In journalism school, young reporters are taught to “localize” a story. That is, take a national news story and make it relevant to their particular audience. Well, here’s a bit of localization aimed at all you manufacturing engineers out there, courtesy of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

As the world mourns the untimely death of pop icon Michael Jackson, who sold hundreds of millions of records in his long career, take a moment to think about how automation made it possible to produce all those vinyl albums, cassettes and CDs quickly, affordably and at a high quality level. Think about all the manufacturing jobs that even a single best-selling recording can produce—jobs in printing, converting, plastic molding, electronics and automation.

Turns out Jackson’s mega-hit record, Thriller, was produced at the CBS Records album and cassette manufacturing facility in Carrollton, GA. The plant is shuttered now—a victim of the digital music sea change—but 20 years ago, it employed a whopping 1,500 people.

In November 1982, when Thriller was released, the plant was running three shifts a day, seven days a week, for eight months. In all, the plant manufactured 68 million copies of Thriller. Estimates of worldwide sales range upward of 100 million.

You can read the Atlanta Journal-Constitution piece here.

And next time someone tells you entertainment is more important in this economy than manufacturing, you can respond, “Beat It!”