Word: coal
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Awaiting them are roof gardens of white pebbles; hard coal and geraniums surround a penthouse cafeteria atop the pile. "They are a little like the hanging gardens of Babylon," says Rudolph. "Basically it is a village on top of a huge box." Function is served by the multilevel construction, since pharmaceuticals are manufactured by gravity-flow pipes and chutes that blend drugs, liquids or tablets. "It may seem too pretentious," says Rudolph, "but the building does not attempt to bury the flaws...
...more precious than goods, German manufacturers wink at pilferage that costs them an estimated $1 billion a year. Dutch housebuilders commonly pay their men "black salaries"-10% to 20% above the legal limit-or lose them; last year 18 small Dutch textile mills closed for lack of workers. Belgian coal companies, which fly in weekly planeloads of Turkish miners, cry that Dutch and German labor poachers steal their recruits almost as fast as they arrive...
Most of the free world's steelmaking centers, from Britain's Midlands to the U.S.'s western Pennsylvania, cluster around their major sources of coal or iron ore. Over the last century, France and Germany fought three bloody wars partly motivated by the belief that joining the Ruhr coalfields to the ore of the Saar basin would give the victor economic hegemony over Europe. Today, the march of technology is revolutionizing the economics and geography of the world's most basic industry. From Tokyo to Naples, steelmen are moving to the sea, erecting new plants hundreds...
Savings from Size. One of the biggest reasons for the rush to the beach is the recent development of gargantuan bulk-carrier ships (up to 60,000 tons) that can haul coal and ore cheaply over vast distances. Another is the efficiency of the U.S. coal industry, whose mechanized output now undersells that of German and British mines in Europe, despite much higher U.S. wage rates, and is easily transported to seaports. Then, too, huge new deposits of high-grade ore that could be transported cheaply have been discovered in under developed countries. Result: waterside plants that are free...
Sharpening Competition. While Britain handicaps its steel industry by excluding U.S. coal and Germany admits only a small quota, Italy has become one of Europe's lowest-price steelmakers (despite its lack of native iron or coal) by relying on coastal plants, American coal and ore from India, Liberia, Canada, Venezuela and Brazil. Aided by this reliance, Italian steel output has shot up 41% in seven years. A similar formula (Australian ore, coal from the U.S.) has made Japan's wholly seaside steel industry the world's No. 3 producer and a formidably competitive exporter from Detroit...