Manufacturing team
Production teams represent a form of regular work organization in manufacturing companies. The concept combines Fordist assembly line production and the Taylorist division of labor with elements of group work . It represents a sub-area of the lean production developed by Japanese automobile manufacturers and contains the elements of the Toyota production system . The concept became known through the MIT study published by Womach / Jones / Roos .
features
The concept of the production team is mainly used in manufacturing companies. The assembly line or cycle-based production line with short work cycles remains a central feature of work organization . The technical dependency is increased by eliminating all buffers that become superfluous through just-in-time production . In order to meet the high quality standards of automotive technology, the work steps are highly standardized. The assembly line workers are required to strictly adhere to these specified work standards.
Building a production team
In contrast to conventional assembly line production, the employees are divided into work teams of around 10 employees each on an assembly line section. The cycle times for an assembly line section are usually less than 20 minutes. Each team member must be able to perform at least three workstations within the assembly line section. This way, possible staff shortfalls can be compensated quickly and flexibly. Compared to conventional assembly line work, this polyvalent, overlapping qualification represents a job declaration , with increased use of similar work steps, or a job enrichment , with increased use of more demanding work steps, for the group members. In addition to the mere exercise of assembly activities, each team member is jointly responsible for the production quality and has to carry out visual inspections. This means that manufacturing errors can be identified and rectified immediately shortly after they arise. The mutual control of the team members, but also the high transparency of the work steps and the short cycle times lead to enormous pressure to perform on the assembly line. Compared to other areas of application of group work, in which the humanization of human work is prioritized, the focus of group work in the sense of the production team is on the business management goals (increased output, quality assurance, process reliability). The following sketch shows an exemplary structure of an assembly line section of an automobile manufacturer in the organizational form of the production team.
Advantages and disadvantages
| advantages | disadvantage |
|---|---|
| Polyvalent qualification of employees | Repetitive, short-cycle, monotonous work |
| Change of job or job rotation | Sequential dependency within and between groups |
| Partial self-regulation of the teams | Additional work after the shifts due to delayed JIT deliveries or quality controls |
| Uncovering faults and weaknesses | Pressure to perform |
| Zero defect principle | |
| Lean production |
advantages
On the one hand, there is the polyvalent qualification of the employees on the pro side. They feel challenged by this and can also be used flexibly in several positions (job rotation). The production team also has the option of regulating the tasks internally to a defined extent. In this way, the team is assigned a higher degree of responsibility and autonomy at the same time, which in turn can have a positive effect on the self-image of the employees. Another advantage of production teams is the quick detection of faults and weaknesses in the production process. Since production teams follow the principles of lean production and the zero-error principle, the use of this form of organization can increase competitiveness.
disadvantage
On the contra side, there is repetitive, short-cycle and often monotonous work. There are also strong sequential technical dependencies, both within and between the individual production teams. Downtimes or errors in the early stages of the production process cannot be compensated for in terms of time due to the assembly line and affect the subsequent work steps. Production teams also work according to the JIT principle . If material deliveries arrive late and thus delay production, additional work by the employees may be required. Another employee-related disadvantage is the pressure to perform on the manufacturing teams. Since the production steps have a high degree of standardization, activities are extremely transparent, which means that errors and underperformance can be quickly identified. This disadvantage for the employees is to be assessed as an advantage from the entrepreneur's point of view.
Function of the master
The role of the master / supervisor in the sense of this form of organization differs from the purely Tayloristic role. In contrast, the master has a larger area of competence and responsibility. He is responsible for two production teams, divides them up and appoints their team leader. He is also responsible for the training of the team members and their wage classification. The master bears the main responsibility for the work and process design as well as compliance with quality standards. Together with his subordinate employees, he strives for continuous improvement of processes and quality. A small social distance can be observed between the master craftsman and his employees, although he has greater competencies and decision-making freedom compared to Taylorist work structures.
Differentiation from partially autonomous working groups
Similarities
Both production teams and semi-autonomous work groups (TAG) represent a form of regular work organization in the company. In both organizational forms, the employees have polyvalent qualifications. According to the job rotation principle, they can occupy different workplaces or carry out several activities. The only difference between the two forms of organization is the cycle, which is much larger for the TAG than for the production teams. Both concepts are also characterized by the partial integration of additional activities, such as quality controls. Even if self-regulation is an essential feature of TAG, production teams also have room for maneuver that exceeds the scope of conventional assembly line work (e.g. with regard to quality indicators, process optimization, etc.).
differences
Production teams are characterized by a strictly hierarchical and performance-maximizing concept. TAG, on the other hand, take social aspects into account in addition to economic goals. The table below shows the main differences between the two concepts:
| Manufacturing teams | Semi-autonomous working groups |
|---|---|
| Assembly line | Box production / production islands |
| sequential (technical dependency) | Manufacturing flexibility (partial technical autonomy) |
| JIT / time buffer | Material / product buffer |
| Division of labor | Work expansion |
| Multi-Skilling | Reprofessionalization |
| Labor standardization | individual and collective degrees of freedom |
| little horizontal and vertical segmentation | strong horizontal and vertical segmentation |
| Master control | Master as coordinator |
| team leaders appointed by the top | Group speaker elected by the group |
| control | participation |
| Pursuit of corporate goals | Balance of interests |
| unlimited pressure to perform | agreed performance limits |
| Kaizen | Company suggestion scheme (BVW) |
See also
literature
- Conny H. Antoni: Group work - more than a concept. Presentation and comparison of different forms of group work. In: Conny H. Antoni (Ed.): Group work in companies. Concepts, experiences, perspectives. Beltz, Weinheim 1994, ISBN 3-621-27243-7 , pp. 19-48.
- Hans-Jörg Bullinger , Dieter Spath , Hans J. Warnecke , Engelbert Westkämper : Company Organization Manual. Strategies, planning, implementation. 3rd, revised edition. Springer, Berlin et al. 2009, ISBN 978-3-540-72136-9 .
- James P. Womack , Daniel T. Jones, Daniel Roos: The Machine that Changed the World. The Story of Lean Production. 1st Harper Perennial edition. Harper Collins, New York NY 1991, ISBN 0-06-097417-6 (In German: The second revolution in the auto industry. Consequences of the worldwide study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Edited by Eberhard C. Stotko. 4th edition . Campus, Frankfurt am Main et al. 1992, ISBN 3-593-34548-X ).
Individual evidence
- ^ Antoni: Group work - more than a concept. In: Antoni (ed.): Group work in companies. 1994, pp. 19-48, here p. 41.