Manufacturers around the world have worked on standardizing practices and making assembly tasks less complex in an effort to keep their employees productive on the job. Wharton professor of operations, information and decisions Ken Moon co-authored a paper that examines the wisdom of that approach. He and his fellow researchers looked at a manufacturer in China that produces millions of units of electronic consumer goods per week but had an employee turnover rate as high as 300% annually. In their paper, “ Manufacturing Productivity with Worker Turnover ,” the researchers discuss not only why such turnover affects manufacturing output, but they also found a way to stem that turnover, potentially saving companies millions of dollars. Moon joined Knowledge at Wharton to talk about his team’s research. An edited transcript of the conversation follows.…