Manufacturing the Future: A History of Western Electric

by Stephen B. Adams

Manufacturing the Future: A History of Western Electric is the first full-length history of the Western Electric Company, the manufacturing arm of the Bell System. As a manufacturer in the communications revolutions in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Western Electric made new products such as telegraphs, telephones, an early computing machine, radios, radar, and transistors. The book demonstrates, through Western's 1882 acquisition by Bell Telephone, that vertical integration was a lengthy process rather than a single event. It also shows the coming of age of industrial psychology and describes the advent of civil rights in corporate America.

282 pages, Hardcover

First published January 28, 1999

Reviews

[Jason Lawyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked out this perceived obscure history book on Western Electric as a study of the vertical integration business approach, but I discovered so much more! Fabulous research done and concisely written. The focus of the book is less about the telephone products manufactured over the 100 year history, and more about processes with respect to social issues and “gospel of efficiency.” Deep dive into the origins of the “Hawthorne effect”, implementing government contracts into business, evolution of the “science” of management and leadership driving employees development, introduction of sound to motion pictures, planting the production efficiency seed within Japanese manufacturing in 1950s, developing Quality Control standards, and breaking gender and race equality barriers within the workplace! Honestly, a must read for any business or sociology reader!

[Rick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Story of Western Electric