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Implementing lean information management: the case

study of an automotive company
a a a
Maurizio Bevilacqua , Filippo Emanuele Ciarapica & Claudia Paciarotti
a
Department of Industrial Engineering and Mathematical Science, Università Politecnica
delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, Ancona 60131, Italy
Published online: 09 Apr 2015.

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information management: the case study of an automotive company, Production Planning & Control: The Management of
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 Production Planning & Control, 2015
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09537287.2014.975167

Implementing lean information management: the case study of an automotive company

Maurizio Bevilacqua, Filippo Emanuele Ciarapica and Claudia Paciarotti*
Department of Industrial Engineering and Mathematical Science, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, Ancona
60131, Italy
(Received 17 July 2012; accepted 6 October 2014)

Worldwide modern organisation is continuously crossed by a great number of information but frequently information is
not accurate, the needed information is not generated or it cannot be easily identified and, more, the information cannot
flow through the whole organisation. This paper proposes the application of lean thinking in the field of information
management. In the areas of manufacturing and production, the lean thinking is well known but usually the importance
of a holistic approach is neglected and the improvement involves only the production and logistic areas and there is not
a specific focus on the lean information management. We applied lean thinking to information management in order to
improve the performance of an automotive company. We analysed the as-is company condition, we identified the present
muda and we introduced the necessary changes. Then, we verified the modification efficiency through the calculation of
Downloaded by [ECU Libraries] at 13:23 25 April 2015

a performance index. The paper proposes an interesting and exhaustive case of lean information management application
and it highlights the possible improvement of such approach. The results of this study are not sector specific: they are
not only applicable by other automotive industries, but they can also be extended to many other sectors.
Keywords: lean production; lean information management; performance improvement; information flow; visual
management; information technology

1. Introduction such as the elimination of redundant and non-value-

Efficient information management in any organisation
can provide consistent advantages and create important
financial and business benefits. Literature shows that for
many companies and organisations information manage-
ment is widely used to improve performance and
efficiency (Dietel 2000; Chaffey and Wood 2004;
Dimitriadis and Koh 2005; Bayraktar et al. 2009). Infor-
mation flow inside a company connects the company’s
different functions and their members; therefore, it is
important for the information flowing to be accurate,
updated, complete and self-consistent. It must create
value and must be pulled by the company’s customers.
For a lean company, the search for non-value-added
activities should deal with all the activities connected to
the production of goods and services, including informa-
tion management. In the field of information manage-
ment, waste and value identification is more subjective
and less perceptible than in the manufacturing sector. For
this reason, sometimes, when performing muda elimina-
tion, not enough attention is paid to information flow.
This paper proposes the case study of an Italian automo-
tive company that applies lean thinking principles and is
involved in the processes of continuous improvement
and muda elimination. The lean thinking approach has
brought the company to carry out improvement actions
added activities. Such changes have highlighted the
necessity to improve the information flow inside the
company. For this study, the authors have focused
specifically on the application of lean principles to infor-
mation management, also known as lean information
management.
In order to have a complete knowledge of the as-is
system, the IDEF0 modelling technique has been used.
From the analysis of the muda identified, the re-engi-
neering of the information system has been carried out.
The performance measure then has made it possible to
evaluate the benefits obtained. The case study proposed
represents a successful example of lean information
management implementation and shows the benefits that
can come from paying special attention to information
management. Of course, the approach implemented is
not sector specific and can be easily applied to other
sectors.
The paper is organised as follow. Section 2 proposes a
brief introduction of lean thinking history, principles, tools
and application field. Then a theoretical background of the
implementation of lean thinking in the context of informa-
tion management is provided. In Section 3, the research
approach proposed is described. While in Section 4, the
case study of the application of lean information

