This paper reports managerial views of the responsibilities of teams, team members and functional specialists under lean production, based on the findings of an international study of management practices in the automotive components industry. The findings show limited evidence of shopfloor worker autonomy under lean team-working or of increases in technical skill; blue-collar specialists remain responsible for maintenance activities. However, the Taylorist separation of planning and execution appears to be partially reversed as operators are expected to make significant contributions to problem solving, innovation and improvement activities. Personnel issues remain largely the prerogative of senior management and white-collar specialists. The role of middle managers appears to be `hollowed out' as shopfloor employees, particularly team leaders, take more responsibility for some activities. The findings emphasize the importance of distinguishing between the roles of members and leaders within teams, and between the responsibilities of production teams and those of other occupational groups.

This paper examines the manufacturing performance and management practices of 71 automotive components suppliers located in Europe, Japan and North America. The research reports on the extent to which these plants have adopted 'lean production' practices and tests the proposition that such techniques are linked with high manufacturing performance. The results support the contention that tight process control and closely integrated operations are more productive. However, the data do not support the notion that the

In recent years the application of lean production principles has been forcefully expounded as the route to high-performance manufacturing. This paper examines the relationship between lean production and performance empirically, using data from a benchmarking study of 71 plants in the international automotive components industry. The top performing plants (and their suppliers and customers) showed consistently better process control than did the lower performing plants. UK plants did not perform very well in terms of either quality or productivity, and links between economic context and manufacturing performance are discussed in relation to the UK.

This research assesses current changes in the nature of the supervisory role in the automobile industry. It locates these changes in the context of a transition from mass production to lean or just-in-time production. The emergence of a supervisory role, with supervisors performing critical functions as effective managers of integrated work areas is explored by focusing on two lean producers, Nissan UK and Mazda's Flat Rock plant in the US.Noting the increased responsibility of the supervisor under lean production, the extent of the supervisors' enhanced status and authority are considered. However, a case study of an established vehicle producer in the UK, involving interviews with a sample of forty supervisors draws out the structural and organizational difficulties faced by existing manufacturers in their attempts to reformulate the role of the supervisor.