What is the best color to paint walls in a machine shop to enchance productivity?
This is an interesting question and I am sure you could find research to support almost any color choice. To be strictly scientific, the only changes that should enhance productivity are those that make the work more visible. That would be light colors. There is an effect known as the “Hawthorne effect” (see wikipedia.org) that suggests what is truly important is the attention given workers. In studies about lighting and wall color, it was found that workers in areas had increased productivity regardless of the changes in their environment. It was the fact that they were put into the special environment that made them happier and more productive. One suggestion is to allow the workers themselves to choose the wall color that they feel would make them more productive. It also seems that changes are important, so maybe asking them to select again every year or two would also help.
