One man’s store sews denim belt loops onto jeans. Five men sit in a room with sewing machines, the pants primed, flattened and ready to receive a belt-loop crown. The owner lives in the room, works in the room, sews in the room. And when the pants are looped and ready the bicycle driver arrives to pedal them to their next destination: the store where they will receive buttons.
One man’s store dyes leather. A cowhide smell hangs alongside the pelts that are dyed to look teal, mustard, and petunia in color. Next the leather might be fashioned into bags, pocketbooks, and belts but the shop-owner Tamma will never see the final product of his labors. That said, Tamma will eat, sleep, and breathe leather; his home is his workshop is his life.
This hands-on production line model dominates Dharavi manufacture and makes it one of the world’s most efficient and integrated production chains. Labor is hyper-specialized and workers have become artisans of the miniscule, excelling in the tiny arts of adding buttons onto collared shirts or sequins onto sari fabric. Hundreds of agents, contractors, and transport men link these independent laborers, thus eliminating the need for factory space or corporate affiliation. Workers remain independent and minimize their land-use by fusing their home and workshop into one. Space efficient, labor efficient, resource efficient—a most streamlined and specialized system of production.
No comments:
Post a Comment