*Corresponding author. Email: c.paciarotti@univpm.it

© 2015 Taylor & Francis

 2 M. Bevilacqua et al.
management in an automotive company is presented. In
order to provide a complete and exhaustive analysis, the
study includes the three dimensions suggested by Forza
and Salvador (2001): operating processes, information
flow and performance. So in Section 5, the performance
measurement highlights the results and the improvement
obtained by the new system introduced.
2. Theoretical background
2.1. Lean thinking
In the 1930s, the years of reconstruction following the
Second World War, in the Japanese vehicle manufacturer
Toyota, Sakichi Toyoda, the founder of Toyota Indus-
tries, his son Kiichiro Toyoda and the production engi-
neer Taiichi Ohno invented the socio-technical Toyota
Production System (Fujimoto 1999), which can be seen
as the precursor of lean thinking. Later, in 1988, the term
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lean was coined by John Krafcik. Lean thinking can be
dealt with as practical and operational approach or as a
philosophical (Hines, Holweg, and Rich 2004; Bhasin
and Burcher 2006; Shah and Ward 2007). Lean thinking
is a highly evolved method of managing an organisation,
it is an improvement approach, a strategy or a philoso-
phy to minimise waste (Muda) and enhance a company’s
performance (Womack et al. 1990). According to lean
thinking, all work activities can be classified into three
categories (Womack and Jones 1996): value-added activ-
ities, required/necessary non-value-added activities and
non-value-added activities. Non-value-added activities
are those activities customers are not willing to pay for.
The first objective of a lean thinking implementation is
to eliminate non-value-added activities, also known as
waste or Muda. Necessary non-value-added activities,
instead, should not be eliminated immediately, because,
although they do not add value from the customers’ per-
spective, they are necessary for production. However, it
may be necessary to explore a further way to reduce or
eliminate them in the long run.
Ohno (1988) identified seven types of waste:
overproduction, waiting, transporting, over processing,
inventory, motion and defects.
Womack and Jones (1996) proposed five lean princi-
ples to be applied in order to achieve a lean organisation:
value, value stream, flow, pull and continuous improve-
ment.
A sixth principle, which has long been unrecognised
or ignored outside Toyota, is ‘respect for people’
(Sugimori et al. 1977; Kato 1981; Toyoda 1985; Okuda
1999). Such attention to people is shown by Losonci,
Demeter, and Jenei (2011) that carried out a first study
on employees’ perceptions during a lean transformation.
Even if lean thinking was born in the field of
automotive industries it found a great success also in a
number of other sectors. Arbòs (2002) proposed a
methodology for the implementation of lean management
in a service production system and he described an
application in the field of telecommunication services.
Lyons, Vidamour, and Jain (2011) analysed the adoption
of lean thinking by process industries. Bortolotti and
Romano (2012) developed a framework to streamline
and automate processes in pure service-providing compa-
nies. Radnor (2010) reflected on the introduction of a
lean approach in a large UK Government department in
order to understand which tools and techniques are rele-
vant in such a field. Radnor and Johnston (2013) pro-
posed two case studies of large UK Government
departments and found the lack of a market-driven
approach focusing on the customer. Lean principles are
also successfully applied in healthcare organisations (e.g.
Ben-Tovim et al. 2008; Kimsey 2010; Waldhausen et al.
2010). Xiaofeng, Kieran, and Oisin (2012) investigated
how lean approaches have been applied in agile software
development through the analysis of 30 experience
reports containing real-world practice. Paciarotti, Ciatteo,
and Giacchetta (2011) applied the value stream mapping
method to reorganise work placement service in one of
Italy’s major third sector organisations. The use of lean
methods in non-profit organisation permitted to combine
the effectiveness of social solidarity with acceptable lev-
els of efficiency. Demeter and Matyusz (2011) focused
on how companies can improve their inventory turnover
performance through the use of lean practices. Sundin
et al. (2011) adapted and applied lean production princi-
ples for designing and managing recycling centre opera-
tions. The intervention increased visitor capacity and
waste flexibility, improved sorting quality, reduced time
for visits and enhanced working conditions. Hodge et al.
(2011) examined the use of lean tools and principles in
the textile industry. Mathaisel, Manary, and Comm
(2009) dealt with the application of a lean enterprise
approach to transform sustainment processes in the mili-
tary enterprise in order to face aging weapon systems,
aging workforce and limited financial resources and to
enhance the military’s ability to perform its mission. The
papers cited are only a few examples of the wide range
of lean thinking applications; many other case studies
are available in literature.
A variety of different techniques and tools have been
developed to achieve the lean thinking objectives.
Among the well-known and most implemented tools, we
can cite 5S (sorting, straightening, systematic cleaning,
standardising and sustaining), just-in-time, Kanban,
Andon, visual management, value stream mapping, cellu-
lar layout, inventory reduction, six sigma, small lot
production, production leveling, document tagging,
continuous flow, standard work (Ohno 1988; Bicheno
1999; Womack and Jones 1996; Mann 2005; Tapping
2006). Although there are a great number of efficient
tools available to increase organisation leanness, lean
 Production Planning & Control
thinking cannot work through isolated tools, but a total
approach is necessary (Shingo 1989; Liker 2004). Some-
times companies do not exploit the full potential of the
concepts and techniques inherent in lean philosophy
(Lasa, de Castro, and Laburu 2009). Wong, Ignatius, and
Soh (2012) underlined the importance of a holistic
approach also in the measure for sustainable lean perfor-
mance. The total approach suggests that inside an organi-
sation lean thinking should be applied also in the field of
information management in order to eliminate wastes
and define and enhance the flow of value. Information
management is a basic part of lean thinking (Worley and
Doolen 2006).
2.2. Lean information management
Lean Information Management is defined as an approach
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to improve organizational systems by reducing waste
and drive up value of information. The aspiration of
LIM is to deliver continuous improvement in pursuit of
perfection in all activities. LIM is about exposing and
solving problems of waste, variability and inflexibility. It
focuses on establishing roles, responsibilities and prac-
tices to manage the public value of information and
knowledge. (Ibbitson and Smith 2011)
Adapting lean philosophy for information professionals
is a pre-requisite for a better control of paper/electronic-
based information processes and enterprise information
management (Ibbitson and Smith 2011).
The six principles of lean information management
are (Womack 2011):
Table 1. Causes of waste classification.
Waste category
Failure demand
Flow demand
Flow excess
Flawed flow
3
 Simplify every process to minimise your need for
information management.
 Make every step in your processes capable and
available.
 Schedule each value stream from only one point.
 Use a reflexive production control upstream from
the scheduling point.
 Send information in small batches.
 Make your information management transparent
and intuitive.
Hölttä et al. (2010) applied the lean production
development principles to information management with
the aim of creating a model for lean information man-
agement. The validation process began in four compa-
nies from the automotive, heavy machinery and software
intensive mechatronics industries. The initial results of
these implementations suggested that the lead times of
information transfer can be reduced using a lean
approach to information management.
In contrast to the manufacturing sector, in the area of
information management, waste and value identification
is more subjective and less perceptible. In fact, informa-
tion management is not supported by a physical and visi-
ble system and, consequently, wastes are not so tangible
and value flow is not directly visible.
Hicks (2007) discussed the application of lean think-
ing to information management. He highlighted the
potential benefits and extent of application of lean
principles and emphasised the fundamental barriers for
its application to information management. He also
identified four types of waste:
Issues
Manual systems and data entry
Information flow from customers and/or sales
Functionality of information systems
