What's it like to live where you work? For most of us that's unthinkable. But imagine living and working at one of the biggest factories in the world. A workplace the size of Monaco.
For these 17,000 employees, it's reality. They come from all over China, seeking a brighter future at this factory called Yupa. All right, let's go! Let's go!
Workers craft coffee makers, irons and electric grills in staggering quantities every single day. But Yuba is more than a steady paycheck. It's home. People get married here.
They send their kids to school here, but the work never stops. Yuba's managers are on a mission to produce new products for every corner of the globe that could forever change the way we think of made in China. Step behind the closed doors of modern China into a factory the size of a city. Welcome to the place that calls itself Factory of the World.
By the time you finish watching this program, Yuba's 17,000 Chinese workers will produce nearly 20,000 electrical appliances. Every day they churn out 60,000 irons. Every month, Yupa makes 36,000 coffee bakers.
That's two new machines for every Starbucks on the planet. And every year, these laborers produce a staggering 18 million electric grills. Stacked side by side, they'd span the Atlantic from New York to London.
Chances are you own something built right here. Factories like these don't exist in North America or Europe. But they're not uncommon in China, where labor is cheap. Yupa runs on human sweat alone.
for robots. To ensure non-stop production, workers need a steady stream of parts. Someone has to make sure those parts get to the right place in time.
This is Ming-Long He. He started work at Yupa in 1994. I'm in charge of production control. Production control is the brain of the factory. Its main function is to coordinate each department. If any of Yuba's factories run out of parts, Mr. He's job is on the line.
The production line cannot wait. We have to guarantee that our production is smooth. Running out of materials would affect... our efficiency, affect our productivity, and affect our revenue. So I have to fix this in the shortest time possible.
Today a problem at the iron factory needs smoothing out. Workers on the iron line are low on a crucial part. To keep up production they need 2,000 units and they need them now.
Just now I found out the main problems here at the iron department. One major problem is the case for model 603. They need 2,000 right now. Traditional plants use outside suppliers for their components, not Yuba. To slash costs and stay competitive, Yuba builds its own parts on site. So Mr. He's supplier is only a bike ride away.
But even the supplier is dangerously low on stock. Mr. He has found barely enough parts to last the day. When he gets another urgent call, now the grill factory is low on a crucial component. Grills are the company's most profitable products.
Yupa started producing one line of grills in 1994. Now, 60 assembly lines churn out 800 different models. Workers make one grill every 12 seconds. seconds.
That's 50,000 grills per day, or 1.5 million per month. Enough grills for every person in Dallas. Grills bring in $350 million a year.
But Yuba wants more. Go forward! Go forward!
Good! Good! Little wonder Lu Jianye acts like a general leading his troops to war.
Go forward! Go forward! Hurry up, everyone. The floor is a little bit less. The floor is a little bit dirty.
It won't be dirty. Call the police. Hurry up, everyone.
By next year, managers expect workers to crank out $500 million worth of grills. Yupa's profits have to rise to out-muscle the competition. Mr. Ye supervises 850 workers on 30 lines.
We have to coordinate all these workers and pull all their thoughts into one. It takes teamwork to accomplish our goals, to get the results we want. He is our target.
Mr. Ye is obsessed with quality control. His aim? Boost output without compromising quality.
In a factory this big with a production run so massive, even the hyper-efficient Mr. Ye hits a roadblock. This holder piece holds the grill plate. What we're seeing now is the assembly of this piece.
The problem is the size. It's the wrong size. They've run out of part number 2627. It attaches the core heating element to the frame.
Without this simple component, assembly lines will shut down. Unless Mr. Ha finds a fresh supply and sew them. If we don't get them the parts, six production lines will have to stop. When every part is on hand, grills assemble like a simple puzzle.
Wires are linked to the heating element and the element is fixed to the plate. When it's not locked down properly, it will fall off. If it falls off, it will burn the hands of our customers and consumers. This job is very important. Then it's time to connect the power cord.
The brown wire is live and the green wire is neutral. The one with the writing on it matches the brown wire. Connect them and that makes the wire live. Each grill is inspected for flaws in construction or appearance. Finally, every grill is tested to make sure everything is in working order.
On a typical day, Mr. Ye's team must make 700 of Yupa's 50,000 grills. Missing parts cause delays, cost Yupa a fortune, and force workers into overtime to meet their quota. Finding the missing parts, falls to Mr. He and the pressure is on.
Mr. He finally arrives and he has good news. Xiao Yan, Xiao Liu. Sorry, the mill is just finished. How many are there?
