(S)He Who Doesn’t Work Shall Eat All the Same

1982: The Triumph-Adler typewriter company is on the skids, and its 9,000 employees told that they are about to be laid off 1983: The company holds one-sixth of the world market for electronic typewriters; its prices are down by 30 percent, and, despite a 20 percent increase in production capacity, it can hardly keep pace with its flow of orders. Explanation: In the space of two years, the firm installed flexible computer-controlled manufacturing systems, i.e. robots, rebuilt its plant, and overhauled its organization. Its assembly line can now produce thirty-eight different models (with as many as thirty varia- tions for each), in any sequence. No more than two hours elapse between the moment when an operator presses the keys that send ...