Job Training Mythologies: Stitching up Labor Markets

I. Introduction II. Creative Destruction III. The Failure of Government “Adjustment Assistance” ... A. Components of Training ... 1. Elements of Training ... 2. Tools for Training ... 3. Economics of Training ... 4. Institutions for Training ... 5. Barriers to Private Sector Skills Training ... B. Weaknesses of Existing Programs ... 1. Janesville, WI: A Case Study ... 2. Registered Apprenticeships Are Not the Answer ... C. Labor Department Proposed Rule for Industry-Recognized Apprenticeships IV. Textile Industry: A Case Study ... A. Mechanizing the Basics: Teaching in Surrogate Families (1800–1840) … B. The Speedup and Stretchout—Rings and Draper Looms: Informal Worker-Level Tutelage (1840–1880) ... C. The South Rises: Meeting the Need for Institutionalized Education (1880–1930) ... D. Global Markets: Trying to Shift the Responsibility to the Government (1930–2000) V. Other Adjustment Mechanisms ... A. Go West, Young Man! ... B. Markets and Mobility ... C. Unemployment Compensation VI. Realistic Policy Directions ... A. Restructure the Unemployment Compensation System to Provide Incentives to Relocate to Find Work ... B. Target Student Loans and Reform For-Profit Trade Schools ... C. Resuscitate the Apprenticeship Concept VII. Conclusion This Article begins, in Part II, by explaining the concept of creative destruction, which is the engine of prosperity in all market economies. Creative destruction inherently disrupts labor markets and makes the skills of many existing workers obsolete. Part III analyzes the dismal record of government-sponsored retraining programs in facilitating worker adjustment. It explains why employer-sponsored training programs can be more effective but are largely absent during economic downturns, when they are needed most. Part IV recapitulates the history of the textile industry and shows how labor markets adjusted to several waves of creative destruction. It reviews the technologies that played leapfrog in the textile industry from 1817 to 2017, each creating greater labor productivity. It explores the labor markets that connected workers with the machines and focuses on specific adjustment mechanisms that allowed workers to adapt to new technologies. Few of them were government sponsored. This Article then shifts its focus to the future, projecting the course of further technological disruption and exploring what public policy should do about it. It concentrates on reshaping the unemployment compensation system to encourage worker mobility, strengthening worker training programs that combine classroom instruction with on-the-job experience, and considers the possibility of reforming for-profit trade schools to provide some of the training. It recommends a fundamental restructuring of the Labor Department’s apprenticeship program, if it is to be continued at all

An assessment of a quick response case study in an apparel textile pipeline in the Western Cape

Bibliography: leaves 165-172.The aim of this thesis was to establish whether South African companies implementing Quick Response in an apparel textile pipeline moved towards flexible specialisation and post-Fordism or a neo-Fordist method of production. I also determined whether these companies implemented Quick Response according to the theory or to suit their environment. Manufacturing 6 Fordism or mass production became the most important manufacturing system in the early 20th century. When it was in crisis a new era, post-Fordism, was born. The change in manufacturing in post-Fordism was labelled flexible specialisation. It utilises new technology and flexible ways of organising work to help companies become more competitive. However, some people believed the new era was not new, but rather a modification of Fordism. They called this modified system neoFordism, consisting of both Fordist and post-Fordist features. The clothing and textile industries South Africa's textile and clothing industries are faced with increased competition due to the country's re-entry into the world economy and the subsequent drop in tariffs. One way for textile and clothing companies to compete is by developing a Quick Response approach - a type of flexible specialisation. It could help these companies fight cheaper imports as it cuts lead times and allows companies to use their local proximity to deliver the right products at the right time. Methodology using qualitative research methods I attempted to describe Quick Response in this pipeline by finding out what it is, what its features are, how it is implemented and what its effects are. I combined descriptive and explanatory elements in my study. I used semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions to interview workers, middle and upper management of the companies in the pipeline. I also used nonparticipant observation by attending meetings these companies held. Quick Response or not? The system that this pipeline implemented has some of the main trademarks of Quick Response. The companies improved their relationships, shared some information, cut the lead times, and relied on sales figures to determine production. All of this resulted in an increase in sales, Quick Response's ultimate goal. However, this system lacked many features of Quick Response such as worker involvement, full information sharing, Pareto improving measures to ensure no company is worse off than before, and cutting lead times constantly. Despite this I still believe this system could be classified as Quick Response as it was mainly about cutting lead times and this pipeline did that in a small way. Post- or neo-Fordism? Although these companies introduced elements of Quick Response, Fordist production features were still evident. These include manufacturing with long runs, just-in-case or safety stock, power differentials, mistrust, managerial prerogative, and large wage gaps. It is clear that Quick Response as described in the theory is a type of flexible specialisation, which is the change in manufacturing in the post-Fordist era. However, the version used in this pipeline contained many elements of Fordist production combined with post-Fordist methods. So the conclusion is that the companies who implemented Quick Response moved towards a neo-Fordist method of production. Only when they import Quick Response as an integrated package might their methods be described as post-Fordist

