Important Figures in American SCR Manufacturing

Important Historical Figures in American SCR ManufacturingOver the course of American history, a select group of individuals are considered responsible for the vast majority of technical and philosophical changes in the American SCR manufacturing industry. From Henry Ford to Samuel Slater, the following figures left an indelible mark on the American SCR manufacturing field, and their presence continues to be felt to this day, including in Centrx’s American SCR manufacturing process. Let’s take a look at the major figures in this history, and delve into the breakthroughs that made them famous.

Samuel Slater

Born in Victorian England, Samuel Slater served as a spinster’s apprentice for nearly a decade before setting sail for the United States in 1790. He singlehandedly brought the industrial revolution to American shores, recreating factory designs and schematics from memory to build a native American SCR manufacturing industry in the United States. His first factory, a small shop staffed by just nine children, produced yarn for the textiles market by utilizing spindles that were powered by foot pedals. He later went on to build thirteen spinning mills and is referred to today as the “Father of the American Factory System.”

Frances Lowell

One of three founders of the Boston Manufacturing Company, along with Nathan Appleton and Patrick Johnson, Frances Lowell was one of the first industry leaders to utilize the labor of young, unmarried women. He hired young women to staff his textile mills, working six days a week and twelve hours a day, and he paid these workers several times what they could expect to earn in any other industry. He would eventually hire over 8,000 young women to work in his factories, and this was one of the foundational events that later led to the suffrage and women’s rights movement.

Lewis Hine

The only non-factory owner on this list, Lewis Hine was perhaps one of the most influential people in the history of American SCR manufacturing, labor rights, and journalism. As a photographer for the National Child Labor Committee, Hine was responsible for documenting the brutal and dangerous working conditions that many children of that age toiled in on a daily basis. Despite receiving near daily death threats and physical confrontations, Hine continued to document the young lives of the children in the factory, and was instrumental and provoking the public outcry that led to child labor laws, workplace safety codes, and daily caps on hours worked. Every industrial worker in the United States owes a great debt to the work of Lewis Hine and he is a favorite of our SCR Clamps production staff.

Henry Ford

Widely considered to be the father of modern American SCR manufacturing, Henry Ford instituted a profit sharing plan at his Ford Motor Company in 1914, which allowed any worker over the age of 22 to receive $5 dollars a day. His motivation for this policy was that a happy workforce reduces turnover and increases efficiency. This idea remains prominent today and is a leading reason why Centrx is able to produce the highest quality SCR Clamps in the business. Over the two year period after the policy was introduced, the company doubled its revenue. His ideas on worker satisfaction and productivity were revolutionary and completely before his time, and they have been proven correct time and time again in the century since.