The Search for Flexibility: Skills and Workplace Innovation in the German Pump Industry

The German skill-creation system has been a vital part of the success of its diversified quality production model. Some argue that this success is now threatened by the spread of lean production and that the existing skill-creation system may hinder, rather than help, German manufacturers to restructure. The authors explore this argument in a detailed study of a nationally representative sample of German pumpmakers. They find that the existence of a highly skilled work-force may deter the adoption of multifunctional work teams, but that countervailing strengths of the German skill-creation system have the potential to help firms develop a new, distinctive German production model

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