Computer-aided Manufacturing and Women’s Employment: The Clothing Industry in Four EC Countries: For the Directorate-General Employment, Social Affairs and Education of the European Communities, June 1990

228 Pages·1992·3.67 MB·English

by  Swasti Mitter (auth.)

Computer-aided Manufacturing and
Women's Employment:
The Clothing Industry in Four EC Countries
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND SOCIETY
Series Editor: KARAMJIT S. GILL
Knowledge; Skill and Artificial Intelligence
Bo Goranzon and Ingela Josefson (Eds.)
Artificial Intelligence, Culture and Language: On Education and
Work
Bo Goranzon and Magnus Florin (Eds.)
Designing Human-centred Technology: A Cross-disciplinary
Project in Computer-aided Manufacturing
H.H. Rosenbrock (Ed.)
The Shape of Future Technology: The Anthropocentric Alternative
Peter Brodner
Crossing the Border: The Social and Engineering Design of
Computer Integrated Manufacturing Systems
J. Martin Corbett, Lauge Baungaard Rasmussen and Felix Rauner
Artificial Intelligence and Human Institutions
Richard Ennals
Dialogue and Technology: Art and Knowledge
Bo Goranzon and Magnus Florin (Eds.)
Understanding the Artificial: On the Future Shape of
Artificial Intelligence
Massimo Negrotti (Ed.)
Swasti Mitter (Ed.)
Computer-aided
Manufacturing and
Women's Em.ployment:
The Clothing Industry
in Four EC Countries
For the Directorate-General Employment,
Social Affairs and Education of the
European Communities, June 1990
With assistance from Anneke van Luijken,
IRENE, The Netherlands
Springer-Verlag
London Berlin Heidelberg New York
Paris Tokyo Hong Kong
Barcelona Budapest
Swasti Mitter
Brighton Business School,
Brighton Polytechnic,
Mithras House, Lewes Road,
Brighton BN2 4AT, UK.
ISBN-13: 978-3-540-19656-3 e-ISBN-13: 978-1-4471-1837-4
DOl: 10.1007/978-1-4471-1837-4
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Mitter, Swasti
Computer-aided manufacturing and women's employment: the clothing industry
in four EC countries. (Artificial intelligence and society)
I. Title II. Series
670.285
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Computer-aided manufacturing and women's employment: the clothing industry
in four EC countrieslSwasti Mitter, ed.
p. cm. - (Artificial intelligence and society)
1. Women clothing workers-European Economic Community countries-Effect of
technological innovations on-Case studies. 2. Women clothing workers
European Economic Community countries-Supply and demand-Case studies.
3. Clothing trade-European Economic Community countries-Technological
innovations-Case studies. 4. Textile industry-European Economic Community
countries-Technological innovations-Case studies. 5. Computer integrated
manufacturing systems-European Economic Community countries-Case
studies. I. Mitter, Swasti, 1939- II. Series: artificial intelligence and society.
HD6073.C62E8631991 91-3861
331.4'87'094-dc20 CIP
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© Springer-Verlag London Limited 1992
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34/3830-543210 Printed on acid-free paper
Preface
This book is a collection of papers that were initially prepared for an
EC-funded workshop at Brighton Polytechnic in February 1988.
(The workshop and research were funded by the Director-General
of the European Commission, Employment, Social Affairs and
Education.) The papers were written at a time when the European
Community itself was undergoing profound political and economic
changes.
Precisely a month after the workshop, the Cecchini Report
unveiled the plan of the Single European Market; papers presented
in the workshop, understandably, had to be revised in the light of
the new event.
The revised papers arrived when, with the opening up of the
Eastern bloc, the economic and political boundaries of Europe had
shifted yet again. For this volume the most significant change was
the reunification of Germany. This made the former political
entities, the Federal Republic and the Democratic Republic, inade
quate as a basis for economic forecasting. Nonetheless, the original
contributions from West Germany needed relatively little revision to
allow for the sudden change. The impact of computer technology on
the manufacturing employment of the former GDR has been
minimal. Thus the analysis of the impact hitherto, based exclusively
on West German evidence, has not been rendered invalid. The
implications for the future, however, will affect the eastern as well
as western regions of the unified Germany, albeit in varying
degrees.
The 1980s experienced an unprecedented expansion in the
retailing trade of the northern EC countries. In contrast, in the
1990s, the rise in interest rates, the ripple effect of global recession
and the cost of reunification in Germany have slowed down the rate
of growth in consumer spending. The success stories of the 1980s, as
epitomised by Next or Benetton, appear less striking in the
recession-ridden 1990s. The strategies of the companies, nonethe
less, remain instructive and effective - especially in their adeptness
in the use of information technology for retaining their shares of a
market that is visibly shrinking. The technological and organisa
tional innovations of these companies thus remain an important
vi Preface
area for study in relation to women's employment in clothing and
other manufacturing industries.
The final editing of the book was delayed by the tragic death of our
dear colleague, Professor Raffaele Gaeta, in the summer of 1990. I
am grateful to Fiorenza Belussi for assisting me to write the paper on
his behalf, drawing on the research materials that he left behind.
Dr Raphael Salkie of Brighton Polytechnic has been an invaluable
help in editing and translating the German contributions.
It is the gracious guidance and help of Professor Peter Dronke of
