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Factory Production Line

  



Pinmaking by hand was an industry that required the skills of a number of different craftsmen. Adam Smith, the pioneering economist, considered pinmaking a classic example of the "division of labour". Just how many different craftsmen were involved in the chain of production is controversial.

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Some manufacturers seem to have managed with six workers, whilst others required up to twenty-five. There may have been a tendency to sub-divide the processes as the eighteenth century went on. The workforce often consisted mainly of women and children who were paid very poor wages.
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