Dataset Information

Factory benefits to paying workers more: The critical role of compensation systems in apparel manufacturing.

ABSTRACT: While many stakeholders believe worker wages in global supply chains are too low, there is disagreement about what, if anything, can be done to raise wages. Through a two-year quasi-experiment in an operating apparel factory, we assess the effects on productivity and profits of raising worker wages with a re-designed compensation system. We show that, even within current factory margins and constraints, important wage gains (4.2-9.7%) are possible and profitable. Productivity increased 8-10%-points while turnover decreased markedly. Workers were motivated by the potential for increased wages from an accelerating group rate as well as increased engagement and sense of fair compensation. Workers focused their increased effort on reducing quality defects and tardiness, two behaviors which individual workers largely control. Additional productivity-increasing behaviors were constrained by skill, position, and conflicts arising from free riders. Advanced apparel manufacturing demands a more engaged workforce; this research provides early evidence that compensation systems can be a critical tool to meet multiple needs.

SUBMITTER: Lollo N

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7001908 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Factory benefits to paying workers more: The critical role of compensation systems in apparel manufacturing.

Lollo Niklas N O'Rourke Dara D

PloS one 20200205 2

While many stakeholders believe worker wages in global supply chains are too low, there is disagreement about what, if anything, can be done to raise wages. Through a two-year quasi-experiment in an operating apparel factory, we assess the effects on productivity and profits of raising worker wages with a re-designed compensation system. We show that, even within current factory margins and constraints, important wage gains (4.2-9.7%) are possible and profitable. Productivity increased 8-10%-poi ...[more]

PMID: 32023261

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Project description:Ranked among the top10 infectious causes of death worldwide, group A Streptococcus (GAS) causes small- and large-scale outbreaks, depending on the trigger as transmission of a GAS strain or expansion of predominant clones. In China, GAS infections other than scarlet fever are not notifiable. In Shanghai, an epidemiological investigation was initiated after two successive severe pneumonia cases with one death in a digital factory, from where outbreaks are less widely reported. The investigation was performed using emm typing, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) typing, superantigen profiling, and genome analysis. This enabled characterization of relatedness among the outbreak isolates and identification of the mobile genetic elements present. Among 57 patients with respiratory symptoms investigated in the factory, emm5 GAS strains were isolated from 8 patients. The eight GAS infection cases comprising one fatal severe pneumonia case, six influenza-like illness cases, and one pharyngitis case. Two risk factors were identified: adult with an age of 18-20 years and close contact with a GAS patient or carrier. GAS attack rate was 14.0% (8/57), and GAS carriage rate was probably around 2.7% (14/521) based on surveys in two nearby districts. All the 10 outbreak associated isolates were assigned to emm5 and sequence type ST-99 (emm5/ST-99), harbored superantigen genes speC, speG, and smeZ, and were assigned to two similar PFGE patterns (clones). Among the outbreak associated isolates, all carried ermA with resistance to erythromycin and inducible resistance to clindamycin, and eight (80%) carried a tetM gene with resistance to tetracycline. Among the 14 carriage isolates, 12 were emm12/ST-36, and 2 were emm1/ST-28, all with superantigen genes speC, speG, ssa, and smeZ. All the carriage isolates harbored ermB and tetM with resistance to erythromycin, clindamycin, and tetracycline. Genome analysis showed the two outbreak clones were closely related and possessed new prophages carrying virulence gene sdc and antibiotic resistance genes of ermA and tetM, which were not found in the emm5 reference strain Manfredo. This is the first report of a GAS outbreak in this type of workplace. The outbreak was caused by two closely related emm5 clones that differed from the predominant emm types circulating in China.

Project description:Introduction:Current production facilities for Cell-Based Health care Products (CBHPs), also referred as Advanced-Therapy Medicinal Products or Regenerative Medicine Products, are still dependent on manual work performed by skilled workers. A more robust, safer and efficient manufacturing system will be necessary to meet the expected expansion of this industrial field in the future. Thus, the 'flexible Modular Platform (fMP)' was newly designed to be a true "factory" utilizing the state-of-the-art technology to replace conventional "laboratory-like" manufacturing methods. Then, we built the Tissue Factory as the first actual entity of the fMP. Methods:The Tissue Factory was designed based on the fMP in which several automated modules are combined to perform various culture processes. Each module has a biologically sealed chamber that can be decontaminated by hydrogen peroxide. The asepticity of the processing environment was tested according to a pharmaceutical sterility method. Then, three procedures, production of multi-layered skeletal myoblast sheets, expansion of human articular chondrocytes and passage culture of human induced pluripotent stem cells, were conducted by the system to confirm its ability to manufacture CHBPs. Results:Falling or adhered microorganisms were not detected either just after decontamination or during the cell culture processes. In cell culture tests, multi-layered skeletal myoblast sheets were successfully manufactured using the method optimized for automatic processing. In addition, human articular chondrocytes and human induced-pluripotent stem cells could be propagated through three passages by the system at a yield comparable to manual operations. Conclusions:The Tissue Factory, based on the fMP, successfully reproduced three tentative manufacturing processes of CBHPs without any microbial contamination. The platform will improve the manufacturability in terms of lower production cost, improved quality variance and reduced contamination risks. Moreover, its flexibility has the potential to adapt to the modern challenges in the business environment including employment issues, low operational rates, and relocation of facilities. The fMP is expected to become the standard design basis of future manufacturing facilities for CBHPs.

Dataset Information

Factory benefits to paying workers more: The critical role of compensation systems in apparel manufacturing.

Publications

Factory benefits to paying workers more: The critical role of compensation systems in apparel manufacturing.

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