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18 Lab. Stud. J. 3 (1993-1994)
Lean or Mean: The MIT Model and Lean Production at Mazda

handle is hein.journals/labstuj18 and id is 79 raw text is: Lean or Mean: The MIT Model and Lean Production at Mazda Steve Babson MIT's International Motor Vehicle Project has promoted the Japa- nese Model of lean production as a cure-all for American automakers. According to their best-selling book, The Machine That Changed the World, a key attribute of lean production that makes it more efficient than mass production is that it emancipates workers and gives full play to their creativity. Survey results drawn from 2,400 workers at the Mazda assem- bly plant in Flat Rock, Michigan, provide an opportunity to test these claims. The results suggest that the emancipative potential of lean pro- duction has been misstated in at least two respects. First, in the eyes of American workers, when the production system is lean, many see it as mean. Second, union intervention can redefine the meaning of lean production by challenging the system's potential for unilateral manage- ment control. Specifying the future of lean production requires a detailed indication of how power is distributed and conflict regulated, particularly as these relate to union and nonunion environments. Is Japan's system of lean production the cure-all for American automakers? James Womack, Daniel Jones, and Daniel Roos, senior manag- ers at MIT's International Motor Vehicle Project, say yes. According to their best-selling book, The Machine That Changed the World, a key attribute of lean production that makes it more efficient than mass production is that it emancipates workers and gives full play to their creativity. Womack et al. say Japanese auto plants are lean because manage- ment has slashed inventories, pared support staff, and replaced cumbersome factory hierarchies with self-directed work teams. By rotating jobs and shar- Steve Babson is affiliated with the Labor Studies Center, Wayne State University, De- troit, MI 48202.

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