The greatest armament supplier of the time. ibid.
By the 1890s the manufacture of arms and battleships had become one of our major industries. ibid.
– An inventive Age
Has wrought, if not with speed of magic, yet
To most strange issues. I have lived to mark
A new and unforeseen creation rise
From out the labours of a peaceful Land
Wielding her potent enginery to frame
And to produce, with rests not night or day,
Industrious to destroy! William Wordsworth, The Manufacturing Spirit
The great cry that rises from all our manufacturing cities, louder than the furnace blast, is all in very deed for this – that we manufacture everything there except men. John Ruskin
The boom is powered on a new machine: the power loom. Raw cotton comes in; finished cloth goes out. All under one roof. The modern factory is born ... 85% are single women between 15 and 25. Harriett Robinson is 10. America: The Story of the US: Division, History 2010
The mills also revolutionised how Americans dressed. ibid.
This extraordinary metal, the soul of every manufacture, and the mainspring perhaps of civilised society. Samuel Smiles, Men of Invention and Industry, 1884
Designers and engineers are constantly looking for better ways to manufacture the objects that surround us. Brave New World With Stephen Hawking II: Technology, Max Lamb, product designer, Channel 4 2011
With this process you simply create a design and press print. ibid.
Our first everyday miracle ... Foam ... Just quite how important materials are – they are at the heart of civilisation ... Everyday Miracles: The Genius of of Sofas, Stockings and Scanners I, BBC 2015
Plywood is another everyday miracle ... The glue bonds with the wood fibres and sets hard ... Strength, flexibility and mouldability ... The Mosquito was the fastest aircraft in the world, and the secret to its success was that it was made almost entirely of plywood ... All because of the remarkable properties of plywood. ibid.
Materials have transformed the ways we live. ibid.
We know it simply as plastic ... The ultimate manufacturing material ... Plastic fibres ... Nylon … ibid.
Nearly 15% of Britain’s manufacturing base disappeared. Thatcher: The Downing Street Years I: Woman at War, BBC 1993
Now British consumers were waking up to what Japanese manufacturers had to offer. Back in Time for the Weekend, BBC 2016
Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black. Henry Ford, My Life and Work
I will build a car for the great multitude. Henry Ford
A part inside the printer has failed, and the manufacturer sends Marcos to Technical Support. It’s no coincidence that all three shopkeepers suggest buying a new printer. If he agrees, Marcus will become another victim of planned obsolescence, the secret mechanism at the heart of our consumer society. The Lightbulb Conspiracy, 2010
Planned obsolescence has defined our lives ever since the 1920s when manufacturers started shortening the lives of products to increase consumer demand. ibid.
Shelly’s formula for a long-lasting filament is not the only mystery in the history of the lightbulb; a much bigger secret is how the humble lightbulb became the first victim of planned obsolescence. ibid.
‘In 1925 they appointed a group called The 1000 Hour Life Committee. ibid.
‘It’s just designed to fail.’ ibid. investigator of broken printers
‘But in the ipod, this expensive piece of hardware, when the battery died you had to replace the entire unit. ibid. investigator of broken ipods
Planned obsolescence produces a constant stream of waste which is shipped to third-world countries. ibid.
December 23 2008: When the GM plant closed in Dayton, Ohio, over 10,000 local jobs were lost. In 2010 Chinese factories began ramping up investment in US manufacturing, re-opening shuttered American factories. American Factory, Netflix 2019
What we’re doing is melding two cultures together … Plenty of opportunities. ibid. company presenter
Audience question: Is this an union shop?
Presenter: We are not. It is our desire to not be. ibid.
They’re pretty slow. They have fat fingers. We keep training them over and over. ibid. supervisor to chairman
We don’t want to see the union developing here … If a union comes, I’m shutting down. ibid. chairman
The conditions are not favourable. Doing the same thing over and over again. That wears on you. Body, mind and the soul – is sometimes you think, Why am I doing this? You think about whether you have the stamina and the will to do this type of job. ibid. worker
American workers are not efficient and output is low. ibid. Chinese supervisor
There have been eleven safety complaints filed against Fuyao. ibid. television news
At least 3,000 people have either come and gone: either fired or quit. ibid. worker
Man, they treat these people like shit in here. ibid. pro-union dude
Fuyao paid LRI over $1 million to keep workers from organizing a union. ibid. caption
Since the 1970s the union avoidance industry has grown steadily as average wages and union membership have declined. ibid.
Recently, we fired a lot of union supporters. ibid. supervisor to chairman