use of those materials, and finding ways to build products using less labor. If we’re really clever, maybe we can also find ways to marry reduced cost with more ecologically sustainable processes. And, as Bruce Nussbaum writes, it’s an outstanding opportunity to innovate in economical ways and develop some career-building “cred.” Perhaps not too surprisingly, such innovation occasionally becomes massively popular, but the history of such innovations isn’t always pretty. Sometimes, the results aren’t anything to write home about, either.
Most of you have probably heard something of the story of how, back in 1933, the new Chancellor of Germany, Adolf Hitler, submitted drawings to Ferdinand Porsche for an inexpensive car that could be a “people’s car” or volkswagen. Designer Erwin Komenda developed a strange new body design to go with the small car’s efficient