After the 70's, the american-european supremacy in the industrial world has been chalenged by the Japan rising economy. It is said that this fact is dose linked to the production methods and work organization dominant in the companies of industrialized western countries. This paper will investigate tree aspects of the question: the rise and fall of the mass production - the "Fordist System"; the birth and caractheristics of the "Toyota System" and the emergence of the "Volvo System". It is intended, at the end of the work, to produce a general view of the transformation process and the restructuring of industry over this century.
Restructuring of industry; work organization; methods of production