Information availability and accessibility
End-user developed applications over Commercial-Off-the-Shelf
(COTS) information systems
Paper systems over COTS information systems
Information exchange
Monitoring, control and costing
Information flow from customers and/or sales
Numbering and traceability of machines, assemblies and parts
Information availability and accessibility
Information identification, location and organisation
Information duplication
Information storage
Information identification, location and organisation
Information completeness and accuracy
Information duplication
Information currency
 4 M. Bevilacqua et al.
(1) Failure demand: time, resources and activities
spent to acquire necessary but unavailable
information.
(2) Flow demand: time and resources spent to iden-
tify the information elements that need to flow.
(3) Flow excess: time and resources spent dealing
with unnecessary information.
(4) Flawed flow: time and resources spent to correct
or verify flawed information and incorrect activi-
ties that follow the use of flawed information.
A partial analogy between information management
wastes and well-known traditional wastes in manufactur-
ing systems can be noticed. Failure demand, flow
demand, flow excess and flawed flow correspond with
overprocessing, waiting, overproduction and defects,
respectively (Hicks 2007). No correspondence can be
found for transport, inventory and motion because the
focus is on electronic information management systems.
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The study should be widened, including all the informa-
tion management systems applied. Hicks, Culley, and
McMahon (2006) proposed a useful collection of the
causes of wastes, which are reported in Table 1.
The five lean principles proposed by Womack and
Jones (1996) in order to achieve a lean organisation can
also be used with respect to information management.
The key principles of lean information management,
deeply described by Hicks (2007), are summarised in the
following:
 Value, information must supply value to informa-
tion customers.
 Value stream, processes and activities that deliver
information must be mapped and well integrated.
 Flow, information should be made to flow effi-
ciently, particularly the most valuable information.
Figure 1. Information system development model.
 Pull, information should be delivered if and when
it is requested by information customers.
 Continuous improvement, perfection should be
pursued by continually removing wastes and regu-
larly reviewing the information management
system, that is creating a culture of continuous
improvement.
As proposed by the lean information management
toolkit (Ibbitson and Smith 2011), most tools applied in
manufacturing systems like visual management, value
stream mapping, Kanban, pull vs. push and Kaizen are
also available.
3. Research approach
The Approach proposed in this paper for implementing
lean information management is shown in Figure 1.
The research approach is made up of three macro-
steps composed as described in the following:
 system analysis:
 current state analysis,
 muda detection;
 information management system improvement:
 information management system improvement
suggestion,
 choice between the improvements proposed,
 new process implementation,
 new process performance measurement;
 continuous monitoring and improvement:
 system maintenance,
 system review.
A deep analysis of the current state of the informa-
tion management system is the first macrostep towards a
lean approach to information management. Without an
 Production Planning & Control
exhaustive knowledge of the starting point no efficient
improvement can be introduced. The analysis of the sys-
tem includes a clear knowledge of the current state and a
specific attention to muda detection. The necessary infor-
mation needs to be mapped and all the obstacles to infor-
mation flow need to be detected. The wastes highlighted
during this first macrostep represent the starting point of
the second one: the improvement of the information
management system.
There is a significant body of evidence that in recent
decades investments in information and communication
technology (ICT) to obtain performance improvement in
production processes have grown worldwide. Generally,
many companies believe that investments in ICT are
synonymous with competitive advantage (Chae, Yen, and
Sheu 2005). In point of fact, buying the best-of-breed
ICT products does not necessarily bring higher perfor-
mance (Beth et al. 2003). Because there is no association
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between the levels of IT spending and relative customer
service performance (Ray, Muhanna, and Barney 2007),
for the case study presented the authors decided to avoid
adding further IT and tried to improve the efficiency of
the existing software. They suggested to optimise the
existing software and to exploit all its potentials, which
were not always completely known and best used. In
line with this intention, a number of potential system
modifications were proposed and evaluated. Then the
best solution was selected and placed into effect. An
analytical measurement of performance increase due to
the new process completes this second macrostep.
Obviously, this last step needs to be planned in advance,
in fact, in the specific case presented; the authors had to
observe the same set of parameters both before and after
the new system implementation.
Finally, it is necessary to monitor the system in order
to avoid returning to the starting point and incurring
unplanned changes. From the figure, it is already possi-
ble to notice that the method used is not linear, but it is
based on iterative and incremental developments
(Larman 2003). As previously expressed, continuous
improvement is a lean principle: no lean information
management is possible without pursuing perfection by
continually removing wastes. If the Action Research
cycle proposed by Coughlan and Coghlan (2002) is
taken as reference, the steps performed in the case study
presented in this paper are:
 pre step: understanding context and purpose;
 six main steps:
 data gathering,
 data feedback,
 data analysis,
 action planning,
 implementation,
 evaluation.
5
The company was recommended to carry out the
monitoring step to pursue continuous improvement.
4. Case study
AUTOFirm is an Italian automotive group, leader in the
European market of luxury and super sports cars. To
achieve excellence, AUTOFirm adopts a continuous pro-
cess improvement of its production systems; it applies
lean production practices, following the well-known and
successful implementations in the automotive sector.
In 2010, AUTOFirm started a revision of the produc-
tion flow in order to highlight possible critical situations
and make the necessary improvements. Along the pro-
duction line, a great number of redundant check points
were detected; the same checks were carried out more
than once in different workstations and by different oper-
ators. The production department overcame the problems
connected with check redundancy with the development
of a new production flow. After the change, the number
of cars partially completed in the production line, better
known as work-in-process (WIP), reduced drastically and
passed from 70 to 40, with a percentage reduction of
42%. WIP reduction is one of the most common conse-
quences of the application of lean manufacturing in the
process sector (see as example Abdulmalek and Rajgopal
2007). WIP reduction is a popular tool for improving a
company’s overall performance (Silver, Pyke, and
Peterson 1998; Hopp and Spearman 2000; Hofer, Eroglu,
and Rossiter Hofer 2012) and its reduction is connected
to manufacturing lead time and cost cutback, and to
quality and flexibility increase. On the other hand, too
high WIP hides faults of production planning and
control, and consequently, with the reduction of WIP,
other problems are uncovered (Black 1991; Stadtler and
Kilger 2008). The substantial WIP reduction obtained by
AUTOFirm caused a high percentage of vehicles to be
delivered after the delivery date. For example, during the
seven weeks before the intervention, the percentage of
vehicles that did not meet the delivery times was 55%.
The emerged problems forced the company to make a
further improvement. Stating from such a need, a team,
composed of an external consultant researcher and single
function responsibles, was created. The case study was
conducted between March 2011 and July 2011.
Products in the automotive field are considerably
complex; therefore, an efficient, clear and prompt com-
munication is crucial: an inefficient communication
between different functions and between the operators of
the same function can cause a bad management of time,
activities and resources. The aim of this work is to
reorganise the existent information system in order to
eliminate wastes and to make the information flow more
efficient. The scope is not to develop a completely new
 6 M. Bevilacqua et al.

