Abstract
Worldwide, Lean manufacturing has been
widely declared a success. In the industry, Lean
manufacturing had been faced with lots of criticism which
includes poor integration of human resource capital most
especially in the shop floor level regarding the front-line
worker. This paper examines the importance of the
involvement of a frontline worker in Lean manufacturing
resulting from the longitudinal field of study. Although in
manufacturing, the focus is the customer however, quality of
the product begins with the frontline worker. It proves that
the frontline worker has control on the outcome of the
product and that what the customer gets at the end of the
day depends on the skills and motivation of the frontline
worker. A South African multinational mining company is
used as a case study. At the company, the effect of frontline
workers at the shop-floor level and their effectiveness and
contribution to overall plant productivity are examined.