How America Works

A team of lumberjacks take to the forests of coastal Alaska to harvest the cornerstone commodity that frames our lives. But with a last-minute order to fill, they're working overtime to cut, haul and ship out a record amount of lumber.

A team of roughnecks shows what it takes to bring the lifeblood of modern society out of the ground and into everyday existence.

Waste management workers bring cameras along for a day of taking out America's trash, but with a staff shortage and the same tight deadlines, keeping the streets clean will be a tall order.

The employees of the Hoover Dam work to bring electricity to the masses; when a heat wave hits in the middle of maintenance season, the race is on to get all 17 generators online before the demand for power skyrockets.

The men and women aboard a massive fishing boat toil 24/7 to harvest America's sustenance from the sea, but after coming up short on their last trip, the pressure is on to fill their quota.

The hard-working men and women of America's entertainment industry in Las Vegas are ramping up for post-COVID masses; and at Circus Circus Casino, that means bringing all operations back to 100 % capacity for the first time in over a year.

Cameras follow the men and women of the Wilmington Police Department as they struggle to keep a lid on crime during the busy holiday season.

A team of modern-day cowpunchers works tirelessly to bring beef from a ranch in southern Oklahoma to dinner tables across the country; with branding day upon them, they must double their efforts to tend the herd and process calves before sundown.

Corn growers and millers labor year-round to bring America's top crop to the masses; with Super Bowl Sunday fast approaching -- the peak day for corn consumption -- mills like Lifeline Foods race to process 1 million pounds of product per day.

With supply chain issues the world over, demand for aluminum in the United States has never been higher; in Russellville, Ky., a thousand workers are laboring day and night to churn out the aluminum needed to keep the country running.

Textile manufacturers in Stafford Springs, Conn., work long hours to keep the country clothed; with a last-minute order to fill in the middle of a staffing shortage, all of them are doubling down to hit their quotas by quitting time.

Building booms are springing up all over the United States, and the men and women at Volvo are working harder than ever to assemble the heavy equipment that makes all those projects possible, but creating multiple machines in a day is no easy task.

In the wake of COVID-19, supply shortages in the U.S. are rampant; but that doesn't mean cargo workers are sitting idle; how companies like Watco are grinding it out to bring goods back to a ravenous nation.

Firefighters battle more than 3,000 infernos every day; how the men and women of Grayback Forestry do their part to keep a lid on backcountry blazes.

As the second most used resource behind water, the importance of concrete can't be understated. And with demand for it reaching all-time highs, the workers of GCC simply can't make it fast enough.

Join the men and women of Ft. Carson as they conduct a training exercise like none before. But to pull it off, they'll need to win a simulated battle complete with apache helicopters and ground artillery.

It's not easy, wrestling one of America's metallic mainstays from the ground. Featuring how the folks at Rio Tinto do it at one of the world's largest open pit mines.