This book criticizes the widespread view that the 1997 Asian crisis was due to 'crony capitalism' and puts the blame instead on misguided liberalization. It analyzes the case of Korea's business conglomerates, the chaebol, with particular attention to the car industry, to show how liberalization contributed to the crisis even at the level of the firm. It shows how those firms that had developed innovative capabilities survived the crisis much better than those that had merely expanded into markets opened up by liberalization.

In this study of salt production and trade, Professor Lovejoy examines the interaction between ecology, technology and social structure as a means of analysing the organisation of the salt industry of the Sokoto Caliphate and Borno. By concentrating on the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Lovejoy is able to establish a base-line from which to interpret earlier changes in the salt trade and thereby assess the impact of politics and economy on the history of the trade. By the end of the nineteenth century, production depended upon a combination of slavery, free migrant peasants, and workers from the haddad artisan caste. A complex marketing network serviced the various salines, although this network was intimately connected with the distribution of other commodities, especially textiles, grain and livestock. An examination of this marketing system reveals patterns of immigration and social advancement that are important in understanding the social history of the central Sudan.

How did small European economies acquire the technologies and skills needed to industrialize in the nineteenth century? In this important contribution to a long-standing debate, Kristine Bruland looks at the Norwegian experience to show how a technological infrastructure was created, and suggests that much of this was due to the efforts of British machine makers who from the mid 1840s vigorously sought foreign markets. Providing not only basic technical services but also skilled labour to set up and then supervise the operation of the new machinery, British textile engineering firms were able to supply a complete ‘package’ of services, significantly easing the initial technical problems faced by Norwegian entrepreneurs. Kristine Bruland’s case-study of the Norwegian textile industry demonstrates clearly the paradox that Britain’s entrepreneurial efforts in the supply of capital goods overseas were largely responsible for the creation of the technical industrial bases of many of her major foreign competitors.

Before the Luddites is a study of the early Industrial Revolution in the English woollen cloth-making industry in the West of England and Yorkshire which concentrates upon the social background of and response to change. It is particularly concerned to explain the reasons for and the effect of Luddism. This book argues that resistance to machinery had a long history before the Luddite disturbances of 1811–12 and that this response to change sprang from a community culture which was deep-rooted and hostile to the values of economic individualism embodied by the new economy and to laissez-faire.

In the thirteenth century the Mongols created a vast transcontinental empire that transported skilled artisans from one cultural zone to another. Among those transported were Muslim textile workers, resettled in China, where they made clothes for the imperial court. In a fascinating account, the author considers the significance of cloth and color in the political and cultural life of the Mongols. Situated within the broader context of the history of the Silk Road, the book will interest not only historians of the Middle East and Asia, but also art historians and textile specialists.

In a significant new contribution to economic history, Dr. Magee examines an important British industry that, like many others, declined in relative importance during the period prior to 1914. He compares Britain's performance in papermaking with its main international rivals of the time, America and Germany, addressing such central subjects as technological change, entrepreneurship and productivity. The book will be invaluable to scholars of economic history as well as those simply interested in papermaking.

This book explores the long term forces shaping business attitudes in the British and American cotton industries from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. Mary Rose traces the social, political and developmental differences of the two nations, and examines local and regional networks, changing competitive environments, and community characteristics. She demonstrates how firms become embedded in networks, and evolve according to business values and strategies. An important contribution to comparative business history, this book will be of interest to graduates and scholars in all areas of business and economic history.

This is the first book to present a systematic analysis of the role of small manufacturing enterprises in the main European economies and to review different perspectives on industrial districts and clusters. Combining knowledge from case-study literature with original analyses of statistical data, enables the authors to present full accounts of the role of these clusters in Britain, France, Germany, and Italy, showing the considerable diversity of forms they take.

