From: gerald_a_levy (gerald_a_levy@msn.com)
Date: Fri Jan 10 2003 - 21:16:54 EST
Re Paul C's [8304]: > (snip, JL) world wide a see no evidence of 'labourless' > production. There are already numerous examples of factories without any direct living labor required -- e.g. flexible manufacturing systems producing robotics. The question is: will this trend be generalized? To date, FMSs have only typically been applied in cases of batch manufacturing. Will this production system be diffused over the rest of industry and, if so, how long would that diffusion period be likely to take? There is a strong body of empirical studies which demonstrate that industrial technologies are diffused over a relatively long period of time, often several decades. I think it would be reasonable to anticipate that the price of the component parts of the FMSs will continue to decline over time and the technical kinks and transitional problems will continue to be resolved. It seems reasonable therefore to suggest that over time (how long a time is anybody's guess) this production system will be extended into more and more branches of production. Does this mean that _all_ branches of production will be fully automated? Of course not. There are, after all, counter- tendencies at work as well, e.g. manufacturers can employ workers at lower wages _rather than_ investing in fully automated production facilities. So long as there is mass poverty regionally and/or internationally and an IRA at home and abroad, this will continue to be a very powerful counter-tendency. State policy may affect this as well: in the past, many governments have told international corporations that if they want access to their markets, they must produce commodities domestically. There are a number of empirical studies which suggest that this is an important causal factor leading to plant relocations and internationalization of production facilities. These same states could very easily modify existing policy be insisting that a certain quantity of workers must be employed domestically in relation to the value of commodities sold on domestic markets. Corporations wouldn't like such a protectionist requirement, but they might decide that the market is too important a source of possible revenues to forego. Solidarity, Jerry
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