Sooner Safer Happier

Workplaces in industrialized countries have largely moved on from Fordism. Even in car factories, the place that pioneered conveyor belt manufacturing, robots now largely perform the tasks that are simple and repetitive. The human employees on the factory floor do work that is specialized and in harmony with the machines. Toyota calls this “autonomation” or jidoka in Japanese, which can be roughly translated as automation with a human touch. Not even Ford practices Fordism anymore.

There is one place where you can still see that old way of working. You can see it in many independent coffee shops.

When you arrive at a coffee shop, there’s one till, ...