
- dylan604 3y ago[flagged]
- kman82 3y agoRude, presumptuous and condescending. Have some manners
- zippyman55 3y agoYou can be a sharper person.
- ehnto 3y agoMy guess too, really common in factory tours. Years of development can go into tooling, it's a huge asset.
- pjot 3y agoLooks like cedar - it must smell amazing in there.
- quickthrower2 3y agoSurprisingly manual intervention seems to be required
- analog31 3y agoI've done some factory automation. Something I learned is that automating the last 20% of the process takes 80% of the work. Removing the last remaining manual processes gets exponentially harder and more costly.
- iancmceachern 3y agoAnd often in doing this last 20% we come across the fact that the human portion of the assy process does so much more than it seems on the surface. Things like predicting and correcting for errors, keeping things going that aren't immediately obvious.
- teacpde 3y agoMy guess is it is probably cheaper than fully automating the process with machines.
- guhidalg 3y agoIt is, or rather they may not have enough production volume to justify full automation. Buying the machinery and setting it up to automate a production line only makes sense when your volumes are massive. I didn’t watch the video but $DAYJOB is a consumer goods company that manufactures, some fully automated some with human operators.
- stjohnswarts 3y agowood quality is quite variable so it's to be expected.
- freetime2 3y agoFound some of their pencils on Amazon. A pack of 14 standard HB pencils is ¥565 ($3.94) [1]. I'm kind of tempted to get this set of colored pencils after watching the video [2]. Looks like their best selling product is a mechanical pencil that comes with a 2mm thick graphite core that can be sharpened into a point [3]... never seen that before and actually kind of a cool idea. [1] https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00CB700UK/ https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00CB700UK/ [2] https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00AHA3BGS/ https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00AHA3BGS/ [3] https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B005N3NQHS/ https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B005N3NQHS/
- fermentation 3y agoSurprisingly not available on jetpens !
- ehnto 3y agoFun tidbit, the Japenese word for a mechanical pencil is two english loan words, Sharp Pencil ( シャープペンシル )
- freetime2 3y agoAnd apparently the creator of the "Ever-Ready Sharp Pencil" in Japan went on to found the electonics company "Sharp", whose name is derived from the pencil: > The mechanical pencil became successful in Japan with some improvements in 1915 by Tokuji Hayakawa, a metalworker who had just finished his apprenticeship. It was introduced as the "Ever-Ready Sharp Pencil". Success was not immediate since the metal shaft—essential for the pencil's long life—was unfamiliar to users. The Ever-Ready Sharp began selling in huge numbers after a company from Tokyo and Osaka made large orders. Later, Tokuji Hayakawa's company got its name from that pencil: Sharp. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_pencil https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_pencil
- 2muchcoffeeman 3y agoLead holders are quite common if you venture into an art supply store. I prefer them to normal pencils because you have the full length pencil even when the lead is tiny. These ones look very nice though.
- femiagbabiaka 3y agoIn this genre: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2HMP1Co4zw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2HMP1Co4zw
- xoe26 3y agoAlso, these pedals made in Scotland https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlDWM-3CV8g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlDWM-3CV8g
- femiagbabiaka 3y agoWow, I love small machine shops!
- raldi 3y agoAnyone know what the labels on the defect bins were? Or what was written during the pencil test at the end?
- karaokeyoga 3y ago北 = kita (north) 星 = boshi (from hoshi, meaning star) 鉛筆 = enpitsu (pencil) So … "Kitaboshi Pencil" or "North Star Pencil", the company name.
- freetime2 3y agoThe labels on the defect bin were things like scratched, rough, curved, stuck together, and uneven coating.
- karaokeyoga 3y agohttps://goo.gl/maps/hRm71TwRbSBEdop76 https://goo.gl/maps/hRm71TwRbSBEdop76 … east Tokyo city, within the 23 wards.
- 2muchcoffeeman 3y agoI love these industrial machinery videos. I wish I had done the necessary subjects at university to go into this.
- stjohnswarts 3y agothe clicking and clacking and movement is very soothing. This machinery is probably 50 years old tho. I went to a glass factory that was using equipment from over 100 years ago.
- jdhzzz 3y agoMy thoughts exactly. What am I seeing that wasn't obviously not available in the 1950s?
