In this paper, we focus on the results of the Belgian Trend Study. The intention of this study was to examine the prevalence of new production concepts within the widest possible range of companies in the automotive, the machine tool, the chemical and the clothing industries. The Trend Study aimed to answer the question whether the Taylorist division of labour is a thing of the past and whether shifts in the division of labour are accompanied by another type of personnel policy. The methodological concept used had to guarantee that the findings at the level of each industry could be generalised. In this contribution, we focus on the results of the survey organised in the main processing fields of the machine tool industry: mechanical production and assembly.
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