Trip to Sunderland

Last Thursday we had a factory visit to Sunderland's Nissan factory. The place was huge and we walked inside for 3 miles and only covered about quarter of the factory! It is a shame that photography wasn't allowed since photos would have shown well the intensity of the place: big machines, dark packed rooms, noise, sparks flying all around etc. The factory produces 10 000 cars per week. I calculated that it means that there is a car made every minute for 24/7. The workers had to work in a line which didn't stop and that seemed to be very stressful. Human beings should not be treated as machines... It opened my eyes in the way that I realized again how important role designers play in this sort of processes.