The consequences for quality of work of lean manufacturing is discussed in the international litterature, and several authors suggest increased work speed, stress, and muscoskeletal diseases as a consequence of lean. The Danish experience with lean has been studied through interviews with managers and employees, and it is a somewhat different experience. This tra-dition for collaboration has been the framework for the development of lean into a form which is different from the descriptions found in the mainly Anglo-Saxon literature. Many Danish both private and public organizations have experience with a version of lean which is based on employee participation and with quality of work as a goal equal to the traditional productivity goals. This experience seems to indicate that a local approach based on social capital with employee participation but still with strong management support gives better and more sustainable effects on productivity and at the same time has a positive influence on qual-ity of work.