Bright's work is not only informative but especially useful for the analytical framework it provides, since he sets up a “mechanization profile" of seventeen levels (see Bright's chart of mechanization levels, p. 149). Apart from the first twowork with the hand and with a hand tooleach level deals with a specific machine function and its operating characteristics. With this "profile," Bright was able to chart the entire series of operations in every production system he studied, thus affording a far more realistic glimpse of so-called automatic production systems than that furnished by the glowing self-tributes of managers or the breathless prose of journalists.
On mechanization levels 1 to 4 Bright concludes that since control is entirely up to the worker, skill is increasing (see Bright's chart, "Changing Contribution Required of Operators," pp. 151-52). On levels 5 to 8, where control is mechanical but still dependent upon the worker, some skills are increasing but a number have turned downward, resulting, in Bright's opinion, in an overall decrease in total skill required. In levels 9 to 11, where the machine has been put under external control at least to the extent of signalling its own needs, most skills turn downward. And finally, in the top six levels, which are characterized by self-modifications of machine action and therefore correspond to advanced methods of automatic production, every indicator of skill used by Bright, from knowledge and experience through decision-making, plunges downward sharply, and the indicators of "Worker contribution" all read either "Decreasing-nil," or flatly, “Nil" (with vague exceptions only for “Responsibility” and “Education").33 The result is summarized by a curve which Bright calls the "Hump in Skill Requirements."(See Bright's curve of “Skill versus Automation," p. 154.)³⁴ It describes a “suggested average experience as mechanization increases," and shows an increase only through the first four levels, a decrease thereafter, and a plunge into the nether regions with the installation of those elements of mechanization which are associated with the popular term “automation." He outlines the idea as follows:
Consider a metalworker. Using hand tools, such as a file, he requires considerable dexterity. As power is added but the tool guidance is left in the operator's hands, he needs new levels of dexterity and decision-making to control the machine action, and these grow in importance, A high degree of attention is required. Knowledge requirement, hence training and/or experience requirement, grows with the introduction of the power tool, for he must know how to adjust and direct the more complex machine of Level 4. He must become a "machinist."
When the mechanically controlled machines of levels 5 and 6 are encountered, job knowledge may not be reduced but attention, decision-making, and machine control requirements are partially or largely reduced. In many instances, the technical knowledge requirement of machine functioning and adjustment is reduced tremendously. This is why “machine operators," rather
Levels of Mechanization and Their Relationship to Power and Control Sources (as charted by James R. Bright)
148
Labor and Monopoly Capital
Machinery
149