IIVG Papers
Veröffentlichungsreihe des Internationalen Instituts für
Vergleichende Gesellschaftsforschung
Wissenschaftzentrum Berlin
IMPACT OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES ON EMPLOYEES AND
THEIR ORGANISATIONS
by Harley Shaiken
IIVG/dp/79-202
Februar
1979
Publication series of the International Institute for
Comparative Social Research
Wissenschafts zentrum Berlin
Steinplatz 2, D 1000 Berlin 12
030/313 40 81
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Vor b e m e r k u n g :
Der Aufsatz von Harley Shaiken stellt einen Problemaspekt
bei der Einführung von NC-Technologien dar: den Verlust an
individueller und kollektiver Kontrolle über den Arbeitsprozeß.
Die zentralen Thesen lauten,
a)' daß Ne-Technologie. zu einer Zen.tralisierung der JobControl des Management führe und dessen Dispositionsmöglichkeiten über die konkreten Bedingungen ~er Arbeitsverausgabung erweitere,
b) daß diesI;;1 Zentralisierung eine Schwächung der individuellen und kollektiven Formen der Kontrolle darstelle,
welche die Arbeiter selbst über diese Bedi?gungen haben;
die Einführung der NC-Technologie fUhre den Prozeß der
Enteignung der Arbeiter von selbstät.igen Entscheidungsfunktionen fort, den der Taylorismus eingeleitet hätte,
c) daß sich die Dominanz des Kontrollaspekts gegenüber anderen Aspekten der Ne-Technologie (Effizienz.-Steigerung
u.a.) an der Art der Einführung dieser Technologie durch
das Hanagement zeige. Die Formen qer Anwendung der Technologie seien nicht saohzwanghaft determiniert, sondern
durch die betrieblichen Herrschaftsbeziehungen bestimmt.
Hit der Darstellung des Verlustes von Kontrollmöglichkeiten
und Kompetenz der Arbeiter spricht Shaiken e~nen in der
bundesrepublikanischen Diskussion weitgehend vernachlässigten Wirkungsaspekt der NC-Technologie an. Diel hierzulande
vor allem diskutierten Probleme der Freisetzungseffekte
bzw. Lohneinbußen (Abgruppierungen) treten demgegenüber
aufgrund des uS-amerikanischen Erfahrungshintergrunds des
Autors zurück. Eine Diskussion um Abgruppierungen im Zusammenhang mit NC-Technologien gibt es in den USA nicht,
weil derartige Abgruppierungen bisher dort kaum vorkommen.
Freisetzungen bzw. Umsetzungen aufgrund von NC-Technologien
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werden in den USA, zumindest in gewerkschaftlichkontrollierten Betrieben, vor allem durch Senioritätsregelungen
aufgefangen Pzw. auf Randbelegschaften verlagert und
schaffen so keine unmittelbare Betroffenheit der konfliktfähigen Stamrobelegschaft. Vor dem US-amerikanischen Erfahrungshintergrund ist es auch verständlich, daß vor allem
der Kontrollaspekt bei der Einführung von NC-Technologie
als Problem hervorgehoben wird: Da die Existenz einer
Arbeitnehmer-Interessenvertretung in den Betrieben der
USA nicht gesetzlich garantiert ist Und auch diegewerkschaftliche Gegenwehr den Betrieben nicht institutionell
gesichert ist, haben die Kontrollmöglichkeiten der Belegschaft über den Arbeitsprozeß und die darauf basierende
Kompetenz und Bereitschaft zur Organisierung einer betrieblichen Gegenmachteinen entscheidenden Stellenwert
für eine Arpeitnehmerpoliti~.
Die Erfahrungsbasis des Autors ist die Einführung von
NC-Technologien in der AutoI1lobilfabrikation im Raum Detroit.
Während der Einführungsgrad von NC-Technologien in der USWirtschaft im Durchschnitt nicht höher zu sein scheint
als in der Bundesrepublik, ist er in diesem Bereich besonders weit fortgeschritten. Harley Shaiken ist Werkzeugmacher und hat bis vor kurzem in verschiedenen Werken der
Automobilfabrikation in Detroit gearbeitet; er argumentiert
also als Betroffener. Allerdings gibt er keineswegs repräsentativ die Sichtweise von betroffenen amerikanischen
Facharbeitern oder von Gewerkschaftsvertretern im Hinblick
auf die NC'7'Technologie wieder. Weil, wie oben erwähnt', das
US-Management die Einführung dieser Technologien nicht·
direkt mit Abgruppierungen verknüpft, weil Freisetzungen
unter den Bedingungen der stärker segmentierten Arbeitsmärkte der USA weniger zum Politikum werden, und weil
die Folgen des von Shaiken beschriebenen Kontroll- uI}d
Kornpetenzverlustes langfristigen Charakter haben, stellt
- III die Einführung von NC-Technologien in der amerikanischen
Arbeiterschaft und Gewerkschaftsbewegung bisher kaum ein
größeres Diskussionsthema dar.
Der Aufsatz entstand auf Basis eines 'V'lerkauftrags des
IIVG für den Schwerpunkt "Physische, psychische und soziale
Belastungen und gesellschaftspolitische Bewältigungsstrategien in hochindustrialisierten Gesellschaften".
- IV -
Impact of New Technologies on Employees
and their Organizations
Preface
1
1. NC as a Means to Centralize
3
Management Control
2. The Wea.kening of Norker' s Control
over
th~
16
Work Process
3. Management l s Strategies to
22
Implement NC-Technology
4. AlternativE; ways in Using the.
30
New Technology
Notes
33
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IHPACT OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES
ON EMP,LOYEES Al'1D THEIR
ORGAl.'HZATIONS
Preface
Automation poses serious new problems for workers and
the labor movement. In the past, when newtechnology has
been introduced, workers hav~ been concerned with gaining
a share of the increased productivity that their labqr brings
and with guarding themselves against the spectre of unemployment. While these remain important concerns, modern
, computer technologies add a new threat as weIl: by making
possible a reorganization of the workplace that gives
management a qualitatively different and more complete
control of the production process, they undermine the job
control of workers and may cripple the power of unions.
would like to explore the impact of new 'technology
on the workplace by examining what at first glance appears
to be a fairly narrow area: numerical control (Ne) machines
in metalworking. Numerical control of a machine tool means
that pre-coded instructions, rather than the machinist,
govern the basic operation of the machine. Nhat is', so
different about this' type of automation ist that i t attempts
to eliminate human input in ther performance of highly
skilIed and widely varying work in low volumes. Automation
in the past has made the skills of workers superfluous by
literally building thoae skills into the machinei but this
was only feasable for parts produced in large quantities.
