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Productivity, Product Quality and Workforce Skills: Food Processing in Four European Countries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 March 2020

Geoff Mason ,
Bart van Ark  and
Karin Wagner
Geoff Mason
Affiliation:
National Institute of Economic and Social Research
Bart van Ark
Affiliation:
University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Karin Wagner
Affiliation:
Technical University and Social Science Research Centre, Berlin
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Abstract

This article reports on a detailed comparison of productivity, machinery and skills in matched samples of food manufacturing (biscuit) plants in Britain, Germany, the Netherlands and France. In comparing labour productivity levels, explicit account was taken of inter-country differences in the mix of product-qualities as well as differences in physical quantities produced per person-hour. Real (‘quality-adjusted’) productivity levels were highest in the German sample, an estimated 15 per cent on average above those in the Netherlands and France and about 40 per cent higher than in Britain. International differences in quality—as measured by value added per ton—were found to be at least as important as differences in crude tonnage produced per person-hour. The pattern of productivity advantage could not be attributed to inter-country variation in the age and sophistication of capital equipment. However, there were important differences in workforce skill levels which could be linked to both relative productivity performance and the predominant choice of product strategy in each country. For example, in the German industry the mix of initial and continuing training received by employees supports a successful strategy of rapid growth in small- and medium-batch production of elaborate, high value added biscuits which would be hard for the other three countries' industries—and particularly Britain—to emulate. In Britain the greatest success is achieved by large highly-automated plants engaged in the bulk production of relatively uncomplicated varieties of biscuit. Given the present structure of workforce skills in Britain, it is understandable that—as in many other branches of manufacturing—British biscuit producers tend to specialise in relatively low value added goods. However, the study suggests that some of the potential economies of large-scale production are lost due to excessive rates of emergency downtime and the limitations of narrowly-trained employees.

Type
Articles
Information
National Institute Economic Review , Volume 147 , February 1994 , pp. 62 - 83
Copyright
Copyright © 1994 National Institute of Economic and Social Research

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Footnotes

∗

The Netherlands, Technical University and Social Science Research Centre, Berlin respectively. We are glad to acknowledge financial support for this project provided by the Economic and Social Research Council; however, the Council is not responsible in any way for the views expressed in the article.

Particular thanks are due to Sig Prais (NIESR) for his generous advice and encouragement throughout the project and to Sylvie Célerier (Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches sur les Qualifications, Paris) who arranged and participated in French plant visits. We are also grateful to Mary O'Mahony (NIESR) for the use of data from her recent Anglo-German study. Useful comments on earlier drafts were made by Jim Burns, Valerie Jarvis, Duncan Manley, Paul Ryan, Hilary Steedman, Alan Swinbank and participants at recent seminars in London. Responsibility for any errors in the article is of course ours alone.

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