ABSTRACT
Mechanization is usually concerned with cost minimization, and this chapter presents a new way of explaining the minimum cost position using the labour productivity form of the production function.
The concept of mechanization seems straightforward-having ‘machines’ to assist labour in production-but how mechanization increases labour productivity and also how mechanization, in order to achieve minimum cost production, is nevertheless constrained are complex questions, so mechanization is not as straightforward as might initially be thought. For example, if mechanization can increase labour productivity, and if increasing labour productivity is a ‘good thing’, then why is mechanization constrained? Is there any point at which mechanization ceases to be a ‘good thing’? The answers depend on the impact of mechanization on unit total cost, and this chapter is basically concerned with this.