This book, first published in 2000, examines how a group of manufacturers of metal products - 'everything from buttonhooks to battleships' - in America's third biggest city helped each other to meet the challenges of organized labour (and sometimes an interventionist state) in the half-century between the 'second industrial revolution' and the Second World War. After thirty years of success, the employers were finally overwhelmed by a resurgent labour movement backed by New Deal politicians and administrators. Their story offers the broadest and most detailed account available of the industrial relations problems and policies of small and mid-sized firms in this period. This book analyses labour issues by means of a careful local case study, but its conclusions about the interplay of labour, organized capital, law and the state in determining the fate of workers' rights and employers' interests have broad relevance to the history and politics of twentieth-century industrial relations.

What influence have Japanese management techniques (Just-in Time-Production and Total Quality Management, for example) had on the way work is organized in `transplants', and more broadly in other firms and sectors? Rick Delbridge sought an answer to these questions by working on the shopfloor in a Japanese consumer electronics transplant and a European automotive components supplier in order to witness and experience life on the line in contemporary manufacturing. He offers rich empirical data on the lived reality of work and a management practice that may share little in common with that found in the textbooks; he also raises a number of important issues about the best ways to understand the complex and changing nature of work.

U.S. and foreign manufacturers have expanded their capacity in the United States to assemble and produce wind turbines and components in order to increase energy supply diversity. This book discusses the U.S. wind turbine manufacturing industry, its supply chain, employment and international trade trends, major federal policy efforts aimed at supporting the industry, and issues affecting its future.

This study of the pursuit of the "automatic factory" focuses on the key industry of metalworking in Britain, Italy, Japan and the United States. It unveils a recurring historical conflict between two logics of factory management and organization: workshop principles and principles of a standardized factory. Case studies of "Flexible Manufacturing Systems" in these four countries and their sociopolitical contexts show national variations and tensions between factory and workshop principles continuing into the age of computerization.

Fashion Fibers: Designing for Sustainability is an accessible reference tool for fashion students and designers who want to learn how to make decisions to enhance the sustainability potential in common fibers used in the fashion industry. Drawing upon the cradle to cradle philosophy and industry expertise, the book introduces readers to the fundamentals of fiber production and the product lifecycle. It features a fiber-by-fiber guide to natural fibers including cotton, hemp, silk, manufactured fibers including polyester, modal, azlon, then covers processing and promoting recycled fibers that are designed to be "circular". Each chapters investigates six main areas of potential impact in fiber cultivation, production, and processing-including chemical use, water, fair labor, energy use, consumer use/washing and biodegradability and recyclability. Readers will learn about the sustainability benefits and environmental impacts at each stage of the lifecycle, optimizing sustainability benefits, availability, product applications, and marketing and innovation opportunities that lead to more sustainable fashion. Features - Future Fibers sections highlight emerging fiber technologies and innovations such as new virgin-quality apparel fibers that have been recycled from post-consumer textile waste - Emphasizes application through examples and images of product end use - Discusses closed loop material systems that enable the recycling of fibers - Innovation Exercises offer readers practice designing or merchandising fashion products to optimize sustainability benefits - Foreword by Lynda Grose, Designer and Educator, California College of the Arts, US STUDIO RESOURCES - Study smarter with self-quizzes featuring scored results and personalized study tips - Review concepts with flashcards of terms and definitions - Enhance your knowledge with real-world case studies

This book is a reassessment of British performance in manufacturing since 1850 in the light of new evidence on international comparisons of productivity. Using a novel analytical framework of technological evolution, Stephen Broadberry uncovers new ways of looking at Britain's relative economic decline while debunking a number of misapprehensions regarding the nature and causes of the decline. It analyses productivity levels in Britain, the United States and Germany and provides detailed case studies of all the major manufacturing industries, broken down into three periods: 1850-1914, 1914-50 and 1950-90. Broadberry offers a wide coverage of industries, with invaluable country-specific information. By combining a multitude of detailed productivity measurements with qualitative industrial and business history, he provides a major contribution to our understanding of British economic performance over the last 150 years.

This book examines the growth of the world silk industry. Professor Federico documents Western industrialization, the technical progress and the changing methods of production that enabled the silk industry to cope with increased demand. Silk became the first Japanese success story on the world market, with Italy retaining a sizeable share until labor was diverted as a result of its industrialization. Japanese industrialization also led its silk industry to a similar fate after the Second World War.

