Rik Huys

The sustainability of teamwork under changing circumstances: The case of Volvo‐Ghent

Volvos car assembly plant in Ghent, Belgium, is currently experiencing turbulent times. The plant is implementing the biggest expansion in its history, with plans to almost double its production capacity in 2004. Moreover, Ford is increasingly consolidating its position as the new owner of Volvo. Both developments are challenging the distinctive model of teamwork that Volvo‐Ghent has established over the last decade. This paper assesses the challenges presented by these two developments and the possible outcomes in terms of teamwork at Volvo‐Ghent. This assessment relies on a combination of theories of team structure and team processes.

Glutamate sensing with enzyme-modified floating-gate field effect transistors

Neurotransmitter release is the key factor of chemical messaging in the brain. Fast, sensitive and in situ detection of single cell neurotransmitter release is essential for the investigation of synaptic transmission under physiological or pathophysiological conditions. Although various techniques have been developed for detecting neurotransmitter release both in vitro and in vivo, the sensing of such events still remains challenging. First of all, the amount of neurotransmitter released during synaptic transmission is unknown because of the limited number of molecules released and the fast diffusion and reuptake of these molecules after release. On the other hand, advances in microelectronic biosensor devices have made possible the fast detection of various analytes with high sensitivity and selectivity. Specifically, enzyme-modified field-effect (ENFET) devices are attractive for such applications due to their fast response, small dimensions and the possibility to integrate a large number of sensors on the same chip. In this paper, we present a floating-gate FET device coated with glutamate oxidase (GLOD) layer. The surface chemistry was optimized for maximal enzyme loading and long-term stability, and characterized by quartz crystal microbalance and colorimetric assays. Enzyme loading was largest on poly-L-lysin-based surfaces combined with glutaraldehyde. The surface chemistry showed excellent stability for at least one month in Tris buffers stored at 4 degrees C. A glutamate detection limit of 10(-7) M has been obtained with the GLOD-coated FET and our sensor proved to be selective to glutamate only. We show that this biosensor is a promising tool for the in vitro detection of glutamate and can be extended to other neurotransmitters.

Toward Less Division of Labor? New Production Concepts in the Automotive, Chemical, Clothing, and Machine Tool Industries

In this contribution, we focus on the results of the Belgian Trend Study. The intention of this study was to examine the prevalence of new production concepts within the widest possible range of companies in the automotive, the machine tool, the chemical, and the clothing industries. The Trend Study aimed to answer the following questions: is the Taylorist division of labor a thing of the past? What are the alternatives? Are shifts in the division of labor accompanied by another type of personnel policy, and do traditional industrial relations have to make way for this new approach? The methodological concept used had to guarantee that the findings at the level of each industry could be generalized. Though the picture emerging from the empirical data collected in the four industrial sectors is inevitably diverse, the data make it possible merely to suggest a neorather than a post-Thylorist or -Fordist concept.

Towards a flexible future? The nature of organisational response in the clothing industry

Quick response behaviour is a necessity in the clothing industry. It was expected that the requirements for this would show a number of dysfunctions in the Taylorist production concept. However, it is concluded that the way in which clothing companies are attempting to reorganise their processes can be termed ‘intensification’: changes designed to increase productivity without substantial reorganisation of the Taylorist production concept.

Technological practices in the European auto industry: exploring cases from Belgium, Germany and Portugal

The relation between work organisation and technological practices in auto industry is analysed in this article. The concept of “technological practice” in this sector is used to describe the specific ways of embedding information and communication technology applications into the organizational forms and cultural patterns. This concept was developed with the Sowing project (TSER, DG XII) and that approach included either the shop floor co-operation up to the regionally based networks of companies and supporting institutions. The authors studied different sectors in the automotive firms of different European countries (Germany, Belgium and Portugal): shopfloor and production lines, design and management and the local inter-relationships. It was underlined some evidencies of the different alternatives in terms of technological practices for the same sector. Much of the litterature try to disseminate an idea of a single (and optimum) organisational model for the same type of product. And here, even with the same type of technology, and of product (medium-high range), one can find different models, different cultures, different ways of organising the industrial structure (firms, regional institutions, R&D centres) in the same sector (auto industry).

Volvo Ghent: a third way?

Although Belgium is by far the largest automobile assembler per capita in the world, the five car assembly plants [1] located in Belgium enjoy scant attention within international literature on the organisation of work. Volvo’s major assembly plant of the 850-model in Ghent is probably the one most often referred to, because of the widespread interest in Volvo’s production concepts. In such references, the Ghent plant is described as a traditional Fordist plant. One of its features is that “the assembly line regime was never questioned at Volvo’s car factory in Ghent”, as Berggren (1992, p. 14) correctly states.

Scope for Policymaking in a Globalised Economy: The Case of Car Assembly in Belgium

The spatial organisation of the automobile production in Europe has been changing quite rapidly over the last decade. This change has been strongly affected by the enlargement of the European Union towards Central and Eastern Europe (Layan and Lung, 1995). The search by the car industry for new peripheries in new member states thereby threatens the former peripheries. Belgium is particularly concerned by this reorganisation as the country cannot be considered to be in the core of Europe’s car industry. It does not house important decision-making powers in the industry, nor does it hold important design, R&D or production activities that invoke a higher-order and diversified type of know-how. As the industry is dominated by the four ‘screwdriver plants’ for cars that are highly dependent on foreign headquarters,1 Lung attributes Belgium with a peripheral status in the automobile industry (Lung, 2002). The fact that Belgium recently lost its longstanding status as largest car assembler per capita in the world to Slovakia is testimony to this redistribution of the division of labour within the European car industry.