A behind the scenes look at WCVB Channel 5 Boston's weekly segment: "Made in Mass" featuring the Steele Canvas Basket Corporation.

February 29th, 2016

9:00 AM - WCVB reporter Doug Meehan and cameraman David Buswell-Wible arrive at Steele Canvas in Chelsea, MA to begin shooting the news segment.

9:15 AM - The conference room is set up for a one-on-one interview with Steele Canvas' own Paul Lordan. Doug and Paul sit down to discuss the history of the Basket Shop and why our baskets and totes are second to none.

9:22 AM - The interview continues with a visit from Steele Canvas' favorite pup, Kitty, who makes an appearance looking for 15 seconds of fame.

9:25 AM - The interview wraps and the news crew moves on to a factory tour, shooting American manufacturing in action.

9:27 AM -  Paul's brother, John, gets miked and begins the factory tour in the stitching department. In the stitching department all of our basket bodies, liners, and tote bags are stitched together by hand.

9:35 AM - The tour continues on to the layout and cutting room where all of the canvas, Steeletex (vinyl-coated nylon) and leather is cut by hand. Materials are layed out and cut using an electric knife.

9:42 AM - John discusses the "slide-on" process where the frames from the steel department meet the hand-sewn canvas bodies from stitching. Our large baskets are used in a variety of industrial settings around the world.

9:45 AM - The basket rims are flash-welded on to each basket by hand. Francisco, the C-gun operator, attaches the rim to each of the basket u-rods weld by weld.

9:50 AM - Located in the back of our production facility is the wood and steel departments where basket materials are put together from raw materials.

9:57 AM - A few final B-roll shots are taken by the David the cameraman in the steel department.

10:01 AM - The news team shoots their final segment in the steel department in front of the flash welder. The clip will be used as a teaser during the week leading up to the final "Made in Mass" segment which will air on Monday, March 7th at 7:00 PM.

 

March 7, 2016

7:18 PM - WCVB Channel 5 Boston's segment airs during the 7 o'clock news. 

 

Watch the "Made in Mass: Steele Canvas Basket Corp" segment below: