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The Machine to Build the Machines - NeXT

MuStudio · 25K views · 2011-04-09 · 6:39

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Overview

A NeXT, Inc. promotional video showing its highly automated factory and the manufacturing of the NeXT Cube, including automated circuit board assembly.

On Hacker News

HN cites it as evidence of early lights-out manufacturing and of Steve Jobs's factory automation roots in threads on automation and US manufacturing.

Discussed on HN; no positive recommendation is recorded in this export · HN mentions 2016–2025

Topics

Manufacturing & industrial processesTech company stories & documentariesHistory of computing
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nextsteve jobsmanufacturinglights-out factorypcb assembly

What people said

scrlk · 2025-04 · Reference

Steve invested heavily in automation for the Mac and NeXT factories. There are videos of these factories in action: We Are Manufacturing (Apple): [LINK] The Machine to Build the Machines (NeXT): [VIDEO] Infamously, he caused a ton of issues for both factories when he demanded that the machinery be painted to colours of his liking. > When Jobs took a tour, he ordered that the machines be repainted in the bright colors he wanted. Carter objected; this was precision equipment, and repainting the machines could cause problems. He turned out to be right. One of the most expensive machines, which got painted bright blue, ended up not working properly and was dubbed “Steve’s Folly.” Finally Carter quit. “It took so much energy to fight him, and it was usually over something so pointless that finally I had enough,” he recalled. [0] > Jobs demanded that all the robots in the NeXT manufacturing plant be painted in coordinated shades of gray and black. 2 of his top manufacturing engineers worked through a weekend to paint the assembly line, repeating the process 4 times until they got the finish just right. [1] Ultimately, even that significant automation investment couldn't overcome the core challenges that other commenters have pointed out. I find the culture aspect ironic. Deming was American, yet American manufacturers largely ignored him until the Japanese applied his methods and began outcompeting everyone. [0] [LINK] [1] [LINK]

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ChickeNES · 2020-09 · Reference

At about 35 minutes in there was a video demonstrating their automated PCB assembly line, and luckily it's on YouTube: [VIDEO]

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foobiekr · 2020-07 · Reference

Every discussion of highly-automated factories brings to mind this: [VIDEO] Early lights out production. The problem became obvious a little later, for NeXT, which was that these things only make sense at very high scale for products that change infrequently.

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Sources

Video by MuStudio, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

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