Modern means of labor and types of means of labor. A tool is a thing that allows you to create a finished product

Because social reproduction carried out in the form of joint activities of people, we can distinguish two sides of it:

· people's attitude towards nature;

· relationships between people in the production process.

The first side of social production, which means people’s relationship to nature, is externally expressed in the labor process.

Work is a process taking place between man and nature. In the modern understanding, labor is a purposeful human activity aimed at transforming objects and forces of nature in order to satisfy his needs. Labor is the basis of the production process.

Main elements of the labor process are:

· labor as a purposeful activity;

· objects of labor;

· means of labor.

See also:

It is necessary to distinguish labor as a factor of production from labor power. Work- this is first of all process, while labor force- This the totality of physical qualities and mental abilities of a person, his ability to work. Thus, labor is the process of consuming labor power.

In the process of labor, a person influences a certain part of nature, which is called the “subject of labor.” Subject of labor- this is what human labor is aimed at (directly natural material or raw material that has already undergone some processing).

Human influence on the object of labor is carried out with the help of “means of labor”. Means of labor They call a thing or a complex of things that a person places between himself and the object of labor and which act as a conductor of his influence on this object. The means of labor are divided into two groups: natural, or natural (land, forest, water, etc.) and manufactured, or technical, created by people (machinery, equipment, buildings, structures).

Objects of labor and means of labor are collectively called "means of production", and they form a real (objective) factor of production. Labor power is considered as a personal (subjective) factor of production. Means of production and human labor make up productive forces.

Productive forces are one of the key categories of Marxist political economy. An approximate analogue of this category in economics is “factors (resources) of production.” It should be noted that in Marxist political economy, priority was recognized for “labor power”; in economics, the equality of all factors of production (labor, capital, land) was affirmed.

In the production process, people not only influence nature, but also enter into certain relationships with each other. Relationships between people in the process of production, distribution, exchange and consumption are called industrial relations.

Production relations represent a complex system, since production is not a single act, but a constantly repeating process of direct production of certain goods, their distribution, exchange and consumption. Outside the unity of these spheres, social production does not exist. In the sphere of production, a product is created that is the subject of distribution, exchange and consumption.

Thus, the second side of social production, covering relations between people, is expressed by the category “production relations”.

Production relations are in dialectical unity, interaction with productive forces. The most mobile aspect of social production is productive forces. At certain stages of development, productive forces come into conflict with production relations, which turn into their brake.

The totality of productive forces and production relations is mode of production. The mode of production and the superstructure (political, legal, philosophical and other views of society and the institutions corresponding to them) form a socio-economic formation, a system of society.

In the “man-technology-environment” system, the workplace is one of the central areas of research and design in the organization of human labor activity.

The workplace is an integral, smallest unit of production, where the three main elements of labor interact - the object, the means and the subject of labor. The workplace is also defined as a system of functionally and spatially organized means of labor that provides the worker with conditions for successful and safe work.

Ergonomic analysis, assessment and design of a workplace involve first studying its organization and equipment. Organization of the workplace - this is the result of a system of measures for the functioning and spatial placement of basic and auxiliary means of labor to ensure optimal conditions for the labor process. The equipment of the workplace includes all the elements necessary for the worker to solve the production tasks assigned to him. These include basic and auxiliary labor tools and technical documentation.

Basic means of labor- this is the main equipment with which a person performs labor operations (machines, stands, industrial robots, etc.).

Labor aids They are divided according to purpose into technological and organizational equipment. Technological equipment ensures the effective operation of main production equipment at workplaces (sharpening, repair, adjustment, control equipment, etc.). Organizational equipment ensures the effective organization of human labor by creating convenience and safety in the operation and maintenance of main production equipment. The organizational equipment includes: work furniture (workbenches, tool cabinets, seats, etc.); devices and devices for transporting and storing objects of labor (elevators, pallets, etc.); signaling, communication, lighting, containers, items for cleaning the workplace, etc.

The list of elements of technological and organizational equipment must be indicated for each workplace in the technical documentation for the main production equipment.

Spatial organization of the workplace- this is the placement in a certain order of elements of the main and auxiliary production equipment relative to the working person within given spatial boundaries.

For the convenience of ergonomic analysis and design, workplaces are classified depending on the nature of the labor operations performed on them and according to a number of other characteristics.

According to the characteristics of a person’s work activity, the following groups of jobs are distinguished: in relation to the creation of a product - main, auxiliary and servicing; by categories of workers in the production organization system - workplaces of workers, employees, specialists and managers; on relationships in the labor process - individual and collective; by the nature of placement and degree of insulation - isolated and non-insulated; according to the degree of fencing - fenced and not fenced; by nature to the external environment, etc.

General patterns of production processes (elements and structure)

The implementation of technology is possible only if there are three components: the subject of labor; tools and means of labor, the labor process.

Subject of labor - a material object to which human labor is applied. Objects of labor include raw materials, semi-finished products, basic and auxiliary materials.

