Mass production is the production of machinery and other articles in standard sizes in large numbers. Mass production makes it possible to manufacture things faster, and often at less cost. It also means that a replacement can be obtained for any part of a manufacturing machine or other product that breaks down.
Mass production began in 1800, when the United States was building up its army. Until that time, gunsmiths started a second gun only after they had completed the first one. Thus, each gun was a little different.
In 1798, the government hired the inventor Eli Whitney to make 10,000 muskets in two years. By 1800, Whitney had delivered only 500. He was called to Washington to explain the delay.
In front of a board of experts, Whitney placed 10 musket barrels, 10 stocks, 10 triggers, and so on, in separate piles. Then he assembled 10 muskets from the pieces, showing that anyone could do this if the parts were identical. In this way, Whitney demonstrated the basis of mass production—the interchangeability of parts. He had spent about two years developing machine tools that made identical parts.
In 1918, five engineering societies established what is now the American National Standards Institute, Inc. The institute studies and sets up standards of quality and methods of interchangeability for mass-produced parts in most U.S. industries.
In the early 1900's, Henry Ford originated the moving assembly line for manufacturing automobiles. After the automobile parts are made, the automobile frame is attached to a conveyor belt. This belt consists of a chain that moves along the floor of the factory. Workers are stationed along the chain in an assembly line. As the car moves slowly along the line, each worker does a special task. The task must be done in a certain length of time, and with exactness, because the work of the entire line is stopped if it is necessary to halt the moving chain. Mass production led to the division-of-labor system, in which each worker is skilled in a single operation. See Assembly line; Conveyor belt.
Source: DeVries, Marvin F. "Mass production." World Book Student, World Book, 2017, www.worldbookonline.com/student/article?id=ar348100. Accessed 26 Nov. 2017.
The late 19th-century United States is probably best known for the vast expansion of its industrial plant and output. At the heart of these huge increases was the mass production of goods by machines. This process was first introduced and perfected by British textile manufacturers. In the century since such mechanization had
begun, machines had replaced highly skilled craftspeople in one industry after another. By the 1870s, machines were knitting stockings and stitching shirts and dresses, cutting and stitching leather for shoes, and producing nails by the millions. By reducing labor costs, such machines not only reduced manufacturing costs but lowered prices manufacturers charged consumers. In short, machine production created a growing abundance of products at cheaper prices. Mechanization also had less
desirable effects. For one, machines changed the way people worked. Skilled craftspeople of earlier days had the satisfaction of seeing a product through from beginning to end. When they saw a knife, or barrel, or shirt or dress, they had a sense of accomplishment. Machines, on the other hand, tended to subdivide production down into many small repetitive tasks with workers often doing only a single task. The pace of work usually became faster and faster; work was often performed in factories
built to house the machines. Finally, factory managers began to enforce an industrial discipline, forcing workers to work set hours which were often very long. One result of mechanization and factory production was the growing attractiveness of labor organization. To be sure, craft guilds had been around a long time. Now, however, there were increasing reasons for workers to join labor unions. Such labor unions were not notably successful in organizing large numbers of workers in the late
19th century. Still, unions were able to organize a variety of strikes and other work stoppages that served to publicize their grievances about working conditions and wages. Even so, labor unions did not gain even close to equal footing with businesses and industries until the economic chaos of the 1930s.
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To find other documents in Loc.gov relating to this topic, you might use the terms work or workers, factories, or specific occupations such as miner, machinist, factory worker, or machine operator.
Documents
- Circus Days and Ways
- George Estes and the Order of Railroad Telegraphers
- Impact of Machinery on Making Shoes
- Interview with Miss D.
- Piece Work in the Knife Factory
- The Trade Union Woman
- The Workers' Anvil
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