The Villa Cocoa Chocolate Factory in San Sebastian, Mexico. Can confirm, the chocolate is very good.

The Villa Cocoa Chocolate Factory in San Sebastian, Mexico. Can confirm, the chocolate is very good.

Green Bay Packaging’s modern recycled paper mill rises behind leafless winter trees along the Fox River in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The facility, completed in 2021 as one of the most advanced and energy-efficient mills in the country, emits illuminated plumes of steam that drift across the night sky. The river’s frozen surface reflects the mill’s lights and muted colors, creating a stark industrial winter landscape along the east bank of the Fox River.

Green Bay Packaging’s state-of-the-art recycled paper mill, completed in 2021 at a cost of roughly $500 million, releases plumes of steam into the winter night as viewed from across the Fox River. The facility replaced the company’s 72-year-old mill and became one of the most advanced recycled-paper operations in the country, designed to dramatically reduce water use and energy consumption while increasing production capacity. The glow from the mill’s lighting and processing equipment diffuses through the cold air, mingling with tree silhouettes along the riverbank and reflecting off the frozen surface of the Fox River.

Steam columns rise dramatically from the Procter & Gamble paper mill in Green Bay, Wisconsin, illuminated by the orange and magenta glow of a midwinter sunrise. Captured from the air in January, the image shows the vast industrial complex along the Fox River, with frozen rooftops and intricate piping systems sharply defined against the cold morning light. The steam, tinted by the low sun, becomes a striking visual emblem of the city’s manufacturing heritage and the energy demands of Wisconsin’s paper industry.

The former Pillsbury flour mills as seen from downtown Minneapolis.

The 7-Sigma facility near the Minneapolis police third precinct police station. The building was destroyed during the protests following the murder of George Floyd.

A USG Corporation sign in Cloquet, Minnesota.

A nighttime view of the USG industrial plant glows under rows of bright sodium and LED security lights. The red-sided facility’s sign stands out sharply in white and red against the dark sky, while the complex’s metallic towers and piping shimmer under spotlights in the background. The quiet lot, railway siding, and small illuminated guard booth in the foreground add a sense of stillness to an otherwise powerful industrial scene — a snapshot of modern manufacturing infrastructure at rest, yet poised for constant operation.

Part of Foxconn’s sprawling Mount Pleasant complex, this modern structure labeled “High Tech Carrier” represents one of the few large-scale completed buildings from the company’s originally ambitious plans for advanced electronics production in Wisconsin. The facility, designed with a sleek industrial exterior and red steel canopy, was built for component manufacturing and assembly tied to Foxconn Industrial Internet operations. Despite scaled-back production goals, it remains a symbol of the state’s effort to attract large-scale high-tech investment to the region.

The glass globe structure at the Foxconn Industrial Internet complex in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin — a striking symbol of the state’s ambitious but scaled-back high-tech manufacturing project. Originally promoted as part of a massive LCD fabrication plant, the globe now fronts a data and research facility built by Foxconn Industrial Internet (Fii). The site has become emblematic of shifting industrial promises in the Midwest, where infrastructure outpaced production.

The distinctive mirrored-glass globe at Foxconn’s Mount Pleasant campus stands along Wisconn Valley Way, a new road constructed specifically for the project. Once envisioned as a hub for LCD panel manufacturing, the complex has evolved into a smaller-scale research and assembly site under Foxconn Industrial Internet. The road, lighting, and landscape reflect the large-scale planning of Wisconsin’s most ambitious economic development project of the late 2010s.

This view shows the rear loading and office entrance of the former General Mills Purity Oats facility in Northeast Minneapolis. Built during the city’s industrial boom, the complex once handled oat processing and packaging for one of the nation’s largest cereal producers. The structure’s painted brick walls, grain silos, and utilitarian layout are characteristic of mid-20th-century food-processing plants that supported the city’s reputation as the “Flour Milling Capital of the World.”

Once part of the vast milling network that shaped Minneapolis’s industrial identity, this now-closed General Mills Purity Oats plant at 1201 Jackson Street NE reflects the city’s transition from global grain hub to post-industrial reuse. The modest brick complex, still bearing its original signage, served as a specialized processing site within the company’s broader cereal operations before its eventual closure. Its preservation offers a glimpse into the city’s enduring ties to the flour and oat industries that once defined the Mississippi River corridor.

The Nicolet Mill complex in De Pere, Wisconsin, stands alongside the Fox River, a remnant of the region’s historic paper-making industry that once defined the economy of the Green Bay area. The long, brick mill structure—now operated by American Nippon Papers—dates back to the early 20th century, when Wisconsin’s waterways powered dozens of mills along the Fox River. Still active today, the facility reflects the enduring legacy of papermaking in the Midwest, blending vintage industrial architecture with modern manufacturing extensions visible on the river-facing side.

Once a centerpiece of London’s industrial age, Millennium Mills stands derelict on the south side of the Royal Victoria Dock in Silvertown. Built in 1905 for Spillers, the flour mill operated for decades before closing in the 1980s. The weathered façade and faded signage remain prominent features of the docklands skyline. Moored in front is the striking red Trinity House Lightship 93, formerly used as a floating lighthouse to warn ships at sea. Today, the area is part of the Royal Docks regeneration zone, blending remnants of Britain’s maritime and industrial heritage with modern redevelopment.

The Tate & Lyle sugar refinery in Silvertown remains one of the last major industrial landmarks on the north bank of the Thames. Established in 1878, the refinery was once the world’s largest sugar processing plant and continues operations today under the ASR Group, producing the famous Lyle’s Golden Syrup from its historic brick and steel complex.

The building’s layered architecture—Edwardian masonry below, modern extensions above—reflects more than a century of adaptation to changing technologies and ownership. Despite the surrounding redevelopment of London’s Royal Docks into residential and commercial districts, this factory endures as a functioning reminder of the capital’s industrial heritage. The refinery’s green cat logo and “Out of the Strong Came Forth Sweetness” slogan have become enduring icons of British branding and trade history.

Inside NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, a massive aluminum dome section undergoes welding using a PAR Systems I-Stir Friction Welder — a precision tool developed for joining thick aerospace materials without melting them. This technique, essential for spacecraft and fuel tank construction, uses frictional heat and mechanical pressure to create exceptionally strong, defect-free joints. Boeing engineers employ the system for the assembly of rocket and space vehicle components, part of a long legacy of large-scale fabrication at Michoud dating back to the Saturn V and Space Shuttle programs.

At NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Boeing engineers use a PAR Systems I-STIR Friction-Stir Welder to join massive aluminum dome sections for next-generation aerospace vehicles. The process forges metal under intense pressure and heat without melting it, producing welds with exceptional structural integrity for components such as rocket fuel tanks and spacecraft pressure vessels. The Michoud facility, once home to Saturn V and Space Shuttle tank production, continues its role as one of the nation’s key centers for large-scale precision manufacturing and spaceflight hardware assembly.

Inside the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility where the SLS and Artemis is being built.