For years car manufacturers made and sprayed all cars by hand. This was a very long and tiresome process which took a lot of labour and cost employers a lot of money. However, recently there has been a huge development in technology which has changed the industry completely. For example the spraying and building of cars is now done by robots. This means the job is done at a faster rate and is more efficient. This is important because it means the company can save money by not having to pay employees by producing more cars in less time. The advantages of using robots are that labour doesn’t have to be paid and the robot works more efficiently. On the other hand the machines need to be programmed/ fixed and this means someone must be employed to do this. Also, making a lot of employees jobless, won’t give the company a very good image and people may start to “boycott” the company. Whether or not switching to robots is a success will depend on how quickly the company can replace the money spent on buying/building the robots in the first place. It also depends on how much the robots cost to run and whether or not they are really efficient.

A carpenter could use robots in the same way. Robots can carve etc. wood more efficiently than a human can. This would mean the company could increase its output. However the disadvantages of using a robot in this situation is that if the robot was programmed incorrectly, or broke down during a process, wood would be wasted and so would time, also someone would have to be employed to watch the machine for these mistakes and programme it. In the long run however profits would increase due to an increased output. However in the short run the company would have to do a lot of “trial and error” experiments with the robots to test when it works and when it doesn’t, which would cost time and money. When you consider the money lost in the short run, and compare it with the money gained in the long run, investing in machinery doesn’t seem such a bad idea.

Both carpenters and car manufactures could benefit from using ICT to do their accounts. It would be an advantage to both companies as the data is easy to input, the computer would do all the processing and come up with an output (the final figures). However someone would have to set this entire account system up at a cost. It will save both companies money in the long run, because neither company will have to pay so many people to do the accounts, they can just pay one person. However this one person will have to be trained in how to use this system and will probably expect to be paid more. This will cause a minor set back in the short term, but the money will soon be made up in the long run.

Many companies may use this recent development in technology to research what their competitors are doing. This will help them to decide on their prices and for them to see how trends etc. are changing in the market. A car manufacturer could research which new cars were coming out for example and a carpenter could look at the price of shelves. They could even look for cheaper suppliers on the Internet.

ICT helps firms to communicate better throughout the industry. A car manufacturer could ring its lorry drivers (suppliers) to see where the parts are for the car they are going to build. They can also e-mail their customers to tell them the exact date of the arrival of the cars and confirm bookings, etc. A carpenter could use this development in communication to do the same. It makes things run smoother throughout both industries. Car manufacturers use ICT to run their companies more efficiently as do carpenters. It is very significant to their success, because if their competitors are changing in technology then they must so as well in order to stay in that market and make a profit. ICT also helps them to expand their business through advertising, which would hopefully increase their client list etc.

However while car manufacturers are relying on new technology to keep up with the ever changing market and new demands, it is noticed that carpenters aren’t so reliant. This may be because many people still like handmade goods; however they too must keep up with competitors in order to stay in the game. Both industries have the problem of not only competing with others in their own country but in the whole world, and with there being more imports than exports and most of the raw materials coming from abroad it is vital they keep up.

There are many other reasons why using ICT won’t necessarily lead to success. Due to there being more imports than exports, it shows that foreign goods are more desirable than UK ones. This is because they are so much cheaper. The UK has the disadvantage of buying in raw materials at an expensive price, but then because of this, they are sold for much more than the foreign good equivalent. It is very expensive to update machines so prices may have to rise short term in order to cover these costs. For an industry to be truly successful it must have a good state of economy in that country, be very efficient and be out doing any other competitors. A graph to show what foreign imports has done to the UK industry or car manufacturing and carpentry.