First Industrial Revolution Essay

Identification of the issue The Industrial Revolution of the late 17th and early 18th century can be defined as a transition from predominantly agrarian economy to an industrial and manufacturing one. This being the first revolution of its kind, sparked by the industrial revolution that began in late 17th century in Britain, was popularly known as the ‘First Industrial Revolution’. What triggered this transformation in economy was the mechanization of manufacturing process which was supported by technological changes such as invention of new machines, use of iron and steel, development of railways and steamships, and use of new forms of energy from coal to steam, thus bringing in an era of mass production (The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica,

This revolution also led to the rise of the service economy (Pena, 2014). From an operations perspective, both first and second revolution have a different cause and effect. The first industrial revolution resulted in the birth of mass production, automation, mechanization, assembly line flow, vertical integration, centralized controls and strong systems and procedures. On the plus side the first industrial revolution created low cost manufacturing, standardization of products and services, birth of brand, perfection of skills and better customer service whereas as cons, there were low variety of goods, low flexibility, lack of motivation for creativity and innovation, poor customer satisfaction and wastage at every manufacturing stage. Second industrial revolution, according to operations experts, was more about absolute elimination of waste through levelling of production. There in came the concept of waste elimination through Just in Time (JIT) and automation, which was pioneered by the Toyota’s. Toyota’s production system emphasized on reduction of waste from over

According to a popular proponent of the 3rd industrial revolution Jeremy Rifkin’s, this revolution is powered by not just internet technology but by renewable energy as well which he says would enable hundreds of millions of people to make green energy in factories, offices and homes that can be shared with each other in an ‘Energy Internet’ in the same manner as how information is shared online in these days (Rifkin,