Question

Read the following description of the rifle industry in Birmingham, England during the early part of the 20th century. The question below is based on this reading.

The master gun-maker – the entrepreneur – seldom possessed a factory or workshop. Usually he owned merely a warehouse in the gun quarter, and his function was to acquire semifinished parts and to give those out to specialized craftsmen, who undertook assembly and finishing of the gun. He purchased material from barrel-makers, lockmakers, sight-stampers, trigger-makers, ramrod-forgers, gun-furniture makers, and if he were engaged in the military branch, from bayonet-forgers. All of these were independent manufacturers executing the orders of several master gun-makers. Once the parts had been purchased from the “material-makers,” as they were called, the next task was to hand them out to a long succession of “setters-up,” each of whom performed a specific operation in connection with the assembly and finishing of the gun. To name only a few, there were those who prepared the front sight and lump end of the barrels; the jiggers, who attended to the breech end; the stockers, who let in the barrel and lock and shaped the stock; the barrel-strippers, who prepared the gun for rifling and proof; the hardeners, polishers, borers and riflers, engravers, browners, and finally the lock-freers, who adjusted the working parts.

Describe why the production of guns was organized in the above fashion. In doing so, fully discuss the efficiencies associated with the production process detailed above. Make sure to refer to ideas presented in class. What does the structure of production imply about the extent of the market for rifles?

Answer 1

Answer:

The production of guns was organized in the above fashion because they do not have structured process for the gun manufacturing and they were making the gun with rough approach with human skill based approaches. For each and every gun operation for the gun manufacturing, they have specialized operator who makes/assembles the gun sub assembly and make it smooth for gun operations. They do not have any testing set-up, hence they are setting it as per their human abilities. They are taking more time in making the gun assembly smooth, so that it can operate adequately and meets the gun functionality. We can say that the gun manufacturing is not a systematic process and they are making it bits and pieces approaches. They do not have structured operations for gun manufacturing.

In doing so, the efficiencies associated with the production process is not adequate, as the process is not structured, hence we cannot measure the right efficiency for this gun manufacturing process. Since the process calls for multiple operations by multiple operators, with the human based approach, the lead time for each of the operation is not certain, it purely depends upon the skills of the operator. Thus the efficiency of the line for gun manufacturing I uncertain, sometime they can make lager number of guns and sometime they will make lower number of guns.

The structure of production imply about the extent of the market for rifles I that this market is not very structured market, as the demand is low and it can be managed with the human based approaches. We do not need expensive investment process for the gun manufacturing, as the demand is quite small and this does not justify the expensive production line for gun manufacturing.