A NON-AUTOMATIC LOOM SHED
A. K. Rice · 2013
In November 1953, when the investigation in the automatic loom shed was being carried out, management became very concerned about the quality of the cloth woven in non-automatic sheds. Government reluctance to license the installation of more automatics made it necessary to effect an improvement with existing equipment. Experience in the automatic shed had shown that disturbance by technological innovation without adequate attention to social consequences had led to lower productivity than had been anticipated. It had also shown that attention to the social as well as to the technological organization could assist in realizing the potential advantages of the new technology. This was achieved against the background of an already disturbed traditional system. By contrast in non-automatic weaving there had been no disturbance of the traditional system which was working much as it had when flrst established. It was supported by customs, attitudes, and habits of several generations of weavers and other loom shed workers. To those in the mill it seemed scarcely credible that the required change could be achieved without some radical innovation such as the introduction of automatic looms.