The Factory System and the Transport Revolution

The factory system concentrated production in large buildings equipped with machinery driven by water or steam power. Factories imposed strict working hours and labor discipline set by the rhythm of the machinery rather than by traditional natural cycles, and direct supervision by foremen and factory managers replaced the autonomous work characteristic of traditional pre-industrial artisanship — a sharp contrast with the earlier "putting-out" system, in which workers could set their own pace of work from home. Factory bells or sirens marked the start and end of shifts, which frequently ran between twelve and sixteen hours a day during the early decades of industrialization; the historian E.P. Thompson studied extensively how industrialization transformed the temporal discipline of work in Britain. Factory discipline also included monetary fines for lateness or talking during work, and "truck systems" sometimes forced workers to receive part of their wages as tokens redeemable only at shops owned by the employer.