Introduction

In 2005, FIAT created the concept of world class manufacturing for the firms. Hajime Yamashina,

Professor Emeritus at Kyoto Universality in Japan, played a key role. (Note that the WCM concept

of Fiat is not identical to Richard Schonberger’s famous book from 1986 with the same name).

From the beginning the Fiat group of companies admired the operational efficiency and

procedures. In result, the term WCM was announced in FIAT automobile and powertrain

departments, in Maserati, in Lancia, in Alfa Romeo, and so on. The Fiat-owned companies CNH

(manufacturer of Case agricultural equipment and New Holland tractors) and the truck- and engine

manufacturer Iveco also use WCM as their XPS. In fact, today, companies as varied as the Royal

Mail, Ariston (manufacturer of white goods), Unilever (consumer goods), Atlas Copco (industrial

tools), Barilla (pasta) and 12 different transportation companies reportedly use the WCM concept.

World Class Manufacturing

Hayes & Wheelwright, 1984 introduced the term WCM and they presented a pack of principles,

best customs and tactics that will take any firm to achieve higher performance (Flynn, Schroeder,

and Flynn 1999) and those tactics were adopted by firms inside Japanese and Germans. Moreover,

Schonberger (1986) in his book presented the most reliable and related work align with WCM.

According to him the new managerial customs should be based be positioned on Japanese

manufacturing systems JIT, Toyota production system and Total quality management.

(Mahadevan 1998) including all their tools. According Fiat group of Automobiles the term WCM

is explained as “organized and incorporated manufacturing system that includes all the activities

of the factory, the safety ambience, from maintenance to logistics and quality. The aim of WCM

is to constantly enhance the manufacturing performance, pursuing the advanced removal of waste,
to confirm the product quality and enhanced flexibility in reaction to customer requests, by

contribution and motivation of the people working in the establishment.

Nowadays, company strives to become world class manufacturing to achieve the competitive edge

and attain organization goal. For some companies the term WCM means being the best in the

world of manufacturing or for some it means to achieve the level of performance that gives the

firm with capability to conquer and sustain in to the future. Generally speaking, a world class

producer is the one who can compete with the best anywhere in the world.

To successfully deliver a usual way of achieving competitive edge in the market based on world

class manufacturing principles a factory must include suitable production method. The appropriate

manufacturing methods usually seems like this:

 Shorter lead time

 On time delivery

 High Quality and unique features

 Perfection

 Customization

 Volume Variety

 Less cost
Implementation of WCM Concept

To take practical advantage of this concept the firms need to comprehend and classify the crucial

elements. When implementing World Class Manufacturing concept, companies need to understand

and elements that impact the execution process and notify them efficiently to certify advantages

and escape malfunction. The crucial elements involve: management dedication, quality sector,

unceasing enhancement and customer satisfaction. This method is implemented through the

correct tools and techniques such as Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), KANBAN System,

Continuous flow, visual management, Just in time, Lean manufacturing, Zero quality control etc.

To apply all of these approaches and techniques is difficult, however it is mandatory to befit world

class. It is method to endlessly look for the enhancement for the complete firm competitiveness.

The aim of WCM sector in the firm is to emphasize on increase alignment of the output, on the

examination of the details of waste and emphasis on crucial states to utilize the resources and attain

consequences in the littlest possible time. To accomplish this enactment, they are several
performance indicators which are helpful. As the strategic goals – indicators of business

performance – are set as follows:

1. profit maximalization – reducing defective parts and PPM;

2. ensure a safe workplace for the employees – Frequency Rate of Lost Time Accidents;

3. increase capacity utilization – increasing OEE of the press and paint shops;

4. increase the amount of assembled parts without repair – Assembly Right the First Time; 5.

deliver to the customer products of the highest quality – Customer PPM;

6. reduce the time of delivery to the customer in collaboration with the Supply Chain Department

– Lead Time;

7. reduce the price for poor quality production "CNQ" – Cost of Non-Quality;

8. continuous process improvement and readability of processes;

9. streamline the material consumption – Material Consumption Efficiency. Achievement of

strategic objectives and performance measurement in the company

Worldwide they are several practices that assist the firms to attain their objectives more efficiently.

The implementation of these methods and customs will assist the firm to enhance their efficiency

and effectiveness. The most commonly used WCM practices are as follows:

Kaizen: Kaizen is a Japanese term made up of two words namely Kai and Zen. Here, Kai

represents the ‘do’ and Zen represents the ‘well’. Kaizen means ‘continuous improvement'. It

means gradual and continuous progress, increase of value, intensification, and improvement

(Karkoszka and Szewieczet, 2007; Singh and Singh, 2015).

Lean Manufacturing: this method is aimed to convey waste creating activity into value added

activity (Mehta et al., 2012). The main purpose of implementing the lean manufacturing is to

condense the waste so as to become more approachable to the customer demand. Moreover, it

targets at the production of product for the customer in the lowest cost as well as in less time

(Bhamu & Sangwan, 2014).

Total Quality Management (TQM): TQM is a quality improvement approach which is

increasingly implemented by manufacturing and service organizations in order to improve the

performance. in terms of quality, productivity, customer satisfaction, and profitability (Sadikoglu

& Zehir, 2010; Singh and Ahuja, 2013). The main elements of TQM are ‘Total’, ‘Quality’ and

‘Management’. Here, Total refers to the involvement of all the employees working in the

organization. Quality refers to the ‘fitness for the purpose’ and Management refers to the managing

the system.

