I always thought of manufacturing as being of two general types: “Production” and “craftmanship”. The former is what you’d call “manufacturing,” probably.

What I use to distinguish the two isn’t the numbers of things manufactured, but the way the work is organized. In the former, the work object tends to move between workers, with each worker doing one thing to each object. Think, assembly line. In the latter, “craftmanship”, the work object stays with the worker as he applies multiple tools to the work object.

We seem to prefer to do things in a “craftsman” way. Think of how mindless, tedious, soul-crushing “production” work seems.

Both types of manufacturing have their place. In low quantities, craftsmanship beats production. In high quantities, production beats craftsmanship for learning-curve reasons.

Consider how most of web site replication is automated. It’s done by servers, routers and various “user agent” machines. From that point of view, those who replicate large, custom web sites are craftsman – as their work result is as much one large, redundantly organized web site as a lot of instances of one site.

Anyway, it’s fun and interesting to fool around with these categories, concepts and words.

Hmmmm. That doesn’t seem quite right. Yep, part of building a web site is design. Consider a web site built by two separate groups, one tasked with “design”, the other with implementation. If so, the implementers seem like manufacturers to me. But then, the designers also seem to be “manufacturing” a design. Call it an internal product.

Anyway, I cringe when people say that “we don’t make things any more.” Like if you work for Ford you make things but if you work for Microsoft you’re a “service”.

Perhaps data center operations might be more analogous to those keeping a factory running. Things like floor cleaning, electrical work on lighting, building and equipment/tool repair. Those sorts of innumerable jobs.

I think the analogy to web site development in a manufacturing company would be the design engineering function. The web analogy to manufacturing per se is data center operations.

Nice post.

“Good manufacturing jobs” and “sweatshop labor” seem to refer to the same thing these days. The former applies to “us” in the sparkling, mellow past; the latter applies to relatively poor people a long way away. But the jobs and pay are the same.

Notice the misleading category of “manufacturing”, though. Perhaps someone can explain how building a web site is not “manufacturing.”