This article is an exploratory essay on the possibility of changind the fordist may of organising production processes towards greater flexibility. Some changes in Brazil are illustrated through cases in the footwear and automobile industries. It seems that the modernisation wave is taking place mostly in externally oriented sectors. Further, there is little evidence of a radical shift towards flexibility in any sector. Instead, firms are changing in a slow step-by-step pattern.
flexibility; production organization; flexible specialty