Paper Summary:

This paper examines whether or not the Uddevalla model did or could have reached the goal of improving worker satisfaction while still remaining competitive. It offers an analysis of the methodology of this organizational style. Also a contrast to serial production methods reveal that the holistic approach advanced at Uddevalla could represent a portent of organizational change to come.

From the Paper:

"From the late 1980s until the early 1990s Volvo experimented with a remarkably innovative organizational strategy at its Uddevalla manufacturing plant in Sweden. Since Henry Ford's day, automobiles have been constructed on the back of the assembly line method. This organizational style revolutionized the auto industry and has had significant effects in other production and manufacturing industries as well. Under this paradigm, automobiles are assembled on a conveyor belt like system in which each car moves towards production passing individual workers who each add a component part methodically. Under this organizational method, automobiles can be assembled rapidly and efficiently. However, treating human workers as little more than mechanical inputs does take a toll on worker productivity, individual efficiency, and turnover. Since Henry Ford pioneered this style of automobile manufacturing, few significant changes have been made to this method. That is what makes the Volvo Uddevalla plant so significant and so ..."

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