Alberto Canepari is interviewed on the Lean Transformation Project “Fast & Smart”

Two years have gone since we started our project “Fast & Smart” with the support of our consultants Alberto Canepari, Luca Zanella, Nicola Gianesin. We have decided to interview one of them in order to understand how they view what our company has done and is still doing.

Alberto, how do you evaluate the course our company has gone through so far?

Some three years ago your management realized that complexity was ever more difficult to manage due to the variety of products and that customer service was far from satisfactory. That brought to the decision to start a project to make processes leaner and to improve efficiency and effectiveness. The project was based on the Lean principles and methods and brought to the opening of a number of “cantieri” or working teams.

What has been your role in the project?

– Our role has been to provide the guidelines to follow and to spread the concepts and methods of Lean Thinking. But the real actors of the project have been the company’s employees who, working in team, have exchanged views, found solutions, applied them and measured the results. Using this method every person involved becomes a protagonist of the lean transformation process.

How did persons react?

Normally with enthusiasm because they sensed they were given an opportunity to change their role from a passive to an active one, a role in which they were encouraged to propose new solutions and ideas and were allowed to enrich their professional skills. A new way of working was developed, a definite improvement in participation and communication.

Did you have to face any particular problems?

For a few people it has been quite difficult to accept this radical change and especially to believe that change was possible. But this is natural and perfectly understandable. One of the problems we had to face was to make these people understand the objectives of the change, the possible benefits and the idea that there is no limit to improvement. But the significant change in the company’s culture which became more and more evident as the project developed helped these people to adapt to the transformation process.

How do you evaluate Irsap’s present state?

I think working with Irsap people has been for us a great experience especially because most of them have reacted with intelligence and enthusiasm becoming the true protagonists of the change process. Our role as consultants is now finished and a proof of our success is that lean philosophy and methods have become part of the company’s culture. New projects are continuously opened and closed, people participate with enthusiasm and continuous improvement, which is the golden rule of lean thinking, has become a life style for Irsap people. So we are proud of this experience, we thank everybody for their cooperation and we wish you to be able to continue along the path to perfection.

Thanks Alberto for your work and your words. We wonder if we can now say that we have become “Fast & Smart”………

Yes, you certainly are!