03x09 - Glass

[bunniefuu]

t lo

t long ago, afte

t long ago, after speaking

t long ago, after speaking

to a few tho

t long ago, after speaking

to a few thousand people

in San Antonio at National Auto

Glass Week, which is a thing,

I was presented with the

gift of a tiny windshield.

I'm still not sure what

to do with this thing.

But you'll notice somebody drew

a caricature of my giant head

right there on the glass.

I was very touched by that.

It was just one of the

many things you can do

with this versatile material.

You can temper it.

You can stain it.

You can laminate it.

And you can actually

write on it.

It's kind of incredible.

Here I've written my name right

above my grandfather's name

on this delicious bottle

of noble Tennessee whiskey,

which I could not ship to

you without a glass bottle.

Point being, I can't live

without glass in my life

and neither can you.

Happily, thanks to 100,000

people in the glass industry,

we don't have to.

This episode is all about them.

Because to be

entirely transparent,

they're a critical part

of "How America Works."

[soft music]

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER):

From the moment

we wake up in the morning,

we are surrounded by glass.

You check the glass

screen on your phone,

which may or may not remind

you to put on your glasses.

You drink a glass of water,

maybe look out a glass window,

and dress in front

of a glass mirror

all by the time your

day has barely begun.

Now multiply that routine

by more than 300 million

Americans, and yes,

there's a good bit of glass

in these United States.

And thanks to more than

1,000 glass manufacturers

across the country,

another 33,000 tons of it

is made here every single day.

All melted, molded,

annealed and tempered

by companies like

this one, Arc Americas

in Southern New Jersey.

Here, it takes a team

of nearly 400 men

and women to churn out about a

million perfect pieces of glass

per day.

Today, though,

will be different.

Because, thanks to a pretty

sizable last minute order,

they're now charged

with shipping

out a far more

difficult 1.4 million

pieces by close of business.

And getting all that

underway are guys like batch

operator Bob Banfield.

BOB BANFIELD: This is where

everything in the glass

production process begins.

My saying is, you can't make

nothing out of thin air.

It takes raw materials

to make the product.

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER): And since

about 60% of that raw material

is sand, Bob's going to need

about 25 more tons of the stuff

to make today's quota.

But here at Arc

Americas, they don't just

truck in any old sand.

[rousing music]

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER):

And here's how

that high quality process goes.

First, your sand is mixed

with other ingredients

like limestone and soda ash.

Then, it's sent into

a furnace and heated

up to more than 3,000 degrees.

Once molten, you've

pretty much got glass that

can be blown, molded,

or otherwise shaped

into any number of items

from windows to water jugs.

But before any of

that can happen,

Bob will first need to

ensure that this sand

gets where it's going.

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER): And

as the last of said sand

makes its way into

said silo, Bob can now

head up to the control

room to mix his next batch

of soon-to-be glass.

But on arrival, it seems there's

already a kink in the system.

[upbeat music]

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER): While Bob

heads for the top of the batch

house, over on the factory floor

the many molds and machines

of Arc Americas are

already churning

out hot glass at a rate of

1,300 pieces per minute.

And since all that automation

requires equal measures

of oversight, there are guys

like operator Lonnie Gilbert

whose job here is to ensure

everything works as it should.

LONNIE GILBERT: There's a

lot to be looked at up here.

You got to keep moving all day.

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER):

At the moment,

Lonnie's overseeing the

production of stemware.

But since today's rush order

calls for three different kinds

of it, they've now come

to the point where it's

time to reconfigure the

whole system for glasses

of a different sort.

And as Lonnie

knows all too well,

that can be a

production all its own.

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER): And as

the last of the previous models

file out of the works, it's time

to start swapping some parts.

So after screwing in

some new components,

Lonnie then turns

focus to what's called

a "PLF,' which will

ensure that each of these

glasses stands up straight.