Two thousand. He's found two thousand parts to keep the lines moving, and fifty thousand more are on the way. Mr He's day has ended on a high note. He heads home to a company-subsidized apartment only minutes away.
His wife, Hong Zanyu, also works for the plant. Together they lead a life of relative luxury. Family life in China is a communal affair.
His parents and his in-laws live here, thanks to Yupa. It's one more reason workers are fiercely loyal to their company. Our products all have the Made in China tag. I hope our products can bring to consumers a sense of joy, a sense of, it's worth it. This is my biggest wish.
Fulfilling that wish will come at a cost. When I first arrived here, I didn't know anyone else, and we all have to live together. It was really tough in the beginning. Yupa's next generation of workers must leave their families behind and devote their lives to the company.
It's a place tourists never see. The new face of modern China. Competitive, hungry for profits, and ready to take on the world. Located near the city of Xiamen, the Yuba complex brawls for 1.8 square kilometers. Almost the size of Monaco.
We have about over 20 buildings here. You know, the largest building, you know, equal like four football fields. You can have 60 to 70 assembly lines. Each assembly line can have 25 to 35 workers in the line. Twenty-five years ago, there were no factories here, only farms.
In the 1980s, the Chinese government decided capitalism wasn't so bad after all. The communist regime established so-called special economic zones, designated places for free markets and foreign investments. Yupa, a Taiwanese company, moved here in 19... In a few short years it became the largest manufacturer of irons, electric grills and espresso makers in the world. Yuba is a city unto itself, with restaurants and convenience stores, soccer fields and basketball courts and living quarters for everyone from students to families.
Success made it big and size keeps it successful. Mass production runs push down costs. Almost all parts are made.
on-site, keeping supply costs low and parts within easy reach. Because we are in this location pretty much isolated, we don't have satellite suppliers surround us to build parts for us. So we had to do it in-house and we had to do it in a large scale.
Yupa's main advantage is a cheap and endless labor force, ready to work for a fraction of a Western wage. Sixteen-year-old Mao Fen Guo left her family and came here in 2008. But Guao isn't just looking for work. She's here to escape poverty and make her mother proud. In China, many parents prefer sons to daughters. My mother has only two daughters.
She's always upset about that. And in order to not let her down, I must work harder and harder. Guao is a worker in training. With about a thousand other students, she attends Yupa's on-site trade school.
To get here, she had to pass entry exams and pay Yupa tuition. Now she's enrolled in three years of study and hands-on training at the factory. If she does well, Guo hopes for a job at Dupa.
At the very beginning, I thought it was very hard. But now that I've gone through all this, it's easier. There's a lot to learn, but I'm still full of confidence. Today, she and her classmates are learning everything they ever wanted to know and more about irons.
To get a job, Guo must learn the ins and outs of every product line. We're changing constantly. Last time we were making grills, then we changed to coffee makers, and now electric irons.
Workers on 27 production lines pump out an iron every 15 seconds, and as many as 60,000 irons a day. Production includes at least 10 separate brands for dozens of companies. With over 30 steps to assembly, iron making is intricate work. And there's no room for error. Assembly starts with a water spray unit, made up of springs, rubber and washers.
With training and practice, it snaps into the spout in seconds. If it's not closed tight, it will leak or blow. Then it won't work properly.
Now the sprayer and spout are joined to the handle. The two parts of the water reservoir are placed in a heating machine. That melts the space between them and makes the reservoir water-tight. tight.
Welding is an important part of production. However, it will be easy as long as we follow our operational guidelines. Next, the thermostat is attached to the base. You need to make sure you're using the correct format before you insert the base. Using a wrong base can lead to fire.
Wiring is also important. Where there is a wiring mistake, there is hidden trouble. A plastic buffer is placed between the heating element and the handle to keep the handle and the user's hand from getting too hot. After that, the plug is welded to the back of the iron.
We're connecting the wire for the power supply. I can do about 4 to 5 pieces every minute and 300 pieces an hour. Once the spray and steam buttons are attached, it's testing time. First, the steam and squirting functions. Second, the iron's electrical system.
Faulty units are either repaired or removed. Finally, iron's electrical system. Irons that pass inspection are packed up and shipped away. The team won't cut corners or settle for second best. Today, Guao and her classmates will put classroom theory into practice and work the iron.
For a teenager from a small town, living and working in a giant factory can be overwhelming. My life is not as hard as it was before. I'm getting used to this place now.
Work on the iron line goes better than expected. For Guo, juggling work and school isn't that difficult. The hard part is leaving family and living far from home.
I guess it's learning how to be independent. When I first arrived here, I didn't know anyone else, and we all have to live together. It was really tough in the beginning.
