How’d they do that? Web site has answers

One of my favorite things about Easter is the jelly beans. I’m practically addicted to Jelly Belly jelly beans, in particular, the buttered popcorn and pear flavors. With each chew, I ponder how on earth they are able to get such accurate flavoring into such a tiny product.

Now I know the answer. Stanford University has created a Web site that lets you take virtual factory tours to learn how different products are made. The site, manufacturing.stanford.edu, was created through the university’s Alliance for Innovative Manufacturing. It boasts more than 40 different factory tours on products ranging from Jelly Belly to denim to cars — even airplanes.

The online tours are through videos that can be watched on a computer without requiring any special viewers or hardware. It does require a high-speed connection.

A tour starts with a brief introduction about manufacturing and then proceeds to a manufacturing quiz so you can see just how much you already know about it. You will learn the correct answers during the online tours.

The tours are arranged by various categories:

• Transportation, which includes airplanes, motorcycles, motorcycle engines and cars;
• Candy, which covers jelly beans and chocolate;
• Packaging, which is about plastic and glass bottles, bottle caps, food containers, bottling drinks and candy packaging;
• Clothing, which has looks at wool and denim;
• Play Time, which has information on golf clubs, crayons, playgrounds and dolls;
• Materials, such as steel and glass;
• Miscellaneous, which includes semiconductors, motorcycle side cars and construction equipment.

Each tour also has a section on challenges facing manufacturers and careers.

At least two of the tours are from companies in Pennsylvania. The chocolate manufacturing tour takes place at the Hershey plant in Hershey while one on crayons takes cyber visitors to the Crayola factory in Easton. The virtual tours are really fun and are narrated. They take you step-by-step into how each product is manufactured and what goes into making it. You see footage of the factories and assembly lines. Some of the mysteries of the products are also revealed during the tour. For example, I learned about the science behind coming up with the Jelly Belly flavors and the in-depth testing involved to make sure the flavoring is just right. The tours really break down the production so you learn from start to finish the complexities and details that go into making a product.

The audio and visual quality of the tours are outstanding. The tours last an average of about four minutes so it is not too long to sit and watch, especially for children. The information is presented in a fashion that both adults and children can enjoy and learn from. It is not overly simplified and you really get an appreciation for the hard work that goes into making a product.

At the beginning of each tour, there is a link called “Think About It” in which you are asked a question to ponder while watching the tour. The answer is revealed by watching a clip of the tour that addresses that particular question. For example, at the beginning of the candy tour of Hershey and Jelly Belly you are asked how you think they get the candy coating on Jelly Bellys and M&Ms. After you submit your answer, you can read the other answers people have submitted, some of which are pretty funny. For example, someone wrote that the M&M television commercial shows the naked M&Ms jumping into the candy coating so that must be how the chocolate pieces get coated. The correct answer is revealed during the tour.

At the end of each tour, there are follow-up questions to see how much you really learned. The questions are a great educational tool for children but also are challenging enough for adults.

The site has a link that includes a list of other free online factory tours for dozens of different products, such as: C-Bags Handbags, Cameron hot-air balloons, Dubble Bubble chewing gum, Just Born Peeps, BMW, Los Maestros cigars, Sabian cymbals, Ping golf clubs, Taylor guitar, Vaughn hockey equipment, General Pencil Co., Steinway pianos, and Vermont Soap Factory.

Jessica Matthews writes a weekly Web column for The Times-Tribune in Scranton. Write to her at jmatthews@timesshamrock.com. © The Times-Tribune 2010.

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