The trend today is that you get your gadgets and devices quicker than ever, probably not in a flash (not yet anyway), but faster than anyone could have possibly imagined in the last 100 years. From cellular phones to computers, appliances to accessories, and furniture to jewelry, it seems like almost every product we know today has mass production stamped all over it.
Mass production may be nothing to you readers, but believe it or not, it has influenced the kind of lives you live today.
Production for the masses
As the name implies, mass production is a means of producing a large amount of products in a short amount of time, and at lower costs. Such a process dates back to the late 19th Century, during the Industrial Revolution.
One iconic individual responsible for taking advantage of this system of production is Henry Ford (1863-1947), the man responsible for providing automobiles to the American consumers with his famous assembly line.
Mass production even helped shape the balance of power today. Consider World War II, mass production played a key role during the war as it led the Allies forces to win against the Axis forces, ensuring a steady supply of artillery, food rations and the like. Mass production then continued on to play a major role in most industries, from the Electronic Age, in the late 1940’s, to the Information Age, in the 1980’s.
Even today, the system is still being used to efficiently and effectively provide for the growing needs of the people. Individuals such as Bill Gates, founder of Windows, and Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, have mass production to thank as billions of people around the world, from Greenland to Fiji, are enjoying their products.
The ups and downs
For all its worth, mass production brought astounding changes to humankind. For one thing, mass production allowed the entire human race to experience the height of cosumerism. Everything from household bread, poultry, housing and virtually anything under the sun is mass produced.
Another advantage is that it provides economic booms to countries that apply the process to their industries. China and India, for example, are fully harnessing mass production’s power thanks to their large labor force, on the production side, and large consumer population, on the demand side. These two nations are harnessing competition in the business world, and are making other companies work double-time to stay on track and alive in the market.
It all seems so wonderful to hear that mass production has contributed a lot to society, but like everything in life, there too is a bad side to this system. Mass production has limited the range of craftsmanship. Before mass production existed, artisans were more creative and ingenuous. They took pride in their creations, and they specialized in their craft. It took a little longer to create their products, but plain household materials became works of art.
Such craftsmen were also responsible for creating the best quality products money could buy. Examples are jewelry pieces with intricate patterns and designs, and custom-made musical instruments. Mass produced goods, on the other hand, is of less quality, which explains why goods such as toys are already defective, even if they are still enclosed in their protective packages.
Mass production also contributed to the problem of misused resources, product obsolescence and waste disposal. Because everything is cheaper and more available, people have worshipped consumerism, simply buying everything, throwing the old, but working products, and buying even more products.
Good or bad? Be the judge
Now that you, readers, have touched upon the world of mass production, what have you to say about it now?
It has provided everything we could possibly want in the world, however, it is the reason that we have so much waste. A negative verdict cannot be called on mass production that easily since it has provided something to us all, but at the same time, it cannot be taken lightly since it has provided new problems that humanity has to fix.
So, at the most, we Lasallians, when the time comes to take part in the “real world”, should be ready to make responsible decisions when faced with the option of mass-producing a company’s merchandise. If all Lasallians do this, it may start something new. The decision rests in our hands, so let us not abuse such things for as the saying goes, “With great power, comes great responsibility.”