- Tepix 3y agoSee also: https://youtu.be/894G_ZPl6KU https://youtu.be/894G_ZPl6KU With explanations, in German
- NoMoreNicksLeft 3y agoOur story starts with Hakomiru, a man who has studied diligently all his life in the art of pencil-making. He first apprenticed with his grandfather 58 years ago, and inherited the the family tradition several decades later. Hakomiru will walk 11,000 kilometers in the coming year, exploring forests and woods looking for the perfect lumber for his pencils. Not just any wood will do. Once a tree is selected and a price negotiated with the owner, the process of felling this tree will begin. Delicate wood saws are employed, no axes as these impact on the tree stump may subtly alter the grain. These saws cost upwards of $40,000 and must not be mistreated! Our artisan Hakomiru will spend no fewer than 16 days sawing it at exactly 67cm above the point at which the tree meets the soil. As the saw approaches the point at which the timber may start to fall on its own, Hakomiru hurries to retrieve it so that it isn't twisted in the felling. The saw will not be ready to fell another tree until it has been polished by a master sawblade polisher, a job that can take up to 18 months! Next, Hakomiru loads the log onto a traditional pencilmaster's log-hauling cart, which he and his assistants will pull by hand into town. From there, it will be loaded onto one of Japan's 296 maglev high-speed trains, where it will take another 17 minutes before it arrives in his workshop on the other side of Japan. Hakomiru is very excited, this may be the best log he has ever harvested and well worth the $190,000 price tag. But that is still unknown, and will be until he can peel the bark in a grueling 30 month ordeal. Should things turn out well, the log can then begin air drying. A translator speaks: "We never let the lumber air dry less than 22 years, and with luck I will live to see this one ready for the next phase, since I will only be 94 years of age at that point!"
- srvmshr 3y agoKitaboshi Pencil Factory is within cycling distance from my home in Katsushika ward. This news item makes me so happy! You don't see things from your neighborhood make to the trending HN section everyday :)
- stjohnswarts 3y agoFun video. I don't think I've used a wooden pencil since 6th grade tho.
- LittleNemoInS 3y agoI visited the Caran d'Ache [1] factory in Geneva a few years back, it's very similar [2]. Except they have a system to be sure all the pencils are in the same position in the box, with the name on top. It's a system with a camera and shape recognition, used for high end sets. [1] https://www.carandache.com/ch/en/ https://www.carandache.com/ch/en/ [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rki-EDU3cUg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rki-EDU3cUg
- christkv 3y agoI love this channel it's very relaxing just to watch them go about their business.
- thomasfl 3y agoThe same video without ads: https://yewtu.be/watch?v=Lk_57TP6RFk https://yewtu.be/watch?v=Lk_57TP6RFk
- PcChip 3y agoa few observations: - I didn't see any ads (uBlock origin) - this video looks lower quality
- 7373737373 3y agoI, Pencil: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67tHtpac5ws https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67tHtpac5ws
- 0898 3y agoI always wonder, when I see videos like this: who creates the system of little machines that nudge, shove and knock items from one step to the next? What's their job called? And when that is your job, can you just go into any factory and come up with the answer – or do you specialise in a certain field? And all the parts you use commodity, or are they specific to pencil making, for example? If anyone has any light to shed on this field of work I'd be interested to learn more.
- alexdeloy 3y agoI reckon that is called material flow and logistics and is an area inside mechanical engineering schools. I worked in the past for companies doing just that in every size from a pencil to parts as big as a car.
- greggyb 3y agoIn a similar vein, but for different products, but also with much more focus on the "back end" of the process: https://youtu.be/GDzBE6vz5r0?si=UfbbEIveujVciaTs https://youtu.be/GDzBE6vz5r0?si=UfbbEIveujVciaTs
- mschuster91 3y ago> who creates the system of little machines that nudge, shove and knock items from one step to the next? Industry automation companies. A big part of the German Mittelstand - a ton of companies of all sizes, from small ventures like HEITEC over mid-sized like KUKA (the robotics guys that the German government in all its ignorance tolerated to be bought up by China) to giant megacorps like Siemens. Particularly the small shops aren't really known, not even here in Germany... but worldwide, out of ~3.400 businesses classified as "hidden champions" aka market leaders in their niche worldwide, Germany has 1.573 such companies, surpassing everyone including the US worldwide by far [1]. Think of it like YKK from Japan, the undisputed champion in high quality zippers, just even less known to the general public... such machines that nudge, shove and knock items, each of them is made by a dedicated German company specializing in a specific type of machine, made with parts made by another dedicated German company. Yes, conglomerates could gobble all of that up and use advantages of vertical scaling, but they're all owned by the founder families and their descendants, in many cases across many generations. They won't ever sell out or share their knowledge, and so they remain in business because they have ironed out all kinks and wrinkles in their specialty machines over decades if not centuries - and upstart competitors have to start from scratch. On top of that, their staff is extremely loyal, you can't just go and poach them and their knowledge. [1] https://www.iwd.de/artikel/hidden-champions-die-starken-aus-der-zweiten-reihe-424550/ https://www.iwd.de/artikel/hidden-champions-die-starken-aus-...