Amazonisierung der Industriearbeit?: Industrie 4.0, Intralogistik und die Veränderung der Arbeitsverhältnisse in einem Montageunternehmen der Automobilindustrie

Butollo Florian (), Ehrlich Martin () and Engel Thomas ()
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Butollo Florian: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Institut für Soziologie Carl-Zeiß-Straße 2, 07743 Jena, Deutschland
Ehrlich Martin: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Institut für Soziologie Carl-Zeiß-Straße 2, 07743 Jena, Deutschland
Engel Thomas: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Institut für Soziologie Carl-Zeiß-Straße 2, 07743 Jena, Deutschland

Arbeit, 2017, vol. 26, issue 1, 33-59

Abstract: In public debates, Industry 4.0 is mostly associated with a disruptive transformation. In contrast, our case study at an assembly plant of the automotive industry which has implemented some elements of Industry 4.0 shows strong continuities to former paradigms of industrial organization, especially to lean production and so-called build-to-order systems (BTO). Both of those approaches to some degree aimed – just like Industry 4.0 – at the intelligent linkage of customers, enterprises and the supply chain. In the surveyed plant, the implemented production system results in a more prominent role of intralogistics functions which have grown in terms of investment and employment. This shift also implies modifications with regard to the character of industrial work. Besides, but often directly linked to assembly work, new functions have emerged in the realm of logistics and pre-assembly, mostly with low skill requirements. Because of some structural similarities to large e-commerce companies, we interpret the nexus of customized delivery, rigid sequencing of the production flow and rather low-skilled work as the possible scenario of an “amazonization” of industrial work.

Keywords: Industry 4.0; digitization; automotive industry; logistics; skill requirements; Industrie 4.0; Digitalisierung; Automobilindustrie; Logistik; Qualifikation; Industry 4.0; digitization; automotive industry; logistics; skill requirements (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bpj:arbeit:v:26:y:2017:i:1:p:33-59:n:3

DOI: 10.1515/arbeit-2017-0003

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