Benign Acuity

The global chip shortage which has also been termed as the ‘ Chipageddon ’ (this should be the name of the next chipmunks movie :P) , has been so evident and ubiquitous, that if someone doesn’t know about it, they probably have been living under a rock .  The global chip shortage is an ongoing crisis that is due to an amalgamation of different events in the last few years, among which the COVID-19 pandemic has been the primary reason for the shortage. In a recent visit to a local automated door manufacturer, I became aware of the drastic operational changes the global chip shortage had on their operations. Even though I knew about how the global chip shortage has affected the tech industry and automobile industry, I never considered its effects on other industries. After all, they didn’t seem to be as related, or rather as dependent on integrated chips. In hindsight, this feels like a naïve presumption because a lack of supply of chips would affect a lot of things in today’s connec...

In general, any kind of assembly line involve various steps conducted in a specific sequence to produce a final assembled product. This allows for low-cost mass manufacturing as even the unskilled workers can be trained specifically for a step in the assembly line.  Ford assembly line in 1913 (Image Source: Google) Since Ford Motor adopted the assembly line, there have been various changes and advancements to the assembly line. Although it is considered as one of the most important innovations in the manufacturing industry, the same perspective wasn’t shared by the workers. The workers found the work monotonous, and many skilled craftsmen found it an insult. Even though it allowed for higher pay for the workers, it made the work hours long and made workers to laboriously do a single task. Even employing machines to make the work easier didn’t really help the mindless act of operating it repeatedly. This was similar to our team using templates to cut the duct tape. It’s quite likely...