The Baldwin Locomotive Works, 1831-1915 : a study in American industrial practice
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Bibliographic Information
The Baldwin Locomotive Works, 1831-1915 : a study in American industrial practice
（Studies in industry and society, 8）
Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995
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Note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
The largest maker of heavy machinery in Gilded Age America and an important global exporter, the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia achieved renown as one of nation's most successful and significant firms. Relying on skilled craftsmen in labour-intensive batch production, Baldwin led the capital equipment sector that built the infrastructure of modern America. This book combines methods and insights from economic, business, labour, and social history and the history of technology to give an account of this giant of 19th-century industry. It analyzes the structure of railroad demand, the forces driving continual innovation in locomotive design, Baldwin's management systems, shop-floor skills and career paths, and the evolution of production methods. Baldwin's sophisticated production-management controls prefigured the scientific management movement and allowed the firm to fulfil its customers' special design needs, thus cementing close relations with clients. The company became so adept at meeting varied specifications that in a single year, 1890, its 4500 workers made 946 locomotives to 316 different designs.
This work describes the unique challenges involved in building capital equipment - the heavy machinery that transformed the USA into the world's top industrial power in the late 19th and 20th centuries. By exploring the growth and operations of the leading firm in this influential but unexamined sector, it offers insights into American technological, economic, business and labour history.
by "Nielsen BookData"