Just in Time (JIT): JIT concept was developed by Taiichi Ohno (1982). JIT is a method of

continuous manufacturing improvement which is based on eliminating all the waste in

(Singh and Ahuja, 2012). It is considered as a production method to evolve a defect free process

(Chenand Podolsky, 1996; Singh and Ahuja, 2013).

5S: 5S is a systematic philosophy for ensuring optimum workplace productivity, quality, output

and safety (Voelkel and Chapman, 2003; Kumar and Kumar, 2012; Singh and Ahuja, 2014). 5S

refers to the five Japanese words namely Seiri, Seiton, Seiso, Seiketsu, and Shitsuke. The acronym

of these words in English language is Sort, Set, Shine, Standardize, and Sustain.

Total Productive Maintenance: Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) is an important world class

manufacturing program introduced during the quality revolution (Ahuja and Khamba, 2008). TPM

help in streamlining the manufacturing and other business functions, and gathering continuous

profits (Ahuja and Khamba, 2007). Moreover, TPM is considered as a beneficial tool for

improving the manufacturing performance by augmenting the effectiveness of production facilities

(Dwyer, 1999; Dossenbach, 2006).

Supply Chain Management (SCM): SCM practices basically aims in the management of

integration and coordination of supply, demand and relationships for the fulfillment of customer

requirements in effective and profitable manners (Wong et al., 2005; Singh et al., 2010). Chopra

et al., (2006) have stated that the SCM consists of various methodologies which integrate the

suppliers, manufacturers, distributors and customers more effectively in order to refine the long-

term performance of the organizations.

Six-Sigma: Six-Sigma has been considered as a more beneficial approach for improving the

organizational productivity (Kumar et al., 2008; Dubey et al., 2015). Brun (2011) has illustrated

six-sigma as an approach to improve manufacturing processes. Moreover, It is also considered as

the processes (Antony and Banuelas, 2002). Six-sigma basically drives out the variability and

reduce waste in processes with the help of statistical tools and techniques (Coronando, and Antony,

2002)

WCM COMPONENTS: Description and features

WCM foresees 10 technical pillars and 10 managerial pillars. The levels of accomplishment in

technical fields are indirectly affected by the level of accomplishment in administrative fields. The

pillar structure represents the “Temple of WCM” and points out that, to achieve the standard of

excellence, a parallel development of all the pillars is necessary. Each pillar focuses on a specific

area of the production system using appropriate tools to achieve excellence global.

 Safety

It aims to Continuous improvement of safety. The purpose of safety is to reduce drastically the

number of accidents. To develop a culture of prevention and to improve the ergonomics of the

workplace. To develop specific professional skills

 Cost Deployment

Reduce the impact of problems from a waste and loss perspective

 Focused Improvement

Improve quality and productivity, and reduce costs by using appropriate and correct methods

 Autonomous Activities

Raise competence of shop floor employees by workplace; organisational layout in intensive

labour areas and autonomous maintenance in capital intensive areas

Zero breakdowns and minimise maintenance cost

 Quality

Zero defects, zero waste

 Customer Services and Logistics

100% customer satisfaction, eliminating stock and maximising material handling

 Early Equipment and Product Management

Launch new equipment or products to aid competitiveness and minimise project costs and

time

 Personal Development

Educate, train and nurture employees to make WCM everyone’s responsibility

 Environment

Control and reduce all environmental impact from Company operations

And the ten managerial pillars are:

1) Management Commitment

2) Clarity of Objectives

3) Route map to WCM

4) Allocation of Highly Qualified People to Model Areas

5) Commitment of the Organization

6) Competence of Organization towards Improvement

7) Time and Budget

8) Level of Detail
9) Level of Expansion

10) Motivation of Operators

EXAMPLE ITALIAN AUTOMOTIVE SUPPLIER

A globally diversified automotive supplier operating with in more than 150 countries under three

business categories:

 Building Efficiency: major supplier of equipment, controls and services for heating,

ventilating, air conditioning, refrigeration and security systems.

 Automotive Experience: a global leader in automotive seating, overhead systems, door

and instrument panels, and interior electronics.

 Power Solutions: the global leader in lead-acid starter batteries, advanced lead-acid

batteries for Start-Stop vehicles and Lithium-ion batteries for hybrid and electric vehicles.

The supplier plant is located in central Italy and serve to major Italian vehicle firms. At this plant

only two types of door panels for two cars are manufactured. The prior manufacturing system

includes several instruments of Lean Production. There was Kanban, 5S, TPM, Visual

Management and other like the instrument of WCM but those instruments and tools were

organized in ten modules. They had implied Cost Deployment and the first loss is Non-Value

Added in Ultrasonic Welding and precisely in Sytrama 1 2 3. So, they had opened a Model Area

of Workplace Organization on Sytrama 2 minimize the defects. The supplier implied the three

steps of WO and in the

Step 1 They had made 5S and applied the Tags to see all anomalies.
Step 2 They had reduced all waste means and had decreased cleaning time. The application of

Visual Management for material and equipment with all benefits of this instrument. Saved second

on this operation with implication MUDA to decrease waste. Trained the operators with One Point

Lesson and Standard Operative Procedure and then, standardized all these things.

Step 3 In third step, reduced the operation of assembly of one person for shift, in order to have

another saving.

Results: With implication of WCM model the automotive supplier guided to the activation of the

pillar of Cost Deployment and Workplace Organization for the reduction of losses resulting from

nonvalue added in the assembly process of the products supplied to the customer. The result of

this implementation, doesn’t stop at only these two pillars, but it implied 56% losses reduction

very evident at first sight, future development of the firm.