Lean manufacturing in the valve pre-assembly area of a bottling lines production plant: An Italian case study

This paper describes an Italian case study of lean manufacturing implementation to the valve pre-assembly area of a plant that manufactures bottling lines and machines, and it is a pilot project for a wider lean implementation in the whole organization, with the aim of rationalizing all processes and improving efficiency. The case study was deeply described, justifying the implementation of lean in an area of an Engineer-To-Order (ETO) company. Despite the context, considerably different from the automotive environment where lean manufacturing was firstly applied, this technique led to significant improvement in throughput rates (+50^%), average lead times (-80%) and products quality; also, the pilot assembly plant greatly decreased the occupied space on the shop floor. For all these reasons, lean is also confirmed as a strategic choice in ETO companies, where this philosophy can lead to a new way of thinking and working towards successful and long-lasting results.