This is a video that I shot several years ago at a trade show in Liuyang, China featuring some of the innovations in automated fireworks manufacturing. There’s a bit of a mechanical revolution going on in the Chinese fireworks industry. Labor shortages, competition for labor, material costs and exchange rates have created a need for factories to produce more with less. Much like the industrial revolution in the US, machinery is helping to fill the production void.

Thankfully, these machines not only keep costs in check, but they also are responsible for dramatic increases in product quality and consistency. In the video you’ll see everything from tube rolling machines (the backbone of the consumer industry), shell pasting machines (the backbone of the display industry) and a really cool firecracker tying machine.

There’s even a quick shot of some moulded cakes that use an injection moulding process with a paper pulp slurry, it’s a cool technology but not yet cost effective for the US consumer market.

Overall, machines in the fireworks industry are becoming the new standard and as they develop, we’ll reap the benefit though better fireworks! Enjoy!