Manufacturing the Future

Manufacturing the Future: A History of Western Electric is the first full-length history of the Western Electric Company, the manufacturing arm of the Bell System. As a manufacturer in the communications revolutions in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Western Electric made new products such as telegraphs, telephones, an early computing machine, radios, radar, and transistors. The book demonstrates, through Western's 1882 acquisition by Bell Telephone, that vertical integration was a lengthy process rather than a single event. It also shows the coming of age of industrial psychology and describes the advent of civil rights in corporate America.

"This overview of the operation and evolution of a leading firm over a vital era of American business history is recommended for undergraduate and graduate library collections." Choice

"...a compact and highly readable account of a hitherto largely neglected company." Albert Churella, Business History

"Manufacturing the Future provides a valuable overview of Western Electric's history, an excellent teaching tool for undergraduates studying the American economy." John Abrahamson, EH.NET

"The author's abilities to integrate so many disparate themes...into such a brief account are highly praisworthy." Enterprise & Society

"Manufacturing the Future is a thorough and well-structured book that clearly and succinctly- in 218 text pages- covers the most seminal points in Western Electric's history. The Book's emphasis on the relationship between the firm and the Bell System is well placed and its arguments are convicing. The author's abilities to integrate so many disparate themes...are highly praiseworthy." Enterprise & Society