Easter egotism

Citation

Loughlin, C. (2008), "Easter egotism", Assembly Automation, Vol. 28 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/aa.2008.03328daa.001

Easter egotism

Article Type: Editorial From: Assembly Automation, Volume 28, Issue 4

A large part of the cost of anything is the human labour that has gone into its creation and so it makes sense that anything that is machine made should be relatively cheap. This is borne out by the low cost of much of the electronics gadgets that we buy; but what about clothes?

Although some of the clothing industry is automated, the bulk of the final assembly is still done by people, mainly because the flexible materials used are quite tricky to handle in any machining operation. You might therefore reasonably expect clothes to be expensive – but they are not.

Some clothes are so cheap (at least here in the UK) that they are bought for a specific evening out and are then discarded and end up at a charity shop, fabric recycling plant or simply land-fill. How can this be possible? The quality is acceptable and some of the detailing, such as the addition of hundreds of sequins, is really quite impressive.

The answer unfortunately is that they are made in a location where labour is cheap, almost to the extent of being “free” by western standards. The creator of the T-shirt that we buy for $30 is about 8 years old and received 3 cents for his endeavours.

This terrible disparity between rich and poor has got to be wrong, but what can be done about it? Can automation help level the playing field? The 8-year-old boy, and the family he is helping to support, would not thank you for giving his work to a machine, which is just as well because present technology is not up to the task.

The only way forward that I can imagine is if we change our mindset so that the craft skills of people are much more highly valued than they are at the moment. In the UK, we pay dearly for our local tradesmen. For example, plumbers and electricians and painters are now highly paid professions. We also have a minimum school leaving age of 16 and a minimum age-dependant wage.

So we value our fellow countrymen, but step back in time by 200 years when considering the welfare of people in less-developed countries.

Easter Island in the Pacific is famous for its stone statues. It is also famous for having been desolated by its inhabitants. Easter Island is about 2,000 miles from any major population centre. The population of Easter Island reached its peak at perhaps more than 10,000, far exceeding the capabilities of the small island’s ecosystem. Resources became scarce, and the once lush palm forests were destroyed – cleared for agriculture and for the moving and erection of the massive stone Moai.

Do you ever wonder if we have already become too productive for our own good? We can look down on the Easter Islanders and wonder how any community could be so silly as to use up all of their natural resources, but if we are so profligate in our use of materials are we the same but on a larger scale, and without the benefit of other resources 2,000 miles away?

If we take this argument to its natural conclusion then the cheapness of products could end up being very expensive indeed.

Clive Loughlin