The Unmanned Factory and the Community

Abstract

The impact of unmanned factories on local communities must be viewed from two perspectives: (1) the historical trends that have disengaged the factory, smokestack or unmanned, from the local community, and (2) the influence of the new technology on community organizations. From a beginning of close association, the factory had disengaged from the local community through the influence of absentee ownership, technology, corporate policy, and managerial mobility. The new technology of the unmanned factory augments these tendencies toward disengagement. We have only speculative information on how the unmanned factory affects the local community, but three broad categories of direct and indirect impacts are indicated: (1) jobs and labor force, (2) the web of suppliers and other supportive firms in the community, and (3) the psychological and medical health of the community.

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