Between Fordism and Flexibility

Between Fordism and Flexibility PDF Author: Steven Tolliday
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 348

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Book Description
A survey of the development of the automobile industry from its origins to the present in a perspective informed by current upheavals in markets, technology and work organization. The volume examines the international diffusion of the Fordist model, Fordism being the manufacture of standardized products using special-purpose machinery and unskilled labour. The book goes on to consider how far the recent changes in the industry mark a break with Fordism and draws on the implications for industrial relations and trade union strategy

Between Fordism and Flexibility

Between Fordism and Flexibility PDF Author: Steven Tolliday
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 348

Get Book Here

Book Description
A survey of the development of the automobile industry from its origins to the present in a perspective informed by current upheavals in markets, technology and work organization. The volume examines the international diffusion of the Fordist model, Fordism being the manufacture of standardized products using special-purpose machinery and unskilled labour. The book goes on to consider how far the recent changes in the industry mark a break with Fordism and draws on the implications for industrial relations and trade union strategy

Wrecked

Wrecked PDF Author: Joshua Murray
Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN: 0871548208
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
At its peak in the 1950s and 1960s, automobile manufacturing was the largest, most profitable industry in the United States and residents of industry hubs like Detroit and Flint, Michigan had some of the highest incomes in the country. Over the last half-century, the industry has declined, and American automakers now struggle to stay profitable. How did the most prosperous industry in the richest country in the world crash and burn? In Wrecked, sociologists Joshua Murray and Michael Schwartz offer an unprecedented historical-sociological analysis of the downfall of the auto industry. Through an in-depth examination of labor relations and the production processes of automakers in the U.S. and Japan both before and after World War II, they demonstrate that the decline of the American manufacturers was the unintended consequence of their attempts to weaken the bargaining power of their unions. Today Japanese and many European automakers produce higher quality cars at lower cost than their American counterparts thanks to a flexible form of production characterized by long-term sole suppliers, assembly and supply plants located near each other, and just-in-time delivery of raw materials. While this style of production was, in fact, pioneered in the U.S. prior to World War II, in the years after the war, American automakers deliberately dismantled this system. As Murray and Schwartz show, flexible production accelerated innovation but also facilitated workers’ efforts to unionize plants and carry out work stoppages. To reduce the efficacy of strikes and combat the labor militancy that flourished between the Depression and the postwar period, the industry dispersed production across the nation, began maintaining large stockpiles of inventory, and eliminated single sourcing. While this restructuring of production did ultimately reduce workers’ leverage, it also decreased production efficiency and innovation. The U.S. auto industry has struggled ever since to compete with foreign automakers, and formerly thriving motor cities have suffered the consequences of mass deindustrialization. Murray and Schwartz argue that new business models that reinstate flexible production and prioritize innovation rather than cheap labor could stem the outsourcing of jobs and help revive the auto industry. By clarifying the historical relationships between production processes, organized labor, and industrial innovation, Wrecked provides new insights into the inner workings and decline of the U.S. auto industry.

The automobile industry and its workers

The automobile industry and its workers PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description


The Automobile Industry and Its Impact Upon the Nation's Economy

The Automobile Industry and Its Impact Upon the Nation's Economy PDF Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Banking, Currency, and Housing. Automobile Industry Task Force
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Automobile industry and trade
Languages : en
Pages : 516

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Book Description


Labor and Automobiles

Labor and Automobiles PDF Author: Robert W. Dunn
Publisher: Edizioni Savine
ISBN: 8896365775
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 332

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Book Description
“...The purpose of this book is to present the true conditions of workers in automobile plants, and to contrast the wages of the workers in this industry with the millions of dollars in profits made by the corporations. This analysis is of particular importance, since the technical organization of the automobile industry has been held up, the world over, as the model achievement of American capitalism, and since its mass production and "labor management" methods are being copied by European corporations. The problem of how to unionize the automobile workers is one of the most immediate and pressing ones now before the American labor movement. About 450,000 workers in car, body, parts and accessory plants are outside the ranks of organized labor. Why has no sustained effort been made to arouse these speeded-up workers to fight for organization and better conditions? It is vitally important for us not only to suggest an answer to this question, but to point out how unionization of these hundreds of thousands of unskilled workers may be achieved....” ROBERT W. DUNN - February, 1929.