Like China, Guam is a small country. is adapting to a new world of high technology and tough international competition. And, like China itself, she's determined to succeed.
I don't see myself working on the production. I've been on the production line forever, doing the same job. Maybe I'm a bit arrogant or too confident about myself, but I want a better future. For some people, a better future keeps them married to their job.
Workers at Yuba are married to the company. Based in southeast China, Yupa is one of the biggest factories on the planet. Today and every day, its 17,000 workers are getting the world ready for breakfast.
In the next 24 hours it will produce 1,200 conventional coffee makers. Over the next 30 days these assembly lines will deliver 210,000 cappuccino espresso machines. In the space of one year nearly two and a half million coffee makers will pour out of Yuba and into the kitchens of the world.
At the center of all this is Yong Li. We already have 200 or 300 styles, and we develop and add over 40 new styles every year. Li's mandate is crucial and broad, tackle any problem that could slow down non-stop production.
We have to make every effort to find these problems and to solve them. We have to make sure that every process is working perfectly. Manufacturing shouldn't be delayed because of these problems.
Today, he's got a brand new... kind of problem. One of Juppa's big clients has designed a new coffee maker.
It's up to Li to build a working prototype to entice the client into going ahead with mass production. Hundreds of Juppa jobs and millions of dollars dollars in potential business are now in Li's hands. Making prototypes is a large portion of my job and is vitally important to the development of the company. Lee starts by assembling the heating system for the water and steam. Then he carefully places it into the main body.
Just when Lee's ready to assemble it all, there are parts missing. The power cable is gone, so I'm going to get the power cable. The supplier is just a walk away, a long walk, but Li doesn't mind the distance. Someone special is waiting for him at the supply depot.
I need to make a sample of 111839. I need at least three power lines. The person helping him today is his girlfriend. These perks make Yuba more than a place of work.
With a workforce of 17,000, many of them married with kids, this factory city turns office space into personal space. Sometimes we work together. For example, if we need the help from the technician to solve production problems, then we meet each other afterwards. Li Yang Li works in the parts supply department. She first came to Yuba in 2004. We fell in love at first sight.
I always think it must be God who makes her work here and wait for me. Even now, I still think the same. Yuba management encourages these intimate connections. They believe couples that work together are more loyal to the company.
By working in the same company, we can go to work together and take care of each other. We can see each other more often. What's more, we can be with each other when we have a problem. With the missing parts in hand, Li is ready for wiring. Making it all fit into the chamber isn't easy.
I will have to organize all the electrical wires properly to make sure the coffee maker operates safely. But the real test will come after shipping. If the client approves of Lee's model, Youpurd could get a massive order. If it doesn't, hundreds of jobs are on the line.
If I make the prototype in a sloppy way, our customers will lose confidence in the quality of our products. It will be a great loss to our company. Weeks later, Li's model is approved for mass production.
And right away, he sets out to create a brand new production line. It takes a week to prepare the assembly line and train the workers to make the new coffee machine. Making a coffee maker is not an easy job at all.
It requires professional knowledge and a profound understanding of coffee culture. When the prep is done, Factory City springs into action and works with astonishing speed. Li's prototype took half a day to make.
Now line workers churn out 700 machines a day. Li's shift is done, and when work ends at Factory City, romance begins. When we're done work, we normally go shopping together or take a walk.
It gives us a sense of happiness. The couple plan to get married at a mass wedding, paid for and organized by the company. All at once, dozens of Yupa workers will tie the knot, while thousands of co-workers look on.
If we take part in the group wedding, with the best wishes of all of our co-workers here, we know we will be getting married in the factory of the world, one world, one dream. And that would be unforgettable. A mass wedding is the couple's way of showing their love for each other and their passion for Yupa.
Chef Hsing-Ming Lee has a passion of his own, feeding the 17,000 workers that power the factory of the world. At Factory City, the day has barely begun. But Chef Shing Ming Lee already faces his first daily deadline.
Lee runs one of five independent restaurants at Yuba. Competition between them is intense. Profits are razor thin. And Lee needs thousands of customers every day just to survive. In his eyes, he's not just serving meals, he's fueling the workers that power the factory of the world.
If they don't eat well or eat enough, they won't have enough energy. Then they won't perform well at Yupa. It all starts with fresh ingredients.
Beef, pork, bok choy, onions, carrots and winter melon. We have all fresh seasonal vegetables here. Whatever you can find from the food market, you can find here. Everything is washed, sliced, and diced.
Juppa churns out millions of kitchen appliances a year. But there are no food processors in Lee's kitchen. Nothing is automated. Everything is done by hand. By 9 a.m.
