Dimensional Innovations

This Thursday we had the privilege of going to visit Dimensional Innovations. They have been around since the mid 90's, when they primarily did work for theaters.  Today, their clientele has expanded tremendously through custom manufacturing.

DI is definitely a true innovator when it comes to bridging the gap between design and engineering.  All areas of DI work seamlessly to produce one of a kind creations for each client they work with.  The main benefit of DI is that all work is done in-house, except for some machining jobs. This allows for cheaper products, less build time, increased communication skills, and overall improved products.

Typical fabrication materials consist of aluminum, acrylics, polycarbonates, and more; most of which are machined in-house.  I was impressed upon learning that they have custom designed machines specifically manufactured for their patented processes, along with the expansive machining section of the facility.

This work setting is the type of place that I could see myself working at.  I tend to be the type of person who tries to be on top of everything constantly, and I think this work scenario would be right up my alley.

 Fabrication of a modern chandelier.

This is the display stand that will hold one of Toyota's new cars, also displaying their new slogan.
(I know it at you don't)

Mardis Gras: Made in China

It is safe to say that one of America's biggest parties is the Mardis Gras festival held each year in New Orleans. If you are familiar with this festival, you are familiar with the beads that are exchanged for partial nudity.  Most people fail to see where the beads come from. These beads although rather cheap and simple, are manufactured manually and produced on a large scale.

The beads come from China, and are manufactured in work-camp type scenarios by people who will work to complete a quota for around 14 hours straight.  They eat, sleep, and work in these factories 300 days out of the year, only leaving on Sundays and for the Chinese new year.

Although the workers are there by choice, the conditions are kind of terrible. Ten people to a room with five beds, cafeteria style meals each day, shared showers/bathrooms are among the few things they deal with each day.  The beads are composed of polyethylene and polystyrene.  Polystyrene is also a carcinogenic.  The factories are not well ventilated so toxins are constantly inhaled by most, if not all workers.

I believe if that the workers are there by choice, the people in charge of the factories need to step up their game when it comes to working conditions. Although the money the factory makes isn't on such a grand scale as the US, but pay the workers real wages for the work they do, and keep them safe.

Droid X Dissection

As our class has been studying the effects of E-waste on the world, we found it necessary to dissect the most common form of technology today: the cell phone.  Traditionally I keep all of the cellphones I have put in use, and I destroy the ones that I didn't like.  Fortunately, I kept my old Motorola Droid X, now outdated but still useful.

As I disassembled the specimen, I was interested in seeing that very little (if any) glue was used in the construction of the phone. Through our research, we learned that glue used in the technology manufacturing field is very toxic, and is rather carcinogenic.  This Droid was held primarily held together with screws of various sizes, which allows me to think that some of the phones on the market are built for deconstruction.

All together, there were six primary layers of the phone which includes the:

• screen cover which covers...
• the screen itself which rests on... 
• the chassis that holds the...
• motherboard, protected by...
• the back cover.