factory system
factory systemA system of manufacturing involving the concentration of materials, fixed capital, and a labour-force, in one or more workplaces or plants. The reasons why factory production developed and largely displaced scattered domestic manufacture are a matter of debate in economic and social history. As a productive system it possesses three main types of efficiency gains for the owner or controller: economic, by allowing advantages of scale, while reducing the costs of distribution of raw materials and finished product; technical, by making possible the deskilling of craft labour, and the use of machines; and managerial, by increasing the scope for disciplined control of the effort bargain. See also capitalism.
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