Computers and optical scanners more or less run the factory, where 490-pound bales of west Texas cotton are spun into yarn, dyed with indigo and woven into denim, knocking 75 cents off what usually costs $3 a linear yard to produce in the U.S.
Factory output was the biggest faller, tumbling 0.7% after a 4.5% slump in computer, electronic and optical products alongside a fall in chemical output.
Among the country's principal exports are food and beverages; transport equipment; computer, electrical, and optical equipment; and chemicals and chemical products.
Each month, along with some 65,000 stock traders, technophiles, computer scientists and optical engineers, I await the arrival of an eight-page newsletter in which George Gilder -- a former speechwriter for Ronald Reagan, a former Male Chauvinist of the Year (as proclaimed by NOW) and currently a widely applauded (and occasionally derided) "technological guru" -- celebrates the dawn of a new age.
Shot in the sleaziest parts of Tokyo, mostly at night, it's a psychedelic movie that goes far beyond the usual acid-trip cinema shorthand, using digital effects, swooping cameras, computer graphics and optical tricks to untether the viewer from reality.
The monthly decline, which was the biggest since May, was hit by a 4.5% fall in computer, electronic and optical products.
The biggest fall came from the computer, electronic and optical sector where output dived 9.5%, the biggest monthly fall since 2002, the ONS said.
In his Review of Engineering Skills, Prof Perkins says the UK already relies on "inward migration" to fill skilled jobs in key sectors such as oil and gas extraction, aerospace, and computer, electronic and optical engineering.
It connects to your computer and uses optical recognition to read information such as vendor name, date and amount from any type of receipt.
