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The Innovator’s Dilemma in 1878 in a story of refrigerated train cars, meat packers & railroad companies….
A thread:
A thread:
In 1878 Swift (meat co) hired engineer Andrew Chase to design a ventilated car that was well insulated, and positioned the ice in a compartment at the top of the car, allowing the chilled air to flow naturally downward.
Chase's design proved to be a practical solution, providing temperature-controlled carriage of dressed meats.
This allowed Swift to ship meat across the US.
This allowed Swift to ship meat across the US.
Swift's attempts to sell Chase's design to major railroads were rebuffed, as the companies feared that they would jeopardize their considerable investments in stock cars, animal pens, and feedlots if refrigerated meat transport gained wide acceptance.
In response, Swift financed the initial production run on his own, then — when the American roads refused his business — he contracted with the GTR (a railroad that derived little income from transporting live cattle) to haul the cars.
In 1880 the Peninsular Car Company delivered the first of these units to Swift, and the Swift Refrigerator Line (SRL) was created. Within a year, the Line's roster had risen to nearly 200 units, and Swift was transporting an average of 3,000 carcasses a week to Boston.
Competing firms quickly followed suit.
The General American Transportation Corporation would assume ownership of the line in 1930.
The General American Transportation Corporation would assume ownership of the line in 1930.
The moral of the story for big companies? You either innovate early or you pay for it later.
A glimpse at how rapidly the new refrigerated car took off:
Wikipedia is a treasure, here's the link to more info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refrigerator_car
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While you're at it, you can sign up for Prime Future, a weekly newsletter on innovation & trends across livestock & Meat: https://primefuture.substack.com/p/subscribe-to-prime-future