information system, but to introduce a new integrative  Inputs: arrows entering the left side of the box rep-
tool into the existing one. resent the inputs that are transformed or consumed
by the function to produce outputs.
 Controls: arrows entering the box on the top repre-
4.1. The as-is analysis sent controls that specify the conditions required
In order to provide a detailed map of the whole process for the function to produce correct outputs.
and of the material and information flow connected, the  Outputs: arrows leaving a box on the right side
IDEF0 (Integration DEFinition language 0) technique represent the outputs produced by the function.
was used to model the system. The integration of lean  Mechanisms: arrows connected to the bottom of the
manufacturing methodology with other applications has box represent the mechanisms necessary to execute
already been successfully proposed (e.g. Pullan, Bhasi, a function (i.e. human resources, materials).
and Madhu 2013).
IDEF0 has a hierarchical structure. There is a top
IDEF0 is a modelling language designed to model
diagram (A-0 diagram) composed of a single activity
the decisions, functions and activities of systems and or-
box that describes the context, purpose and viewpoint of
ganisations. IDEF0 is an IEEE Standard (KBSI 1998)
the model. The top-level context diagram is then
derived from the graphical language SADT (Structured
decomposed into its main sub-activities through a child
Analysis and Design Technique) developed in 1972
diagram. Each of these sub-activities is further decom-
(Marca and McGowan 1988). The IDEF0 model is based
posed into low-level child diagrams.
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on two basic constructs: the IDEF0 function box that

