FAQ
What is the oldest factory complex in the world?
The Venice Arsenal, founded around 1104, is generally considered the oldest large scale production complex still recognizable today. It mass produced war galleys with standardized parts and staged assembly centuries before the Industrial Revolution.
Which factory building is the largest in the world?
The Boeing Everett Factory near Seattle, with about 13 million cubic meters of volume. It was built in the late 1960s to assemble the 747 and still produces wide body jets. The Tesla Gigafactory Nevada site is larger by land area and keeps expanding.
What was the first factory of the Industrial Revolution?
Cromford Mill in Derbyshire, built by Richard Arkwright in 1771, is usually called the first successful water powered cotton spinning factory and the birthplace of the modern factory system of shift work under one roof.
What does gigafactory mean?
A plant so large its output is measured in gigawatt hours of batteries per year. Tesla popularized the word around 2013 for its Nevada battery plant. It now loosely means any giant factory for cells, chips, or electric vehicles.
Why did old factories have sawtooth roofs?
The sawtooth profile put rows of north facing windows overhead, giving weaving and machining halls even, glare free daylight before electric lighting was practical. The silhouette became the universal icon of industry.
Can you visit famous factories?
Many are museums: Cromford Mill, Quarry Bank Mill, the Springfield Armory, and the Boeing Everett tour in the United States, Zollverein and Volklinger Hutte in Germany, and New Lanark in Scotland all welcome visitors. Several working plants, from Toyota Motomachi to Gigafactory Nevada, run public tours.