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Leading from the Factory Floor

Summary.   

Reprint: F0511D Fixing a dysfunctional plant isn’t easy, but it can be done if you involve everyone in the overhaul.

For all the talk about lean manufacturing, it still seems to be the exception: Factory floors are cluttered, bottlenecks delay production, and the wrong products pile up in inventory while the right ones can’t be found. Fixing a dysfunctional factory isn’t easy, but consider this surprising case from Germany, where resistance to managerial innovations on the factory floor has traditionally been strongest.

A version of this article appeared in the November 2005 issue of Harvard Business Review.

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