ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the ways in which work organization in the West German capital goods industry is changing with the utilization and integration of computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM)-components. The skilled work system clearly dominates in the machine-building industry and in the steel and light metal industry, in which the product range consists of mainly complex and small batch products. The results of our study on the dissemination of CIM technologies demonstrate that German industry has only just embarked on its journey towards the 'factory of the future', especially in the fields of flexible automation and the integration of computer systems. In order to increase flexibility in several areas of production, a start has been made to restructure work organization towards semi-autonomous groups. A large number of external and internal contextual conditions contribute the direction that technological and organizational change takes in a company.
