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plant had been designed flexible. When faced with
"bugs" the storage battery, Edison rapidly fitted two
rooms the lab and put testers work there "night and
day. payroll for the machine shop in
1889 bears Edison's notation "give one (man) for."15
Edison drove his men hard and believed making them
work hard, and long, did." The
wide range skills his labor force, combined with the
loose organization, allowed Edison maximum flexibility to
utilize labor the need arose. Edison's long hours and buoyant personality could not
. Rooms could quickly
reorganized and fitted up, yet much the flexibility the
operation depended how quickly his men changed from job to
job. could quickly mass his
men into task forces when problem needed solution a
promising line research was identified. This was the key his
strategy flexibility and speed.. led example. He
loved his work and was happiest the experimental table.. He
was enthusiastically involved every major experimental
project the laboratory and carried out numerous experiments
himself.
When Edison recognized promising line investigation,
or had mount rush job, would quickly marshall his
troops, shifting men from other projects, forming larger teams
(but always keeping one leader), and drawing the large labor
pool the machine shops.
