Mass production, the problem of the modern world

Peace be upon you friends,


By June of 2008, i have had enough with the practices of "Mass-Production". In my work as a mechanical engineer, i witnessed first hand the exploitation of the human being by the capitalist whose main priority is profit.

That is not to say that all capitalists are bad, but i have come to the conclusion that the very concept of capitalism and mass-production is fundamentally flawed.

Mass production is the production of large amounts of standardized products on production lines.
Mass production is capital intensive, as it uses a high proportion of machinery in relation to workers. With fewer labour costs and a faster rate of production, capital is increased while expenditure is decreased.

This is the Wikipedia definition of mass-production, but my definition of it is as follows:

Mass production is how to amass huge wealth in the hands of a few through exploiting the masses of workers, who have to turn into skilled robots, doing the same thing again and again without using their creativity or their God given human-touch.

And from Wikipedia again:

In craft production, the craftsman must bustle about a shop, getting parts and assembling them. He must locate and use many tools many times for varying tasks. In mass production, each worker repeats one or a few related tasks that use the same tool to perform identical or near-identical operations on a stream of products.

The probability of human error and variation is also reduced, as tasks are predominantly carried out by machinery. A reduction in labour costs, as well as an increased rate of production, enables a company to produce a larger quantity of one product at a lower cost than using traditional, non-linear methods.

However, mass production is inflexible because it is difficult to alter a design or production process after a production line is implemented. Also, all products produced on one production line will be identical or very similar, and introducing variety to satisfy individual tastes is not easy. However, some variety can be achieved by applying different finishes and decorations at the end of the production line if necessary.

One factory i worked in was producing handcrafted furniture, the owner of that factory had this vision of preserving the ancient craft which Egypt has been always famous of, since the times of king Tut and before.
But when that visionary man left the factory to be managed by his sons, they started neglecting gradually the handcrafts and focusing more and more on producing identical modern furniture by introducing more machinery and high technology. The factory made profit more than ever, but that was on the expense of the workers' physical and mental health, numbers and of course salaries.

In our organization FBXhands we are launching an initiative of encouraging handcrafts, in order to reclaim the markets that have been dominated for more than a century by the mass-production industry and we are asking for your support.

We are not against technology, but we are calling for balance, technology should be used only when necessary, and not on the expense of the human craftsmanship that could never be replicated by a machine.