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER):

While Lonnie moves

on to the next phase of his

overhaul, not far away another

of our Americas team is working

on parts of a different kind

possibly the most

important kind.

Because to make glassware,

you need molds

about 70,000 of them

at this facility alone.

And since those molds are

exposed to near-constant heat

and pressure, there's a job

devoted exclusively to dealing

with all the damage that does.

And that job goes to mold

fitter Clyde Solomon.

CLYDE SOLOMON: One thing

we all had to learn

is they can tear them up

faster than we can fix them.

[laughs]

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER): Even so,

Clyde does his best to keep up.

Most recently, he's been tasked

with fixing 12 molds that are

used to create

14-ounce pint glasses,

and in so doing have

taken quite a beating.

CLYDE SOLOMON: Right now

I'm seeing a lot of damage.

I'm seeing glass in the molds.

I have to repair them

and get the holes out,

and polish them, and then

put them back together.

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER):

To start, Clyde

will remove any residual

glass that on occasion can

become stuck inside the molds.

When that happens, a few

taps on the workbench

are usually enough to dislodge

it usually, but not always.

I had to put some

fire on this one.

[rousing music]

That should do it.

That's what happens when

you heat it up like that.

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER): With

the glass out of the way,

Clyde can now get down to the

business of repairing the mold.

But to find out just how

much damage has been done,

he'll first need to

buff away any char,

soot, or other impurities.

And with those now

out of the way,

it's worse than he thought.

Good lord!

[theme music]

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER): It

takes a good bit of glass

to meet the demand

of a growing nation.

And here in the US,

that comes to about

12 million tons per year.

Or to put it another way,

as we are wont to do,

enough to make a

1/4-inch pane of glass

roughly the size of Chicago.

[upbeat music]

It's an annual workload

that keeps the 1,000+

glass manufacturers

of our nation busier

than they have ever been.

Today though, none

of them are quite so

swamped as Arc Americas

in Southern New Jersey.

Thanks to a sizable

last-minute order,

they're cranking full-tilt

to make a record 1.4 million

pieces of glass by day's end.

To pull it off, Clyde

Solomon is going

to have to get these

12 glass molds back

out on the production line.

And judging by the

first of them

Good lord!

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER):

that's going

to be a pain in the glass.

Well, I have a

lot of holes in here

that's got to be taken out.

You got to take it out

a little bit at a time

so it'll stay even.

OK, here we go.

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER): Even the

smallest of dents can result

in glass that's out of spec.

So Clyde uses a

grinder to smooth out

the mold's interior

wall, before switching

to sandpaper for final polish.

That's a that's a

finished product right there.

And this is what it looks

like when you first start.

So now I go from here to here.

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER):

All Clyde has

to do now is repeat that same

process another 11 times.

But, as he's about to find out,

something a tad more urgent

has just come up on

the factory floor.

Hey, Clyde!

Look, I got to stop you.

They need this in the

hot end right away.

I mean, it's bad.

It might be the worst

one I've ever seen.

Oh, you ain't never lied.

I got to agree with you.

- Yep.

- All right.

- All right.

I got you.

Thanks.

I see knockouts.

I see metal missing.

I see cuts.

And these are all

cut damage inside.

That right there

got to be welded,

because that's mad damaged.

See that right there?

That's bad damage.

[rousing music]

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER): While

Clyde puts a rush on his latest

repair, over at the

batch house operator

Bob Banfield is

having maintenance

problems of his own.

In his case, with a contraption

called a diverter that,

for the moment, has

stopped moving raw sand to

the proper furnace for melting.

So he's headed four

stories up to the very top

of the batch house to try

and get things back on track.

This is the issue

we've got right now.

The skid ain't going

over all the way.

[light music]

The gate has a come

all the way over

to go down this other street.

So you see, there's

a little bit of build

up there on the left side.

Sometimes that's just enough

to prevent it from going over.

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER):

Fortunately for Bob,

issues like this

are usually nothing

a scraper and a little

elbow grease can handle.