Now the goal is Ilthe transfer of man's intelligence to
machines 11. 1)
I
Because of the versatility and power of numerical
control as a technology, the ways in which it reorganizes
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work have implications that go far beyond the machine shop.
In some ways, it is a paradigm for the impact that computer
technology will have on the basic role of labor in society.
This raises larger questions about the very nature of technology.
We think of technology as the application o'f scientific
discoveries to 'solve problems. A key problem that technology
attempts to solve, in the workplace is to increase productivity,
thatis, producing more goods with the same or less labor.
Por the ·purpose of increasing producti vi ty, , one ofthe paramete;-s that govern the selection of one technological method
over another concerns maximizing managerial control over the
productive process itself. Since theconcern is extending
managerialauth6rity, the di~ections of technological change
logically leads to the current application of numerical
control technology.If the problem were to be defined as
extending thecontrol of workers then the technology could
be developed in a different way. As it. is, if the creative
energies of workers are throttled, it is presented as "inevitable and progressivelI.
.
This discussion analyzes how a new technology affects
workers at the workplace. The important history of numerical
control and its full economic impact on the overall society
are thus largely beyond its scope. Alternatives that might
more fully tap the creative energies of people and deepen
their control over their lives are likewise not discussed.
This does not mean that these alternatives do not exist;
but a fuller analysis of both technology and the social
system are required to clarify them.
I would like to raise four aspects of the impact that
numerical control has on the workplace. First, NC is part
of a management system that centralizes authority over the
entire work process. Second, as a result of this, NC weakens
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the power of workers individually and collectively. Third,
management is.aware of the potential of this new technology,
and i8 implementing it in a sophisticated way for maximum
long-terrn.gain. Finally, wnile this process cannot be
controlled on a trade union level, important actions can
be taken that could result in immediate gains for workers,
gains that could lead to questioning of the ways technology
is used in society.
1. NC as a Means to Centralize Management-Control over
the work Process
NC performs a vital economic function by automating
the production of small batches of parts. In the United
States, parts produced im small'batches account for 36%
of manufacturing's share of GNP. 75% of these parts are
made in lot.sizesof less than 50. 2) While not all of
this production'will beaffected by NC, conventional
automation has largely bypassed this labor-intensive area
because small lot sizes Ware not economical to autornate.
The actual use of NC today is considerably below potential.
Though the reasons for this are largely beyond the scope of
this paper, even a few raw statistics indicate the impact
of NC: while less than 2% of all machine tools in use today
are NC, their increas~d productivity and 10\" cost make them
far more significant than the total number of tools shipped,
but represented 28.7% of the total value of shipments. 3)
I consider it critical to view NC as part of a system
that centralizes management authority over the entire work
process. Numerical control itself is a computerized method
of controlling an individual machine. -YIJhen NC is linked to
other computer systems , i t becomes possible- to go from the
designer's pen in the engineering office to the actual
production of apart wi thout any in·t:ervening human skills.
- 4 The system operates effectively even if the design changes
dramatically or if the nurnber of parts to be produced is
altered substantially.
Numerical control au~omates work that was formerly
performed by human intelligence in that unique combination
of hand and brain that we call skilI. On a single machine
it has a profound effect on what the machinist does. When
NC i8 part of a computerized workplace, countless other
skills, such as those öf the draftsman, are no longer required either. The elimination of the need for the skills
of ~'1orkers, however, is only part of the reorganization
of management that results in a new domination of the
industrial environment. In order to fully understand how
NC affects workers, we must analyze how it reorganizes the
managerial process.
I view the linking of the designers in the engineering
office through a computer system to the actual cutting of
me tal on the shop floor as a ll vertical integration" of the
workplace. Numerical control also facilitates a "horizontal
integration" of the shop floor itself through the computerized
control of the individual machine tools and the centralized
monitoring of key shop floor functions such as the scheduling of operations. Together, they represent a computerintegrated manufacturing mode.
Most current applications of numerical control do not
involve this extended an integration of theworkplace. It
is irnportant, however, to see the considerable power that
this technology makes possible. What follows are not isolated, spectacular exarnples, but typical working examples
which illustrate in practice the new control that management
can obtain over Ble productive process in even the most
difficult of areas.
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The comput.er doesn I t change the nature of management
but it does alter how management is able to carry.out its
functions. Management is a command relation based on making
decisions, giving orders, and insuring that those orders
are carried out. It is a closed loop, because instructions
travel down to the shop floor and information is carried
up to management. Until the .advent of the computer in small
batch manu~acturing, this loop had some of the characteristics
of the wfring in ~n old house. Overloads kept blowing fuses
in the system at the most inopportune times. Some of the
overloads were technical: for exarnple, keeping track of
work in progress or inventories. Other overloads concerned
the critical dependence of the skills of workers who at
times tended to be less than cooperative .• Among other
functions, numerical control attempts to relieve we
machinist of his role as a circui t breaker.
Let' s begin by looking at the effect NC has on the
skills of machinists on the shop floor. "Machinist" is a
generic term that covers a wide variety of workers who use
machines to alter the shape of metal. I will be referring
specifically to highly-skilled machinists engaged in limited
production or prototype work, because this 1s the area that
is technically most difficult to automate and that, therefore,
most clearly demonstrates the power of NC technology. Part
of the discussion may seem a bit on the technical side y but
it is important to understand in some detail the complexity
of what numerical control attempts to automate. After all,
any theoretical analysis of how the computer affects manufacturing must be tested against the mundane world of
cutting chips and moving parts.
Utilizing a machine tool such as a milling machine,
the machinist removes excess material from a piece of metal
to make it correspond to the shape and dimensions of a
finished part. While the rotating cutter on the machine
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!';culpts.the metal, the final resu1ts are very much a product
of the worker Isskill. This is a skill of the mind that
requires careful planning, ingenuity, and ace urate judgement.
It is also a skill of the hand and eye that at times
ealls for a quick response to some unforseen variable.
Actually producing apart requires eareful planning,
both before and during the actual cutting of metal on the
machine. The eomplexity of the planning involved in settingup the part is sometimes lost on those not fami1iar with a
machine shop. Determining howto produce a complicated shape
often involves calculating compound angles and til ting the
cutter and the wor~piece in delicate and intricate ways.
Once the machinist decides how to produce apart, he determines the order in which the operations are to be done,
selects the cutting tools, and sets the speed of the cutter
and the feed of the machine. After this, he is ready to
begin cutting meta1 by guiding the cutterthrough the path
that he determines. For the prototype machinist, previous
changes in technology increased the power and accuracy of
the machine tool,. but did notbasically change the type of
planning required.