The entire production process, from order arrival to
represents activities, processes and transformations and
vehicle delivery, is divided into its main activities:
the arrows that represent Data and objects related to the
functions. There are four classes of arrows: inputs,  customer relationship management and order
controls, outputs and mechanisms. management.

Figure 2. Vehicle production process.

 Production Planning & Control 7

 Production planning. IDEF0 provides a simple and informative model con-

 Material supply.
 Production and assembly.
 Product Quality control.
The IDEF0 model of the whole vehicle production
process is reported in Figure 2.
Each activity is decomposed in its sub-activities till
the needed level of detail. For example the activity
‘Material supply’ is decomposed as follows:
 Placing order;
 analysis of the required material,
 fax/email to supplier;
 Material delivery;
 Material control:
 sample control,
 fax to suppliers in case of non-conformity find-
ing;
 Management programme updating; and
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taining crucial information about the functions that com-
pose the vehicle production process, inputs and outputs
of each function and the mechanisms and controls
involved. From the as-is model analysis, it is possible to
identify the main wastes connected to the information
management. As far as the information collected on elec-
tronic storage media is concerned, two different soft-
wares are used inside the firm: we will call them A and
B. Within software A, different windows are created to
enable different areas to communicate their information
and needs. Window A1 connects the Production and the
Logistics departments. Its function is to communicate to
Logistics which items need to be reordered and which
vehicles need them, and to communicate to Production
the arrival date of the items reordered. The information
about the items reordered and arrival dates is then col-
lected in reports. The second window, A2, connects the