[upbeat music]

But to be sure, he's

going to need to confirm

that with the control room.

Yo, Rick?

It's still in

automatic, right?

All right, keep

it right there.

I'm I'm about ready to

turn on the air lines.

Let me know if I get

a green indication.

[rousing music]

OK, well, everything

looks good up here.

How's it look down there?

All right, man.

I'm going to button

up and head back down,

and I'll be down in a minute.

[upbeat music]

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER):

Meanwhile, down on the factory

floor, the three

furnaces of Arc Americas

are already kicking

out 600 pounds

of molten glass per minute.

But to turn that into their

latest order of stemware,

operator Lonnie Gilbert

will first need to swap

some parts on the factory line.

Specifically what are known

as "stem loader tongs,"

which, when hit with a steady

stream of 900 degree glass,

tend to wear out every

eight hours or so.

[rousing music]

And with some 24 new

tongs now in place,

it's time to fire up the

whole production line

and make any final

adjustments from there.

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER): And

with just a few more tweaks,

Lonnie finally starts to see

the kind of glass he's after.

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER): With

everything now dialed in,

this production line

can churn out stemware

at a rate of 100

pieces per minute,

leaving Lonnie some time

to tidy up his workstation.

[ominous music]

[theme music]

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER): It takes

quite the workforce to bring

glass to the American public.

In all, just under 100,000

men and women, each of whom

will dole out another 700

pounds of glass per day,

and together support an industry

worth $31 billion a year.

[light music]

But getting all that done

can be an uphill battle.

Just ask the folks

at Arc Americas who,

come hell or high ball,

have a rush order to fill

and a record 1.4 million

pieces to put out by day's end.

But down on the factory floor,

mere minutes into his latest

run of stemware

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER):

operator

Lonnie Gilbert has

heard the familiar sound

of a system malfunction.

A sound that usually

means one of the 100+

hoses that feed these flames

has suddenly come loose.

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER):

When that happens,

it's up to guys like Lonnie

to find the afflicted hose

and get it back in

line with the rest.

[rousing music]

[upbeat music]

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER): When it

comes to glass manufacturing,

there are a lot of moving parts.

Which, as you may

have noticed, can lead

to a lot of mechanical issues.

[glass shatters]

That's why, to do their

job, just about everyone

here has to know their

way around a wrench.

But for the more

advanced maintenance,

Arc Americas always keeps

a specialist on site.

And on this busiest day of days,

that honor goes to production

mechanic Tom Brooks.

TOM BROOKS: I've been

here almost four years.

I did construction, auto

mechanics before this.

I find I settled

in quite well here.

I like it.

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER):

And what's not to like?

You got your triple digit

temperatures, your 100

decibel ambiance, the

sweet, soothing crunch

of glass underfoot.

And in Tom's extra lucky case,

the daily privilege of working

in the basement where all the

trappings of a glass factory

converge at the highest level.

Take one of the

most humid places

you've been and double it.

It's it's pretty humid

down there, hot, loud.

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER): All that

heat and noise comes courtesy

of three rake assemblies

designed to catch molten glass

discarded from above

and shuttle it back

into production, saving

Arc Americas about 80 tons

worth of product every day.

But doing all that can come

with some serious wear and tear.

So it's up to Tom to ensure that

everything is in working order.

So we're going to take

a look at everything.

Look for any major holes, rips.

Make sure the plow's working.

[upbeat music]

Checking for bearings for

coming apart, loose bolts.

So everything's looking

good on this area

here, so we're going to

continue on down the line.

I'm going to inspect

the next break.

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER):

But midway

through that second

inspection, something

appears to be a little off.

And I'm noticing the cable.

And by the angle of that

cable hanging straight down,

she's broken here.

So we're going to pull

it out and take a look.

Yep.

Yeah, that snapped

off pretty good.

We're going to have

to replace this cable.