In the actual cutting process, years of experience are
needed to accurately foresee all the problems that might
come up and to react to them correctly if and when they do
arise. A subtle change in the color of the chip may. mean
the entire part l,'/il1 warp;. a slight change in the 'sound of
the machine could mean a poor finish; a mild chatter of the
machine tool might. result in a scrapped part.
In addition to his skill on the machine, the machinist
plays a critical, if unheralded, role in the design process.
His skills fo~m a vi~al link in translating the designer's
concept into the actual part. For example, in the construction
of a prototype in a tool room, it 1s a familiar sight to see
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an engineer walk in with a stack of blueprints and ask the
machinist if this job can be done. The machinist carefully
studies the prints, looks at the engineer, and says, "WeIl,
i t can be done like this, but your way will never work. '.'
The machinist might then grab a pencil, mark up the print
and, in effect, redesign the job based on his experience of
what will work. The price management pays for this information is a reliance on the judgement and cooperation of
the machinist. When workers feel harrassed, in fact, they
often begin producing parts "according to the print".
Ironically, this "refusal to redesign" is seen by management
as nothing short of sabotage.
A significant problem of contral of the working
environment comes down to the fact that management must
talk to tlle machinist before it can communicate with the
machine tool. Eventhe most precise instJ;'uctions are still
mediated through the independent judgement of a craftsman.
Numerical control alters this. The decisions that the
machinist traditionally made based on skill are now programmed into a tape or fed directly into a minicomputer
that controls the operation of the machine tool. Planning
how t.he part will be machined, guiding the cutter taol
through its path, and determining the actual conditions
under which the metal will be cut - such as the speed af
the cutter and the feed rate of the machine - all become
part of the tape. The central control over the machine
tool resides with those who prepare the instructions, not
with the machinist. The machinist, in Ne theory, merely
loads and unloads the machine and stops it if something
goes wrong.
In practice, an important distinction exists between
the planning skills of the machinist, which include setting
up the job and guiding the cutting tool, versus the feedback
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skills which include reacting to the actual cutting conditions.
This distinction is critical because we are analyzing the
impact of NC based on how it actually works rather than how
itshould work. The planning skills are successfully auto....
mated by NC, which of course eliminates the machinist as a
link in the design as well. The feedback skills are less
successfully automated sinee the cutting of metal consists
of so many unpredictable 'variables. What this means is that
in prototype work the operator of the machine retain a
monitoring function. As larger production quantities are
encountered, the role of the worker becomes less critical
even as a monitor, since the pattern of cutting conditions
may be optimized. The successful automation of the planning
skills results in a qualitative change even if the feedback
skills are never fully automated.
The basic planning deci~ions are made by the part
programmer, who codes the design of apart into a language
that will control the operation of the machine tool. The
prograrnmer maymanually punch a tape for the operation cf
a simple program, or he may use a computer-assisted language
such as APT (Automatie Programmed Tool) to guide the cutter
on a complex.five-axis maehine tool. The programmer may
reeeive the information that he codes into a machine-readable
language from an engineering drawing of the part. However,
in other applications, he may receive the description of the
part from a computer - which has important implieations
diseussed later.
Removing control of the maehine tool fromthe machinist
aehieves through technology what Frederick W. Taylor attempted
to aehieve through the reorganization of work - a drastically
reduced reliance on the skills of workers. Iron Age magazine,
a leading managemen t..... week ly, drew the __paralle 1 be tween NC
and Taylor:
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IINumerical control is more than a means of controlling
a machine. It is asystem, a method of manufacturing.
It embodies much of what the father of scientific
management, Frederick Winslow'Taylor, sought back in
1880 when he began his investigations into the art of
cutting metal.
tOur original objective,' Mr. Taylor wrote, 'was that
of taking the control of the machine shop out of the
hands of the many workmen, and plc;l.cing it completely
in the hands of management ••• '. ur. 4)
a method of manufacturing, Ne does more than remove
decision-making from the machinists and give it to programmers.
It is the first rung of a vertical integration of the workplace that seeks to locate all creat:tva deaisions as alose
to the design management part of the manufacturing hierarchy
as possibla. Alo.ng the way, the skills of many workers are
knocked off the ladder. What management strives to eliminate
is any uncontrolled input into the system. It· obtains production.3control at the expense of the creativity and independence of the vast majority of workers who are excluded'
from the' decision-making process and at the level of jobcontrol they formerly exeraised.
Aß
In a technology that abounds with acronyms, this
vertical integration of the workplace is often called
Computer Aided Design (CAD). Not only does the technology
move the locus of decision-making off the shop floor and
into higher levels of management; it also results in an
integration of management fu.nctions such as design and
production. Formerly, the staff of engineers who designed
the product and the staff of engineers who determinded how
the product was to be manufactured operated almost as
indep~ndent fiefdoms. Now, many decisions on how to produce
a ..oart that the skilied worker formerly made can be made
at the level of design by an integrated management team.
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Utilizing CAD methods, the design of the part and the
programrning of the machine tool that will produce the part
become centralized. Sitting in front of what looks like a
television set, the designer draws the part onthe screen
with a light pencil. This video screen is linked to a computer with which the designer interacts. He can blow up
sections of the part for a better view, shrink it for
,perspective, rotate it, smooth out lines, and manipulate
the date, in coun tless other ways. Once the design is comple te,
the designer programs the part for manufacture on an NC
machine. 'Simulatingthe machinecutter with ''1:he light pencil,
he traces the outline of the part on the video screen and
the computer automatically programs, :the path that the cutter
will fol&ow on the machine. The designer becomes aware, in
a qualitatively different way, of how the part is to be
produced.
Numerical control, aso part of a larger' computer system,
makes possible much more 'than automating the skills of the
machinist. Some parts that could not be manufactured at all
or only with great difficulty and exacting handwork, can be
machined by numerical control methods. All that is required
is a mathematical definit..imn of the shape which is then
translated into machine motion by the computer. An example
of this, is the complex contours of a turbine blade for a
jet machine.
While the world of the manager on the level of design
expands and becomes integrated, other skills in the production proce.ss shrink or are eliminated entirely. Programming either becomes integrated with the design itsslf as
ws have seen, or becomes literally built into the control
of the' machine tool. The programmers who replace machinists
as controllers of the machine themselves become controlled.
