"Machine that Changed the World"by Womack discussed this, in both the PBS series and the book.
The comparison they used was the Toyota line at Tahara for the Lexus LS, and the Mercedes S-class line at Sindelfingen. (American car-making, nowadays, would hew closer to the Japanese example...)
The gist was that while the Lexus workers were expected to be hugely attentive and detail-oriented, they were nowhere near as mechanically skilled/trained as the Germans. But, they didn't have to be; the car they were making, and the process by which it was made was designed around workers of that skill level.
The Mercedes, OTOH-(if you have ever taken apart a W140 S-class, this ain't gonna surprise you...) clearly needed a team of people to carry out the same assembly tasks due to ease & simplicity of manufacture not being a design consideration.
Womack goes on to talk about a special "hand-assembly" line at Volvo, supposedly to ensure that certain custom-ordered cars get almost individual attention from a small team of experienced techs, so as to improve quality. It doesn't end up working out that way; throwing more, better-trained, workers at the problem increases costs far faster than refining the design & feeding that back into the manufacturing process.
It's a fascinating book, and I look at it every time I hear how Tesla is running their factory....
The comparison they used was the Toyota line at Tahara for the Lexus LS, and the Mercedes S-class line at Sindelfingen. (American car-making, nowadays, would hew closer to the Japanese example...)
The gist was that while the Lexus workers were expected to be hugely attentive and detail-oriented, they were nowhere near as mechanically skilled/trained as the Germans. But, they didn't have to be; the car they were making, and the process by which it was made was designed around workers of that skill level.
The Mercedes, OTOH-(if you have ever taken apart a W140 S-class, this ain't gonna surprise you...) clearly needed a team of people to carry out the same assembly tasks due to ease & simplicity of manufacture not being a design consideration.
Womack goes on to talk about a special "hand-assembly" line at Volvo, supposedly to ensure that certain custom-ordered cars get almost individual attention from a small team of experienced techs, so as to improve quality. It doesn't end up working out that way; throwing more, better-trained, workers at the problem increases costs far faster than refining the design & feeding that back into the manufacturing process.
It's a fascinating book, and I look at it every time I hear how Tesla is running their factory....