By Hemdeep Patel
It could be said the evolution of technology is a form of business Darwinism—that as technological innovations are introduced, long-established industry norms disappear. All through the evolution of human society, growth and advances in technology have served as a way of improving, replacing, or creating new purposes, as well as fostering ideas and development. Throughout the ages, machinery and manufacturing tools have replaced the human hand—the ideology of the old became redundant and inefficient.
In some cases, individuals or companies caught in the middle of the tool or skill being replaced were often best-suited for the change and found success in ushering the new age. These were the businesses that found blending the advantages of the tools of old and the technology of new allowed them to be versatile, grow very quickly, and work efficiently.
The growth and application of CAD/CAM technology in the jewellery industry is quite unique and worth examining, given the way it has fundamentally transformed how business is done today. The technology has impacted everything from jewellery manufacturing to the purchase process at the retail level. But more importantly, the jewellery industry may be seen by those on the outside as one that has successfully combined hundreds of years of manufacturing processes with cutting-edge technologies. Indeed, CAD/CAM technology has morphed from a primarily business-to-business (B2B) model to business-to-consumer (B2C).