Li's staff is already racing against the clock. We'll have to finish everything before 11 o'clock because Yuba staff restaurants all open at 11.30. We have to be there in advance. In two hours, 3,000 workers will stop by for lunch. Lee expects just as many for dinner.
This means his staff of 50 must serve 6,000 meals by sunset. That's 125 kilograms of meat. of oil, 50 kilograms of beef, and 300 kilograms of pork. That's more than one million tons of food every year. His chefs turn stock ingredients into hundreds of delicious dishes.
We can make different cuisines. Our chefs are all the best of their hometown. They cook up dishes from Fujian, Sichuan and Henan regions, and they'll soon add a halal fare for Muslim clients. I believe everything that we cook should taste like what your mom cooks for you at home.
Li's obsession with food comes from growing up hungry. My family was very poor. Although my dad was working very hard to earn money, we still didn't have much food to eat. Now food is never in short supply and all of Lee's clients return to work with their bellies full.
Lee's passion for food has made him a perfectionist. He hunts the market for produce that's perfectly ripe and reasonably priced. How many pieces of chicken is this? 7 pieces.
7 pieces? How many pieces? 7 pieces. 7 pieces? Yes, 7 pieces.
Then we'll have 3 pieces. This one is good. Yes, it's good. In his kitchens, Li controls the cooks, and no dish goes out without his approval. It's too big.
Too bland? Some salt and chicken stock will make it taste better. The special today is spicy Szechuan pork. Actually anyone can cook. The key is our chefs make their own special seasonings that you can't get from the market.
Li insists the pork must be extremely fresh. He expects perfect timing from every cook. Timing is what the chefs are really good at, but they may not be willing to share that information. But now it's almost 10 a.m. And Li's kitchen is about to hit the boiling point.
With the clock ticking, the team of chefs are stir-frying and stewing to feed an army. It might be a bit of an exaggeration to say that it's a battlefield, but it's true that we're really busy. We have to finish everything within one hour.
Then we will deliver them to our restaurants. We don't have time to do other things. By 11 a.m.
they pull it off. Dozens of different dishes for 3,000 people and right on time. Drivers rush the dishes to the restaurant nearby.
Competition between the five independent restaurants at Yuba keeps quality and choice high and prices low. Workers pay about 50 cents per meal thanks to a company subsidy. To turn a profit, thousands of customers must pass through Li's door each day. But it's not profits that keep Li up at night. More than anything, he wants people to enjoy his food.
I've experienced a lot of sleepless nights. I often blame myself for the mistakes that occurred in the daytime. I should have done better. So far, his customers look happy.
After lunch, while workers crank out appliances, Li will be planning dinner, determined to satisfy his next 3,000 customers. I hope that you... and everyone else will trust me and become my friends. I'll be content if they all come to dine in my restaurant.
If feeding workers at the factory of the world is tough, try being the guy who must make everyone get along. In this factory city, 17,000 people live and work inside 1.8 square kilometers. Rush hour is a human traffic jam. Just getting to work on time is a job well done.
Inside these walls, office politics and conflicts play out on a massive scale. The man managing all this human friction could have Yupa's toughest job of all. Now in his second year on the job, Ya Xin Fu is the manager of Yupa's service department. His job, address anything that affects the day-to-day life of Yupa's 17,000 workers.
I have to find a balance between the costs of the company and the needs of the employees. Too little and the employees will be dissatisfied. Too much and the company won't be happy, so it's a big challenge. Keeping Yuba's army of laborers in line is no small task.
The army of laborers is no small task. At this regular weekly meeting, Fu is boosting company morale. Leading them is like raising children.
We have to raise them with love. Yupa's workers come from every corner of China. Most are in their 20s and 30s. They work on average 40 hours a week and make between 90 and 320 US dollars a month. While wages are even higher in big cities like Shanghai, many Yuba workers make double what they did back home, if they had any work there at all.
As with any mass organization, thousands of employees create endless demands. It's Mr. Fu's job to address all of them. He does everything he can to keep everyone motivated and committed to staying at the factory of the world.
Fu visits staff living quarters as part of his regular rounds. We're now going to the workers'dormitory. I routinely go there to check if anything can be improved. If there is, I will talk to the superintendent.
Fu is part landlord and part tenant's rights advocate. Today, he's insuring Yupa rooms are ready for a group of new workers. I'll go and check. I think the accommodation is good.
The room downstairs, the one with the music room, is at 11 or 2 pm. and they were still singing. It was so noisy, and people were sleeping in the dorms.
Fu believes that to build quality products, Yupa's workers must be well-rested and well-fed. The challenge is that there are 17,000 employees and they come from all over China. Everyone has different tastes. I have to take care of everybody.
