He then took a job as head of factory automation for nearby ASC Industries, maker of automobile water pumps and one of his old customers.

FORBES: The Jobs Gambit

But in Toulouse last week Tom Williams, Airbus's head of manufacturing, dropped a hint that the firm's other factory in Britain (at Filton, near Bristol) could lose to French or German plants when Airbus starts making wing panels from composite materials rather than aluminium.

ECONOMIST: The turbulent aircraft-maker tries to slow its descent

In fact, factories are quite common incubator - our head of research at Dyson only pursued his engineering career thanks to a summer job in a bottle factory.

BBC: Technology

Both a "repository and factory of stories", anecdotes are archived and everyone goes home with a happy head full of stories and ideas for the next chaotic outing.

BBC: Dublin's underground literary scene