Sales and the Logistics departments. A2 contains infor-

 Material Storing. mation about orders, items scrapping and out of standard
time management. Software B connects the Production
In the study, the proposed functions involved in the
and the Quality departments. B is a database where the
process investigated and the existing information flow
vehicle defects detected are recorded: at each checkpoint,
were first analysed to better understand the overall start-
operators add the type of defect detected for the vehicle
ing point. The four main actors involved in the construc-
under test, the position of the defect and the checkpoint
tion of a vehicle were identified: Sales, Logistics,
resolution. Production reports the cars cramped along the
Production and Quality Departments. In the following, a
production flow and the reason of the cramp. Data about
brief description of their role and main functions is
the position of each vehicle along the production line,
given:
necessary reworks, the statistics of defects detected and
 Sales Department: it is the division of the business cramped cars are collected in reports, which are then
responsible for selling; it has a direct contact with analysed and discussed during meetings.
customers. It decides which vehicles must be pro- It can be easily noticed that the information system
duced, the deadlines to be met and it establishes used was realised to connect two functions, in a one-to-
the company’s production priorities based on one communication mode. The interactions between
vehicles behind schedule or on special clients’ functions and the specific software used for sharing
requirements. information are shown in Figure 3.
 Logistics Department: this function plans, imple- There are no direct information sharing devices con-
ments and controls the effective flow and storage necting Logistics and Quality, Sales and Production and
of goods in order to match with Sales Department Sales and Quality. But the more critical point is the lack
requirements. It interacts with suppliers for stan- of a common medium connecting all the functions at the
dard orders and for restocks due to items not in
compliance or damaged.
 Production Department: its objective is to assemble
the vehicle. It points out to Research & Develop-
ment group vehicle problems and suggests possible
solutions; further, it conveys the necessary restocks
to Logistics. It guarantees the required output
within the fixed deadlines, with the required qual-
ity level and with the assigned resources.
 Quality Department: it checks the potential compo-
nents and vehicle defects, it verifies if the standard
assembly procedures are followed and it tests the
correspondence of the vehicles finished with the
standard defined. It interacts with suppliers and it
is responsible for clients’ complaints. Figure 3. Existing interaction system between functions.
 8 M. Bevilacqua et al.
same time. Consequently, the operators of the different
functions do not have a common overview of the whole
process. In the system analysed there is no integration in
the communication network. Cooperation and coordina-
tion between distinct functions require the ability to
exchange information in a timely, responsive and usable
format. In conclusion, there is a clear and pronounced
inability to exchange information between the informa-
tion systems. So the main waste detected is connected
with ‘flow demand’: information is well generated, it is
accurate, it is required, but it is unable to flow. The
causes of wastes proposed by Hicks, Culley, and McMa-
hon (2006) were used in the study presented as a check
list in order to better understand the existing problems
and to identify a specific direction for further improve-
ments. For the case study proposed, the main waste
causes detected are connected to information exchange,
numbering and traceability of machines, assemblies and
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parts, information availability and accessibility, informa-
tion identification, location and organisation and informa-
tion duplication. The as-is analysis highlighted the
necessity to achieve system interoperability, which can
be defined as the ability of two or more systems or
components to exchange information and to use the
information exchanged (IEEE 1990). Information system
interoperability could be perceived through the develop-
ment of a public interface. Hicks, Culley, and McMahon
(2006) strongly highlighted the need for a single unified
accepted representation of particular elements of infor-
mation inside SMEs. Interviews conducted at 10 UK
engineering SMEs demonstrated that the same informa-
tion was observed in a number of different formats
across each company, which represents a key barrier for
improving information management within engineering
SMEs.
4.2. The initial development of a common information
database
Summarising the observations emerged from the as-is
analysis performed, it is possible to state that, to improve
the connection between functions, an integrated informa-
tion system (IIS) is required. Mudie and Schafer (1985)
defined an IIS as a system.
providing an end user, at any location, with the capabil-
ity of assessing information stored at any level of the
information processing system and enabling [one]… to
interchange and share information with any other end
user at any location within a single interconnected net-
work and providing the potential for eventual customer
access to data.
In order to provide a structural and physical support for
the required IIS, a pilot instrument, which consists of a
common information database, was developed. Within
software A, a new window collecting information com-
ing from Production, Sales and Logistics, was created to
provide a traversal knowledge of each on stream vehicle.
In particular, the window contains the following informa-
tion:
 Vehicle identification number (VIN).
 Body shell identification number.
 Order identification number.
 Selling order.
 Vehicle model.
 Vehicle features
 Vehicle status (in-line, testing, finishing)
 Delivery data.
 Potential missing items and their arrival date
 Vehicle classification as stock, customer or demo
 Priority vehicles.
 Notes from Sales, Logistics and Production.
 The expected and real data of operation start.
 Customer data and customer code.
The new instrument provides a first information clus-
tering and gives a more global vision of the production
process. Figure 4 shows an extract of the window cre-
ated.
Already at first sight, the window created appears to
be not easy to read. The spreadsheet is too big and con-
tains a great number of non-organised information. Con-
nection between the shown information is not easy and
it needs a certain degree of experience to be detected.
The information overload forces the user to be selective
with the information perceived and retained. The velocity
of information acquisition is dependent on the operator’s
ability to move inside the information system. Such a
structure implies that some of the decisions about the
production process are based on ‘intuition’, instead of on
a rational analysis: in fact, even if a deep analysis
brought to careful results, it would take too much time.
Furthermore, even after the introduction of the new
instrument, the Quality department remains unconnected
with the other functions.
Errors committed during this first development of the
integrated window can lead to positive outcomes such as
learning (Nonaka and Takeuchi 1995; Lyytinen and
Robey 1999). The system just described was developed
and proposed in a prototype form to managers and oper-
ators. The analysis of the feedbacks received made it
possible to clearly define the essential features that an
integrated system must absolutely have to satisfy effi-
ciency requirements:
 All the useful information about a vehicle coming
from different actors must be grouped and made
available at the same time. The most important
information that needs to be underlined and shared
between the process actors must be immediate to
find and stored in a single database.
 Production Planning & Control
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Figure 4. The first informatics tool developed.
 The overall status of the whole system must be
clear. Selecting the most important information that
needs to be underlined and shared and making it