Dr. Edwin N. Nilson, manager of Technical and Management
Data Systems at Pratt and Whi tney aircraft, summarizes
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the trend:
11 Right
now there are press ures to get designers to
describe their geometry in APT, for example, thus
making it convenient for the Ne programmer. As we
have seenabove, however, APT and associated
prograrnming languages may weIl. disappear. 11 5)
When the prograrnming is built into the machine tool
controller or the computer itself, the b.asic configuration
of a frequently-produced part.is i~cluded in the -software
in what is called a canned cycle. The designer, the programmer, or even the machinist inserts a code number into
the computer to call up the part, inserts the proper
di111Eulsions on. command cf the computer, and then the prograrnmed tape that will run the machine tool is produced
automatically.
The draftsmen and designers that detailed the conceptions of the senior engineers on bl'ueprintsalso disappear. In same aases, the work that the' engineerdoes on
the video screen makes a drawing unnecessary. Where
drawings ~ necessary, they can be produced by n ume,rically
controlled drafting machines.
The integration of some of the machinist',s skills
on the level of design may seem to be of little direct
importance to the machinist • In one sense, i t does not make
any difference to the machinist where his skills are
exercised if he no longer exercises thern. In a deeper sense,
if his skills are part of the design process, reappropr±ating
those skills requires input and control at the level af
design which is a more fundamental challenge than seeking
the return of prograrnming tasks.
The complete vertical integration of manufacturing,
fram the designer to the finished part, exists in few places
today and will never totally automate eve.ry factory. What
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is significant i5 that elements of this complßte integration
are already having a wide impact, and the overall treri.d is
unmistakable. The next ~tage of development consists of
linking working systems into a more unified whole. As a
working technology, computer aided design is transforming
operations as diverse as a small machine shop o,r an in-'
dustrial behemoth like General Motors.
One,srnall machine builder that I visited in Detroit
is using a computer aided design system in a plant that
employs fewer than 100 people. The virtually automatie
prograrnming can produce 106 machines tapes inabout 6 1/2
hours. Before NC" a template thatrequires over an hour
to make was used instead of each tape. 6)
A visit to the sprawling General Motirs Technical
Cen ter and the adj acen t Fisher Body Engineering Cen te~ near
Detroit reveal the extent·to which this t'echnology may' come
to trans form the operations' 'cf the largest industrial corporation in the world. Engineers proudly boast about the
largest computer center in the Uni ted States si tting in
the basement. Tied to it are video similar to the ones
that I described. This system was used on over 75% of the
releases from the design department on GM 1977 full-size
cars. Over 90% of GM die models were produced from a combination
of this design process and NC technology. 7)
A die itself is a complex steel form, often weighing'
many tons, that is used to stamp out the sheet metal parts
of a car. The numerical control machines used to produce
these dies can now be linked directly into the design process.
It is true that relatively feTt! skilied machinists - "die:makers" - were necessary in the past to produce all the dies
for General Motors; but what i8 at issue is control and not
only the number of workers involved.
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Let's briefly'look at how dies are made and its implications for managerial control. A m~rnmoth machine called a
digi tizer runs a probe ove·r the contours of a clay model of
a car, recording all the complex surface characteristics of
the body in the computer. Using this information as a data
base, engineers perform design, engineering, and manufacturing functions. Sitting in front of video screens with
their light pencils, some engineers finalize the design of
the body, some test its struct~ral characteristics, and
others design the dies that will produc~ the parts. Once
the design of a die is complete, tapes can be generated
that will control Ne machines in any GM plant that has
wem.
Paradoxically, this centralized control over design
and production can be exercised through decentralized
operations. The centralized control in this oase results
from the computer data base and not the geographical Ioeation
of the people using the:computer. From the standpointof
control, the computer and telephone wires put all GM managers
and engineersusing the system in the same location.
The computer doesn't know if the engineer using it is
sitting ina building directly overhead at the Technical
Center near Detroit or is workingat the Opel plant near
Frankfurt. If some aspects of the design, for example,
are more efficiently done at the.plant level, plant engineers can access the computer to finalize designs and
generate NC tapes closer to the actual work.
In one of the largest die manufacturing plants in the
world, located 60miles from Detroit, two engineers utilizing
this system are able to program seven enormous machining
center~ on two shifts in between other related design ac~
tivity. At one time, more than seven programrners painstakingly prepared son~ of these tapes manually before programrning itself became integrated with design through the
central data base. The design work on the dies can begin
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oefore the design of the part has been completed through
the use of the same data base by the die.engineer and the
part engineer.
The productivity gains are staggering. The time it
,
takesto go from design to a prototype model was reduced
from 51 weeks in 1971 to 32 weeks in 1978. The gain is even
more impressive, considering tha t some computer.i.zed me thods
were also used in 1971 and that the model itself was more
c.omplex .in 1978. In some applications, 40 hours of manual
drafting time is reduced to 20 minutes as NC drafting
machines utilize t...~e digi tized data from the clay models. 8)
This uni ty of design, engineering, and manufacturing
that the computer makes possi'ble gives management a new
control over the working environment. Althoughthis integration is far from fully achieved in an organization the .
size of GM today, GM president E.M. Estes outlined the
corporation' splans for ~e future:
"An internal study re.cently· found that the use of
computers in manufacturing now lags benind both design
and data processing uses in GM. But the study concluded
that the use of computers in manufacturing would increase
by as much as 400% in the fi ve yeär period e.nding in 1982,
compared to just 40% increase for design functions and
9% growth in data processing. I ,think it is fairly safe
to say that within 10 years computers will control about
90% of all the new machines in GM's manufacturing and
assembly plants. This doesn't mean computers will be
replacing men nearly as much as it means they will be
helping our employees do a better job. 11 9)
.
I'Helping our employees do a better job" means minimizing
their control over the workplace.
The vertical integration of manufacturing from design
to production is coupled with a horizontal integration of
the shop floo~ itself. The control of the machining process
through NC machines is combined with a computerized monitoring of other shop floor .functions: where work i8, what
- 15 workers are doing, etc. In a factory where many different
kinds of parts are produced, even a simple problem such as
knowing where a.given part is can assume mind-boggling
proportions. In an aircraft plant, 150,000 parts might be
circulating. Tighter control of where' parts are also provides management more complete control of what workers are
doing and how long it is taking them to do it. In short,
different forms of management control collapse into
generalized .control.
For management, computer-integrated manufacturing
creates a more unified and controllable workplace. One of
the ironies cf Taylorism i~ that, in totally fragmenting
the work process, it creates a complex, fragmented hierarchy of managers as weIl. Layer upon layer of authority
and overlapping responsibilities create impressive organizational charts, out a cumbersome chain of command. The
computer reintegrates ski II requirements for management
even-as it "dis-integrates ll them for machinists.
