Not *JUST* tableware… “Soft Silicone Baby Utensil Mass Production Process. Silicone Tableware Manufacturing Factory” [APoW]
Are you the sort of person who takes an interest in how some of the things you use are manufactured? If so, then permit me to recommend the All Process of World YouTube account. APoW gives viewers a peek into manufacturing processes of an eclectic variety of goods in Korean factories. Their choice of content seems to be driven, at least in part, by which owners of manufacturing concerns reach out via a form on their website or over email or by phone and invite them to visit and film their operations. If the address on their contact form page is where they’re based, then they’re working out of Daegu, South Korea.
Recent videography subjects have included instant noodles (Amazing Ramen Mass Production Process by Korean Instant Noodle Factory), hair dryers (Process of Mass Production of Hair Dryer and Straightener. Beauty Equipment Factory in Korea), bike helmets (Interesting Safety Helmet Manufacturing Process. ABS Plastic Hard Hat Factory in Korea), and cordless hand tools (Angle Grinder and Cordless Drill Manufacturing Process. Korean Power Tool Mass Production Factory). APoW‘s millions of subscribers and the hundreds of thousands to millions of views each video racks up are well-earned.
Soft Silicone Baby Utensil Mass Production Process. Silicone Tableware Manufacturing Factory is their most recent upload and shows some of the production process steps for two products made of silicone: a type of children’s meal tray (as indicated by the video title) and a soft-bristled brush for use in cleaning the inside of a baby bottle nipple.
The image above shows two screen captures of the production of the meal trays. That choice of color for this sort of item struck me as odd. As I viewed more of the video, however, I spotted a clue that hinted at other products being made at the same facility for which skin-tone silicone might make more sense.
There, written in black marker on the casing of the scale, partially scratched away but still legible, is your hint.
If you give some of APoW‘s content a watch, and I hope that you do, you may notice non-ethnic-Korean personnel at work. Presumably, these folks are overseas guest workers taking advantage of Korea’s Employment Permit System. The factors underlying South Korea’s relatively recent imported labor program (a shrinking or graying native population, employers citing difficulty filling poorly-compensated and/or physically-taxing positions in agriculture and manufacturing) will be familiar to those throughout the developed world who have paid attention to discussions around similar initiatives in their own lands. I make no judgements here, but have a couple of interesting articles on foreign workers in Korea for you to peruse: As Workforce Ages, South Korea Increasingly Depends On Migrant Labor [NPR: June 2, 2021] and South Korea looks to foreign workers to solve demographic crisis [Nikkei Asia: April 16, 2023]. The NPR article focuses on the plight of hard-done-by overseas laborers and shares some harrowing glimpses of overwork, abuse, and appalling living conditions. The Nikkei piece moves from Korean demographics (low birthrates and unsuccessful efforts to boost birthrates) to discussing pathways to permanent residence via marriage and alludes to paper marriages as a way of getting citizenship and, after divorce, a means of initiating chain migration.