Home Factory

Designed with plants and humans in mind, there's some serious science in these brightly colored rain wands from Wisconsin. Go behind the looking glass at this Toronto mirror factory where huge panes of glass are scrubbed until squeaky-clean and then sprayed with liquid silver. Making light bulbs is a big turn-on for the team at this South Carolina factory where 1.2 million bulbs roll off the assembly line every year. There's nothing trashy about these old-school trashcans that begin life in Minnesota as giant rolls of galvanized stainless steel.

West Virginia is the marble capital of the world and every day, mountains of discarded glass are repurposed into more than a million tiny spheres of multi-colored fun. A dedicated team of Amish workers combines old-fashioned elbow grease, high-tech machinery, and lots of love to build a massive fleet of retro wagons in a rainbow of colors. At this Georgia factory, a heat press transforms ground-up old truck tires into dazzling welcome mats that make a lasting impression. It takes an all-star Ohio dream team to turn American cowhides into flawless footballs that become the center of attention in stadiums worldwide.

In a single year, this Illinois mop company uses enough fabric to stretch to the moon and back three times. When it's hammer time at this Illinois forge, man and machine turn a red-hot steel bar into a rock-hard tool that can take a major beating. There's no lying down on the job at this mattress factory where every made-to-order queen-size mattress is expertly finished off by hand. Keeping the company's flame alive after over 80 years, an amazing 12 million rugged Zippo lighters are hand-assembled in Pennsylvania every year.