A Brief History of Manufacturing @mfgday #MFGDay19
via Global Electronic Services
Before heavy machinery and automation, manufacturing was done by hand. With no computers to handle each step of the design, production and QA, the responsibilities fell to skilled tradespeople.
Rural manufacturing could only support so many people before it plateaued, so putting-out systems were implemented to centralize a collective of manufacturers under one business hub. The central provider was able to subcontract specific orders to rural manufacturers, spreading the workload among tradespeople and giving those tradespeople a wider customer base. Versatility and the division of labor would be key if the American manufacturing industry were to take off, however.