On the challenges and opportunities of implementing lean practices in northern Italian manufacturing districts

The study analyses the challenges of the implementation of lean practices in some manufacturing districts of northern Italy. Lean practices aim at waste reduction and quality improvement in order to eliminate anything that does not contribute to the creation of value for the customer. In particular, owing to the highly fragmentation of customer demand which occurred in past decades, the economic sustainability is directly linked to the reduction of inventories and cycle times along the whole supply chain. This is truly relevant and challenging in those manufacturing districts that have been developed in the last years to exploit economy of scale. This strategy has led to a growing trend of outsourcing and, consequently, to the lengthening of supply chains. Longer supply chains result in longer cycle times and higher inventory levels that cannot be reduced by simply exploiting the overcapacity resulting from the current reduction of customer demand. Thus, it is necessary to identify the main economic, operational, and organizational factors characterizing these districts and relate them to the challenges and opportunities of implementing lean practices. This analysis emphasizes the need for some coordination mechanisms and the implementation of lean practices, not locally, but on the whole supply chain.