The largest and most amazing factories in the world

 The largest and most amazing factories in the world

The international economy runs on thousands of workers working several shifts and operating pricey machinery. The effectiveness of a manufacturing facility is generally proportional to its size. We visit over seven of the world's largest manufacturing factories, which produce aircraft, automobiles, batteries, and lingerie—all of which are miniature industrial communities.

Volkswagen Wolfsburg Plant, Germany

Wolsburg, Germany, is home to the world's largest automobile production factory, measuring 70 million square feet and producing 3,800 Volkswagen vehicles each day. At least in 2015, this amounted to roughly 815,000 cars each year. The manufacturing halls alone cover over a square mile of land, enough to house the Principality of Monaco. The Volkwagen facility, which originally began manufacturing automobiles in 1945 and now produces four Golf lines, the Touran, and the Tiguan, handles everything from toolmaking to plastic manufacture to hosting one of the world's largest paint shops.

Ulsan Factory, Hyundai Motor Company, South Korea

The five-building, 54 million square foot Ulsan Factory in South Korea can produce a car every 12 seconds, from the 14 distinct Hyundai models through the engine and gearbox production. 34,000 workers work on site, some of them sleep in the onsite dormitory, which was first opened in 1968 and has subsequently been extended. There is also a sewage treatment plant on site, as well as a cargo ship pier.

Tesla Gigafactory, Nevada

While Tesla already has a 5.5 million square foot car manufacturing plant in Fremont, California, a brand-new Gigafactory outside of Sparks, Nevada, started producing battery cells on January 4, 2017. The plant will be 13 million square feet in size by 2018. The Gigafactory hopes to reach net zero energy as it continues to automate the battery-making process in collaboration with Panasonic.

Boeing Factory, Washington

Building airplanes necessitates the use of space. The 4.2 million square foot Boeing production complex north of Seattle in Everett, Washington, is the world's biggest building by volume, covering over 100 acres and producing the 747, 767, 777, and 787. The 1966-built facility contains 2.33 miles of pedestrian tunnels beneath the factory floor, its own railway spur, over 1,000 bicycles for moving about the plant, and even the world's largest mural, in addition to a museum, theater, 19 eateries, and a store.

 Belvidere Assembly Plant, Illinois

Mitsubishi Motors North America once had the second-largest manufacturing facility in Illinois—and one of the world—at 2.3 million square feet, but it ceased operations in 2015, shuttering the Normal, Illinois, plant and transferring all Illinois car production to the Chrysler-owned Belvidere Assembly Plant. With roughly 780 robots and over 280 acres of property, this 3.5 million square foot complex was built in 1965 to assemble the Jeep Compass, Jeep Patriot, and Dodge Dart.

Jean-Luc Legardére Plant, France

The Jean-Luc Legardére Plant in Toulouse-Blagnac, France, assembles the components for the Airbus A380. The final construction of the plane is assembled and tested in the 1.3 million square foot French complex, which also includes 49 acres of runway outside the plant.

Lauma Fabrics, Latvia

Because Lauma Fabrics manufactures lace, ribbons, and fabric for lingerie, this Latvian facility may have the greatest size manufacturing plant per size of goods being produced within at 1.2 million square feet. The building's breadth of 1,600 feet roughly doubles the length of 738 feet for the production level, which began construction in 1965.

Visit our website daily to read new information like this