Raw materials constitutes the initial material basis for the production of any product, subject to physical and (or) deeper transformations in the labor process. Typically, raw materials refer to the products of the mining industry and agriculture. Thus, in metallurgy, ores are considered raw materials, in coke production - coal, in agriculture - harvested crops, in the food industry - whole milk products.

Semi-finished product- a product, the processing of which was carried out in one or more areas within the framework of a single production process and which must move to other areas of the same production (enterprise) for final processing. Semi-finished products constitute the enterprise's work in progress and do not have a selling price.

Basic materials- raw materials that have already undergone processing and become a finished product, which is, however, the object of technological processing at other enterprises. Basic materials refer to completed production and have a selling price. Typically these include manufacturing products (metals, lumber, yarn, cement, etc.).

Auxiliary materials promote the production of finished products without defining its essence. They are either added to raw materials and basic materials to give them additional consumer properties (dyes), or contribute to the optimal conduct of the technological process (catalysts, fluxes). In accordance with the definition, auxiliary materials also include fuel and electricity, however, according to the accepted accounting and planning system they are allocated to a special group.

There is no clear boundary between raw materials, semi-finished products, basic and auxiliary materials, as well as between certain specific substances in general. Thus, limestone serves as a feedstock for the production of lime and as an auxiliary material (flux) in a number of metallurgical processes. Lime is a semi-finished product for the production of calcium oxide, the main material in the manufacture of construction products, an auxiliary material for wastewater treatment, and the final product as a mineral fertilizer. Cast iron processed into steel within one enterprise is a semi-finished product, and when shipped to the consumer, it is a finished product.

Tools - these are material objects that directly influence the object of labor during its processing. These include working machines and equipment (metal-cutting machines, melting and heating furnaces, etc.), as well as mechanisms for moving ore objects during the production process (conveyors, conveyors, cranes, etc.).

Means of labor - material objects that do not have a direct impact on the subject of labor during its processing, but contribute to the normal implementation of the technological process. The means of labor include industrial buildings and engineering structures, as well as power plants, transmission and other devices.

Industrial buildings- these are the buildings of the main and auxiliary workshops, laboratories (they house working machines and equipment), as well as all premises directly serving the main production (offices, garages, warehouses, depots, etc.).

Engineering structures- these are a variety of engineering and construction facilities that facilitate the implementation of auxiliary technological processes. These include overpasses, cooling towers, galleries, bunkers, treatment facilities, reservoirs, etc.

Power plants- equipment for the production or conversion of energy. It includes a variety of engines, steam engines, turbines, electric generators, compressors, electrical transformers, etc.

Transfer devices designed to supply electrical, thermal, mechanical energy from engine machines to working machines. This group consists of power lines, air and steam pipelines, gas and water distribution networks, transmissions, etc.

Work (expenditure of the worker’s physical strength, mental and nervous efforts) is the basis of any technological process. Labor costs are measured by its duration, i.e. the time during which it is carried out. Labor costs are closely related to the concept of “labor productivity”.

Labor productivity - the amount of working time required to produce a unit of product, or the amount of product created per unit of time.

The end result of the technological process is the finished product.

Finished products - products or material, the processing of which at a given enterprise is completely completed, they comply with standards, are completed and can be sent to consumers.

Finished products are divided into the main one, which constitutes the purpose of production, and by-products, obtained along the way.. For example, in blast furnace production the main product is pig iron, and the by-products are blast furnace slag and blast furnace gas. They are used in the national economy as one of the components in the production of cement (slag) and secondary energy resources (top gas).

In addition to main and by-products, waste is generated in technological processes.

Waste at this stage of development, science and technology are not used as feedstock either because they do not meet the requirements and their processing is not economically effective, or because potential consumers are psychologically and organizationally not ready to process these wastes or do not know about their presence . In many cases, waste producers also have no information about the existence of their potential consumers.

By subject of work industry is divided into mining and processing.

Mining industry engages in the extraction of raw materials from natural reserves. The subject of labor in it is minerals.

Processing industry transforms the products of the extractive industry (cheese), as well as its own products (basic materials) into goods with a higher degree of processing. The ratio of the mining and manufacturing industries in Russia in 1995 was 24: 76 and tended to increase.

By using finished products industry is divided into two groups: A and B. Group A produces mainly tools and means of labor, group B produces consumer goods (light industry, food industry, etc.).

Until recently, in our country, group A accounted for 75/o of industry. In post-industrial countries, approximately the same share (60-80%) falls on group B, which makes it possible to satisfy society’s demands for consumer goods and services, while simultaneously ensuring the necessary technical level and development of the material base of the industries of group B. An excessive share of group A is characteristic of the development trend production for the sake of the needs of production itself, without properly satisfying the consumer needs of the population (to make steel for the sake of steel, in order to make steel again).

Industry, together with agriculture and industrial infrastructure (transport, communications), trade enterprises, consumer services and utilities, constitute production sector national economy of the country.

To the non-production sphere includes science, art, education, health care, government administration, the army and some other structures.

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4 Technological production schemes: composition and analysis of their structure

The structure of the object of labor includes the subject, means, conditions, goals of labor, etc.

Subject of labor- a system of properties and relationships of things, phenomena, processes, which a person carrying out a given work activity must operate mentally or practically.

