From the BBC:

In recent weeks, the company has taken some of its colleagues on nights out at comedy clubs, or lent them cars for the weekend.

They are all being rewarded for their ideas which have helped transform the fortunes of this plant.

All employees at Cowley – or as BMW has renamed it, Plant Oxford – now have to come up with three ideas a year on how to improve the production process.

In the last year their suggestions have produced cost-savings of more than £11m.

In the paint shop, Ian Palmer and his team decided the company was spending too much on a very high-quality heat-resistant masking tape.

When the firm took up their suggestion to switch to a cheaper tape, the factory saved £28,000 a year.

In another part of the plant, workers on the door line noticed the wrong wing mirrors kept ending up on cars. They devised a checking device to cut out errors, with an annual saving of £31,000.

Mr Palmer says it makes sense to ask the workers for ideas. “The people on the track know best – why not ask them?”

You can read the entire article here.