Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/737526
F a l l 2 0 1 6 • S T U F F 19 Toby Bergstrom, director of the technical education center at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, tries to showcase manufacturing as a high-tech, clean pro- fession where people can put their minds to work. Peter Griffin from "Family Guy " uses his manufacturing salary to live in a nice Rhode Island community, although his dumb-guy antics often perpetuate prob- lems at his less-than-reputable employer. even nicknames his factory job "Dead-end Stamping." "Perceptions are still out there that [a manufacturing facility] is a dirty, grimy place," said Lee Duerden, coordinator of the man- ufacturing technology program at Quinsigamond Community College in Worcester. "But equipment needs to be clean and maintained, floors kept swept and dry. It's a [green], modern industry." Showcasing the moneymakers More current portrayals of the manufacturing industry tend to focus more on individuals, charac- ters who lead either middle-class lives or have found some fortune as a result of working for or found- ing a manufacturing company. Still, the portrayals tend to be less than positive. "Family Guy" first aired in 1999 -- focusing on another work- ing-class family -- with protagonist Peter Griffin employed as a safety inspector at a toy company for a time, and then at a brewery. On the positive side, he is a homeowner, in what looks like a nice (cartoon) neighborhood, with a wife, three children and a wise-cracking dog. The Happy- Go-Lucky Toy Factory, however, is owned by a cigarette company. It released extremely dangerous toys -- on the unskilled Peter's watch, of course -- with things like razor blades inside, causing damage to its reputation. In a later episode, Peter finds a video he made as a teenager where he considers the dead-end jobs he doesn't plan on working, manufacturing among them. In 2008, AMC debuted "Breaking Bad" about a teacher who founds a manufacturing company after being diagnosed with cancer. The character, Walter White, was quite successful in using his technical chemistry abilities and business acumen to eventually make tens of millions of dollars for his family. However, the manufac- turing company he founded was an illegal meth-making operating, and Walter was directly and indirectly responsible for the deaths of hun- dreds of people. Eventually devolving into a megalomaniac, Walter ended up destroying everything he and his family held dear in their lives, and he died – friendless and alone – after being shot by his own gun. In 2014, "Portlandia" did a skit called "Reverse Sweatshop" loaded with satire about an American clothing manufacturing operation run out of a home basement. The couple at the start of the skit wanted clothing that was made with good labor practices, but the working conditions at their home clothing company gradually deteriorate -- shop employees look bedraggled and ask for water -- the workload increases, and the work space gets more and more crowded. The irony is that the clothing is made in Portland, Ore., but sold in Macau, China. The final scene shows a couple in Macau buying an item with its "Made in Portland, Oregon" tag, because the woman Nate Bowen, 23, of Worcester firm Modern Manufacturing, said his percep- tion of the industry used to match the typical stereotypes. Walter White actually founded two multi-million dollar manufacturing companies based on his own scientif- ic prowess, but the second was an illegal meth-cooking business. He eventually devolved into a megloma- niac, was directly and indirectly responsible for the deaths of hun- dreds of people and destroyed every- thing he and his family held dear.