See USB flash drives manufactured in this shocking behind-the-scenes video
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted August 25th 2009 3:25AM
posted August 25th 2009 3:25AM
No, Billy, USB thumb drives are not made in a magical land with fairy dust and Unicorn tears, and they're not born in the space beneath the Razzleberry waterfall. Yes, we're as shocked as you are. Luckily, the gang at Netbook News are on hand to set us straight with this video of the Kingston Manufacturing Plant, which offers us a rare glimpse into all of the stamping, printing, baking, cutting, and packaging that goes into getting you the portable storage you crave. Interesting? You bet it is -- and it's after the break.
[Via Make]
[Via Make]
See more video at our hub!
All those machines yet someone has to put the stickers on each one manually??? wtf???
That's what I thought. And if I buy a flash drive for $15, with store mark-up along with all the other mark-ups from the time of shipment from the plant, how much are each of these employees making? Specifically the one who puts the stickers on.
lols they are still using windows XP
Well, it sure beats trying to run a manufacturing plant on OSX.
I'd say 'smart' rather than 'lols' but yeah they do it seems.
I'd totally use these machines to make pizza =D
Fairly typical Deutch dry presentation style. Credit to him for speaking English.
I was surprised at his use of "feet" as a measurement. This leads me to believe he has been living in the 'States for a couple of years - he'd've kept with meters (sic) if he'd been living in the UK.
I suspect the labelling machine must've broken down, and to keep production rolling (idle machines costs big bucks) they were using this alternate (obviously undesirable) method. Our 3480 cartridges used to come machine labelled and those are a nightmare to label compared to a USB stick.
Lets get this out of the way
Can it play crysis?!!
Will it blend?
In Soviet Russia, USB drive makes you!
OMG did he die? (a failblog favourite)
That is all.
Here's a new one:
Are you going to be this annoying every post?
Sorry was one of those going to be your valuable contributions?
All you people complaining about his accent must be the same ignorant Americans the need subtitles on any accent that isn't American.
Drives me nuts seeing subtitles being used on perfectly understandable English just because it's a British or some other accent
Pathetic IMO
Agreed. I watched it and I didn't have any trouble understanding him whatsoever.
I suspect he isn't German, else why would he said 10 feet instead of meters? English is probably not his first language though... he called that faceless girl a "fella". LOL.
In addition, that hat of his is so annoying... out of place.
your mother is annoying
Wikipedia:
"Taiwan is an island located in East Asia between the South China Sea and the East China Sea off the southeastern coast of mainland China. Since the end of the World War II in 1945, the island group has been under the government of the Republic of China"
What's this melting stuff at 1:14 to 1:16??
If you made it to the end, there was a female voice talking about final packaging. Her voice sounded much pleasant.
from his twitter site: "mobile techblogger who travels between Europe,Taiwan and the West Coast. In addition to this Sascha provides keynote addresses and motivational speeches."
ouch
And yes, he's German.
Awesome stuff. I actually just saw this featured on my friend's site yesterday. http://www.thedailyharangue.com, or more specifically at http://www.thedailyharangue.com/2009/08/how-usb-flash-drive-is-made.html
Most of you guys would love the site. Check it out.
The narrator and cameraman basically doubled the human population inside the manufacturing plant...
I love these!
Sure, let's just ignore the "NO CAMERA" notice on the door.
On is reminded that in Hertford, Hereford, and Hampshire, hurricanes hardly ever happen.
I love it how people automatically assume that because someone makes rude comments about someone else that they are from America. That in itself is just as bad as people making the rude comments originally. Newsflash..there are rude people all over the world. Imagine that. Personally I have no problem with his voice because I see him doing reviews on Netbook News all the time. Could he have been better prepared for the tour? Probably. Who knows, maybe Kingston rushed him.
Very interesting, I was a bit surprised of all the testing along the way versus just at the end. Also surprised it wasn't more straight flow thru seems like separate machines with separate loading processes. Guess I didn't know much about manufacturing.
thats more than ten feet...