Joseph Harrington, the leading management consultant
in the area of NC,becomes almost lyrical in describing
the impact NC has on the manage:rial process: "... everyone
above the foreman level will find hirnself working in an
area of largely non-departmentalized decision making. The
old barriers will dissolve under the irresistible demands
of tha new technologias, and communications will flow
freely within the boundries of the company. 11 10)
Harrington compares the new grasp of managers ovar
production with the control the craftsman had over a production operation in colonial days. 1l0bviOuslY, the new
system will not be dominated by a single persori such as
the craftsman of colonial days, but the same responsibilities
will be fulfilled by an integrated group of persons." 11)
-
16 -
Whether this integrated eontrol ,is exereised in a hierarehieal way that dominates workers or in a demoeratie way
that expands their eontrol is a soeial eholee, not a teehnieal' one. This new unity of manufa.eturing. me ans that, to
seriously talk about workers eontrol, one must talk about
eontrol of the enterprise itself.
2. The Weakening of Worker's Control
, over the Work Proeess
The reorganization of work that numerical eonti:ol brings
about fundamentally weakens the power of workers, both individually and colleetively. On the öob, the worker is simultaneously an individual, part ·of a work group, and possibly
a member of a nnion. As an individual, the faet that his
skill is no longer needed may cause differing reaetions.
For th.e work gr~up and the union, the "end of indispensibili ty"
ofskills undermines an important historieal basis for job
eontrol and saps the power of the union on the shop floor.
Management loses these fetters, and henee gains important
new flexibility and control through computer integrated
manufaeturing.
The effect of deskilling on the individual worker ean
be devastating. In E~gland, I spoke to one skilIed maehinist
in an aerospace plant who had been a highly-skilled eraftsman
for 17 years and who enjoyed his work. For the last 6 mon ths
he had been running a NC lathe and feIt a deep frustration.
He eloquently stated. his plight: "I I ve worked, at this trade
for 17 years. The knowledge is still in my head, the skill
is still in my hands, but there is no use for either one
now. I go horne and I feel frustrated, like I haven't done
'
I wan t t 0 wor k , ma k e th'~ngs aroun d the house." 12)
any th ~ng.
Creative energies are saeri'fied to hierarehieal eontrol.
-
17 -
Another worker,in Detroit, had a much different view
on the personal effects of NC on hirn. A diemaker in a large
auto plant for 20 years, he viewed NC as an 11 easy job 11 and
was only too happy not to have any input into the system.
Hhen asked how he personally feIt about NC, he responded,
11 Do I
feel bad at the end of the day? The answer is no.
I don't come to work to have a good time~ I just coma. here
and get my pay. In any case, we have ways of alleviating
boredom. 11 13)
For some workers, conditions on the job are so bad to
begin with that the deskilling brought about by numerical
contx"ol is not. viewed with any partiC1.üar alarm. Workers
who are not particularly concerhed about their own skills
feel that they need not be concerned about th~ additional
powers that management achieves through the usa of computerized machining methods. They are wrong, of course:
control is control, and all workers sacrifice it at their
peril.
Numerical control makes possible an increased control
of workers through technology in areas where even the most
sophisticated socialcontrols have failed in the paste
SkilIed tool- and die-makers have traditionally been among
the most militant and best organized workers within the
auto industry. These highly-skilled workers build the tools
that position parts in the production and the dies that
shape sheet metal. Part of their strength rests on the fact
that the complexi ty and variety of their work has resisted
effective automation, giving them a rneasure of job control
at a particularly critical point of production. Their leverage
is increased because they can interfere not only with their
own work but with the operation of an entire auto plant.
Using on1y the methods of Taylorism to subdivide the work
and reorganize the machine shop has thus proved particularly
ineffective in dominating these workers.
- 18 -
The subdivision of work in the plant was coupled with
the contracting out of work tosmall "back alley" shops
where the owner-manager himself keeps a' 'strict and fast-paced
discipline, eften by werking next to his men. This extra
measure of supervision not only produced lower production
costs but provided a benchmark to measure the performance
of the werkers in the large auto plants. Work was contracted
out for other reasens :(lower costs via lower wages, for one)
than the increased control that these shops provided, but .
this was unquestionably an important aspect of a company' s
choosing not to expand its own facilities. While the attempt
to control production by contracting out work achieves lower
costs, it has the dis advantage of sacrificing direct in-house
control overan important phase of the production cycle.
Ne helps solve this Ly deskilling the work itself so it
becomes manageable throughthe use ofthe technology. The
increased control comes not only ovar the machinists but
over the way the en tire industry i8 organized. Work may sti 11.
be contracted out when it is cheaper to do SOi but the small
shops lose that part of their cast advantage that Ttlas based
on closer pOlicing 0 f the work-force.
-
Aside from the tool and die shops, small, non-union
machine shops in Detroit that produce other compon~nts for
the auto industry provide a laboratory for management in
how to ·,iJmplement NC. At one mach.ilne shop, where both conventional machines and NC machines are kept in the same
building, the plant manager complained about fraternizing
among operators. The conventional machines are operated by
highly skilIed machinists who have spent years learning the
trade. On aboring mill, a large particularly complex
mach:Lne tool, it i8 not uncommon to see a machinist sit
down with a cup of coffee and carefully plan the exacting
moves he will have to rnake on a process sheet. The largely
unskilled operators that this company chooses to hire and
train to operate its NC machines wander by and observe the
·-
19 -
machinist 's manner on the job, the foreman I s dependence on
the worker's ability, and the worker's control over his rate
of production. If,the same job is later run on an Ne machine,
the operator sometimes tries to emulate the attitude of the
machinist on the conventional machine, cup of coffee and all,
and feels resentful at the additional parts that he produces
in this case for a lower salary. 14)
A frightening view for laboti of what the elimination
of job control based on skill can mean to the power 0 funions
1s found in the printing industry. Computerized processes
did more than ellminate jobs; they destroyed the leverage
of the workers that remained. l?ublishers today ai;'€: often
willing:~ to guarantee the jobs of \<lorkers for life in return
for the phenomenal increases in producti vi ty and control
that result.
