Impact of work design concept on manufacturing performance: a process sector case study

New strategic initiatives have gained importance in recent past due to its ability to improve process performance and reduce cycle time. Therefore, manufacturing companies are constantly exploring ways to adopt such strategic initiatives. However, ineffective use of scientific management approaches often leads to conflicts between management and workers. This has been a critical obstacle of enhancing productivity of well established large companies where there is a presence of strong labour unions. The purpose of this study is to elaborate on how work design concept act as a scientific foundation for such situations in implementing strategic initiatives. This study has been carried out in collaboration with a leading soft drink manufacturing company in Sri Lanka. To apply the work design concept, a generic model of work design is defined and applied to the selected work centres of the company. The results show a significant improvement in the productivity of the work centres.