available to the process actors is not enough. This
information must be reported in a structured way.
The structure of the information system must pro-
vide an exhaustive overview of the system, includ-
ing information on every single component as well
as on the relationships between them.
 Possible problems should automatically appear.
Operators should not have to look for critical con-
ditions, but the critical conditions should immedi-
ately and automatically attract operators’ attention.
The waste occurred during this stage is ‘flow excess’.
Excessive information is inserted and presented in the
window. The most significant information cannot be eas-
ily identified and to be able to correctly use the informa-
tion available is too costly in terms of time and
resources.
9
4.3. A further improvement: the graphic and
information process map
In order to achieve the first essential feature detected for
an IIS, the crucial and most important information that
need to be underlined and shared between the process
actors was selected. Then the visual management con-
cept, which is already extensively used by lean produc-
tion, was borrowed from the production field and used to
improve the communication efficiency. The visual
approach suggests creating the working condition for
operators to directly observe and discover where errors
and muda occur. The aim of visual management is to
make information available, timely and understandable.
Visual management makes everyone along the process
able to manage, improve, control and correct the process.
Tezel, Koskela, and Tzortzopoulos (2009) performed a
detailed literature review and identified the functions of
visual management: transparency, discipline, continuous
improvement, job facilitation, on-the-job training,
 10 M. Bevilacqua et al.
creating shared ownership, management by facts,
simplification, unification. The successful implementa-
tions of visual process management tools performed by
Rolls Royce, Airbus UK and Weston Aerospace are
presented by Parry and Turner (2006).
In the case study considered, the benefits of the
visual management approach were reached through the
development and the implementation of a visual device.
A visual device is ‘an apparatus, mechanism, item, or
object that influences, directs, limits, or controls behavior
by making information vital to the task at hand available
at a glance, without speaking a word’ (Galsworth 2011).
Such a definition brings out two fundamental aspects of
a visual device: the information itself and its clear per-
ception. Another very important aspect is information
sharing. Greif (1991) states that the distinctive aspect of
visual communication is that it is not addressed just to
an individual, but to a group. So the introduction of a
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visual device in the automotive context studied, where
Figure 5. The process map.
the processes are considerably complex, where there are
many actors involved and where communication
efficiency is fundamental, seems to be appropriate and
useful.
In the new visual device proposed in this study and
described in detail hereinafter, written communication
was merged with a graphical form of communication.
The visual device is a tool developed to support the IIS.
The visual and textual device proposed and implemented
is shown in Figure 5. It is a new application of the soft-
ware A previously used. The entire vehicle assembly
process is described and summarised in a window with
the outer face of a map. Such structure enables an
exhaustive overview on the whole system: not only the
single vehicles are under control, but the whole system
too.
Each column of the file represents one of the work-
stations along the assembly line. The VIN of the vehicles
in progress in a specific station and the most important
 Production Planning & Control
information are reported in the corresponding cell. A
chromatic representation was introduced in order to
promptly distinguish between vehicles at a standstill (in
blue colour–dark grey in figure), priority vehicles
(in green–light grey in figure) and customer vehicles (in
pink–grey in figure). Through such a representation criti-
cal vehicles immediately pop out: attention and fast cor-
rective actions must be concentrated on the vehicles
characterised by a green cell near a pink one. In fact,
these vehicles have a high-priority level and are not pro-
duced for stock or as a demo, but for the customers and
consequently they have a specific delivery date. The new
device provides an overall status of the whole system: at
first look, it clearly indicates where the vehicles are
located, the volume distribution and where prompt action
is required.
Drafting the map and manually updating it require a
lot of time and are a very painstaking work. For this rea-
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son, a simple excel macro was developed in order
to automatically extract the necessary data from the
different information systems and to insert them in the
right position in the map.
5. Results
The new information system can be schematised as in
Figure 6.
Software A and the visual device developed simulta-
neously connect the four functions involved in the vehicle
production process. The Logistics, Sales, Production and
Quality departments can see the overall production status
and can immediately update the information of the respec-
tive areas of responsibility. While the previous information
system was realised to put in connection two functions, in
a one-to-one communication mode, the actual system pro-
vides complete interconnection and interoperability
between all the functions involved through a shared
device. In order to avoid an overload of available informa-
tion, the specific one-to-one information flow performed
between Production and Quality is maintained.
The improvement obtained by the introduction of the
new instrument was measured through the use of a
Figure 6. The new interaction system between functions.
11
Figure 7. Performance value evaluated.
performance index. In a complex context, the choice of a
meaningful index is not so easy: there are many factors
involved and the real situation has to be necessarily sim-
plified. Since the strategic focus of AUTOFirm is on
customer service, the main aspect investigated was the
quickness and quality of product delivery. The index
chosen is one used by the company: the percentage of
vehicles completed late, in time and in advance (an
example is shown in Figure 7). The term ‘vehicles
completed’ means vehicles completed that meet quality
standards and are therefore ready to be delivered to
customers.
At the end of each week, the company calculates the
number of vehicles completed, whether the delivery date
is met or not, the reason of the delay is recorded and the
responsibility is placed to a specific function. The data
are collected and analysed in order to focus on the main
problem detected. The authors evaluated the number of
vehicles completed in time, in advance and late during a
period of 18 weeks: seven weeks before and 11 weeks
after the introduction of the new information system
occurred at the seventh week. Figure 8 reports the
percentage of vehicles delivered in advance, in time and
behind schedule during the seven weeks before the
change. Figure 9 reports the percentage of vehicles
delivered in advance, in time and late during the
11 weeks before the change.
The percentages of in time and in advance data were
summed and the data of the two periods (before and
after the change) were analysed. Figure 10 reports the
data of the first period and Figure 11 reports the data of
the second period.
In each period, the tendency line was drawn visually.
During the seven weeks monitored before the introduc-
tion of the new device, the tendency line is almost con-
stant, while during the following 10 weeks the tendency
line has a positive inclination. The introduction of the
system caused a decrease in the average value of the
vehicles not meeting the delivery date from 55 to 43%
and the connected increase of the average value of the
vehicles meeting the delivery date from 45 to 57%.
Furthermore, the analysis of firm records highlights that
the delays caused by misunderstandings between
operators are reduced by 50%.
The benefits obtained are the consequence of a better
and more coordinated communication between all the
 12 M. Bevilacqua et al.

