LeanPPD

Fundación LABEIN TECNALIA, Technological Research Centre is a private, independent, non-profit technological research & innovation centre, located in Derio, close to Bilbao, (Spain) with more than 50 years of experience in rendering services to enterprises. LABEIN is part of the larger research group called TECNALIA. TECNALIA has a total staff over 1.300 persons with a turnover of roughly 95 M€. LABEIN is the biggest organization in the group with more than 300 employees and 24,4 M€ turnover in 2006. LABEIN is continuously involved in an average range of about 40 RTD and Technology Transfer projects under a wide variety of European programmes mostly within the Frameworks (now the 7th) but also outside it. It has worked on more than 300 such projects since Spain joined the European Community. LABEIN also has a high participation under Local, Regional and National Research, Technology Transfer and Innovation Programmes.

Cranfield University combines the academic rigour and long term perspective of a university with the commercial and business focus of industry. The university educates students at postgraduate level on both professional development and degree-awarding course; they come either to enhance an already chosen career, or to move to a new one. 95% of our students enter relevant managerial, professional or technical positions in the workplace, or embark on further study, within six months of graduation. Our research income, measured as a percentage of our turnover, puts us as one of the top five research intensive universities in the UK alongside Oxford, Cambridge, and London’s Imperial College and UCL. These impressive statistics, coupled with our excellent links with industry, and our mission to create viable, practical and environmentally desirable solutions means we are uniquely placed for both students and corporate partners alike.

Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), part of the School of Engineering at the University of Warwick, is a world-renowned centre of excellence for high quality, innovative research, traditionally working in manufacturing but in recent years moving into new spheres. WMG was established by Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya in 1980. WMG now employs over 200 full time staff with a further 150 associates dedicated to developing innovative research projects and sharing our knowledge with a wide range of businesses and individuals through collaboration, knowledge transfer schemes, PhD supervision, postgraduate study and bespoke executive training. Our research is publicly and privately funded and always involves industry closely in conception, development and delivery. Our research teams are comprised of staff from both academic and industrial backgrounds with a wide range of specialties including engineers, physical scientists, materials scientists, mathematicians, designers, IT specialists, social scientists, economists and knowledge transfer experts. 

Institute for Applied Systems Technology Bremen (ATB, Institut für Angewandte Systemtechnik Bremen GmbH) located in Bremen (Germany) was founded in 1991 and has the status of a non-profit organisation. The shareholders of ATB are the State of Bremen, University of Bremen and a group of industrial companies. Among others, ATB shareholders are Daimler-Chrysler, STN ATLAS Elektronik, and also a number of SMEs that are located in the region of Bremen. The main strategic business areas of ATB are Systems Analysis & Design, Quality Management and Software Systems Technology. 

Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) is one of the two Ecoles Polytechniques fédérales in Switzerland. Like its sister institution, ETHZ, it has three missions: education, research and technology transfer at the highest international level. Associated with several specialised research institutes, the two EPFs form the EPF domain, which is directly dependent on the Federal Department of Home Affairs.   EPFL offers 13 complete study programs at the Bachelor's and Master's levels in engineering, basic sciences, computer and communication sciences, life sciences, civil engineering, architecture / environment, and management of technology. The Management of Technology has been an important effort within EPFL over the last several years, and it has come to fruition in the form of the new College of Management of Technology (CDM), which was launched in October 2004.  

Sisteplant is an industrial engineering and software developer company founded in 1984 and is the Spanish leading company in the software and consultancy in the area of Lean Manufacturing. The company is located in Derio, in the Technological Park of Bizkaia – Spain and has more than 80 employees, with a common aim of reaching satisfactory implementations with a practical focus that guarantees booth short term results and consistent management practices in the customer companies. Sisteplant offers and implements solutions relating all industrial aspects: manufacturing strategies and organization as agile manufacturing, process improvement and automation, industrial software for plant data acquisition and maintenance management, new industrial plants lay out, handling and warehouses, TPM, etc. Sisteplant is the creator of the software system CAPTOR – PRISMA, for real-time shop floor and supply-chain-management. 

Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI) is the most important technical university in Italy and one of the biggest in Europe. Since 1850 Politecnico di Milano has been active in several scientific and technical fields. In particular, Management and Production Engineering Master of Science course is active since 1985. Department of Economics, Management and Industrial Engineering (DIG – Dipartimento di Ingegneria Gestionale) is involved in this project with its specific competences in the fields of Innovation Management and Product Lifecycle Management and its experience on training games. The Department has been involved in several European and national projects such as PLANTFABER, MAIN-E, IMS-GEM, CE-NET, PROMISE, INCOCO-S, PRIME and SOCRADES. Furthermore it has been the coordinator of the IMS Network of Excellence and of the IMS2020 project.

Rolls-Royce (R-R) is a world-leading provider of power systems and services for use on land, at sea and in the air, operates in four global markets (civil aerospace, defence aerospace, marine and energy). Rolls-Royce has a broad customer base comprising 600 airlines, 4,000 corporate and utility aircraft and helicopter operators, 160 armed forces, more than 2,000 marine customers including 70 navies, and energy customers in 120 countries. The company now has a total of 54,000 gas turbines in service worldwide and they generate a demand for high-value services throughout their operational lives. Rolls-Royce is a technology leader, employing 38,000 people in offices, manufacturing and service facilities in 50 countries. Rolls-Royce continues to invest in core technologies, products, people and capabilities with the objective of broadening and strengthening the product portfolio, improving efficiency and enhancing the environmental performance of its products. 

With production facilities in 15 countries and a broad product range stretching from the high-efficient “blue motion” passenger car to luxury and sports cars, light & heavy duty trucks and commercial vehicles, the Volkswagen Group (VW) has grown up to one of the largest globally active automotive manufacturers. The company consists of nine independent brands from six European countries. Volkswagen's aim is to produce vehicles with ever increasing quality, safety and technology standards and at the same time reduce fuel consumption and emission levels. VW is interested in the application of new developments in all automotive areas not only to meet all relevant technical and legal requirements but also to satisfy customer demands on a consistently high level. Volkswagen`s extensive investigations in new test procedures started already in the early seventieth, today there is a long time of experience in this field. 

Visteon manufactures components which the Vehicle Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) assembles into the vehicle. The design of the product is achieved collaboratively between the OEM and Visteon. The OEM wants to control the appearance of the product in line with it’s brand strategy. While Visteon brings the technology satisfy the overall needs of the OEM. Visteon’s strength is its understanding of the vehicle environment and the OEMs design methodologies, which it aims to balance.

Indesit Company S.p.A. is one of the three largest European appliance manufacturers. The Group's principal activities are to design and produce household appliances; water heaters, fridges, freezers, washing machines, cookers, ovens, dish washers and other appliances. Indesit Company also provides third parties with the capabilities and technologies required in order to network any electrical device making it accessible on a local or remote basis. The company takes advantage of over 100 years of cumulative engineering experience, a highly motivated, qualified and inventive staff and an extensive network of partnerships with major companies and universities.

The Polish company Sitech Sp. z.o.o. is part of the Sitech group with development and manufacturing locations in Poland, Germany and China. The core business of Sitech is the development and manufacturing of steel seat structures and entire seats for vehicles. By the creation of its own seat development Sitech positioned itself successfully as development supplier at automotive market. Sitech is able to realise cost saving effects for OEM within all areas of seat production.