Mystères de la productivité

Qu'est-ce qui est à l'origine des gains massifs de productivité mondiaux ? Un article de The Economist, de 2001 (The Manufacturing paradox, 1er novembre 2001) répond : ce n'est pas l'automation mais de nouvelles formes d'organisation du travail.

Between 1960 and 1999, both manufacturing's share in America's GDP and its share of total employment roughly halved, to around the 15% mark. Yet in the same 40 years manufacturing's physical output doubled or tripled. () 

What has changed manufacturing, and sharply pushed up productivity, are new concepts. Information and automation are less important than new theories of manufacturing, which are an advance comparable to the arrival of mass production 80 years ago. Indeed, some of these theories, such as Toyota's “lean manufacturing”, do away with robots, computers and automation. One highly publicised example involved replacing one of Toyota's automated and computerised paint-drying lines by half a dozen hairdryers bought in a supermarket.