Technology Convergence and System Divergence: Toyota and Uddevalla, Volvo

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.

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).