PublikationArtikel (med peer review)

Facit and the displacement of mechanical calculators

Sammanfattning

This article explains why Facit, a Swedish manufacturer of mechanical calculators, typewriters, and office furniture, collapsed in the shift from mechanical to electronic calculators in the early 1970s. Facit struggled to develop its own electronic calculators because its competencies were related to mechanics rather than electronics. Because the firm was located in a small company town in Sweden, it was difficult for Facit to access skilled labor related to electronics. Also, a lot of firms entered the industry with the shift to electronics and the increased competitive rivalry further augmented Facit’s problems. The rapid development of integrated circuits in 1967-1972 implied that all these structural changes happened in a short period of time, putting firms such as Facit in a problematic situation.

Sandström, C. (2013). Facit and the displacement of mechanical calculators. IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, 35(3), 20-31.

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Detaljer

Författare: Sandström, C.
Publiceringsår: 2013
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The Hydrogen Illusion (2022) is a self-published book by Samuel Furfari, a retired chemical engineer who worked for 36 years in energy policy at the European Commission. Hydrogen has been brought to the forefront of environmental policy in recent years as the EU and other Western economies are allocating billions of euros and dollars towards hydrogen production. Furfari argues that this is a mistake, and that hydrogen has little potential as an energy form, primarily as it requires so much energy in order to be produced. While at times technical and difficult to follow, The Hydrogen Illusion is a valuable contribution to the ongoing debate about how Western economies can combine economic and environmental development.

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