Tops for
Socialist Organiser1983 1983-08-18Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 14 →
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ACCORDING to the Financial Times, BL now claims to be near the top of the European car manufacturers' productivity league.
Austin Rover, an internal circular says, produces 13 cars per employee per year. Ahead is the German Opel at 16 cars per employee year. Citroen and Fiat are presumed to lie around the nine cars mark.
These figures are only guestimates. Few companies disclose detailed productivity figures. There are hidden extras"' too: Cross company comparisons assume like-for-like production. speed-up But figures from a single company across a number of years do show real changes in productivity.
In 1979 output was 5.9 cars per employee year. In 1980 -it was only up to 6.2 cars but by 1982, when Edwardes had settled in, it had risen to 10.1 cars.
Explaining the new productivity rise, BL and the FT see highly automated machinery as secondary to Edwardes' influence. Edwardes transformed working practices and increased the rate of exploitation of BL workers. Productivity is up, but wages aren't.