At its sprawling plant in Bridgeport, Conn, last week. Columbia Records Inc. made phonograph records in two surprisingly different ways. On the third floor, 250 men in grimy work clothes labored amid the ear-shattering hammer of hydraulic presses and the stench of burned rubber. On the floor below, four neatly dressed men stood by 16 softly purring machines. The four seemingly did nothing but watch the machines work. Yet in an eight-hour shift, each turned out about five times as many records as the sweating men on the floor above.
The new Columbia record line is the latest "automated" production...
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