During my tour, I learned that each floor of the General Pencil factory is dedicated to a different part of the pencil-making process. Materials move around the building on conveyor belts and through a variety of complex machines. Electric motors power everything in the factory, which can crank out about 24,000 pencils a day. That works out to almost 9 million pencils every year!
Many of the machines used in the factory were designed by Edward Weissenborn, a mechanical engineer who immigrated to the U.S. from Germany in 1854. He created 360 designs and engineering processes involved in making pencils. Like all machines, the purpose of his inventions is to make work—the use of a force to move an object—easier.
Today, Weissenborn’s great-great granddaughter, Katie Weissenborn Vanoncini, runs the company. When she walks through the factory, she often thinks of him and about how long well-engineered equipment can last. “As my great-great grandfather taught us, always try to make things better and solve problems,” she says.