America's Assembly Line

    Research output: Book/reportMonographResearchpeer-review

    Abstract

    A social history of the assembly line, invented in 1913. Both praised as a boon to consumers and as a curse for workers, it has been satirized, imitated, and celebrated for 100 years. It has inspired fiction, comedy, cafeteria layouts, and suburban housing. It transformed industrial labor and provoked strikes and union drives in the 1930s, but became a symbol of victory in the Second World War and Cold War. Reinvented by Japan as "lean production" and then increasingly automated after 1990, it remains a cornerstone of production but no longer employs many workers, even as it evolves toward sustainable manufacturing.
    Original languageEnglish
    Place of PublicationCambridge, MA USA
    PublisherMIT Press
    Volume1
    Edition1
    Number of pages338
    ISBN (Print)978-0-262-01871-5
    Publication statusPublished - 15. Feb 2013

    Keywords

    • production line
    • history of technology
    • Cultural construction
    • American studies

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