rol, rationalized production spread throughout Europe and America (Barker, 1992, pp. 23-47). Here we see how Plossl(s time factor becomes a larger issue. It is not one person involved in production any longer. By becoming a group of specialists, management of these separate efforts becomes an issue.
As industrial labor was subdivided into specialized tasks, so too was the role of the designer separated from that of the maker. In 1775, Josiah Wedgwood commissioned famous painters from France and England to design forms and decorations in the then-popular neoclassical style for his fine porcelain. In a significant break with tradition, these artists were not porcelain craftsmen. They were, in effect, the first industrial designers.
Another aspect of the new paradigm of industrial production was the use of standardized, interchangeable parts, which began in France in the 1770(s for the manufacture of naval cannons. U.S. industrialists perfected the idea in the 1850(s for the high-volume production of firearms, farm machinery, and sewing machines. The continuous, moving assembly line of Henry Ford followed at the beginning of the 20th century, and by the 1990(s its direct descendant--the computerized, flexible, automated factory--had been developed. Here again more management is needed.
Finally, the response to the public(s postwar appetite for enticing new products, other companies in the 1950(s also began building manufacturing design staffs and facilities. Only a few of them, however, viewed design as a discrete business function responsible for its own strategic corporate policy and reporting to top management, as Noyes did to IBM president Thomas Watson, Jr. Among these were Mobil Oil Company and Container Corporation of America in the United States; Braun in Germany; Olivetti in Italy; and Sony, Canon, and Sharp in Japan. In most companies, in-house manufacturing design staffs were technical services subordinate to enginee...