Maintaining production quality in advanced mechanical engineering organizations: The compensatory function of the CNC-machine operator

This article reports a study that was carried out in 6 German advanced mech anical engineering organizations. The research investigated the wider role of the CNC machine operator against the background of an increased focus on quality management issues and lean production. Fifty-one interviews were c arried out with individuals from different professional groups. The results showed that operators had an important function in compensating for variat ions in the manufacturing process. The choice of operator actions was influ enced by several production-related factors (e.g., tolerance limit). Furthe rmore, we identified several organizational boundaries that indicated a con siderable potential for efficiency gains if collaboration across these boun daries could be improved. (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.