National Geographic Megafactories

National Geographic Megafactories

We watched a documentary called "National Geographic Megafactories." This Film gave an in-depth look at the IKEA Manufacturing Process as well an interesting history of the company. IKEA has over 332 stores in 38 countries. It also includes 42 distribution centers and around 100 suppliers. They make more money than several European countries. They have 690 Million customers visit their store last year and sold more than 800 million cubic feet of product. To supply this immense demand they need an advanced network of mega-factories. The Billy Bookshelf, for example, uses fiber board. They sell one of these shelving units every 10 seconds! There is an entire factory that only creates fiber board because of the need. IKEA seem to trying to keep up this demand in a responsible way. They use fast growing pine forests that are carefully harvested from in amounts that are not detrimental.