[upbeat music]

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER): While

Tom digs in for an extended stay

in the basement, back

up on the factory

floor another of Arc Americas

team is conducting inspections

of a different kind.

Because there's not

much point in creating

more than a million

pieces of glass today

if they're not up

to company standard.

So every step of

the way, they'll

be measured, tested,

and otherwise evaluated

by a series of checkpoints

and more importantly, a team

of quality control specialists.

And at the forefront of

that effort are QC crew

leaders like Annette Young.

ANNETTE YOUNG: And this is the

[imdistinct] 16-ounce glass.

Right now I'm gauging

the height to make sure

that the height is correct.

If it doesn't go in here,

that means it's over-height.

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER):

On any given shift,

Annette will subject

some 1,500 pieces

to her battery of tests

and as you'll see,

there are quite a few.

But for now, let's

focus on rim dimensions.

Take it away, Annette.

This will gauge

the rim of the glass

to make sure that the rim is

not out of shape or defective.

[techno music]

Now, this gauge

doesn't fit this class.

It is clearly out of shape.

This is a reject.

It's rocking, and

it's out of shape.

I will give this

to the controller

and let him know that he's

got a defective blast.

[rousing music]

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER):

It's never

great to learn that you've just

made dozens of unusable glasses

and wasted an hour of

your precious time.

But with over 34

years on the job,

Annette has developed

her own subtle way

of breaking that news

right between the eyes.

Right now you have

rocker bottoms and you

have out-of-shape rims running.

Will you let the hot end know?

(SINGING) This is

how America works.

[theme music]

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER):

When most of us

hear the word "glass,"

what do we think?

A beverage container?

A window?

Maybe something to break

if there's an emergency,

or a Jewish wedding?

That's all well and good.

But to be perfectly

transparent, it's

only scratching the surface

of what glass can do.

In the right hands, this stuff

has the power to stop b*ll*ts,

frame our most

cutting-edge architecture,

or show us galaxies millions

of light years away.

And that's just to name a

few of the modern miracles

made possible by glass.

But make no mistake, the world

needs your more common glass

products, too.

Which is why in

Southern New Jersey,

the men and women of Arc

Americas work 24/7 to make sure

those items are kept

in steady supply.

And with a rush order

to fill by day's end,

they're cranking double time

to create another 1.4 million

pieces for the American public.

Which, for batch

operator Bob Banfield,

means it's time to mix and send

another round of raw materials

to the furnaces for melting.

This is the weighing and

mixing process right here.

And the back scales draw

from the silos above me,

above my head.

Once everything's

weighed up, everything

is discharged into the

mixing, then get delivered

by conveyors to the furnaces.

So the batches are

continual, one after another.

It doesn't stop.

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER):

But like everything

here, a system this

complicated requires

near-constant oversight.

And judging by this

screen, Bob's attention

may soon be needed

in the mixing area.

I've got a large

gap between batches,

so I know something's

wrong upstairs.

I didn't throw an

alarm yet, but I'm

just staying ahead of the game.

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER): Bob's

been around long enough to know

that a gap in the batches

more often than not

means there's a clog

somewhere in the works.

And on heading upstairs

to investigate,

it doesn't take long to find it.

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER):

With the clog now cleared,

theoretically anyway,

all that's left

is to return to the

control room to see

if the batch gaps have gone.

Now, this batch is

just about complete.

This scale just about

completed its way.

And this the previous

batch is still going here,

so I know I'm close.

If the batches are close,

then I know I'm good.

[upbeat music]

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER):

Meanwhile, on the other end

of the production process,

quality control crew leader

Annette Young has

left the factory

floor to conduct some

more in-depth testing

on today's order.

So with another 50

test subjects in tow,

she's come here to Arc

America's resident lab.

We do try to make

good quality wear,

and this lab right here will

tell us if it's good or not.

So now I'm getting

ready to go annealing.

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER):

What's annealing?

