Comment by tkgally | Hacker News Reader

Comment by tkgally | Hacker News Reader

The linked video is on a Japanese YouTube channel called Process X [1]. A couple of similar Korean channels are All Process of the World [2] and 프로세스 케이 Process K [3].

For the last couple of months, I’ve been watching a lot of these videos. It’s interesting to see how products are manufactured today. The processes range from fully automated and robotized to skilled handiwork, with most being semiautomated and including a surprising (to me) amount of what looks like low-skill hand labor.

The YouTube channels themselves are a mystery to me. It’s not clear who is making the videos or what the financial relationship is between the video producers and the factories covered. When I started watching Process X, I thought the channel might be backed by a Japanese government or industrial organization that wants to promote understanding of skilled manufacturing (monozukuri in Japanese). But normally such backing would be declared openly. Now I wondering if it’s just a small group of YouTubers doing it for the ad revenue, with the factories participating for the publicity. If anybody knows, please let us know.

In any case, the videos are very well made and fascinating to watch.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChZgikssAJkmiQOv_sO-ngQ

[2] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSNIT8Z40XgB4RKk9Vhf1eA

[3] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoah0FMpaTxHpZlF09kqQmg

There are videos with similar production values showing manufacturing lines that are perhaps less focused on displaying world-class part quality. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2EDb8n8IgU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_B59F5FAJk

Straight from the dawn of mass manufacturing. No material handing at all-- you just pay some guy ten cents an hour to pick up a part and walk it from one station to another. Each workstation is 1920s-style full manual lathes and mills with hard fixturing. You could ask for material traceability documentation if you wanted to hear a chorus of laughter: the metal on those sprockets appears to be random scrap sheet fresh from the side of the road.

The sprockets in particular could be done with a single progressive stamping press. It would replace the jobs of what appears to be 20 separate people and would cost 100x what they would make in their entire life.

> You could ask for material traceability documentation if you wanted to hear a chorus of laughter

More like, if you want to get a fake document. That happened all the time to my dad. He needed a certain grade of steel that was rated for use in nuclear reactors, and would get completely unqualified materials that had been stamped with whatever grade he’d requested.

They’re like COVID test certificates.

I'm in total awe of manufacturing processes both automated and manual. When watching the Japanese factory I could tell that safety was a high priority. I've heard stories about metal pouring gone wrong, and could see that that process was well controlled.

In the sprocket manufacturing shop, I kept thinking of ways those processes could go wrong. In particular that first press with the foot pedal made me cringe. Yet the shop seemed successful, and they produced sprockets. I wouldn't care to guess how many sprockets per finger that place averages though.

Either way, finding a process that can be repeated for profit seems magical. It's a far cry from the uncertainty that seems so widespread right now.

I'm totally hooked on these (pakistani?) videos. It's sort of relaxing, and cheap edutainment.

What I've seen is that lots of these videos are uploaded to many YouTube channels (ripped from one to the other, or having the same people behind, I don't know). They don't even have that many views, and don't post super frequently, I'm not sure they're making a living through ad revenue. I would love to read a piece on who's behind these videos, it's very intriguing.

1 crore views per month on YT let you live like a king in PK.

They are living almost entirely off Western clicks, since Asian traffic counts for nothing in YT algo.

A classmate of mine once made an amateur documentary about Pakistani heavy industry few years ago, and then it oddly took off.

crore = 10 million. Not a unit that I was familiar with...

These do look like from Pakistan. There is a story (no idea how true) that goes around about expertise of some of these mechanics that one of the nuclear scientists (Abdul Qadeer probably) needed a cylinder part but the manufacturing plant wasn't getting it right. He eventually hired one of these expert local mechanics to make it for him and that guy made it perfectly for him.

I tried searching to see what I could find, and it seems like the channels are run by a Korean living in Japan. (I suppose it could be multiple individuals)

For example, here's an article by a company that collaborated with Process X: https://www2.niigata-nippo.co.jp/ibuki/11453/

Thanks! That makes sense.

Ah I see the Youtube algorithm has been recommending it to my fellow HN readers. I felt this channel was a hidden gem that I stumbled upon by accident.

The recent video on lightbulbs really shows how music can really alter the mood and how you feel when watching a video. I walked away from that video feeling how beautiful and majestic the whole process was but after thinking about it, the music really had a lot to do with that feeling, after all they are just making lightbulbs...

[1]:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSbVFXjbBDo

> Now I wondering if it’s just a small group of YouTubers doing it for the ad revenue

I just knew those notoriously greedy Japanese manhole manufacturing YouTubers were in it for the money

"Now I wondering if it’s just a small group of YouTubers doing it for the ad revenue, with the factories participating for the publicity. If anybody knows, please let us know."

You nailed it. They shoot for free. There's no sponsorship, other than linking to the companies site or instagram.

I'm going to guess they realized multiple revenue streams to everyone's benefit!

I took a bunch of photos of these back when I was a kid on an exchange trip, the artistry on them was really notable. Very beautiful stuff.

I guess manufactories are just proud of what they are doing and want to show the world how it is done. That's what I got from going to factory tours myself when I have the opportunity.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com