Production systems and employment relations in the Korean automotive industry : a case study of the emergence of a hybrid production system at Kia Motors

This thesis analyses the interrelationship between production system and employment relations in the Korean automotive industry. It includes a case study of how Kia Motors sought to introduce a lean production system in two plants: an older site in Seoul (the SI plant) and a newer site in the rural area of Asan (the A3 plant). A key finding reported in the thesis is that a hybrid production system emerged in each plant as the result of the interaction between external variables and internal company-specific variables. Three key factors were investigated in each plant: the production structure, the organisation of work, and employment relations. Strong worker and union resistance to lean production, on the ground that it would lead to work intensification, was encountered by Kia Motors. The hybrid production system which emerged at each plant contained elements of both the traditional mass production system and the newer lean production system, although there were differences between the approaches adopted at $1 and A3 plants. The thesis provides an alternative perspective to other studies which have portrayed the Korean automotive industry following either a Fordist mass production system or a Toyota-inspired lean production system, and shows how Kia has developed its own hybrid production system