No Stress Manufacturing: work-related stress in a Lean production context

This study is part of a broader research, conducted by the Polytechnic of Turin in collaboration with the Department of Psychology of the University of Turin, aimed at investigating the relationship between working conditions and stress in a context of Lean Production. To this end, an experimental design, whose main objective is to obtain preliminary data on the relationship between stress and Lean Production, has been developed. More in depth, the experimental design is divided into two laboratory tests: the first aimed at verifying the quality the instruments supplied (biopac electrodes and a modern wireless physiological monitoring system) which are used to obtain physiological data to assess the stress levels in the participants. While the second experiment has been developed to investigate the impact of two Lean practices (limited buffers and process standardization) on the stress of the operators. The implementation of the two experiments and the verification of the equipment are part of a preliminary work that anticipates the collection of physiological data at the Leonardo plants. For this purpose, the study is structured in a first chapter in which Lean Production is introduced as a production philosophy that over time has revolutionized the organization of work in numerous manufacturing contexts, and in particular in the automotive industry. Subsequently, the effects of this production model on the organization of work and, in particular, on the role of operators are considered. More specifically, the main differences between the organization of work in Lean Production and traditional production systems are highlighted. In a third chapter, through a careful analysis of the literature, the effects of Lean Production on the health and well-being of workers are presented. The Job Demand Control (Support) model is then introduced as one of the most influential models used to investigate the relationships between working conditions and the health and well-being of workers. This model will then be used for the formulation of the starting hypotheses used to put in relation the experimental conditions to the stress levels in the participants. Finally, the study proceeds with the presentation of the two laboratory experiments, whose main objective is to verify the correct functioning of the equipment supplied and perform a preliminary collection of data regarding the effects of two Lean practices on the health and well-being of workers. To this end, appropriate manipulations of the experimental conditions have been devised; more precisely concerning factors such as: the degree of movement of the participants, the nature of the stress (endogenous vs exogenous), the participants’ discretion over the activities to be carried out (standardization vs no-standardization), the participants’ control over the pace of work (limited buffers vs unlimited buffers). The main results of this study, together with a number of limitations and suggestions for future research are finally summarized in a concluding chapter.