Implementing Lean Production in an Old Industrial Space: Restructuring at Corner Brook, Newfoundland, 1984–1994

• Published in: The Canadian Geographer/Le Géographe canadien
• Main Authors: Norcliffe, Glen, Bates, Judy
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1997
• Subjects: Corner Brook; Newfoundland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1541-0064.1997.tb00929.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1541-0064.1997.tb00929.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1541-0064.1997.tb00929.x

Kruger Incorporated purchased the aging pulp and paper mill in Corner Brook in 1984, armed with a federal‐provincial modernization agreement and a pattern‐breaking contract with the mill unions. It is argued that changes made in the decade since then correspond most closely with a form of lean production. Six elements of lean production are found at Corner Brook: tighter coordination of production and automation; a continued concentration on core activities; the farming out of ancillary activities; shrinking and segmentation of the workforce; environmental compliance, increasing technical efficiency; and the co‐opting of the workforce into the mission of the firm.