https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine A short version of a very long story en-us 2016-08-08 15:20:37 UTC 2025-11-03 12:35:33 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Thunder.png greg_gillet https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117808229 2016-08-09 16:10:44 UTC https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117808229 greg_gillet https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117808526 2016-08-09 16:14:06 UTC https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117808526 greg_gillet https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117808647 Division of labour was initially based on physical attributes such as age, gender and class (hunting vs cooking).]]> 2016-08-09 16:15:07 UTC https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117808647 greg_gillet https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117808915 While everyone had to lend a hand on the most important tasks, like collecting food, there were some part-time specialists even in the earliest human groupings.  For example, tool and weapon making.]]> 2016-08-09 16:18:09 UTC https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117808915 greg_gillet https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117809285 Trade in textiles, pottery, jewelry and metalwork encouraged specialisation based on abilities.]]> 2016-08-09 16:21:53 UTC https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117809285 greg_gillet https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117809655 2016-08-09 16:26:36 UTC https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117809655 greg_gillet https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117809720 The development of impersonal (rather than tribe-based) government and the rise of cities led to the systematic organisation of work on a larger scale than ever seen before. ]]> 2016-08-09 16:27:32 UTC https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117809720 greg_gillet https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117809916 2016-08-09 16:30:35 UTC https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117809916 greg_gillet https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117809935 The pyramids, irrigation and drainage schemes, cathedrals and cities... all required co-operation on a grand scale, laying the groundwork for mass production.]]> 2016-08-09 16:30:54 UTC https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117809935 greg_gillet https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117810201 Craft guilds reached their peak in Europe in the 14th Century.   They encouraged intense specialisation: joiners, carpenters, wood turners and furniture painters were all represented by different guilds.]]> 2016-08-09 16:34:50 UTC https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117810201 greg_gillet https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117810525 ...but Ransom Olds (of Oldsmobile fame) was the first person to use a stationary assembly line to manufacture cars (starting with the Olds Curved Dash model).  He patented the concept in 1901.]]> 2016-08-09 16:38:07 UTC https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117810525 greg_gillet https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117810753 Merchants organised work that was conducted at home, often by families.  Individual workers no longer owned the raw materials of their labour.]]> 2016-08-09 16:40:37 UTC https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117810753 greg_gillet https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117811078 Begun in 1104, the Venetian Arsenal grew to become the largest industrial complex in Europe before the Industrial Revolution.  After 1320, the Arsenale Nuovo (the New Arsenal) began producing ships using a form of assembly line.  The ships (galleys) were moved along a canal as they were being constructed.   Workers along the length of the canal specialised in various tasks and used standardised parts.  The Arsenale Nuovo could produce up to one ship per day.]]> 2016-08-09 16:43:54 UTC https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117811078 greg_gillet https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117812008 2016-08-09 16:53:10 UTC https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117812008 greg_gillet https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117812525 Factories combined the economic organisation of the cottage system plus mechanization (e.g. spinning machines and looms) plus new power sources (wind and, later, steam) to bring all stages of manufacture under one roof.]]> 2016-08-09 16:57:06 UTC https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117812525 greg_gillet https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117812797 Adam Smith gave the classic description of factory production, as applied to pins:

"One man draws out the wire; another straights it; a third cuts it; a fourth points it; a fifth grinds it at the top for receiving the head; to make the head requires two or three distinct operations; to put it on is a peculiar business; to whiten the pin is another; it is even a trade by itself to put them into the paper; and the important business of making a pin is in this manner divided into about 18 distinct operations."

]]> 2016-08-09 17:00:47 UTC https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117812797 greg_gillet https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117812982 Increases in productivity now depended less on the individual skill of the worker and more on the rational organisation of work within the factory.]]> 2016-08-09 17:03:19 UTC https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117812982 greg_gillet https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117813199 2016-08-09 17:06:22 UTC https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117813199 greg_gillet https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117813350 Before the rise of retailing, the biggest buyers were governments, generally for their military (see the Venetian Arsenal above). It's no surprise, therefore, that interchangeable parts found an important early use in smalls arms manufacture.]]> 2016-08-09 17:08:33 UTC https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117813350 greg_gillet https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117813483 https://www.britannica.com/topic/history-of-work-organization-648000/Division-of-labour-in-the-workplace
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venetian_Arsenalhttp://www.almyta.com/inventory_management_history_3.asp
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eli_Whitney
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ransom_E._Olds
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volvo_Kalmar_Assembly
https://www.robots.com/education/industrial-history
http://www.marketplace.org/2012/04/11/world/apple-economy/people-behind-your-ipad-workers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automotive_industry_in_the_United_Kingdom