This pioneering 1997 study examines the economic development of the British paper industry between 1860 and 1914 - an era in which it is often claimed that the origins of Britain's relative economic decline are first witnessed. For paper-making, this was also a period in which an array of important new forces, including inter alia the development of new raw materials and the move to ever larger scales of production, came on the scene. Gary Bryan Magee looks at the effect of these changes and assesses how effectively the industry coped with the new pressures, drawing upon an extensive range of quantitative and archival sources from Britain, America, and other countries. Along the way, Dr Magee addresses issues central to the understanding of industrial competitiveness, such as technological change, entrepreneurship, productivity, trade policy, and industrial relations.

This handbook focuses on two sides of the lean production debate that rarely interact. On the one hand, management and industrial engineering scholars have presented a positive view of lean production as the epitome of efficiency and quality. On the other hand, sociology, industrial relations, and labor relations scholars focus on work speedups, management by stress, trade union positions, and self-exploitation in lean teams. The editors of this volume understand the merits of both views and present them accordingly, bridging the gaps among five disciplines and presenting the best of each perspective. Chapters by internationally acclaimed authors examine the positive, negative and neutral possible effects of lean, providing a global view of lean production while adjusting lean to the cultural and political contexts of different nation-states. As the first multi-lens view of lean production from academic and consultant perspectives, this volume charts a way forward in the world of work and management in our global economy.

The management of production is faced with ever greater challenges as global competion mounts. The problems revolve around the paradox of flexibility and productivity in the organization of production: how to compete on price while retaining the capability to respond quickly to market changes how to develop new products faster without jeopardizing product integrity how to increase quality while reducing costs. The recent research on lean production has explored some of these questions in the context of the motor industry. This book takes a broader audit of these issues across the full range of the metalworking sector in the United Kingdom. Focusing on the engineering/manufacturing interface, the research presented here explores how 15 leading British firms are facing up to the challenges of the 90s. This book is intended for scholars and researchers in organization studies, technology management, computer-aided production, and management systems.

Built by industrialists whose early businesses contributed to the escalation of the Industrial Revolution, company towns flourished in countries that embraced capitalism and open-market trading. In many instances, the company town came to symbolize the wrecking of the environment, especially in places associated with extractive industries such as mining and lumber milling. Some resident industrialists, however, took a genuine interest in the welfare of their work forces, and in a number of instances hired architects to provide a model environment. Overtaken by time, these towns were either abandoned or caught up in suburban growth. The most thorough-going and only international assessment of the company town, this collection of essays by specialists and authorities of each region offers a balanced account of architectural and social history and provides a better understanding of the architectural and urban experiences of the early industrial age.

Summary: This book provides valuable, effective guidance for understanding, interpreting and implementing ISO 13485:2016 standard requirements. Despite its more than 800-page length, the author has specifically designed its contents to maximize usability for the reader with a table of contents identical to that of the ISO standard itself, which enables easy navigation and orientation. Pragmatic in style and down to earth in tone, this book draws real-life examples and case-studies from the author's many years of experience in consulting to illustrate even the most complex of ISO 13485:2016 standard requirements and their implementation. Identifying relevant requirements and how they harmonize with quality management systems, developing processes for design and development, as well as product realization and validation are just a few of the issues covered in-depth by this publication. In addition, the author constantly reviews the distinctive characteristics and aspects of the medical device manufacturing industry, so that the reader can also appreciate the subject of this book in an everyday context. Features: A pragmatic and down to earth approach towards the reader's understanding of ISO 13485:2016 standard requirements implementation. Uses examples and cases from real-life based on the author's many years of experience in quality management. A table of contents structured identically to that of ISO 13485:2016 itself, allowing easier navigation and orientation for the reader. Emphasises guidance for ISO 13495:2016 standard requirements which are difficult to interpret and implement Constantly reviews the aspect of medical device industry characteristics and distinctive so the reader can reflect the content with its daily work.

