Lean Thinking has profoundly transformed the way industry is done over the past twenty-five years, but today it is no longer enough to apply isolated tools or initiate occasional improvement projects. In an environment marked by volatile markets, digitization, and increasing focus on sustainability, a maturity leap toward the\u00a0Lean World Class\u00ae<\/strong>: the proprietary methodology developed by Bonfiglioli Consulting, which structures continuous improvement into 13 thematic pillars-from Cost Deployment to People Development to Environmental Energy Sustainability-each with responsibilities ch<\/span>iare, a roadmap for maturation and measurable results. The model integrates the digital dimension as an enabler of processes and recognizes sustainability not as a parallel issue but as an integral part of industrial performance. The goal is to build organizations capable of transforming improvement into a widespread and enduring competency by combining the strategic guidance of management with the empowerment of operational teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Lean World Class\u00ae<\/strong> represents the new paradigm of industrial improvement today. For years, Lean Thinking has been the compass par excellence, but in a scenario marked by volatility, competitive pressure, technological innovation and environmental transition, it is no longer enough to apply individual tools or initiate isolated projects. A leap in maturity is needed: transforming Lean into a structured, measurable system capable of integrating performance, people, digital and sustainability. This is the heart of Michele Bonfiglioli's new publishing project: 25 Years of Lean Thinking the Italian Way, dedicated precisely to the evolution towards Lean World Class\u00ae.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n There are ideas that remain relevant because they can change form without betraying their strength. Lean Thinking is one of them. Over the past twenty-five years it has radically transformed the way work is conceived, <\/strong>flows, waste, customer value. It has taught businesses to look at production processes with different eyes, to make inefficiencies visible, to build method where before habits, urgency or improvisation prevailed. But precisely because it is a living paradigm, today Lean is called upon to go a step further: staying true to its founding principles while at the same time opening up to the great challenges of the present.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The question, then, is not whether Lean is still needed. It does serve. The real issue is another: How to make it suitable for a much more complex industrial environment than the one in which it was initially deployed<\/strong>. Today's companies face unstable markets, supply chains under pressure, rising expectations for speed, quality and customization, as well as an increasing focus on sustainability and data quality. In this scenario, Lean can no longer be considered a simple collection of tools. It must become a more robust, more disciplined industrial governance system that is more capable of generating lasting results.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Many companies claim to have embarked on a Lean path. And it is often true, at least in part. They have introduced practices of 5S<\/a>, kanban<\/a>, TPM<\/a>, workshop kaizen<\/a>, visual management. They have started improvement yards, perhaps even achieving concrete results. But right here lies one of the most widespread critical issues: the fragmented application of Lean<\/strong>. When improvement remains confined to isolated tools, small teams or non-integrated initiatives, knowledge does not consolidate and become a stable asset of the organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Based on the experience of more than 25 years of national and international projects, traditional Lean showed its limitations not because it was weak in principles,But because it was adopted incompletely<\/strong>: often with strong initial energy, but without a structure capable of holding up over time; sometimes focused on individual cost areas, but not on the whole system; sometimes still lacking a real link to economic impacts and internal skills growth. The result is well-known: visible but not consolidated improvements, good but not scalable initiatives, initial enthusiasm followed by slowdown. That is why \u201cdoing Lean\u201d is no longer enough today. One must building Lean organizations<\/strong>. And building them means transforming improvement into a widespread competence, a shared responsibility, a managerial discipline capable of surviving projects and taking root in everyday operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n It is precisely from this need that the Lean World Class\u00ae<\/strong>, our proprietary methodology.<\/a> Not a break with Lean Thinking, but. its most mature development<\/strong>: a model that keeps alive the principles of the Toyota Production System-value, value-based activity, flow, tense flow, perfection-and structures them in a more rigorous, organized and measurable way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The key difference lies in the system logic. In the Lean World Class\u00ae Each area of improvement is manned by thematic pillars,<\/strong> each entrusted with a clear responsibility, with a maturation roadmap and measurable deliverables. Improvement is no longer left to the goodwill of individuals or occasional initiatives, but enters into the organizational design of the enterprise. This means moving from a project culture to a culture of method<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The heart of the system is the\u2019widespread ownership<\/strong>. Responsibilities do not remain in the hands of specialists or a small group of facilitators, but directly involve line people, that is, those who live the processes every day and can really contribute to their improvement. This is a decisive transformation, because it shifts the center of gravity of change: from something that \u201cgets implemented\u201d to something that the organization learns to practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the most interesting contributions of the model is the overcoming of a dilemma that has always accompanied paths of transformation: should change be driven from above or be born from below? The answer proposed by Lean World Class\u00ae is clear: both directions are indispensable<\/strong>. In the beginning, strong management leadership is needed, able to set the vision, priorities, goals and resources. But for change to last, it must be absorbed into routines, behaviors, operational decisions and widespread accountability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is where the model gains depth. Top management ensures direction and strategic coherence. Operations teams ensure rootedness, continuity and learning. In between, the system of pillars and governance creates the infrastructure that holds vision and action together. This balance makes Lean World Class\u00ae particularly relevant for all those companies that do not want to just \u201cdo a few improvement projects,\u201d but aim to build a stable and replicable competitive advantage.