Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
shop floor
noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ How can you go back there, to the shop floor?
▪ In metalworking, your margins end up on the shop floor with even the slightest employee inattention.
▪ Of course, we also provide practical project management training from the shop floor up.
▪ Over several years, the company had introduced these new machines on to the shop floor.
▪ Staff working in the office, on the shop floor and in the warehouse may well communicate via the internal telephone system.
▪ The effects of large-scale unemployment and changes in the laws affecting trade unions have sapped militancy on the shop floor.
▪ They were, in fact, star workers whose performance on the shop floor was being rewarded with a weekend in paradise.
▪ Working Conditions Most industrial production managers divide their time between the shop floor and their office.
Wiktionary
shop floor
n. 1 The public area of a retail shop, as distinct from the offices and other rooms. 2 The work area of a workshop, separate from the offices and other rooms.
WordNet
shop floor
n. workplace consisting of the part of a factory housing the machines; "the productive work is done on the shop floor"
Wikipedia
Shop floor
The shop floor is the floor of a factory ( machine shop) where people work on machines. It may also refer to the space in a retail establishment where goods are sold to consumers. The shop floor is in contrast to offices, which provide accommodation to the business's management.
In the United Kingdom, saying someone works "on the shop floor" is often a metaphor for saying the person is working class.