Well, when molten

glass is stamped out

in rapid succession,

the resulting pieces

are incredibly

stressed to the point

that they can crack, or even

explode, without warning.

So to prevent that, they're

run through a kind of kiln

which removes

those stress points

for a far more sturdy glass.

But to make sure that process

actually works as intended,

Annette will need to

subject them to what's

known as a scratch test.

I will scratch it with a

circle and an X in the middle.

See?

You hear it snapping?

This glass is

automatically breaking.

This is bad annealing.

So now I take the water

and I put it in each glass.

And when I put this water

in here, if it's good,

it will not break.

That ware that

annealing is bad,

so I didn't even get a

chance to put the water

in it before it broke.

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER): The

remaining glasses, however,

seem to be holding

together just fine.

As for the ones that

didn't make the cut,

Annette will once again

inform the factory that they

still have some work to do.

Hey, fellas.

Annealing on the

21 is still bad.

Yes.

We will keep checking

this every half hour

until the annealing is good.

[rousing music]

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER):

While Annette gets back

to her rounds, somewhere below

in Arc Americas basement,

production mechanic

Tom Brooks has found

a faulty piece of his own.

In his case, a 1-inch cable that

was pulling this rake assembly,

but in the process reached

its breaking point.

So having procured

a fresh cable,

along with a second

set of hands,

he should now have

everything he needs to get

the rake back up and running.

There are two clamps right

there that hold the cable on.

So we'll remove them to

be able to get it off,

and then we'll wrap

the new one three

times, slip it through that

hole, and then re-clamp it.

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER): And, as

always, time will be a factor.

Because with molten products

still raining down from above,

Tom and his helper have just

precious minutes to complete

the repair before the

glass buildup becomes

more than this rake can handle.

I'm gonna put

the new cable in.

I'm going to put one cable

clamp just to hold it so there's

not going to be any tension.

All right.

He's going to start running

it, and the top cable

is going to start spooling on.

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER): But while

re-spooling the new cable

Oh!

Joe!

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER):

Tom spots a new problem.

[bleep] the other

cable come off.

[ominous music]

[theme music]

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER): It's

easy to take everyday things

like glass for granted.

I mean, we've been using

the stuff for one thing

or another for the

past 6,000 years.

And along the way,

we've also come to learn

that it has a lot

of useful properties

that other materials don't.

It's weather resistant.

It's rust-proof.

It can transmit light

or conversely, it can

block electricity.

But among the more

unique qualities of glass

is the fact that it exists in

a state of constant motion.

Not that you can see

it with the naked eye.

But on a microscopic

level, glass molecules

are endlessly shifting and

jostling against one another

making it neither a solid nor

a liquid, but rather something

in between.

Anyway, that's probably common

knowledge to the men and women

of Arc Americas, who here

in Southern New Jersey

are putting their mastery

of all things glass

to the ultimate test.

The goal, get a record 1.4

million pieces of the stuff

out the door by day's end.

But down in the basement, that's

not going as well as hoped.

Because to keep glass scraps

from filling the room,

each of these rake

assemblies must also remain

in a state of constant motion.

And while attempting to replace

a cable on one of them

Yo!

[bleep]

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER):

Tom Brooks

has hit a bit of a setback.

It's pulled back over itself.

So we'll have to go down.

We're going have to pull that

plow manually to the other end

so we can get a lot of

slack in that top cable

so we can slip that

back over the drum.

[upbeat music]

Luckily we called

that when we did,

so it's easy fix to

get back on track.

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER):

But there's still

one step left to this repair

tensioning the new cable.

And unfortunately for Tom, that

can only be done from here

above a 180 degree water

trough with hot glass

crashing down, left and right.

And here's the fun part

when they start gobbing off

and sending off wares that

they're not going to use,

you start getting the

hot splashes on you.

Now I'm going to cut

the excess cable off

and we'll be finished

up here on this part.