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Lean World Class\u00ae is based on a pillar structure that covers business functions across the board. I Pillars are 13<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each pillar presides over a critical area of performance and helps generate synergies with the others to move from a reactive to proactive state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the Pillars, the Cost Deployment<\/a><\/strong> plays a central role because it introduces a discipline that is often absent from improvement pathways: the translation of losses into economic value. It is not enough to know where the wastes are. It is necessary to quantify them, sort them, prioritize them, and fund interventions consistently. It is this step that makes improvement fully legible even from a managerial and financial perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Similarly, the Focused Improvement<\/strong> Makes kaizen systematic, l\u2018Autono<\/strong><\/a><\/span>mous<\/strong><\/a> Maintenance<\/strong> <\/a>brings plants back to stable baseline conditions, the Professional Maintenance<\/a><\/strong> introduces advanced reliability logic, while the People Development<\/a><\/strong> confirms that the real driver of transformation remains skill growth. The message is simple but powerful:no lasting ecellency is built without trained, empowered and involved people.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Another distinctive feature of the model is its articulation along a roadmap, which we suggest based on our three-year experience<\/strong>. The\u00a0first year\u00a0<\/strong>is devoted to the foundations: initial audit, plan definition, activation of the pillars most oriented to st<\/span>andard, safety and basic conditions. The<\/span>\u00a0according to<\/span>\u00a0year <\/strong>enters the heart of the system: extension to the more analytical pillars, introduction of digital flows, and first tangible results on the income statement. The third year <\/strong>is that of cultural maturity: automation of information flows, periodic audits, teams capable of acting autonomously, predictive approaches, and the consolidation of improvement as an organizational competency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This time scan is more than just an operational sequence. It is a cultural stance. It tells businesses that excellence does not come from spot intervention<\/strong>, but by a progressive, disciplined and intentional path. In a time when many organizations seek shortcuts, this vision restores depth to the concept of transformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n In its most advanced evolution, Lean World Class\u00ae opens up to the Lean & Digital World Class\u00ae<\/strong>, in which the digital dimension is treated as an enabler of improvement. Data collection, storage, analysis and visualization become an integral part of the system, through a logic that, from the field, leads to decision-making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the most important principle is another: without data quality there is no sustainable improvement<\/strong>. Fragmented, inaccurate or isolated data do not help to make better decisions. On the contrary, they generate noise, slow down choices, and weaken the credibility of the system. This is why defining a sequence is very important: first build solid processes, then digitize them consistently, and only then engage more advanced applications, including artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This reading is especially valuable today. In many enterprises, the risk<\/strong> not \u00e8 <\/strong>the lack of technology, but the excess of technology <\/strong>poorly grafted onto fragile processes. Lean World Class\u00ae turns this approach on its head: it puts order before accelerating, creates foundations before scaling, builds reliability before automating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n A further evolution of Lean applications concerns sustainability. The thesis is stark: any waste is also environmental damage<\/strong>. Producing too much, handling unnecessarily, wasting energy, accumulating unnecessary stock, generating rework or waste is not only economically inefficient; it is also environmentally unsustainable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A strategic message follows from this: Lean and sustainability <\/strong>are not two separate 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 rediscovers extraordinary relevance: not only do more with less, but also avoid doing what is not needed.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The book 25 years of Lean Thinking the Italian way<\/em> recalls, in this area, specific tools such as the SPPM - Sustainable Product & Process Management<\/strong> and the pillar EES - Environmental Energy Sustainability<\/strong>, which allows energy-environmental waste to be read with two universal metrics: euros and tons of CO2. This is a decisive step, because it takes sustainability out of the declarative dimension and back into the concrete language of industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n The book offers an integrated view of Lean not as a simple toolbox of improved<\/span>tion, but as the evolutionary basis of a new competitive paradigm in which methodological rigor, economic measurability, skill growth, data quality and sustainability converge in a single system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In other words, Lean World Class\u00ae is not just a model for working better. It is a model for making the enterprise stronger, more readable, more accountable, and more ready for change. And today, in a global scenario that rewards those who can combine productivity, resilience and vision, this is not a detail. It is a condition of competitiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nWhat is Lean Thinking today and why it needs to evolve<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Why partial Lean doesn't work: the limitations of traditional Lean<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What is Lean World Class\u00ae? The new industry standard<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Top-down and bottom-up: the false dilemma of change<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The pillars of excellence: when improvement takes shape<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nA roadmap for turning improvement into culture<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Lean and Digital: how to integrate Lean Thinking and technology<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Sustainability is not a parallel issue: it is part of performance<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Competitive future belongs to those who can integrate<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nWant to learn more about the new Lean Thinking paradigm?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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