Supertankers are crossing oceans with enough Liquid Natural Gas, a cleaner burning but volatile fuel, to power a major city for a day. Examine the safety and engineering challenges involved in building these 75,000-ton vessels.

From the Series Man Made, Courtesy of Hulu.Com and The Discovery Channel, enjoy SuperTanker.

This show highlights large scale manufacturing fabrication and welding of sheet metal to form specific components for a mammoth, state-of-the-art liquid natural gas supertanker.

Very interesting use of robot and other technology to fabricate metal components as per detailed computer design specifications. If you are interested in metal fabrication and machining you’ll really enjoy this documentary.

The recent news has not been good for America’s automotive industry. But, with the far reaching need for fabrication in the auto industry, it is not just the car manufacturer who suffers the result of a shaky economy.

Instead, the fiscal health of vendors, suppliers, machine shops and small time importers is greatly impacted. As a matter of fact, some of these businesses have been adversely affected to the point of having to close their doors.

Understanding how fabrication in the auto industry determines the fiscal health of assorted vendors is easily done, if you follow the line items on the expense sheets of major car manufacturers.

The ISO 9000 standard is a list of standards intended to ensure uniform, safe product development and a commitment to excellence in industrial manufacturing.

These standards are created by the International Organization for Standardization. A production company endures independent and internal audits to assess its adherence to these standards, and certification is awarded to those who meet the requirements.

The majority of companies that achieve ISO 9000 certification publicly display this fact in order to attract business and increase customer confidence in the quality of the produced products. Certification does not guarantee that a company consistently upholds the standards, only that the policies and procedures necessary to enforce the standards are in place within the facility.