Developing a lean and agile work force

This article examines the contribution that human factors practitioners can make to improve work force capabilities in the lean and agile manufacturing environments. The article addresses the demands that lean and agile manufacturing initiatives will place on the current and emerging work force to achieve increasing levels of quality and flexibility with lower costs and shorter product life cycles. The issues of worker selection, continuous skill development, work place design, equipment maintenance, process improvement, mistake proofing, and process reconfiguration for new products are discussed from a human factors perspective. The article concludes that a new production system where human factors play a central role will be needed to help work force members achieve greater success in meeting these demands. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.