In the series exploring cutting-edge manufacturing in America, the New Balance flagship factory in Lawrence, Massachusetts, is featured. New Balance is one of the few big brand sneaker companies still making their shoes in America. A combination of high-tech machinery, hand crafting skills and global logistics come together to make and distribute the brand’s best-selling sneaker and bring it to the world.

The construction industry is big business, involving hundreds of professions and specialty areas. This program offers a fast-paced survey of the skilled construction trades, providing a sense of the diversity of jobs available, as well as comparing the wages of construction trades to other industries. Along with dozens of scenes from construction projects on a variety of scales, apprentices and journeyman workers discuss what they enjoy about their...

Learn all about the major milestones in vaccines and antibiotics. Beginning with Edward Jenner and the immunization method against smallpox, this program covers the advances in vaccinations and immunotherapy. Learn about Waldemar Haffkine, who developed a treatment for cholera, and Almroth Wright, who developed a vaccine for typhus. Other treatments are discussed for many major diseases, including diphtheria, tuberculosis, whooping cough, yellow fever,...

The eye of an artist coupled with the mind of an engineer: that's a mason. Over the course of this program, viewers will learn about commonly used masonry tools; the attributes of brick, block, tile, stone, cast concrete, and mortar mixes; fasteners, wall ties, and mortar joint reinforcements; estimating material amounts; and on-the-job safety. The building of a brick wall from footing to cap showcases a variety of tools in action, including the brick...

Radial Arm Saw: Operation & Safety is a fifteen-minute video which is part of the series, Woodworking Power Tools. This series of live-action videotapes details both basic and advanced operational techniques for each of the five most important and useful power tools found in the woodworking shop. Clear, sharp, color video graphically portrays the proper operation of each machine, as well as the correct use of its associated accessories. Close-ups...

One of the skills that employers in the construction industry value most in their employees is the ability to plan and organize work. Construction projects are complex and many tasks require detailed planning and organization to complete. This video begins by examining why planning and organization is so critical to working in the construction industry and then profiles three people enjoying successful careers in quite different roles within the industry....

Our narrator, Shawn, takes on plumbing as he works with a professional plumber. After looking over some blueprints, we find out how to install pipes, faucets, drains, and sinks in the bathroom. Shawn shows us how to rough in the pipes, cut holes in the floor, sweat copper pipes, and bond PVC pipes. The basic skills learned in this video can be applied throughout the whole house and form the core of what it takes to be a residential plumber. A Shopware...

Construction sites are potentially highly dangerous working environments. All workers must have a sound understanding of the importance of workplace health and safety in every aspect of what they do. This video examines the importance of workplace health and safety in construction, identifying and assessing risk, and various ways in which hazards are controlled on a construction site. It features interviews with CEO of the Master Builders Association...

In this video, designers discuss problems they faced and solutions they found in such areas of design as graphics; animatronics, looking at Jim Henson's Creature Workshop; Handihaler, an inhaler for asthmatics; The Psion 5 handheld computer; Earth Galleries Exhibition event communications; and The Cable and Wireless Adventure powerboat by John Walker.

In the postwar building boom, home construction was based on cheap energy, disposability, and seemingly endless resources-a world that no longer exists. Can conservation and sustainable development be part of the building industry's future? This program showcases the construction of a home built with materials, methods, and products that place a high priority on resource conservation. The off-the-shelf building supplies are made from recycled materials...