“Please”: The Pininfarina Lean Manufacturing System

The project launched by Pininfarina to improve competitiveness is called PLEASE, which stands for Pininfarina Lean manufacturing System. It was also created with the collaboration of the Bonfiglioli Consulting team.

Recovering at least 20% in productivity, increasing the percentage of “first-pass good” parts coming off the line to 90%, and drastically reducing work-in-process inventory are the objectives that Pininfarina has entrusted to the Bonfiglioli Consulting team, composed of: Flavio Saretto, Lorenzo Moi, Federico Dondi, Sarah Bellini, Giovanni Casarini, and Maurizio Mangano. The Bairo plant produces the Ford Focus convertible (4 models) and the Mitsubishi convertible (2 models) on the same line, with a capacity of 44,000 cars per year: 22,000–23,000 of these are Focus models. The Lean project was overseen directly by Silvio Pietro Angori, Ph.D. (CEO of Pininfarina) and Leonardo Salazzari, Ph.D. (Director of the Bairo Plant), with the active support of their staff in the areas of operations (production, logistics, Production Engineering, and Industrialization).

Download the Case Study