Lean Management & Sustainability for an International Supply Chain: Case Study Eiffage Energy Systems

The thesis will be focused on the relationship between lean management and sustainability. It was part of a project at Eiffage Energie Systèmes – Clemessy. The products concerned by the project were bio-methane injection units. The product is innovative and the activity new. We had two objectives in mind: making the Supply Chain processes more sustainable and profitable. The director appointed a pilot on the project responsible to make strategic decision to make it happen. First, we had to hunt for waste (muda) especially limiting overstocks & unnecessary foreign sourcing, which means we have to see a practical case of how Lean Management tools were used (alongside the course of Production planning and logistics at PoliTo). For example, we had to create an Excel file simulating the functioning of a production resource planning (MRP) to avoid having overstocks or express shipping. I had to conduct an ABC/FMR analysis to focus on the most impactful, both for profitability and sustainability (for example some cables sourced in the USA shipped by plane). This mindset had also to be practiced by all teams, so we had to establish a corporate culture where continuous improvement is practiced by all. We had to implement visual management, with the creation of a dashboard in the factory but also definition of workspaces. We also implemented the 5S; a method to keep a factory organized and productive and as a team we applied a kit system to avoid waiting times and mass production in order to limit the number of series changes.