2021/38 | LEM Working Paper Series | ||||||||||||||||
Towards the factory 4.0? Convergence and divergence of lean models in Italian automotive plants |
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Angelo Moro and Maria Enrica Virgillito |
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Keywords | |||||||||||||||||
Industry 4.0; Lean production; Automotive; Work organisation; Technological innovation;
Organisational innovation.
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JEL Classifications | |||||||||||||||||
L23, L6, M54, O33
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Abstract | |||||||||||||||||
This paper studies the interplay in terms of techno-organisational change
between the adoption of I4.0 technologies and lean production systems. Leveraging
on the results of two field-work analyses conducted under a collaboration with the
Sabattini Foundation and the metal workers trade union FIOM in the period 2016-
2018, we compare an ensemble of factories producing both high-end/highly
customised and low-end products. Emerging patterns of convergence and divergence
in the techno-organisational configurations of these factories confirm that this wave
of technological innovation is far from leading to total automation or the digital
revolution. On the contrary, it appears to be integrated into the historical trend of
“leanification” of production processes in the automotive sector, despite the
organisational variety shaped by the actual implementation of this production model.
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