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Large-scale industrialization in the US was based largely on the European model. By the end of the 19th century, the United States had surpassed the UK in the production of iron and steel. The abundance of raw materials, a rapidly growing population, and the adoption of innovations such as the telegraph, the telephone, the electric light, and the refrigerator, along with petroleum products, provided the basis for a boom in manufacturing. Industry spread from its original centre in the northeast of the country towards the Great Lakes and the Ohio Valley creating a powerful and prosperous manufacturing belt stretching from the East Coast to the Midwest.
The main contribution to world manufacturing made by the US in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was the increase in the scale of production. Beginning in 1913, Henry Ford pioneered mass-production methods in his vehicle plants. The analysis of production into its component tasks, which were then performed in order on a production line, allowed higher wages to be paid while reducing operating costs. From this time until the 1960s, the US excelled in the techniques of mass production and led the world in productivity. In recent years, however, the "Fordist" approach has become discredited for its lack of flexibility and for diminishing the skills of the labour force. It has been replaced by more flexible and responsive systems of production, especially within Japanese companies.
Since the end of World War II, the relative significance of manufacturing in the economies of Europe and the US has declined, and its importance in the economies of East Asia has risen. Japanese manufacturing, in particular, had a worldwide impact in a very short time, and other Asian economies have followed Japan's lead. The renewal of its industrial plants after World War II gave Japan the advantage of modern production facilities. Since the mid-1950s, Japanese industrial output has grown at an annual rate of at least 6 per cent, and the country is now a world leader in shipbuilding as well as one of the principal producers of electronic components and appliances, scientific equipment, motor vehicles, steel, chemicals, and synthetic fibres.
Japan's manufactured goods are noted for their high quality, which is due to the use of advanced technology in the production process. Increasingly, Japanese-designed products are being made at different locations around the world. In the UK, the number of Japanese-owned factories rose from just one in 1972 to approximately 220 by 1991. Japanese car manufacturers have increased their production capacity in the UK and the US and have succeeded in their attempt to gain a greater market share while avoiding import limits and penalties. This strategy depends on building modern manufacturing plants and agreeing to use local raw materials and labour.
Revolution Spreads to the United States
Until 1815 France was busy with the Napoleonic wars. It had little opportunity to introduce machinery. When peace came France began to follow England. It followed slowly, however, and has never devoted itself as exclusively to manufacturing as England has. Belgium was ahead of France in adopting the new methods. The other European countries made little progress until the second half of the 19th century.
The United States too was slow in adopting machine methods of manufacture. Farming and trading were its chief interests until the Civil War. The new nation had little capital with which to buy the machinery and put up the buildings required. Such capital as existed was largely invested in shipping and commerce. Labor was scarce because men continued to push westward, clearing the forests and establishing themselves on the land.
A start in manufacturing, however, was made in New England in 1790 by Samuel Slater. An employee of Arkwright's spinning mills, Slater came to the United States in 1789. He was hired by Moses Brown of Providence, R. I., to build a mill on the Pawtucket, or Seekonk, River. English laws forbade export of either the new machinery or plans for making it. Slater designed the machine from memory and built a mill which started operation in 1790. When the Napoleonic wars and the War of 1812 upset commerce and made English products difficult to obtain, more American investors began to build factories.
The United States too was slow in adopting machine methods of manufacture. Farming and trading were its chief interests until the Civil War. The new nation had little capital with which to buy the machinery and put up the buildings required. Such capital as existed was largely invested in shipping and commerce. Labor was scarce because men continued to push westward, clearing the forests and establishing themselves on the land.
A start in manufacturing, however, was made in New England in 1790 by Samuel Slater. An employee of Arkwright's spinning mills, Slater came to the United States in 1789. He was hired by Moses Brown of Providence, R. I., to build a mill on the Pawtucket, or Seekonk, River. English laws forbade export of either the new machinery or plans for making it. Slater designed the machine from memory and built a mill which started operation in 1790. When the Napoleonic wars and the War of 1812 upset commerce and made English products difficult to obtain, more American investors began to build factories.
Second Industrial Revolution
The machines of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th and early 19th centuries were simple, mechanical devices compared with the industrial technology that followed. Many new products were devised, and important advances were made in the system of mass production. Changes in industry were so great that the period after 1860 has been called the Second Industrial Revolution. New scientific knowledge was applied to industry as scientists and engineers unlocked the secrets of physics and chemistry. Great new industries were founded on this scientific advance: steel, chemicals, and petroleum benefited from new understandings of chemistry; breakthroughs in the study of electricity and magnetism provided the basis for a large electrical industry. These new industries were larger and more productive than any industries existing before. Germany and the United States became the leaders, and by the end of the 19th century they were challenging Great Britain in the world market for industrial goods.
By the outbreak of World War I in 1914, only a small number of industries in the most industrialized nations of the world had adopted advanced production methods and organization. Much of the world had not yet begun a first industrial revolution. Russia, Canada, Italy, and Japan were just beginning to industrialize.
Only Great Britain, the United States, Germany, France, and some parts of the Scandinavian countries had successfully completed an industrial revolution. Most of the world's population still worked in primitive agricultural economies. China, India, and Spain did not begin to industrialize until well into the 20th century.
Narrative and Things I learned:
In the 19th century, three areas of the world has been affected by the Industrial revolution. I learned that there are changes in their machines and tools, from simple to complex. These machines became beneficial in terms of energy sources by that time. I am glad that some of these machines were still in used by the modern people. It is an amazing fact to know that these machines was developed into more complex way that suits the need of people nowadays.
Source:
http://www.pacificislandtravel.com/nature_gallery/indistrualisation.html
Author: Lewis Hackett Date: 1992By the outbreak of World War I in 1914, only a small number of industries in the most industrialized nations of the world had adopted advanced production methods and organization. Much of the world had not yet begun a first industrial revolution. Russia, Canada, Italy, and Japan were just beginning to industrialize.
Only Great Britain, the United States, Germany, France, and some parts of the Scandinavian countries had successfully completed an industrial revolution. Most of the world's population still worked in primitive agricultural economies. China, India, and Spain did not begin to industrialize until well into the 20th century.
Narrative and Things I learned:
In the 19th century, three areas of the world has been affected by the Industrial revolution. I learned that there are changes in their machines and tools, from simple to complex. These machines became beneficial in terms of energy sources by that time. I am glad that some of these machines were still in used by the modern people. It is an amazing fact to know that these machines was developed into more complex way that suits the need of people nowadays.
Source:
http://www.pacificislandtravel.com/nature_gallery/indistrualisation.html
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