Industrial Problem Solving - The Crisco

The industrial revolution marked a significant shift in production and consumption patterns, with mechanized production leading to mass-produced consumer goods at lower prices, transforming everyday purchasing habits. This era saw a dramatic urban migration as rural populations moved to cities for factory jobs, tripling the urban workforce in the United States during the 1800s. Industrialization also created new types of administrative roles, fostering the emergence of widespread office work. Concurrently, as a plethora of new consumer goods entered the market, the marketing and advertising industry adapted to meet the challenges of promoting items that lacked a previous market demand. A notable example of innovative industrial problem-solving is illustrated by Crisco, which emerged from repurposing cotton seed oil—previously a waste product of cotton textile production—into a stable vegetable oil. By hydrogenating the oil, the industry transformed it into a solid fat, the first of its kind in the U.S., thus creating a new culinary product that replaced traditional animal fats in cooking.