In one particular dramatic example, the liberal
Washington Post installed advanced printing equipment
that it was determined to use without customary union
restriction. The Post then taught fifty-five non-union,
white-collar employees how to operate the presses, in
what amounted to a "school for scabs". During a strike
that management precipitated, 25 managers took over the
jobs of 125 pressmen. The union was smashed. 15)
The printers are only the pioneers in the loss of
power at the workplace through technology. The former labor
columnist for the New York Times, A.H. Raskin, maintains
that large sections of the labor mevement face a similar
fate: "Despite the considerable economic and pali tical
clout the unions maintain the balance of power is shifting and management knows it. In no industry is the future more
visible than in the newspaper business, where theonce
mighty printers' union is being brought to its knees by
computer technology." 16)
- 20 -
The process may be less dramatic in metalworking, hut
the structural changes are just as deep. Numerical control
brings about increased flexibility for managemeVlt on a
world scale. An auto company, for example, is no longer
as dependent on a large pool of highly-skilled machinists
to produce the tooling. for its automobiles; design can oe
largely cornpleted in a centralized headquarters, and the
data shipped over telephone wire13 to the plant where the
labor market is most convenient. If there is a strike in
Germany, the dies for the new Fiesta ean becpmpleted in
Spain.
With a product as complex as the tooling of an automobile,
a company is not suddenly entirely independent of the skills
of its workforce. The loeation of millions of dollars of
'capital equipment is in itself a powerful restraint to the
unlimited mobility of produetion. Nevertheless, an important
and useable measure of flexibJ~lity is obtained due to the
alternatives the technology makes possible.
We can see the possibilities for the future in an event
tilat oecured with Ne at a now surpassed level of development.
In 1972-73 an automaker began work on the dies for a' small
luxury car which was meant to compete v'li th t·1ercedes on the
international market. Most of the work for these dies was
contraeted out to tooling shops in the Detroit area rather
than being done in the company I s eonsiderable internal
faeilities. A strike at these shops in the Detroit area
in 1973 threatened to prolong the introduction of the neVl
model. Because mueh of the design data was in computer
storage, the corporation was able to transfer the data to
an internal faeility and produee the dies on numerieal
eontrol maehinery without delaying the produetion of any
of its other "'lOrk. No physicalevidence had to leave the
struck shops in Detroit in order for this major transformation
to take place.
.
-
21 -
Reeently the UAW has negotiated agreements with the
auto eompanies, making tue ~ubeontraeting of work to outside
plants a strikeable issue, if UAW meniliers are on layoff.
It does not require mueh imagination to see how an agreement
like this, which was won with difficulty at the bargaining
table, could effectively be underminedin practice.
The impact of numerical control technology is, however,
limited by a number of technical and social problems. First,
NC is relatively new and still has "bugs". Although the
reliability of the system has improved, the complexity of
the actual metal cutting process remains an important
problem. Second, the struggle of wor:kers tc; maintain a
degree of control over their working lives is still a
formidable obstable that management faces in utilizing
this technology.
Tue development of Ne proceeds in response to these
~echnical and social realities. Automation i5 nOt a fixed
event, but adynamie process. The, problems that Ne faces
today will determine the direction it will go in tomorrow,
in the same way that the development of current technology
was a response to an earlier generation of problems. Management selects from the available technical,solutiqns those
that extend its authority at the workplace to the exclusion
of tue independent input of workers.
3. Management's Strategies to Implement NC-Technology
Numerical control technology did not entirely be ar out
the early extravagant promises of machine tool builders
that anyone capable of pushing a button could operate an
NC machine. A critical problem in the early units centered
on the electronic reliability of the control units and the
difficulty in repairing them when they did break down. But
- 22 -
important strides in the field of microelectronics have
resl,llted in vastly improved control systems, such as computer
numerical control (a~C), which are inherently more reliable
'and easier to repair when they do malfunction. A more difficult problem is the complexity of the metal cutting process
itself. Planning, how to machine even the most complex of
shape~ can be easily put on tape, but the problem arises
when the cutter begins removing metal. The problem, in some
ways, is akin ::.;'to dri ving a car down a fre.eway by remote
contro1. tVith a good map, it is relatively easy to plan an
adequate route (although if one has driven the route manually,
one has an advantage in selecting the best route) .,The problem arises if there' is no way to monitor the road conditions
whileone drives. If it's raining, one has to slow down
considerably; if there is an obstruction in the road that
is not on the map, the best computer-selected route if not
full protection against a serious accident.
In normal butting operations conditions may varY widely,
For exarnple, when a large casting is put on a machine tool,
an unexpected hard spot can shatter a cutter on the best
of programs. In other situations, a harder than expected
grade of metal may dull the cuttin'g tool and cause dirnen ... ' _,'
sional inaccuracy in the part. Thelist of variables is
almost infinite. In order to solve some of these problems,
the operatcbr is given a swi tch to override the speed, and
feed that have been selected on tue program, and, thereby
adjustthe machine to actual operating conditions.
override switch, the operator has the ability
not only to adjust the cutting process out to react against
management as weIl. At one plant I visited, the shop manager
complained about a machinist that consistently ran his machine
at 75% of the programmed speed. ~lJ'hen ~~e program itself v/as
reduced to 75% of its former speed, the o?erator simply ran
it at 75% of the new speed. At another shop, one operator
ran the machine at 60% of the programmed value, removing the
Wi~~ th~
- 23 -
dial and recalibrating it at 100% for the benefit of ariy
manager who happened to wander by. The shortfall of parts
was apparent at the end of the day, but the managers had a
problem p1npointing the cause.
On certain jobs, it remains preferable to have a r..;orker
who is familiar with the machining operation to monitor the
machine, although technical advances make this less important
in somewhat higher volumes. This input does not contradict
the qualitative transformation of production and elimination
of skill that takes place .-.
It may be instructiva to look at a sim~lar problem in
the history of mass production. In anearlier day, the instalation of fixed automation in the manufaeture of cylinder
blocks was plagued with difficulty, as the operation was
taken out of the bands of skilled production machinists and
placed on a large, complex sa.t of maehinery linked by
automatie transfer equipment;. Today, 50 years after the
development of this teehnology, new transf~r lines are
still plagued with problems. The boring, reaming, and honing
of parts of the engina block to extremely high finishes
and tolerances, is a complex process. Despite these continuing technical difficulties, it is a remarkable, but real
feat, that millions of engine blocks can be produced today
by a few people who do little more than monitor an automatie
operation.