The Automobile Industry and Its Workers

The Automobile Industry and Its Workers PDF Author: Steven Tolliday
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
ISBN:
Category : Automobile industry and trade
Languages : en
Pages : 335

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Book Description


Wrecked

Wrecked PDF Author: Joshua Murray
Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN: 1610448871
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
At its peak in the 1950s and 1960s, automobile manufacturing was the largest, most profitable industry in the United States and residents of industry hubs like Detroit and Flint, Michigan had some of the highest incomes in the country. Over the last half-century, the industry has declined, and American automakers now struggle to stay profitable. How did the most prosperous industry in the richest country in the world crash and burn? In Wrecked, sociologists Joshua Murray and Michael Schwartz offer an unprecedented historical-sociological analysis of the downfall of the auto industry. Through an in-depth examination of labor relations and the production processes of automakers in the U.S. and Japan both before and after World War II, they demonstrate that the decline of the American manufacturers was the unintended consequence of their attempts to weaken the bargaining power of their unions. Today Japanese and many European automakers produce higher quality cars at lower cost than their American counterparts thanks to a flexible form of production characterized by long-term sole suppliers, assembly and supply plants located near each other, and just-in-time delivery of raw materials. While this style of production was, in fact, pioneered in the U.S. prior to World War II, in the years after the war, American automakers deliberately dismantled this system. As Murray and Schwartz show, flexible production accelerated innovation but also facilitated workers’ efforts to unionize plants and carry out work stoppages. To reduce the efficacy of strikes and combat the labor militancy that flourished between the Depression and the postwar period, the industry dispersed production across the nation, began maintaining large stockpiles of inventory, and eliminated single sourcing. While this restructuring of production did ultimately reduce workers’ leverage, it also decreased production efficiency and innovation. The U.S. auto industry has struggled ever since to compete with foreign automakers, and formerly thriving motor cities have suffered the consequences of mass deindustrialization. Murray and Schwartz argue that new business models that reinstate flexible production and prioritize innovation rather than cheap labor could stem the outsourcing of jobs and help revive the auto industry. By clarifying the historical relationships between production processes, organized labor, and industrial innovation, Wrecked provides new insights into the inner workings and decline of the U.S. auto industry.

The Automobile Industry and Its Impact Upon the Nation's Economy: Cincinnati, Ohio, April 18, 1975; Indianapolis, Ind., April 19, 1975; Detroit, Mich., May 2 and 3, 1975; Toledo, Ohio, May 5, 1975; Los Angeles, Calif., May 9, 1975; Bridgeport, Conn., May 16, 1975; Syracuse and Buffalo, N.Y., June 6, 1975

The Automobile Industry and Its Impact Upon the Nation's Economy: Cincinnati, Ohio, April 18, 1975; Indianapolis, Ind., April 19, 1975; Detroit, Mich., May 2 and 3, 1975; Toledo, Ohio, May 5, 1975; Los Angeles, Calif., May 9, 1975; Bridgeport, Conn., May 16, 1975; Syracuse and Buffalo, N.Y., June 6, 1975 PDF Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Banking, Currency, and Housing. Automobile Industry Task Force
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Automobile industry and trade
Languages : en
Pages : 516

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Book Description


American Automobile Workers, 1900-1933

American Automobile Workers, 1900-1933 PDF Author: Joyce S. Peterson
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438415982
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description
This book is a comprehensive history of automobile workers in the pre-union era. It covers changes in the kinds of workers who staffed the auto factories, developments in the labor process and in overall conditions of work, daily life outside the factories, informal responses of workers to routinized, monotonous, and highly structured work, and automobile worker unions before the creation of the United Automobile Workers. Although the 1920s were seen at the time as a period of peaceful and cooperative labor relations, author Joyce Peterson looks beneath the surface to discover the many ways in which auto workers expressed their displeasure with and attempted to fight against working conditions. The book also examines the Briggs strike of 1933, the first strike to significantly register the impact of the Great Depression upon the automobile industry and to mark the end of the pre-union era. The automobile industry was a model of twentieth century mass production techniques, of managerial organization, and of labor relations. Studying automobile workers in their historical and social setting explains a great deal about the nature of modern industry—how it affects the daily life and work of employees and how workers see themselves as individuals and members of a working class.

Between Fordism and Flexibility

Between Fordism and Flexibility PDF Author: Steven Tolliday
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Automobile industry and trade
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description