The factory in the center
Old time factories had a linear layout, because there was just one steam engine driving one drive shaft. Every machine in the shop had to line up under the shaft (connected by a pulley) in order to get power.
That metaphor extended to the people working in the factory. Each person was hired and trained and arranged to maximize output. The goal was to engage the factory, to feed it, maintain it and have it produce efficiently.
Distribution was designed in sync with the factory. You wanted to have the right number of trucks and drivers to handle whatever the factory produced and to get it where it needed to go.
Marketing was driven by the factory as well. The goal of marketing was to sell whatever the factory could produce in a given month, for as little as possible.
And things like customer service and community relations were expenses, things you did in order to keep the factory out of trouble.
So...
What happens when the factory goes away?
What if the organization has no engine in the center that makes something. What if that's outsourced? What if you produce a service or traffic in ideas? What happens when the revolution comes along (the post-industrial revolution) and now all the value lies in the stuff you used to do because you had to, not because you wanted to?
Now it doesn't matter where you sit. Now it doesn't matter whether or not you're adding to the efficiency or productivity of the machine. Now you don't market to sell what you made, you make to satisfy the market. Now, the market and the consumer and idea trump the system.
Suddenly, the power is in a different place, and the organization must change or else the donut collapses.
What do you think of this?
11 comments:
This blog presents the potential for a harsh reality. I think it's giving the extreme possible outcomes, and trying to paint a picture of how different this would make things.
I found this particular blog to be very interesting. it asks good questions about the market and how society has to change for its key market. Companies have to change and adapt to the people they are trying to interset and they have to come up with things that interest the people. i think that all companies have to make changes for their clients and its major part of the economy. That is my view of this article
I think this is a very interesting topic. I never really thought about how companys change for us. This makes me feel more in control because we chose how companys work.
I found this blog to say that the business is here to produce what it is that the customers want. It is saying that factories aren't here to make what they want, but what the customer wants because that's what turns a profit. I thought of the WWII economy turning from making things the US people wanted to materials necessary to help the war cause because that was what was needed.
This article brings up an interesting point on how times have changed in the factories/industries and the markets and how the market depends on the industries and vise versa.
I think what they are saying is very intersting. They had alot of information to what they are saying.
This blog is very creative and has quality ideas for the upcoming future. I think this is realistic to a point although this article is very drastic. This blog shows the many disadvantages of business outsourcing and on going change throughout the future.
This brings up a good point that business is always changing. They change when the consumers want different things. This is downfall of many companies. They do not have resources to keep up the the ongoing revolutions of modern technologies. But the companies that do have these resources will always be on top because they can always change and have the key advantage over all other businesses.
I thought this post was very interesting and I liked how it has the ability to give whoever reads it an image about how companies are run today. I never really took into consideration how companies are constantly changing to meet the wants and needs of their customers.
this was an intrestin blog it brings up some importent point about the affects of outsourcing. this blog also braught up how the power in in the consumer insted of the company though i though it was a exzdrated when it talks about the "donut colapsing".
I thought this was an interesting article about how factories can change overtime. It said that factories focus on what the consumer wants
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