He visually punches us with images of the Tramp as a robot. During one scene, the lunch whistle is blown. However, the Tramp cannot stop the repeated motions required by the machine. He begins to adjust everything in sight, including the nose of one of his co-workers. Factory work has transformed his very exisitence.
Industrial society undermines human identity in favor of mass production.
This idea is again illustraed in the scene where the boss introduces the feeding machine. The Tramp is chosen to be the test subject for the machine. He is submitted to an uncertain technology. When the machine begins to malfunction, the technicians care about the mechanical parts, but not the human test subject. The audiences laughter masks the fear that this is the trajectory of the modern workplace.