Lean Production in the ceramic industry:growth opportunities

摘要

The profound changes brought about by globalisation and now compounded by the economic and financial crisis are forcing manufacturing companies to rethink their organisational models and production processes in order to achieve renewed competitiveness. The ceramic sector is likewise having to adapt to meet two partly conflicting requirements. On the one hand the fragmentation of the market is making it necessary to develop a growing number of products with ever shorter life cycles from one year to the next. On the other, the presence of fierce competition and the growing difficulties in procuring resources mean that it is essential to modernise production processes and cut costs. For this purpose Lean Production (LP) systems need to be adopted, although the practice is still little used in the ceramic sector. Lean production (or lean manufacturing) is an industrial philosophy that aims to reduce and ultimately eliminate waste.