[rousing music]

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER):

And with the new cable

securely in place,

all that remains

is to fire this rake back

up and see how she runs.

My partner's getting

the electrical cabinet

ready to run it.

When I tell him go ahead,

he'll run it down for me.

I'll signal him when to stop.

So we're ready to

ready to run it back.

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER): But

as Tom's about to find out,

this rake may have its

work cut out for it.

See that glowing wad

of glass down there?

Yeah, those are not good.

[indistinct yelling]

They got a boulder!

[bleep]

[upbeat music]

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER):

Meanwhile, back upstairs,

quality control crew

leader Annette Young

is once again on the

move and on the lookout

for defective glass.

To that end, she's come here

to inspect some stemware one

of the more intricate designs,

and also one of the more

prone to showing flaws.

Sometimes we run bent

stems, out of shape

rims, and unlevel feet.

Sometimes they have

[indistinct] glass on the rim

or the inside of the bowl.

So we have to inspect to make

sure that we have good ware

so that our customer

receives good ware.

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER): But

when belting out 100 classes

per minute, the odd

imperfection is bound

to come up sooner or later.

And it seems Annette has

found her first on the line.

This glass is a bad glass.

The glass is

off-center right here.

And the bowl, when I turn it,

I can see it's really pooled.

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER): And

when there's one bad glass

in the bunch, it

follows that more might

have come from the same mold.

So Annette will also have to

check a pallet that was packed

from this line to see if

any more of this order

has been compromised.

And what do you know?

This glass is an

uneven cut glass.

As I turn it, you will see

the rim go slightly up.

This is a minor defect.

So with this pallet, if I find

three, I can block this pallet.

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER):

It's not ideal,

but it's certainly better than

shipping sub-par product

and apparently, this pallet

has no shortage of that.

There's another one.

I found three uneven

cut wine glasses.

That exceeds our limit sample,

so this pallet will have to be

blocked and sent to reselect.

[light music]

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER): When

Annette raises the flag

on her latest batch of bad

glass, not far away mold fitter

Clyde Solomon is taking measures

to prevent those kinds of flaws

altogether.

Because to make perfect

pieces you need perfect molds,

and right now this one

could still use some work.

CLYDE SOLOMON: See the

knockouts right here?

What I mean by a knockout

is this right here.

See, metal is missing.

So now I have to weld them.

[rousing music]

That's how you fix knockouts.

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER): And

with these particular knockouts

now filled in, all Clyde

has to do is clean them up.

But once you

fill in that hole,

you've got to take

the excess weld away.

See here?

This is where I welded at.

So now I take that down.

Now I've got to turn it over.

Now I've got to take the

weld out from the inside.

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER): From

there, it's just a matter

of polish and repeat

until this mold is

once again ready for service.

Hey, Clyde.

Hey, boss.

You're right on time.

- It's done?

It's done.

Oh, man!

Excellent job.

Thank you.

Yes, boss.

[upbeat music]

I got that bad mold done.

Now I can get back

to my original plan.

I got these molds to get

done, and then I'll be done.

[light music]

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER):

It's late afternoon

here in Southern New Jersey.

Close to quitting time for

the day shift of Arc Americas

who, despite a long line

of snafus and setbacks,

have nearly completed their

rush order for a record 1.4

million pieces of glass.

But before the last of

those glasses can be cast,

Clyde Solomon here will first

need to finish cleaning up

the 12 molds required to do it.

And fortunately for him, he's

already in the homestretch.

All right.

I'm going to put

these molds together,

and then I'll finally

be done for the day.

These are the push ups that you

put back inside of the mold.

They all got numbers on them.

Like, this in 71

it's a 71 mold.

So I put it in, and then

I find 71 mold here.

Then I tighten it back up.

That's done.

This is what it this is what

it looks like when it's done.

You put it back in here.

MIKE ROWE (VOICEOVER): And

with that, all that's left

is to repeat the process.