Despite the sometimes underdetermined discourse surrounding it, there is nothing particularly new about the identification of a product with its place of production. Given a world of global production and far flung supply chains, there is more than a little ambiguity in what these supposedly simple identifications might mean. And it might not be surprising that the history that gives birth to them is just as uncertain.
Maintenance is the work of repairing and refurbishing faults in technological systems. To reaffirm shopping as a maintenance practice, then, it is necessary to recognize that it must also be the work of organizing the materials that are necessary to sustain them. It is the work, one might say, of supply.
Distribution plays an important part along with manufacturing and purchasing—the three Western Electric responsibilities—in supplying the needs of the Bell System.
