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In the past two decades, emerging work production systems have pervaded a diverse number of U.S. manufacturing enterprises in an attempt to achieve quantum leaps in quality and productivity and to offer customers a variety of products with different options. Because the worker is at the heart of the application of lean production strategies, this article deals with human performance in a lean production environment. First, an overview of a lean production model is presented. Second, the evidence on human performance in a lean production environment is described and appraised. Third, a research framework is described to determine optimum human performance practices in a lean production setting. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Hum Factors Man 13: 317–330, 2003.