Alternatives to Line Assembly: Some Swedish examples
Journal article, 1996
In recent years, some criticism of Lean production has occurred, focusing among other things on the working conditions and the susceptibility of traditional assembly work in a society upgrading the demands for a more humanized work. Recently, this criticism has also concerned the technical aspects of this type of manufacturing. Because of this, alternatives to line assembly merit some attention. Experiences from some innovative production systems operated in the Swedish automotive industry during the last two decades are of particular interest.
These unconventional production systems feature autonomous work groups and extended work cycles. These types of production systems are elucidated in detail by means of e.g nuance the concept of utilising buffers, i.e. there are different types of buffers (or buffer functions) as is classified (or clarified) in this publications.
These unconventional production systems feature autonomous work groups and extended work cycles. These types of production systems are elucidated in detail by means of e.g nuance the concept of utilising buffers, i.e. there are different types of buffers (or buffer functions) as is classified (or clarified) in this publications.
ergonomics
autonomous workgroups
alternatives to line assembly
sociotechnology
small workgroups
Volvo Uddevalla plant
learning and training
restructuring of information systems
parallel product flows
manufacturing technology
long work cycle times
materials feeding techniques
assembly work
Author
Tomas Engström
Department of Transportation and Logistics
Dan Jonsson
University of Gothenburg
Bertil Johansson
International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics
0169-8141 (ISSN) 18728219 (eISSN)
Vol. 17 3 235-245Subject Categories
Other Engineering and Technologies
Other Engineering and Technologies not elsewhere specified
DOI
10.1016/0169-8141(94)00109-X