Reply #11: I've see the same thing in a production bakery I worked in early this year.

[juno jones]

If two or more employees could cover work previously done by a third, there would be no replacement for the third when he left. If a solution was found to a problem in the kitchen (I, forever naif, unfortunately came up with a few of those) the time saved was immediately filled with new work.

More with less, everchanging schedules and quotas all designed around maximization of profit as opposed to a survivable environment for employees. It's cutting across all industries right now.