Cambridge University that made it possible for the Italian and
German participants of the workshop to communicate in English
with enjoyment and ease. Without his presence and assistance and
labour of love, it would have been difficult to organise such a
colloquium which facilitated the formation of a number of sustained
EC-based networks of expertise. All the contributors appreciate his
generosity with affection, admiration and gratitude.
My sincere thanks to Anneke van Luijken who has assisted me, at
all stages, in structuring the book.
Finally, I feel grateful to Rana, Pamina and Partha for giving me a
home which is happy and intellectually stimulating.
Brighton Swasti Mitter
May 1991
Contents
Contributors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
SECTION I. Introduction
1. Introduction
Swasti Mitter ................................................................. 3
SECTION II. The Context
2. Reconfiguration of the Market and the Use of
Computerised Technology
Jonathan Zeitlin....... ...... ...... .......... .......... .......... ........ . . . .. 21
SECTION III. Human-Centred Technology
3. On Using Women as Resources: Italian Unions'
Strategies Towards Information Technology and New
Organisation of Work
Marcella Chiesi ............................................................... 37
4. Taylorism or Human-Centred Technology?
Evaluating Alternative Paths of Technology in Germany
Christa Gebbert ............................................................... 53
SECTION IV. Organisational Innovations and the Use of
Women's Tacit Knowledge
5. Benetton Italy: Beyond Fordism and Flexible
Specialisation. The Evolution of the Network Firm Model
Fiorenza Belussi .............................................................. 73
6. Homeworking in Italy in the Age of Computer
Technology
Pauline Conroy Jackson...................................................... 93
viii Contents
7. Pronta Moda: The New Business Ventures for Women in
Italy
Raffaele Gaeta, Fiorenza Belussi and Swasti Mitter..................... 103
8. New Openings for Women in the UK: Design and Craft
for Computer-Aided Retailing
Sara Bowman. .................... ....... .......... ...... ..... ............. ... 107
SECTION V. At the Margin of New Technology
9. Technological Gradualism and Minority Women: A Case
Study of the British and German Clothing Industries
Annie Phizacklea ............................................................. 119
10. An Aspect of Informalisation of Women's Work in a
High-Tech Age: Turkish Sweatshops in the Netherlands
Roeland van Geuns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
SECTION VI. New Technology and the Internationalisation
of Production
11. Technical Developments and Internationalisation of the
German Clothing and Knitwear Industry
Michael Wortmann. .......................................................... 141
12. Computer-aided Technology and an Emerging
International Division of Labour: Prospects for Women
Sybille Raasch..................................... ............................ 151
13. Rationalisation and Internationalisation of Clothing
Firms in the Netherlands: The Case of van Winkel Fashions
Company in Budel
Anneke van Luijken ......... . ......... . ........... ...... . .... .. .............. 163
SECTION VII. On Giving Access to Women
14. Why do Women Organise Through Trade Unions in
Germany?
Wiebke Buchholz-Will................... ....................... . ........... . 169
15. Empowerment or Escape? Technical Training for
Homeworkers in Britain
Mary Hopkins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
16. The Role of Local Intervention: Choices and Agencies
for Change
Peter Totterdill... ............ .......... . . ............ ...... . ...... ...... ...... 185
Contents ix
SECTION VIII. Some Conclusions
17. Restructuring for 1992: Training Women to Meet
Shortfalls in Technical and Managerial Skills
Christopher Farrands ........................................................ 201
ApPENDICES. Supplementary Material on the Clothing Industries
Appendix 1. The EC
Swasti Mitter ................................................................. 00
Appendix 2. Germany
Christa Gebbert ............................................................... 00
Appendix 3. Italy
Fiorenza Belussi .............................................................. 00
Appendix 4. The Netherlands
Anneke van Luijken . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
Appendix 5. The United Kingdom
Swasti Mitter ................................................................. 00
Subject Index
Contributors
Fiorenza Belussi
Assistant Director, European Institute of Technology, Palazzo
Diamanti, Via Noris I, 37121 Verona Italy, and Science Policy
Research Institute, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BNl
9RH,UK
Sara Bowman
Principal Lecturer of Fashion and Design, North East London
Polytechnic, 59 Greengate Street, London E13, UK
Wiebke Buchholz-Will
Shop Steward, DGB-Bundesvorstand Abt. Frauen, Hans-Bockler
strasse 39,4600 Dusseldorf, Germany
Marcella Chiesi
Freelance Consultant for Women's Training, Via Mervlana 215,
00815 Rome, Italy
Pauline Conroy Jackson
Formerly with the Equal Opportunities Office, Commission of the
European Communities, Brussels, Belgium
Christopher Farrands
Head of the Department of International Relations, Nottingham
Polytechnic, Burton Street, Nottingham NG14BU, UK
Raffaele Gaeta
Late Professor at Bucconi Business School, Via Orti 14, 20122
Milan, Italy
Christa Gebbert
Research Fellow, Arbeitsgruppe fur Sozialwissenschaftliche
Industrieforschung (ASIF), Am Gottesberg 27, 0-4800 Bielefeld I,
Germany
Mary Hopkins
Visiting Research Fellow, Cranfield Institute of Technology,
Department of Social Policy, Cranfield, Bedfordshire MK43 OAL,
UK