TECHNOLOGY & STRUCTURE

TECHNOLOGY & STRUCTURE TECNOLOGICAL SOLUTIONS TO HR PROBLEMS :
ERGONOMICS AT TOYOTA
An example of the biological approach to job design is evidence recently in the Japanese automobile industry. Historical, Japanese automakers have asked for employees to participate in decision making through quality circles. However, faced with an increasing shortage of skilled workers, increasing absenteeism and turnover, and employee desires for a high quality work life, Japanese automakers are beginning to rethink their approach to job design.
One such change is to redesign the machinery that employees use in the assembly process. In the past, automobiles passed by an employee on a noisy chain-driven conveyor, and the employee would lean over, crouch down under, or reach into the car to attach the part where it belonged. However, at Toyota’s high-teach Tahara No. 4 line, new electric vehicle carriers were installed to minimize the movements that an assembler would have to make that might put undue stress on their bodies. These new lines automatically adjust a car’s height at every workstation to enable the employee to perform his or her without undue stress.
According to the plant’s general manager Hiromitsu Hayasida, the goal is to reduce the turnover of high-quality, expensively trained workers by making a comfortable working environment for them. How successful has this been? Toyota reports that during its first year of operation, not one employee quit Tahara’s No. 4 line, compared with a typical turnover of 25 to 30 percent during a plant’s first year of operations.