Applying lean in the non-Make-To-Stock sector: Criticalities, solutions and applications

Wastes identification and removing has become a key issue to achieve competitiveness and to survive in the modern manufacturing environment. In order to achieve this goal, several manufacturing paradigms have been proposed. Amongst these paradigms, lean production has increased its importance, and it is now recognized as the most influential one. The concept of lean is based on the dichotomy of value and wastes, and its main goal is to meet customer's expectations in a better way, by focusing on a continuous waste elimination process. Although Lean originated in Low-Variety-High-Volume manufacturing companies, it has been frequently applied also in other contexts, especially in the non-Make-To-Stock sector, where its application is particularly challenging. Indeed, those manufacturing environments are characterized by a high level of variability, and their performances depend on several interrelated parameters. Within this context, it is widely recognised that no “fool proof” way is available for implementing lean principles, because they must be properly reinterpreted to fit the specific requirements of the industry where they need to be applied. Generally speaking, the non-MTS sector can be broadly parted in two clusters: (i) Make-To-Order companies, where most or all operations to manufacture an end item are only performed after a customer order has been received and (ii) Engineer-To-Order companies, where products are manufactured to meet a specific customer's needs and require unique engineering, or at least a significant and specific customisation. Within both these clusters, several lean tools can be applied.