Lean Thinking has profoundly transformed the way industry operates over the past twenty-five years, but today it is no longer enough to apply isolated tools or launch occasional improvement projects. In a context marked by volatile markets, digitalization, and a growing focus on sustainability, a leap in maturity toward Lean World Class® is needed: the proprietary methodology developed by Bonfiglioli Consulting, which structures continuous improvement around 13 thematic pillars—from Cost Deployment to People Development, all the way to Environmental Energy Sustainability—each with clear responsibilities, a maturity roadmap, and measurable results. The model integrates the digital dimension as an enabler of processes and recognizes sustainability not as a separate issue, but as an integral part of industrial performance. The goal is to build organizations capable of transforming improvement into a widespread and lasting competency, combining strategic leadership from management with the empowerment of operational teams.
Lean World Class® now represents the new paradigm of industrial improvement. For years, Lean Thinking has been the compass par excellence, but in a landscape marked by volatility, competitive pressure, technological innovation, and environmental transition, it is no longer enough to apply individual tools or launch isolated projects. A leap in maturity is needed: transforming Lean into a structured, measurable system capable of integrating performance, people, digital technology, and sustainability. This is the heart of Michele Bonfiglioli’s new book project: 25 Years of Lean Thinking, Italian Style, dedicated precisely to the evolution toward Lean World Class®.
There are ideas that remain relevant because they can adapt without compromising their core strength. Lean Thinking is one of them. Over the past twenty-five years, it has radically transformed the way we conceive of work, flows, waste, and customer value. It has taught companies to view production processes through a different lens, to make inefficiencies visible, and to establish a method where habits, urgent demands, or improvisation once prevailed. But precisely because it is a living paradigm, Lean is now called upon to take a further step: to remain faithful to its founding principles while, at the same time, opening itself up to the great challenges of the present.
The point, therefore, is not to ask whether Lean is still useful. It certainly is. The real issue is another: how to adapt it to an industrial context that is far more complex than the one in which it first took hold. Today’s companies must contend with unstable markets, supply chains under pressure, rising expectations regarding speed, quality, and customization, as well as an ever-increasing focus on sustainability and data quality. In this scenario, Lean can no longer be viewed as merely a collection of tools. It must evolve into a more robust, more disciplined system of industrial governance—one better capable of generating lasting results.
Many companies claim to have embarked on a Lean journey. And this is often true, at least in part. They have introduced 5S practices, kanban, TPM, kaizen workshops, and visual management. They have launched improvement projects, perhaps even achieving concrete results. But this is precisely where one of the most common challenges lies: the fragmented application of Lean. When improvement remains confined to isolated tools, small teams, or unintegrated initiatives, knowledge does not take root and does not become a stable asset of the organization.
Based on experience gained over more than 25 years of national and international projects, traditional Lean has shown its limitations—not because its principles are weak, but because it has been adopted incompletely: often with strong initial momentum, but without a structure capable of sustaining it over time; sometimes focused on individual cost areas but not on the entire system; at other times, lacking a real connection to economic impacts and the growth of internal competencies. The result is well known: visible but unsustained improvements, valid but non-scalable initiatives, and initial enthusiasm followed by a slowdown. That is why today it is no longer enough simply to “do Lean.” We must build Lean organizations. And building them means transforming improvement into a widespread competency, a shared responsibility, and a managerial discipline capable of outlasting projects and taking root in day-to-day operations.
It is precisely this need that gave rise to Lean World Class®, our proprietary methodology. It is not a break with Lean Thinking, but its more mature evolution: a model that keeps the principles of the Toyota Production System—value, value-added activities, flow, just-in-time flow, perfection—alive and structures them in a more rigorous, organized, and measurable way.
The fundamental difference lies in the systems-based approach. In Lean World Class®, every area of improvement is underpinned by thematic pillars, each with a clear line of responsibility, a roadmap for maturation, and measurable deliverables. Improvement is no longer left to the goodwill of individuals or to occasional initiatives, but becomes part of the company’s organizational design. This means shifting from a project-based culture to a method-based culture.
At the heart of the system is widespread ownership. Responsibilities do not remain in the hands of specialists or a small group of facilitators, but directly involve front-line employees—that is, those who experience the processes every day and can truly contribute to their improvement. It is a decisive transformation because it shifts the center of gravity of change: from something that is ’implemented“ to something the organization learns to practice.
One of the model’s most interesting contributions is that it resolves a dilemma that has always accompanied transformation journeys: should change be driven from the top or emerge from the bottom? The answer proposed by Lean World Class® is clear: both directions are indispensable. At the outset, strong leadership from management is needed—leadership capable of defining the vision, priorities, objectives, and resources. But for change to endure, it must be integrated into routines, behaviors, operational decisions, and shared accountability.
This is where the model gains depth. Top management ensures direction and strategic consistency. Operational teams ensure embedding, continuity, and learning. In between, the system of pillars and governance creates the infrastructure that ties vision and action together. This balance makes Lean World Class® particularly relevant for all those companies that do not want to limit themselves to "carrying out a few improvement projects,“ but aim to build a stable and replicable competitive advantage.
Lean World Class® is based on a pillar-based structure that cuts across all business functions. There are 13 pillars:
Each pillar addresses a critical area of performance and helps generate synergies with the others to shift from a reactive to a proactive approach.
Within these pillars, Cost Deployment plays a central role because it introduces a discipline often missing from improvement initiatives: translating losses into economic value. It is not enough to know where waste occurs. It is necessary to quantify them, sort them, set priorities, and fund interventions in a consistent manner. It is this step that makes improvement fully transparent from both a managerial and financial perspective.
