The Arsenal of Venice

We looked at the early Renaissance organization The Arsenal Of Venice in Design Management class. The Arsenal of Venice was an ur-factory, creating war ships along a canal in Venice. It's an example of a product organizing the organization; the design constraints shaped the Arsenal.

It's an early example of such "modern" organizational features such as division of labor, social and business contracts, and standardization of parts. It also demonstrated that the conception and planning of a product is different from the making of a product.

The Arsenal of Venice, like all organizations and like all designed products, can be broken down into four main parts: the materials, the form (or "mode"), the manner of production (the people), and the function or purpose.

Originally posted on Tuesday, January 25, 2005

 
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O Danny Boy is About Me, Dan Saffer, and has my Portfolio, Resumé, Blog, and some Extras. It also has the blog I kept of my graduate studies and ways to Contact Me.