Control in World Class Manufacturing - a Longitudinal Case Study

A longitudinal case study of a Swedish company implementing World Class Manufacturing (WCM) has been conducted. The case study compares and contrasts the production and control systems before and after the WCM implementation. On the whole, the production and control in the company had changed in the expected direction during the period in question. The WCM implementation was recognised as having been an economic success by the company themselves and by business journalists. The findings revealed by this case study on aspects including the mode of control, financial control, the role of accountants, empowerment, resistance and the implementation processes are compared and contrasted with those of other writers. The empirical results in this study show that the workers had been substantially empowered through the WCM implementation. However, this increased empowerment was closely connected with more thorough and frequent control and with managerial selection of employees