• Taylorism
• production regimes
• automotive sector
• automation
• workplaces organization

Throughout the XIX century, several sectors of the American economy went through a new industrial phase characterized by the affirmation of giant corporations, making great use of scientific discoveries and engineering expertise inside all production processes. Among these, the American automobile industry was the first sector to adopt Taylorist work organization as a paradigm. The transition from the putter-outer system to the systematic organization of labor crystallized already existing tendencies of tasks’ fragmentation and labor disciplining, representing an ”explicit verbalization of the capitalist mode of production” [Braverman (1974)]. The aim of this work is to trace the most important steps in the evolution of scientific organization of work since the beginning of the twentieth century to the present day. The analysis considers the firms, and their respective pivotal workplaces, that have succeeded each other in the leadership of the sector investigating both in four levels of depth. First, the underlying technological regimes and work organization are derived by examining the product portfolio. Second, with special attention to capital-labor and industrial relations, the degree of innovation and automation is considered. Third, it examines the implementation of redistributive policies in favor of labor. Finally, the emergence of crises and Taylorism's evolutionary response. The cyclical nature of the sector and alternative paradigms of work organization challenged the adequacy of organizing work according to Taylor's principles. Nevertheless, the extraordinary ability to constantly adapt to changing techno-economic conditions still configures Taylorist work organization as a natural trajectory today.