Maintaining production quality in advanced mechanical engineering organizations: The compensatory function of the CNC-machine operator

This article reports a study that was carried out in 6 German advanced mechanical engineering organizations. The research investigated the wider role of the CNC machine operator against the background of an increased focus on quality management issues and lean production. Fifty-one interviews were carried out with individuals from different professional groups. The results showed that operators had an important function in compensating for variations in the manufacturing process. The choice of operator actions was influenced by several production-related factors (e.g., tolerance limit). Furthermore, we identified several organizational boundaries that indicated a considerable potential for efficiency gains if collaboration across these boundaries could be improved. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.