This book, first published in 1992, is a study of the development of Barcelona's cotton industry from its origins in calico-printing in 1728 to its introduction of steampower in 1832. It thus describes the experiences of the leading industry of the city, and one which provides the only Mediterranean exception to the tendency of early industrialization to be concentrated in northern Europe. The book bridges the 'pre-industrial' and early 'industrial' periods, offering answers to such questions as: what caused 'merchant capital' to move into industrial investment? what were the links between 'pre-industrial' industrial activity and industrialization proper? is it apt to refer to the economic changes of these years as an 'industrial revolution'? should industrialization be studied on a regional or a national basis? A further purpose is to provide an interpretation of the characteristics of the Catalan economy and of its relationship to that of Spain as a whole thereby contributing to the understanding of the 'Catalan question'.

Political gridlock in Washington... the lingering effects of the financial crisis... structural problems such as unemployment and the skills gap of our work force... the mediocre K-12 educational system. Are our best days behind us?
Joel Kurtzman persuasively shows why all the talk about America's decline is not only baseless but dead wrong. Our best days, are, in fact, ahead of us.
Four transformational forces--unrivaled manufacturing depth, soaring levels of creativity, massive new energy sources, and gigantic amounts of capital waiting to be invested--have been gathering steam. When combined they will provide the foundation for a much stronger economy, robust growth, and broad-based prosperity that will propel the United States to new heights.
One endlessly repeated anxiety is that "we don't make anything here, anymore." The reality, though, is that the US is the world's dominant manufacturing power--and growing. American companies produce 20 percent of the world's goods in the US and perhaps another 15 to 20 percent outside our country. And much of what we make is recession-proof--such as software, jetliners, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and food.
Kurtzman reveals the stories of the unsung heroes who are the creative force leading the second American century, describing the payoff of the investment in our best minds. American companies have stunning levels of talent and creativity at work in the world's fastest growing economic sectors--biotech, pharmaceuticals, computer hardware and software, telecommunications, advanced manufacturing, materials science, and aeronautical and space engineering. In these fields, Americans are without peer and consistently break new ground.
We are coming to the realization that America is no longer beholden to the despots of foreign energy. Thanks to advances in technology developed in the US, we now have among the world's largest energy reserves, and are richer in energy resources than Saudi Arabia and second only to Russia.
These three strengths--manufacturing, soaring levels of creativity, and energy independence--will be magnified and synergistically combined with the unprecedented amount of capital that now lies idle. US companies of all types are hoarding cash and securities worth more than $4 trillion--an amount larger than the world's fourth largest economy, Germany. When the money starts flowing and is invested, it will rapidly propel every part of the economy forward.

Americans have been shocked by media reports of the dismal working conditions in factories that make clothing for U.S. companies. But while well intentioned, many of these reports about child labor and sweatshop practices rely on stereotypes of how Third World factories operate, ignoring the complex economic dynamics driving the global apparel industry.
To dispel these misunderstandings, Jane L. Collins visited two very different apparel firms and their factories in the United States and Mexico. Moving from corporate headquarters to factory floors, her study traces the diverse ties that link First and Third World workers and managers, producers and consumers. Collins examines how the transnational economics of the apparel industry allow firms to relocate or subcontract their work anywhere in the world, making it much harder for garment workers in the United States or any other country to demand fair pay and humane working conditions.
Putting a human face on globalization, "Threads" shows not only how international trade affects local communities but also how workers can organize in this new environment to more effectively demand better treatment from their distant corporate employers.

Textile Werkstoffe bergen ein extrem vielfaltiges Potenzial an Eigenschaften. Daher sind sie haufig Trager und Treiber fur innovative, ressourceneffiziente Leichtbau- und High-Tech-Anwendungen. Experten der Textiltechnik vermitteln in dem Band Grundlagen- und Spezialwissen uber die Textil- und Konfektionstechnik, uber die Textilchemie sowie uber die Leistungsfahigkeit textiler Werkstoffe. Leser erfahren, welche Moglichkeiten es gibt, textile Strukturen einzusetzen, etwa im Composite, im Bauwesen, in der Sicherheits- oder Membrantechnik."