Bernd, what is your opinion about the fact that Soviet factories worked on a basis of shortage of materials?
>Shturmovshchina (Russian: штурмовщина, IPA: [ʂtʊrmɐfˈɕːinə], last-minute rush, lit. storming)[1] was a common Soviet work practice of frantic and overtime work at the end of a planning period in order to fulfill the planned production target. The practice usually gave rise to products of poor quality at the end of a planning cycle.
>Due to the planned economy,[3] required materials and tools were not always available on time, and the work slowed as a result, or workers might have been reassigned to do something else, with the expectation that the job would be done when the materials arrive. However, when the end of a month neared, management was placed under pressure, substitute materials and improvised tools were used, and the workers were expected to produce the expected product in time. All this abruptly ended at the end of the month. At the beginning of the next month, the workers slacken to recover from the previous storm, thereby continuing the next cycle.[4]
Why Soviets didn't adopt a system similar to the Japanese factory model, working with low inventories and efficient use of the time? What was the advantage of doing overtime?
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