Some Trends in Productivity and Quality of Life

In management of technology in the late 20th century period, many trends are identifiable. With the importance of technology in today's world, these industrial/technological/sociological trends present great challenges and opportunities to management. For example, a proper balance between productivity and quality of life is an elusive goal. The writer had a unique opportunity to study some of these trends and developments in the automotive production line setting in northern European countries: Sweden, Germany, England, and Norway. The following report is a summary of these studies. Clearly, traditional production line problems involving boredom and labor unrest can be amelorated by job enrichment and teamwork organization which modifies cycle times* from about one minute to as much as 30 to 50 minutes. These trends and their impact on engineering management are worthy of careful study.