Sustainability in design: now! Challenges and opportunities for design research, education and practice in the XXI century

Copyright @ 2010 Greenleaf PublicationsLeNS project funded by the Asia Link Programme, EuropeAid, European Commission

Organic User Interfaces for InteractiveInterior Design

PhD ThesisOrganic User Interfaces (OUIs) are flexible, actuated, digital interfaces characterized by being aesthetically pleasing, physically manipulated and ubiquitously embedded within real-world environments. I postulate that OUIs have specific qualities that offer great potential to realize the vision of smart spaces and ubiquitous computing environments. This thesis makes the case for embedding OUI interaction into architectural spaces, interior elements and decorative artefacts using smart materials – a concept I term ‘OUI Interiors’. Through this thesis, I investigate: 1) What interactive materials and making techniques can be used to design and build OUIs? 2) What OUI decorative artefacts and interior elements can we create? and 3) What can we learn for design by situating OUI interiors? These key research questions form the basis of this PhD and guide all stages of inquiry, analysis, and reporting. Grounded by the state-of-the-art of Interactive Interiors in both research and practice, I developed new techniques of seamlessly embedding smart materials into interior finishing materials via research through design exploration (in the form of a Swatchbook). I also prototyped a number of interactive decorative objects that change shape and colour as a form of organicactuation, in response to seamless soft-sensing (presented in a Product Catalogue). These inspirational artefacts include table-runners, wall-art, pattern-changing wall-tiles, furry-throw, vase, cushion and matching painting, rug, objets d’art and tasselled curtain. Moreover, my situated studies of how people interact idiosyncratically with interactive decorative objects provide insights and reflections on the overall material experience. Through multi-disciplinary collaboration, I have also put these materials in the hands of designers to realize the potentials and limitations of such a paradigm and design three interactive spaces. The results of my research are materialized in a tangible outcome (a Manifesto) exploring design opportunities of OUI Interior Design, and critically considering new aesthetic possibilities

Regulation of Trade in 3D Printed Goods and WTO Modernization: An Opportunity for New Preferential Rules of Origin

Rules of origin are key legal tools for international trade. While they can pose a puzzle for trade analysts and traders to comprehend, they are not just technical elements of trade. It is important to understand how they function as rules can be utilized by states as non-tariff barriers to trade. This dissertation focuses on preferential rules of origin, which determine if a good receives preferential tariff treatment under a regional or bilateral trade agreement. WTO Members must follow the Common Declaration with Regard to Preferential Rules of Origin, an annex to the Agreement on Rules of Origin. This instrument gives Members sovereignty in designing rules. Prior to and since the formation of the WTO, Members have designed rules that traders find restrictive, especially for trade in inputs. As goods are constructed with parts sourced in global value chains, traders must verify the origin of each part to obtain preferential tariff treatment under an agreement. While digital technology facilitates access to information on rules of origin, traders must still understand and comply with national and regional custom procedures. Digital technology also is the basis for advanced manufacturing, which replaces or complements human labor with digitally based manufacturing techniques, such as additive manufacturing (3D printing). Traders looking to 3D printing to shorten global value chains and reshore manufacturing may face challenges when determining the origin of a 3D printed product, as current rules in trade instruments are based on human-labor manufacturing. Trade analysts have begun to explore rules of origin in the context of 3D printing, including whether the 3D file should be an origin-conferring input. This dissertation takes up these initial assessments and examines the potential outcomes of applying current rules to advanced manufactured goods (which are produced in developed and developing countries) or designing new rules. This investigation requires an exploration of the connections between digital trade and customs duties, the role of state sovereignty in a digital trade environment, and the impact of “deep” policy provisions in agreements on trade of advanced products. Using doctrinal, qualitative, and interdisciplinary research, this dissertation presents the rules under WTO law, the main criteria for determining the origin of a good, legal and economic critiques of preferential rules of origin, rules in the context of services and digital trade, the challenges of applying the origin criteria to 3D printed goods, and recommendations for designing rules for advanced manufactured products and for making rules more trader-friendly. Looking at preferential rules of origin in the context of 3D printing allows us to experiment with modernizing rules to support trade in a digital environment. Identifying aspects of the design and administration of rules where there is a risk for protectionist intervention or a risk of generating more confusion for traders leads us to question how the trade law system should regulate such rules. These considerations also tie into some of the challenges international institutions, especially the WTO, face at this moment: what role should multilateralism play in forming a framework for trade and how can organizations modernize along with technological changes

Clemson Catalog, 2007-2008, Volume 82

https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/clemson_catalog/1157/thumbnail.jp

Clemson Catalog, 2010-2011, Volume 85

https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/clemson_catalog/1160/thumbnail.jp

Clemson Catalog, 2009-2010, Volume 84

https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/clemson_catalog/1159/thumbnail.jp