Even after
a design change was made, there still remained the long and
arduous process changing drawings and making sure the new
product was standardized. The Works
was inundated with design changes and often had manufacture
products before the laboratory finished the design. was production engineer's nightmare: do-all
general purpose factory, with central task stabilized
engineering designs, and few long production runs. The conversion kits were
difficult make and install, making life more complicated for
the Phonograph Works and the dealer network. One engineer
recalled that "New models chased themselves through the factory
.VIII-34
was called upon manufacture bewildering range machines.
Edison had policy that his customers should not left with
obsolete machinery, and subsequently each new model design
change was accompanied conversion kit adopt old
machines. This naturally added
more variants phonograph line that was already crowded
with numerous models and types. The introduction the Amberol record, for example,
led the creation mechanical devices convert existing
phonographs play the 4-minute cylinder. was case every
foreman for himself and few records were kept. The absence routine for making
design changes and the lack clear lines authority created
an atmosphere the Works where standardization design and
manufacture was virtually impossible.
The Works was loosely organized facility that
manufactured everything from kinetoscopes numbering
machines