Purpose of labor- a result that society requires or expects from a person.

Goals of professional work

“The goal of work is a conscious image of the final result that a person strives for in the process of his purposeful activity. In other words, we can say that the goal of labor is an idea of ​​the desired future.

The desire to achieve a goal directs action, determines the choice of possible ways to achieve it, and encourages the search for new actions. The goal is formed in a person’s mind as answers to the questions “What should I do?”, “What should I achieve?”, “What should I avoid?”, “What actions should I take to get the desired result?”

During work, a person’s consciousness is always filled with acts of assessing the situation, comparing the actual progress of things with the idea of ​​what should happen.”

The goals of work activity are immensely diverse; they can be reduced to six large groups: gnostic (cognitive), transformative (four groups), exploratory.

Working conditions- features of the environment in which human work takes place, their main types (manual, mechanized; machine-manual; automated and automatic; functional means of a person as a tool of labor).

Conditions of professional work

One of the most important and most multifaceted psychological characteristics of work is its conditions. The following types of working conditions are distinguished: 1) ordinary microclimatic: a) indoors - domestic, b) outdoors; 2) unusual, causing psychophysiological tension: a) risk to life, b) complex emergency situations requiring quick necessary actions, c) communication with offenders, mentally ill people and persons with various deviations and defects, d) clearly defined rhythm and pace, e) physical activity, f) long stay in one position (static working position), g) night shifts, h) specific conditions (temperature, humidity, chemical hazards, vibration, noise, height, depth).

Means of labor in professional activities

“Instruments of labor are a necessary component of the labor process. The means of labor are understood as the tools with which a person acts on the object of labor. The means of labor act as a kind of continuation of the natural human organs used in the labor process. Among the tools of labor there are not only things, but also something immaterial - speech, behavior, etc.

Tools are very diverse. Despite this, they are all divided into two groups: real and immaterial.

Material tools. Material tools of labor include: hand and mechanized tools; machines (mechanisms), automatic machines, automated means; instruments, measuring devices.

Hand tools. The very name “hand tools” comes from the main organ of labor - the human hand. Hand tools have always been used in work and remain as long as a person is alive and able to work. At any level of technological progress, equipment will need to be assembled and installed by skilled hands.

They include simple hand and mechanized processing tools and fixtures. Simple hand tools are: a screwdriver, a scalpel (a surgical knife), a graver (a tool for engraving on wood or metal), a bush hammer (one of the tools of stone carvers), a trimmer (a type of paint brush), a file, a chisel, a hammer, etc. .

Machine tools. Technical devices that completely or partially replace humans in terms of methods of converting materials, distributing energy or information are called machines (mechanisms).

Automated labor tools. These are means that, when set in motion, perform a certain job without human intervention, i.e. at certain stages of the labor process they completely replace a person, automatically managing the production process. A person only observes the operation of the equipment and controls its correctness and quality. Automatic means of labor include: automatic machines, semi-automatic machines, automatic lines, robotic complexes, devices for performing long-term continuous hidden processes, including technological ones, occurring at enormous speed.

Instruments and devices. This is a separate group of means of labor. They are designed to enhance human cognitive functions at work. Most of them are devices that produce images: microscopes, binoculars, telescopes, aerial cameras (for topographic surveys of the earth's surface), X-ray machines, flaw detectors, closed-circuit television systems for video monitoring of technological processes occurring in conditions inaccessible to humans (underwater, in space, in aggressive environments, etc.). There are devices that provide information in the form of conventional signals, numbers, letters, light and sound indicators: chronometers, stopwatches, thermometers, pulse counters, various electrical measuring instruments (ammeter, voltmeter, ohmmeter, avometer, wattmeter), calipers, micrometers, etc. A separate subgroup includes technical means of speech transmission (information, orders, commands): telephones, megaphones, emergency light scales, alarm bells, video phones, television systems, musical instruments. Recently, information processing devices have become widespread: computers, automatic reference installations, conversion tables, printing, reading, recording and transmitting devices.

Insubstantial (functional) tools. Intangible means are usually called functional. The fact is that these means of labor are associated with the manifestation of human functions, such as speech, gestures, and facial expressions. Their peculiarity is that you cannot touch these means of labor with your hands or see them with your eyes, which usually causes great difficulties when analyzing the profession. And their awareness is associated with the assimilation of many new psychological concepts: sensory, kinesthetic, somatic, verbal, etc.

Functional tools of labor are mentally retained ideas about patterns of labor results or a system of “sensory standards”. They can be external to consciousness and internal, entering consciousness and retained in memory.

These tools are quite diverse, which is due to the richness of the colors of the inner world of a person, manifested in behavior, facial expressions, gestures, speech, etc. They constitute a large group, which includes: 1) internal, functional sensory organs, physiological organs of a person; 2) simple speech; 3) emotional, expressive speech; 4) business speech, written; 5) behavior in simple forms of manifestation - at the level of the entire organism as a whole; 7) behavior is predominantly businesslike, impartial; 8) complex intellectual tools used to solve practical and theoretical problems.

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