I was astounded by the level of automation in the Mullard plant.
Mullard - The Blackburn Vacuum Tubes Factory (Full) - YouTube
Mullard - The Blackburn Vacuum Tubes Factory (Full) - YouTube
Detailed high-tech factory films like this one are interesting also because they show the factory workflow and the state of the art at that time. There is another Philips documentary on youtube like this one, it was filmed before WWII Philips Factory Thirties - YouTube.
On past automation efforts the main goal was to replace skilled workers with unskilled ones. Manpower reduction was mostly beyond technology capabilities. As you can see the component feeding was a manual job; the machine only made the placement and soldering. And it was a mindbogglingly tedious and slightly dangerous job due to missing safety features - there is a well known humourous sketch about this on a Charlie Chaplin film. This is also why it is almost impossible to keep a old industrial machine in service today, at least on a western country, even if it is still in perfect working order. Beside the maintenance issues due to unavailable spare parts, it needs to be equipped with modern protection devices and a automated feeding system: the manpower cost is simply too high even at minimum wage. Sometimes it is possible to just add one or more anthropomorphic articulated robotic arms to give the old production line a few more years of service instead of selling it to less developed countries.
By the way, Mullard made several documentaries about tube technology on high resolution color and BW 35mm films ; they are partially listed on the "Mullard Outook" volume 1 number 10 (July 1951). Mullard sold them at promotional price to institutions. Sadly this low quality copy pulled from a VHS tape is the only one surfaced on Internet yet. I guess that early electronics is not a general interest argument and the Mullard film rolls are currently rotting away in some school basement.
On past automation efforts the main goal was to replace skilled workers with unskilled ones. Manpower reduction was mostly beyond technology capabilities. As you can see the component feeding was a manual job; the machine only made the placement and soldering. And it was a mindbogglingly tedious and slightly dangerous job due to missing safety features - there is a well known humourous sketch about this on a Charlie Chaplin film. This is also why it is almost impossible to keep a old industrial machine in service today, at least on a western country, even if it is still in perfect working order. Beside the maintenance issues due to unavailable spare parts, it needs to be equipped with modern protection devices and a automated feeding system: the manpower cost is simply too high even at minimum wage. Sometimes it is possible to just add one or more anthropomorphic articulated robotic arms to give the old production line a few more years of service instead of selling it to less developed countries.
By the way, Mullard made several documentaries about tube technology on high resolution color and BW 35mm films ; they are partially listed on the "Mullard Outook" volume 1 number 10 (July 1951). Mullard sold them at promotional price to institutions. Sadly this low quality copy pulled from a VHS tape is the only one surfaced on Internet yet. I guess that early electronics is not a general interest argument and the Mullard film rolls are currently rotting away in some school basement.
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