Yupa's restaurants are extremely competitive and some have been known to skimp on meat portions to keep costs low. This one is not mixed. There's almost no mixed one. This one is not mixed. Yupa has strict rules about when and where vendors can sell their food.
Fu keeps them in line. Now we're going to check. Now we are going to check on the other restaurants.
We have designated areas for them. If they break the rules, I will kick them out. These vendors aren't trespassing. They work for the factory's restaurants. But they are breaking the rules by selling food too close to rival restaurants.
Everyone must have a permit. A veteran on these streets, Fu recognizes this woman. He busted her once before. Today, Fu lets everyone off with a word of advice. warning.
Next time he may ban them from selling food at Yupa. I talk to them, but they will break the rules again, so I have to check on them every day. China's web of cultures complicates Fu's job.
Everyone comes from different families and different provinces, so their customs of eating and living are totally different. So I have to adapt to them. But one thing unites all of Yuba's workers.
The world's most popular sport. On the field, tension and stress vanish. Because employees are undergoing a lot of pressure at work, we have to give them an outlet and let them exercise. But most important is the team building.
Don't care for soccer? You can't. But CUPPA offers other ways for workers to get their exercise.
For entertainment, we have ball game competitions like basketball, table tennis and other games. These sorts of competitions. It's all part of Fu's mission at one of the world's biggest factories.
A place with no boundaries between work and life. For Fu, it's a never-ending battle to keep the peace and to keep the company together. It really is a miracle, a company this big, with all the employees together, holding hands and moving forward.
This is not easy. Well, there may be... To be harmony inside Yuba's walls, outside competition is cutthroat.
In a global market, innovation is key. Yuba's employees must endure tough changes to survive. In the global marketplace, there's no room for second best.
To survive, companies need a competitive edge. Like most China-based companies, Yuba has relied on low labor costs, making products designed by others. But it wants to move up the production food chain. Yuba's leaders want to design products of their own.
They have little choice. To thrive and survive, Yuba must develop a new generation of of products. The factory's very existence depends on it. Thousands of jobs hang in the balance. No work means not being able to live.
This is a fundamental requirement. It's how humans survive. You have to earn money to make a living, and to earn money, you have to work.
Ji Rong Pan knows how high the stakes are. He is Yupa's vice president of product innovation. I think innovation is the competitive edge of our company.
Because our company is in the field of home appliances, and the whole home appliance industry is a lifestyle industry. Mr. Pan sent his staff overseas to study the lifestyle products of the future. They returned with a simple message. The future is green. We studied the consumers of North America and Europe and their thoughts on the future.
on this new energy of the future. So we know that their love of the earth is actually very strong. Pan and his designers make a bold decision. The first appliance in Yuba's new product line will be powered by the sun. It's a solar CD player.
We want to bring this clean solar energy concept into people's homes. Going solar may sound easy, but solar panels are... are expensive and they're meant to work outside not in the dim corners of people's homes a 3d image of yuba's appliance of the future starts to emerge now the team must turn a digital design into reality this factory is a very important part of our development process it helps turn a product concept into a finished prototype using the digital technology we have now the design specs, a computerized milling machine cuts a foam Cast. And the cast is converted into a hard plastic prototype.
If things go according to plan, the model will be used to produce millions of identical copies. It allows us to test the product to see if this fulfills our requirements while bringing value to the customers. Now engineers perfect the solar power system.
The system must collect and store solar energy. Every aspect of design must maximize energy efficiency. We've spent a lot of time studying this.
What kind of technology, what kind of material, what kind of parts can help us improve our energy efficiency? Finally, Juppa's product of the future is revealed. The Solar CD player is simple and elegant. The player will charge indoors when left near a window.
And the system is uniquely versatile. It will work with any energy-efficient appliance Juppa designs. But one question remains. Will the world embrace Chinese solar products? We want to bring what people originally thought of as an industrial thing and truly integrate it into the world.
their daily lives to enable consumers to truly experience solar energy. This is a very magical energy concept. If these innovative products succeed, Yuba could achieve its dream, a dream it shares with China, to be the world's largest solar power plant.
the factory of the world. I want consumers and everyone to have faith in our products and faith in the workers. I hope everyone can enjoy the products we produce. This will make us proud.
With Factory City in full swing and new products in the works, more and more goods will carry the Made in China label. But for China and Factory City, growth comes at a cost. Every day, the 17,000 people at Yuba endure the stress and uncertainty of a cutthroat world economy.
To fight off fierce competitors and build a better life, these men and women work and live together as one at the factory of the world.