The Philosophy of Manufacturers written by Andrew Ure, focuses on the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and the changes that were happening during this time. The Industrial Revolution allowed for machines to take the job of human laborers and make production much more efficient. Machines could produce many more goods than humans at a much quicker and cheaper rate. This allowed for companies to move the skilled laborers onto much more difficult jobs and have unskilled laborers maintain the machines. Factories were soon being filled by women and children, while the men worked on much more demanding jobs that could not be done by a machine. The Industrial Revolution allowed for companies to speed up production of goods, made the costs of good much cheaper, and allowed for more skilled workers to be allocated to more demanding jobs.

The introduction of machines into factories sped up production by more than double. Machines are able to do tasks at rapid speeds, while humans are much slower. Another benefit to machines is that they do not need a break from labor, they are continuously working. This leads to an even higher production rate of goods with less labor needed.

Machines created an excessive amount of labor, which allowed for factories or mills to allocate their more skilled workers onto much tougher jobs. This made it possible for men to specialize in one thing, instead of trying to work on multiple things at once. This resulted in an increase in production rate and quality of the goods produced. Workers used to work on multiple parts of a good but due to the introduction of machines, they are only needed for smaller, more demanding parts.

To fill the void of the men working in factories, women and children were hired to maintain the machines. Their job was simply to maintain the machines, and keep them from breaking. They were paid smaller wages than old factory workers because the job was less demanding. This allowed for factories to maximize their gains and grow into larger companies.

After reading this article we can assume that the Industrial Revolution had many benefits for laborers and companies. The Industrial Revolution increased production in factories by an unimaginable amount compared to human workers. Machines also made the cost of producing goods much cheaper, since women and children were in charge of running them. Women and children were paid less than the skilled working men, because they had no knowledge of the tasks, and had to do very little physical labor. The Industrial Revolution has and still is advancing the world to what it is today. We still see signs of the Industrial Revolution around us today, as more machines are being used, and jobs being automated. The Industrial Revolution is how the world modernizes and advances, just like the 1800’s. In the 1800’s the first machines were invented to help boost and speed up production of goods. Today we are still seeing more machines be invented to speed up production of goods and lower the production cost. We can assume that the Industrial Revolution is the reason why we are as advanced and modern as we are today.