According to a recent report by CNN, the golden era of manufacturing jobs in America occurred during the 1970’s. 1979 was the high water mark when almost a quarter of working Americans picked up a paycheck in exchange for spending their waking hours in a factory. Despite all our Commander in Chief’s bluster, only about eight percent are employed in manufacturing. How times have changed. Where have all of the factory jobs gone? Some have moved overseas, some have been lost due to automation, and still others have been automated overseas. The grim reality of the economy of the twenty-first century is that the types of jobs that gave rise to the American middle class are gone and will not be coming back. Because the workplace is so different in the twenty-first century, the average American seeing the inside of a factory has become as quaint as picking apples or dipping tallow candles.
Dedicated to seeking out novelty, Animated Meat’s opportunity for a factory tour came courtesy of some nasty local politics. Huy Fong Foods, parent company of Sriracha sauce has called Irwindale, California home since 2010. One can only speculate what lead up to it, but company owner David Tran to run afoul of the city council and found himself in a good old fashioned pissing contest with the powers that be. Rather than caving into their demands, the powerhouse behind Sriracha sauce chose to take the city council on and open his factory to the public. By allowing the curious see how their favorite condiment is produced, he pulled a public relations maneuver that caused the city council to back off and made them look like shameless politicians shaking down a local business owner.
Tours go on all year long, but Animated Meat was lucky enough to secure a visit during their annual chili grinding festival. Once a year, they take delivery of their chilis and grind their entire supply until the next season. After donning a hair net, we filed in behind a few Chinese lions and hundreds of devoted Sriracha fans. Maybe because of the sheer volume of the drummers combined with the grinding equipment, the company did not employ a blazer clad tour guide to fill our heads with company propaganda. As a result, we were able to experience the factory on our own terms and make our own judgements. The bottom line is that Huy Fong Foods is a massive operation and like any other manufacturer in America, the steady creep of automation is everywhere.
For the time being, Huy Fong Foods still employ human workers to do the manual labor required to produce Sriracha sauce. There they were, running pallet jacks overflowing with red jalapeno chilis and pounding lids onto blue barrels full of chili paste. These are people who are trading their time and labor in order to provide for their families. However, the majority of the production could be done in the dark. No human hands touch the bottles as they rocket down the line to be fitted with a trademark green lid, boxed, and packed onto a pallet by eager robots who never ask for time off to attend parent-teacher conferences.
Despite the lions and the drummers, it became difficult to determine exactly what we were celebrating. While our visit had all the trappings of an event that seemed doggone festive, one can’t happen to wonder about the fate of the last American workers who find their way into a factory job. How long will it be before the last American factory workers are sent home once and for all and an army of robots produce everything from Sriracha sauce to Chevy Tahoes?
This post was based on a visit on September 28, 2019.
4800 Azusa Canyon Road
Irwindale, CA 91706
626 286-8328
Are you interested in other incredible food experiences? Pay a visit to Tio’s Tacos in Riverside.