Between Shock Absorption and Continuous Improvement: Supervisors and Technicians in Fiat `Integrated Factory'

The results of fieldwork research by the shadowing method on two supervisory roles in the Fiat plant of Mirafiori (Turin) are discussed. The roles are those of UTE leader and UTE technologist, neither of which existed before the advent of the cellular-manufacturing inspired `Integrated Factory'. UTE (Unitd Tecnologica Elementare) is the basic cell in the new production regime. Whereas the UTE leader is a line figure in the production process, the UTE technologist is a staff figure in charge of the search for innovation and improvement. The main question addressed is: to what extent are UTE leaders and technologists able to go beyond the role of `shock absorber' (ex post elimination of anomalies) and implement continuous improvement to avoid anomalies ex ante? A number of different situations emerge as the result of the interweaving between technological constraints and supervisors' capacity to manage the flow of events. Two main phenomena were observed: (a) a bifurcation between UTEs in which the high frequency of anomalies compels supervisors into a mere function of shock absorbers, and UTEs in which the low frequency of anomalies generates slack time that is devoted to improvement activities, with a snowball effect leading to further reduction of anomalies; (b) the socially constructed nature of anomalies, whose relevance is always related to pre-established degrees of ordinariness, reflected in the measures available to deal with them.