Technology Convergence and System Divergence: Toyota and Uddevalla, Volvo

by Hikari Nohara (Editor), Lars Medbo (Editor)

Overview

This book compares the production systems of Toyota, which has a belt conveyer, and Volvo’s factory in Uddevalla, Sweden, which doesn’t. Uddevalla has been famous as a human-centric work environment since the 1980s, but Toyota’s production style- lean production seems increasingly advantageous. Unlike what lean production is usually considered to imply, the authors finds many shared aspects of both systems, such as the meaningful assembly sequence, assembly-oriented parts grouping, kits for material supplies, buffer mechanisms, and the application of cognitive science. However, in their totality, the different production systems have different impacts on people and society. The differences come from different ways of judging human potential. In this regard, Uddevalla and Toyota can be productively contrasted, identifying the comparative advantages of automation and human labor.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789819619092
Publisher:	Springer Nature Singapore
Publication date:	04/22/2025
Pages:	439
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x (d)

About the Author

Hikari Nohara is the professor emeritus at Hiroshima University and at Nagano University, and the former president of Nagano University. His main publications are Automobile Industry and its Workers (Horitubunkasya,1988)(co-edited with Eishi Fujita) and The Division of Labour and the Standardization in Modern World(Takasugasyuppan, 2006)(both in Japanese).

Lars Medbo is Associate Professor in technology management at Chalmers University of Technology. His main publications are Materials Supply and Product Descriptions for Assembly System – Design and Operation (Gothenburg, 1999) and Assembly Work Execution and Materials Kit Functionality in Parallel Flow Assembly Systems (International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, 2003).

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction.- Part I: Uddevalla Production System and its socio-technical conditions.- Chapter 2: Alternatives to Assembly Line and Assembly Line Work: An exposé of the Swedish lines of development with focus on the author’s experience and insights.- Chapter 3: Application of Certainprinciples for Education and Shop-Floor Learning Practices for Assembly Work at the Volvo Uddevalla Plantt—A Brief Overview.- Chapter 4: Characteristics of the New Production Concept in Sweden Based on the Uddevalla Plant: Cognition and Action.- Chapter 5: Operators’ work situation in Volvo Uddevalla.- Part II: Toyota Production System and its socio-technical conditions.- Chapter 6: Labor Management/Labor Relations and Toyota Production Systems.- Chapter 7: Toyota Production System and Modern Society.- Chapter 8: Cell Production System and Its Conditions.- Part III: Analytical Comparison of renewals of production systems between Sweden and Japan.- Chapter 9: An analytical comparison of learning strategy.- Chapter 10: Comparative Analysis of the Division of Labour in the Assembly Workshop.- Chapter 11: The analytical comparison of work-focused improvement.- Chapter 12: The summary and points of discussion for the future.