Software That Shapes Workers’ Lives

The factories highlighted by China Labor Watch have made toys for many companies, including Hasbro, Disney, Lego, and Mattel. A few years ago, while teaching a class about global labor at the University of California, Los Angeles, I tried assigning my students the task of analyzing the “supply chain”—the vast network of factories, warehouses, and shipping conduits through which products flow—by tracing the components used in their electronic devices. In another, a “supply-chain specialist” uses information about shipping times, storage costs, factory capacities, and so on to create a “supply-network plan,” which dictates when each gear in the manufacturing process must turn.

Source: www.newyorker.com