Understanding the Intricacies of Industry

You might not think that industry is a tremendously relevant topic in this post-modern world. But you’d be wrong. Don’t forget where all of this came from, out of industry. The notion that industry is irrelevant or in decline is a common fallacy espoused by those who don’t know better. The truth is that it is as strong as ever.

Sure, things have changed since the days of smelting pig iron in the heyday of the industrial revolution. We’re more likely to see factories churning out electrical components or high-grade machinery for things like aerospace engineering, defence or the automobile industry. Indeed, the information age has transferred products to a digital medium in some cases – so there is some overlap there.

But how do we understand the intricacies of industry and how does the modern industrial landscape operate in comparison to the clichéd images of train carts full of coal or steam powered gauges? Let’s explore.

The first thing to point out is the sheer scale of industry these days. Modern factories are much bigger than their industrial revolution counterparts. You can see these buildings aligning many motorways and their scale is huge. Distribution centres are also very large, more like aircraft hangers than factories.

What this has meant is that industry has been pushed out of the city and into the surrounding areas – as there is simply not enough space. These factories may have hundreds or thousands of workers who each commute daily. This is the way industry works now - on a huge scale. The biggest factory in the world, the Boeing Everett Factory in the U.S., spans 98.3 acres and is the largest building in the world in terms of volume.

Early on in the industrial revolution efficiency was key to success, but in a similar fashion to the expanded size of the factories and distribution centres seen today there has also been an expansion in the efficiency of factories.

Early factories were powered by machines, but also men. This manpower in terms of shovelling coal or whatever other laborious tasks there were have been replaced by machinery – providing a great increase in efficiency. Factory workers nowadays don’t have the same kind of physical exertion as they used to and often their role is to check things are running properly as well as operate machinery.

There has also been an increase in efficiency in terms of output, distribution is highly efficient with computer systems able to quickly sort and manage orders as well as help staff fulfil orders. Online retailers have thrived on this efficiency.

It might seem obvious, but technological advances have increased the sophistication of the machinery in many factories. Things like steel shaping are now taken care of by sheet metal fabrication machines, which are highly powerful hydraulic apparatus that greatly reduce the difficulty of shaping metal. Some machines solder and mould circuits for use in computers, some construct cars with mechanical arms. This kind of autonomous machinery was unheard of until recently.

There have also been significant advances in the maintenance of machinery. Condition monitoring systems can measure for all manner of potential problems or defects. Things like vibration monitoring, oil analysis and other measurements all take place using sophisticated equipment that can digitally translate data to project not just when a machine might fail but what part of it will fail and why. This leads to an immense increase in efficiency as one can determine with great precision when maintenance or repairs will be needed.

The safety of modern factories is astoundingly good. There are some factories in developing nations that don’t have the same safety standards and practices as in developed nations, but on the whole factory safety is now very good thanks to proper safety equipment, staff training procedures and sophisticated failsafe devices like emergency power switches.

Factories of the industrial age were notoriously hazardous, with many people losing their lives. It was considered merely a hazard of the job one had to be aware of. People would often lose limbs in accidents involving dangerous gears or smelting materials – nowadays this is largely not the case and accidents have been minimised.

All in all, there are many different aspects to the intricacies of modern industry – far too many to examine here. However, perhaps now you can more easily see the advances that have been made and have learned something about the nature of industry as a whole.

Thanks for reading, I’d love to know what you think so please feel free to comment and let me know. If you enjoyed my Instructable then please feel free to see the rest of the work I’ve done on Instructables for more. I would particularly recommend the related one “Custard & Oil: The Importance Of Quality Control and Oil Analysis”.

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