Sociotechnical Evaluation of Alternative and Innovative Shop Floor Control Systems

In this paper we present a sociotechnical evaluation of three new, and alternative shop floor control systems used in high-variety/low-volume part manufacturing. The three alternative systems concerns the application of (i) POLCA, a card-based system to connect semi-autonomous cells, (ii) LPC (Lean Production Control), a detailed scheduling system to guide the flow of work in a low-volume/high-variety system, and (iii) the CONWIP/FISFOS/TAKT system, a system which limits the amount of work at the workfloor and only indicates priorities on job order level. We show how sociotechnical principles can be used to assess alternative shop floor control concepts. Concurrently, we discuss workplace innovation by means of the alternative shop floor control systems.