]]> 2016-08-09 17:10:37 UTC https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117813483 greg_gillet https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117813573 2016-08-09 17:12:05 UTC https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117813573 greg_gillet https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117813888 Interchangeable parts are an essential prerequisite for the mass production of guns and, later, tools, sewing machines, clocks, typewriters, cars and iPads. ]]> 2016-08-09 17:15:15 UTC https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117813888 greg_gillet https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117814278 Eli Witney is often credited with inventing the idea of interchangeable parts in what became known as "the American System". However, the idea pre-dated Witney: Marc Brunel devised a way of mass-producing pulley blocks in Portsmouth Dockyard (1802-1808).  ]]> 2016-08-09 17:19:21 UTC https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117814278 greg_gillet https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117814792 2016-08-09 17:25:30 UTC https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117814792 greg_gillet https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117814930 At the Chicago slaughterhouse of Swift & Company, carcasses were butchered as they moved along a conveyor.  This idea may have led to the introduction of assembly lines at the Ford factory in 1913...]]> 2016-08-09 17:27:01 UTC https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117814930 greg_gillet https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117825905 2016-08-09 19:28:38 UTC https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117825905 greg_gillet https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117825996 Even the studios of the great Renaissance artists encouraged specialisation]]> 2016-08-09 19:29:15 UTC https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117825996 greg_gillet https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117827212 As a result, the assembly line became a symbol for the de-humanisation of work, for example in the Charlie Chaplin film, Modern Times.]]> 2016-08-09 19:48:53 UTC https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117827212 greg_gillet https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117827497 2016-08-09 19:53:19 UTC https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117827497 greg_gillet https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117827695 Manufacturers have explored ways to improve the experience of workers on the assembly line.*  For example, Volvo's Kalmar Plant in Sweden and the Japanese application of Kaizen to assembly lines, most famously at Toyota.

(*Or have they just been looking for ways to reduce errors and increase productivity?)]]> 2016-08-09 19:55:39 UTC https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117827695 greg_gillet https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117827918 The first industrial robots were introduced to the assembly line in 1962, once again for car manufacture.  They're now widely used.]]> 2016-08-09 19:57:53 UTC https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117827918 greg_gillet https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117828268 Primarily it's a process innovation.  It's undoubtedly had an impact on the way that businesses are run and on the way that they're organised, so there are elements of a business and an organisational innovation, too.

It's clearly a radical innovation but it relied on a number of technical and organisational precursors which developed incrementally over time.

Its introduction was highly disruptive, particularly for those companies that weren't willing or able to introduce the new technology.  For example, of the 200 British makes of car that had been launched from 1896 to 1913, only around half the firms were still in existence at the end of this period (when Henry Ford began mass production) and only 58 companies remained by 1929. ]]> 2016-08-09 20:02:16 UTC https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117828268 greg_gillet https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117881877 Henry Ford used time and motion studies to increase productivity by optimising every part of the assembly line and the humans that served it.]]> 2016-08-10 12:30:28 UTC https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117881877 greg_gillet https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117881999 The assembly line allowed manufacturers to keep up with demand for basic goods.  Combined with new forms of distribution and retail, mass production had an enormous impact on everyday life, from cheap soap and affordable pencils to office typewriters and more affordable motor cars.  ]]> 2016-08-10 12:32:30 UTC https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117881999 greg_gillet https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117882477 2016-08-10 12:37:31 UTC https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117882477 greg_gillet https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117884041 2016-08-10 12:50:02 UTC https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117884041 greg_gillet https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117897900 2016-08-10 14:51:16 UTC https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117897900 greg_gillet https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117897995 There are still concerns about the welfare of workers on assembly lines such as the recent reports from China and Taiwan about working conditions on the Apple iPhone and iPad assembly lines.]]> 2016-08-10 14:51:57 UTC https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117897995 greg_gillet https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117898358 The assembly line is certainly a key innovation of the early 20th Century, whose impact will continue to be felt for some time.]]> 2016-08-10 14:55:01 UTC https://padlet.com/greg_gillet/FutureLearnTheAssemblyLine/wish/117898358