Lean Production—The End of History?

One of the most influential books that has been published in recent years is the MIT study The Machine that Changed the World by Womack, Jones and Roos (1990). The book combines detailed empirical comparisons with bold and sweeping assertions. The Japanese management system or `lean production', Womack et al. argue, is not only the world's most efficient system for manufacturing cars. It is the one best way of organizing all kinds of industrial production, featuring both dramatic increases in productivity and qualitative improvements in working conditions. According to the MIT team it is predestined to become the standard global production system of the twenty-first century, and they contend: `Lean production is a superior way for humans to make things. It provides better products in wider variety at lower cost. Equally important, it provides more challenging and fulfilling work for employees at every level, from the factory to the headquarters. It follows that the whole world should adopt lean production, and as quickly as possible' (Womack et al., 1990: 225). The purpose of this article is to challenge this view of lean production as an omnipotent system and unequivocal blessing. Starting with a discussion of the industrial limits of lean production, I then turn to the success story of the 1980s - the dramatic expansion of Japanese auto transplants in North America. The social preconditions for this process, largely overlooked in the MIT study, are emphasized, before proceeding to an analysis of the highly ambiguous working conditions at these new plants. The transplants have attracted many American workers, but the relentless production regime has caused growing disillusionment among employees and increasing resistance from union locals, which was demonstrated by the five week strike at CAMI in September-October 1992. Finally, I discuss current developments inside Japan, where automakers face a severe recruitment crisis. In Japan, both unions and environmentalists criticize the JIT-system heralded in the MIT study, and car manufacturers have started to design plants according to new principles. For many reasons lean production will not be the end of history!