Similarly, Focused Improvement systematizes kaizen; Autonomous Maintenance restores equipment to stable baseline conditions; Professional Maintenance introduces advanced reliability approaches; while People Development confirms that the true driver of transformation remains the growth of skills. The message is simple yet powerful: lasting excellence cannot be built without well-trained, empowered, and engaged people.
Another distinctive feature of the model is its structure as a roadmap, which we recommend based on our three years of experience. The first year is dedicated to laying the foundation: an initial audit, defining the plan, and implementing the pillars most focused on standards, safety, and baseline conditions. The second year delves into the heart of the system: expansion to the more analytical pillars, introduction of digital workflows, and the first tangible results on the income statement. The third year marks cultural maturity: automation of information flows, periodic audits, teams capable of acting autonomously, predictive approaches, and the consolidation of continuous improvement as an organizational competency.
This timeline is much more than a simple operational sequence. It represents a cultural stance. It tells companies that excellence does not arise from a one-off initiative, but from a progressive, disciplined, and intentional journey. At a time when many organizations are looking for shortcuts, this vision restores depth to the concept of transformation.
In its most advanced form, Lean World Class® evolves into Lean & Digital World Class®, where the digital dimension is treated as an enabler of improvement. Data collection, storage, analysis, and visualization become an integral part of the system, following a logic that flows from the shop floor to decision-making.
But the most important principle is another: without data quality, there can be no sustainable improvement. Fragmented, inaccurate, or isolated data does not help us make better decisions. On the contrary, it generates noise, slows down decision-making, and undermines the system’s credibility. This is why establishing a clear sequence is so important: first, build solid processes; then, digitize them in a coherent manner; and only afterward integrate the most advanced applications, including artificial intelligence.
This perspective is particularly valuable today. In many companies, the risk is not a lack of technology, but an excess of technology poorly integrated into fragile processes. Lean World Class® turns this approach on its head: it brings order before accelerating, lays the groundwork before scaling, and builds reliability before automating.
A further evolution of Lean applications concerns sustainability. The argument is clear: every form of waste is also environmental damage. Producing too much, moving materials unnecessarily, wasting energy, accumulating unnecessary inventory, and generating rework or scrap is not only economically inefficient; it is also environmentally unsustainable.
This gives rise to a strategic message: Lean and sustainability are not two distinct programs to be kept separate, but two sides of the same industrial approach. Improving efficiency also means reducing resource consumption, pollution, and emissions. And it is precisely in this convergence that Lean Thinking regains extraordinary relevance: not only doing more with less, but also avoiding what is unnecessary.
In this context, the book *25 Years of Lean Thinking, Italian Style* highlights specific tools such as the SPPM method—Sustainable Product & Process Management—and the EES pillar—Environmental Energy Sustainability—which allow us to measure energy and environmental waste using two universal metrics: euros and metric tons of CO2. This is a decisive step, because it moves sustainability beyond mere rhetoric and brings it back into the concrete language of industry.
The book offers an integrated vision of Lean—not merely as a toolbox for improvement, but as the evolutionary foundation of a new competitive paradigm, in which methodological rigor, economic measurability, skill development, data quality, and sustainability converge into a single system.
In other words, Lean World Class® is not merely a model for working better. It is a model for making the company stronger, more transparent, more accountable, and better prepared to face change. And today, in a global landscape that rewards those who can combine productivity, resilience, and vision, this is no minor detail. It is a prerequisite for competitiveness.
The book *25 Years of Lean Thinking, Italian Style* guides readers through a decisive transition: from the application of traditional Lean to the evolution toward Lean World Class®, and finally to the integration of continuous improvement, digital transformation, and sustainability.
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The author of the book is Michele Bonfiglioli, an entrepreneur and CEO of Bonfiglioli Consulting, who for over twenty years has been supporting entrepreneurs and managers in Italy and around the world, leading high-impact transformations with strategic vision and operational pragmatism. A lecturer at universities and business schools and a speaker at international conferences, he is passionate about challenges and is an ultramarathon runner: he loves to bring the same discipline he applies to running to business management.
Lean Thinking is a management philosophy derived from the Toyota Production System that aims to create value for the customer by eliminating waste in all business processes. It remains relevant because its fundamental principles—value, flow, waste elimination, and continuous improvement—apply to any industrial context. Today, however, it must evolve to address more complex challenges: market volatility, digitalization, and sustainability.
Applying individual Lean tools—such as 5S, kanban, or kaizen—without an integrated framework produces isolated improvements that do not take root over time. When improvement remains confined to small teams or uncoordinated initiatives, that knowledge does not become a stable asset of the organization. A more robust industrial governance system is needed, with clear responsibilities and measurable results.
Lean World Class® is the proprietary methodology developed by Bonfiglioli Consulting as a natural evolution of Lean Thinking and World Class Manufacturing. Unlike traditional Lean, it structures improvement around 13 thematic pillars—including Cost Deployment, People Development, and Environmental Energy Sustainability—each with a maturity roadmap and measurable deliverables. The goal is to move the company from a reactive to a proactive state, transforming improvement into a widespread organizational competency.
In the Lean & Digital World Class® model, digital technology is an enabler of improvement, not a starting point. The guiding principle is clear: first, build solid processes; then, digitize them in a coherent manner; and only then introduce advanced applications such as artificial intelligence. Digitizing fragile processes creates noise and slows down decision-making; data quality is the prerequisite for any sustainable improvement.
In Lean Thinking, every form of waste is also environmental damage: overproduction, unnecessary movement, energy dissipation, or inventory buildup all entail both economic and ecological costs. The Environmental Energy Sustainability (EES) pillar of Lean World Class® allows for the measurement of energy and environmental waste using two universal metrics: euros and metric tons of CO₂. Lean and sustainability are not separate programs, but two sides of the same industrial approach.
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