Argues that the design of the Volvo Uddevalla plant may be described as a process with an “internal logic” in which design options were eliminated through irreversible design decisions until only one alternative remained ‐ an unorthodox alternative comprising, for example, long cycle time work never used before for full‐scale production of automobiles. Contends that the most innovativ…
In recent years, assembly lines have been reintroduced in the Swedish automotive industry and, in many cases, have replaced those so-called alternative assembly systems which had their roots in the 1970s. This paper reviews and evaluates some explicit reasons given for the return to the assembly line. It also considers whether the decisions to replace alternative assembly systems with assembly …