Management is aware of the power of numerical control
to reorganize the workplace, and 1s 1mplementing it in a
Sophisticated way for a maximum long-term gain. In public
discussions and popular articles, tnere is pious concern over
the loss of skills of some workers and optimism for the new
skills that will be created. All of this is guided oy a clear
implication that the new technology is socially neutral and
inevitable. Eugene Herchant, director of Research planning
-
24 -
for Cincinnatti Milacron, quotes an international survey that
saysfuture systems must be designed in "such a way as·to
maximize the use of human mental capabilities and human
qualities of workers." 17)
w11.en the managers talk about the technical posSibilities
of NC in literature meant for other managers,. however, t11.e
message is somewhat different. Joseph Harrington, an NC
consultant., states that a sentence often heard about NC is
that "management has at last regained control of the' factory·." 1 8)
In a sober book c'alled Management Standardsfor Numerical
Control, written t6 introduce managers to the benefits of Ne
technology, the message is equally clear: "Ta a great.extent,
computer and numerical controls were designed to minimize t11.e
number of processing decisions made on the' shop floor.' Such
decisions, whet11.erthey are good or bad, are nearly always
. suboptimal. Since the machine operator is largely outside of
·the machine control loop, manufacturing by aut.omatic controls
makes tighter managementcontrol both possible and
imperative." 19)
What is particularly enlig11.tening about the control
poss~bilities of the new technology is not only what managers
say but w11.at hapFens when t11.e technology develops in a
direction where a clear c11.oice develops between increased
control.over the warkplace and increased satisfaction and
job con trol for the \vorker. In certain aases, manage.rs are
\villing to sacrifice increased productivi ty in the short-run
for tighter control in t11.e lang-run.
One important part of that lang-run arrived in t11.e
1970's with the development of Computer·Numerical Contral,
,
mentioned earlier. Advances in microprocessor technology
have made it possible to place a mini-computer at the
machine tool to guide the machine operations. Instead of a
- 25 -
hard-wired machine controller reading a punched tape, the
tape is fed into the mini-computer and the stored information
operates·tne machine tool. This seemingly small technical
change has major implications. For example, there is now
the capability to edit programs at the machine tool. On
some jobs" it is of great advantage to be able to correct
errors or make improvements in the program at the machine
rather than in the engineering office., The programmer is
able to immediately modify the program through buttons on
the machine control panel in a system called manual data
input.
'.T"here i8 na technical reason VJhy thisediting facility
cannot be used by the operator as weIl as the programmer.
In fact, it is possible to use manual data input to program
as weIl as edit. It is too faeile an argument, however, to
say t,hat the machinist having aceess to progr.amming would
regain his former posit'ion in produetion. As I have tried
to illustrate, the teehnology is a far more integrated than
that. Aceess to programming does return an important element
of job eontrol to the shop floor. The deeision as to how mueh
input the operator should have is based on social as weIl
as technieal faetors. In this case, the teehnolo~l does
not qompletely rule out job controli it is management's
use of the teehnology that eliminates.
Don Smith, chairman of the Industrial Development
Division of the University of Michigan, cautioned that ~t
vlOuld be Il very undesirable to have the operator do any
programming. This would take away the eontrol of the pro.
20)
duetion environment. 11
The owner of a contraet manufacturing, shop eehoed these sentiments: III don' t want
any operator fooling around with ~rogramming. That should
be done only in the engineering department." 21)
One of the themes underlying this paper is that technology such as nurnerical control could be developed in a
-
26 -
vlay that would enhance the control of workers. The development
of computer n umerical con trol to enhance management flexibility has also resulted in an opening for workers to regain
some controL The, cnd.ef prograrnmer of one small shop I
visited cornmented rather forcefully on this possibility:
litt sucks. Any t§ipe I put out there is not safe. Sometimes
they (the operato.rs) change things not knowing what they' re
doing." 22)
At one large plant I visited in England, a running battle
was going on between programmers and machinists about alte ring
tapes on CNC machines. The social ,Situation was complex, because both ware in (different divisions of) the same union.
What was interesting is that the machinists were paid on
"group bonus 11 , and feIt that they could produce more by
programming their own tapes. Management, realizing that the
ahility to produce more also meant. the ability to produc~
less, was sidil'lg wi,th the prograrnmers in keeping the machinists out of the editing process. The machinists, however,
had learned how to do substantial alterations on the tapes
and were doing them whenever possible toensure the higher
wages associated with increased production.
One worker on a less sophisticat~d NC machine had
actually obtained a tape punch and secretely made his own
tapes at the machine tool to optimize his production. His
immediate supervisor knew about the practice, but was
reluctant to intervene because of the increased production.
While in most shops that I have visited CNC is used
to keep the operator in the same position that 11e would be
in with conventional Ne equipment, in a few CNC-equiped
shops the operator is given a mo're important role in editing
or in programming. Often, this has a lot to do witn the type
of work being done.On one-of-a-kind production of complex
parts, it is advantageous to have the direct intervention
of an experienced person. So much of the planning is removed
- 27 -
by the nature of NC teehnology that to give the operator
some input is viewed as productive and socially beneficial.
After all, lt gets pretty boring to be considered totally
out of tne planning process.
The important factor is not whether, in every instanee
with CNC, management chooses to totally eliminate the role
of the machinist, but that CNC gives managers the choice as
to how mueh control to give up. It is productive to give
some, but unsafe,to give up too much. This power of cholce
is syI!1l:Jolized by a key on the control panel that can lock
it from the operator's reaeh. As ane engineer told me,
"The key belongs to the man who owns the machine."
The int.roduetion of NC equipment has led to far less
resistance than the p~ofound changes it brings about might
prediet. Worker's attitudes have been dulled by the early
historyof the technology, the piecemeal w.ay it is riormally
introdueed, and a feeling of resignation to what appears
to be an inevitable event. Management has been eareful to
cause a minimum of disruption, by introducing the technology
in boom times, when there is the least direct displacement
of workers.
When NC made its major debut during the 1960's, it
was heralded with extravagant prornisses of the immediate
elimination of all skilied workers. In some plants, management treatsd the new machines with the secreey accorded a
new weapon system, nidden by newly built fences and run
only by seleeted personnei. Workers quiekly saw that not
only didn't the new maehines replace skilied workers, but
that very often the machines themsel ves did11' t funetion.
The fact that the teehnology didn't work up to expeetation
instilled a eertain cynicism in workers as to how much of
a threat it really posed. Even when it did work ?roperly,
very seldom were entire plants shifted over to the new
-
28 -
teehnology, t-1etalwork~ng is innerently a eautious industry
that prefers to rely on established methoo.s. Unlike the
printing industry,where entire plants were eonverted to
eomputerized teehnology all at onee, in maehining, one or
two maehines ware brough t in at a time. As one '(Ilorker
mentioned, hmvever, "The equipment is a joke - right up
until they get it to work."
Some of the vast ehanges the teehnology brings about
are also hidden from the workers that operate it. When new
maehining centers are introduced in an auto,tool room, the
toolmakers are not Ileeessarily aware of the outside shops
that are eliminated.
Even workers who realize that the technology is going
to revise the traditional rols of skilied workers feel that
they have no ehoiee but to learn ho\'/ to opea:ate the new
maehines and get on the bandwagon for what the future has
to offer. It is often a logieal response for the worker to
seek to defend himself as an individual, particularly if
there is littlechance for eolleetive defense of workers';!.
skills in the produetive pro~ess.
Onee the teehnology is introdueed, it is difficult to
aehieve any alteration in the way it is used. A study done
by the !1assaehussets Institute of Teehnology expressed
surprise at the little resistanee to ths introduction of
NC that was found in a study of 24 small and medium NC
users in the eastern and midwestern United Sta.tes. 23)
As managements have shown in the printing and oeeanshipping industries, coming to terms with workers eurrently
ernployed is a bargain if it ensures teehnologieal dornination
;for the future.
- 29 -
4. Al ternati ve Ways in Using the New Technology
In conclusi~n, the long term consolidation of managerial'power e1at numerical control makes possible, comoined with the negative effect it has on workers, provide
a formidable challenge for labor. Numerical control when
linked to other computer systems so fully integrates the
work process that the only effective control is over the
entire process itself. Joseph Harrington, the Ne management
consultant, captured the extent of this integration when he
compared it to the control over the wark process that the
craftsrnan exercised 200 years ago. But, rather than being
exercised by a single person today, this more eomplete
control over production is shared by integrated teams of
managers. Nothing inherent in the computer, however, mandates that this control be limited to managers: that is
a soei'al choice. In order to extend this control to workers,
the design, development, and deployment of the technology
would have to shift towards the'goal of increasing worker
control. In my opinion, this would require a fundamental
change in the society that transcends wnat can be achieved
at the bargaining table.
Nevertheless, what happens at the 1?argaining table
can result in real victories for workers and raise broader
issues about technology in a relevant way. The necessity
for structural change does not mean that achieving anything
less, takes the character of rearranging the deck chairs on
tne Titanic. The attempt of unions to have input into the
usa of technology, however, challenges tlle most sacred of
sacred cows: management prerogatives. In general, management i3 far more willing to bargain over wag~s and benefits
than the organization of v-lOrk. In the case of technology,
management seizes the ideological initiative by posing the
question as accepting progress or returning to the dark
ages. This of course masks thereal issue, which is not
-
30 -
opposition to technology per se, but to the development of
technology in a way that:further dominates people. As we
have seen, managers are willing to sacrifice productivity
if it conflicts with their control, because they realize
that in the long run an extension of managerial authority
will be to their benefit. For workers, it is equally vital
to defend whatever control they now have at the workplace.
The less of this control can undermine. all' other gains that
are won at the bargaining table.
Trade unions in Nor'!,'1ay have provided important directions
in maintaining job control. In 1971, the Iron and Metal Workers union contracted the Norwegian Computing Center,'a
government agency, to investigate the implJ.cation of new
computer.related technologies. Based on these investigations,
the union struggled for and won formal "data agreements"
which defined the roleof the union in decisions that concern te,chnology.
In practical terms, this has resulted in the creation
of a new union position, "~ata shop steward". This steward
monitors the introduction of new technology and attempts
to identify those features whicil erode the po"ver of the
""orker and the union. In one ,plant, the union has succeded
in winning access to the computer based production and
inventory systems for the workers on the shop floor. In
the same plant, all NC operators are trained as programmers
and do their own e'diting on CNC machines. 24) 1;"1hat is most
impressive about the NorNegian trade union experience is
not so much the specific demand,s, as the attempt to demystify
technology for workers in a way that mobilizes them to
influence tne directions Qf technological change.
A realizationof the importance to workers of how
things are produced cannot be divorced from what
- i~ -produced.
By unifying production at t:he level of design, numerical
- 31 -
control technology focuses on the use of ;?roduction.
\'lorkers at the Lucas Aerospace subsidiary in England have
approached these questions by linking the right to work
on socially useful ~products with a method of production
that maximizes the control and creative input or workers. 25)
- 32 -
Notes:
1) Dr. Bernard Chern, director of NSF (National Science
Foundation) .program on' Production Research and Technology, quoted in Iron Age, Vol. 221, No. 43-0ct. 23,
1978 p. 113
2) American Machinist, Vol. 121, No. 11, Nov. 1977, p. I-1
3) "Numerically Controlled Hachine Tools and Group Technology: A Study of U.S. Experience", Center for
Policy Alternatives at the Massachussetts Institute
ofTechnology, CPA-78-2 Jan. 13, 1978, p. 39
4) Iron Age, "The Machine Tools That Are Building America,"
Vol. 218, No. 9, p. 158
.5)
"The CAD!CAM Interface: Problems and Solutions", Dr.
Edwin N. Nilson, in Proceedings 15th Numerical Control
Society Annual Meeting and Technical Conference,
April 9-12, 1978, p. 12
6) Interview, Detroit, Mich, Dec. 1978
7) The Staff Operations of the General Hoters Technical
Center (undated G.M. Public Relations Brochure)
8) Interview, 1978
9) Robert W. Decker, "Computer Aided Design and Manufacturing at GH," Datamation, May 1978
10) Joseph Harrington, Jr., Computer Integrated- Manufacturing, 1973, New York,p. 35
11) Ibid. p. 35
12) Interview, Nov. 1978
13) Interview, Oct. 1978
14) Interview, Oct. 1978
15) A. H. Raskin , "The Big Squeeze on Labor Unions 11
Atlantic, Oct. 1978, p.
,
16) Ibid.
17) Eugene Merchant, llThe Inexorable Push for p.utomated
Production" I Production Engineering, Jan. 1977, p. 49
- 33 -
18) Harrington, Ibid. p. 10
19) Donald N. Smith, Lary Evans, Management Standards for
Computer and Numerical Controls, Ann Arbor, 1977,
p. 247, (emphasis my own)
20) Interview, 1978
21) Iron.Age, Vol. 221, No. 35, p. 108
22) Interview, Dec. 1978
23) Ibid. p. 31
24) David Noble, "Social 'Choice in Hachine Design: The
• of Automatically-Controlled Hachine Tools, and
Case
aChallenge for Labor", rnimeograph
25) Mike Cooley p "Desigh, Technology and ProductioJ:1 for
Social Needs" in The Right to Useful ~1ork, Spokesman
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