Figure 8. Percentage of vehicles delivered in advanced, in time and late during the seven weeks before the change introduced.
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Figure 9. Percentage of vehicles delivered in advanced, in time and late during the 11 weeks after the change introduced.

Figure 11. The performance data collected after the introduc-

Figure 10. The performance data collected before the
tion of the new tool.
introduction of the new tool.

actors involved in the process. No time is lost by the updated directly and any change (such as vehicle prior-
operators and managers to look for required and neces- ity, customer requests, change in delivery time, etc.) is
sary information. The overall status of the system is immediately transmitted to all end customers. Moreover,
 Production Planning & Control
critical situations automatically appear, consequently the
work can be immediately rescheduled in order to redirect
resources to the most critical vehicles.
The specific focus on lean information management
has enabled the company to increase the benefits already
obtained by applying lean production principles. Usually,
a generic lean approach causes to neglect the muda
connected with information and to focus attention and
resources only to eliminate the more obvious muda
connected to production.
6. Discussion and further development
Implementing a lean approach to information manage-
ment can increase the competitiveness of a company. As
shown in this case study, it can make it possible to
achieve tangible benefits like the ones reported in the
case study in terms of delay reduction and timely sched-
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uling. Furthermore, the paper shows academics and prac-
titioners the actual applicability of lean information
management; the usefulness of the waste classification
model proposed by Hicks in waste detection and analy-
sis; the powerfulness, flexibility and low cost of visual
solution implementations. The aim of this paper is also
to give practitioners a reference for implementing lean
information. It is basic that all the steps described in the
research approach section, and applied and illustrated in
the case study analysis, are followed.
Based on the results of the analysis proposed, the fol-
lowing recommendations are offered to support the effort
of information management improvement.
 Lean principles and tools may not be easy to
understand and apply for non-experts. For this rea-
son, lean information management implementation
needs a lean expert that can easily coordinate and
direct the efforts towards a lean direction.
 It is not easy to correctly evaluate and detect the
actual benefits connected with lean information
management implementation. For this reason, each
company needs to identify and construct specific
performance indicators that well represent the
company’s objectives.
 The implementation of any modification needs to
be subsequent to the supervision and approval of
managers and operators. No top–down and no
non-shared changes should be performed, to avoid
the implementation of systems with neglected
inefficiencies.
 The focus on information management and its
improvement can allow the achievement of tangi-
ble enhancement over a short period of time and
with a low investment of resources.
 The visual information management device
proposed is a working lean tool that can be applied
13
in both the service and manufacturing sectors.
However, the authors suggest to evaluate all the
tools developed also in the field of lean production
in order to envisage further potential benefits they
can provide.
In the authors’ experience, identifying and establish-
ing wastes can give satisfactory results if it comes,
almost in a first step, from the partnership between firm
operators and managers and lean thinking experts. Such
a collaboration links a deep knowledge of the specific
context and its singular features and a strong knowledge
of the lean principles and the tools available. A good
information management system should include a section
showing an overview of the whole production system
and in the meantime an information flow should be
avoided. Through the viewpoints of the operators work-
ing in different company areas it should be possible to
understand which information is required uniquely for
the specific area or function and which information
should be shared with the other functions.
The study proposed confirmed what the authors
learned from previous experiences, which is that fre-
quently companies underuse the information-sharing
devices they own and pay for. The full potentiality of the
software they manage daily is unknown and sometimes a
little change can introduce considerable improvement
without requiring substantial economic investments.
In order to follow a continuous improvement
approach, further enhancement can be implemented. At
first, the visual approach proposed can be extended to the
other data-sharing devices used by each function inside a
firm. Subsequently, the analysis of the information flow
can be widened, grounding on the same framework pro-
posed, to include also the external boundary of the com-
pany. It could prove useful to detect all the stakeholder
groups interested in the same information, such as, for
example, suppliers, customers or local associations. For
each group, it will be necessary to specifically identify the
information to be shared and then implement a data-
sharing medium. Of course, depending on the specific
situation, it could be necessary to either implement a new
data-sharing device or just to modify an existing one.
7. Conclusion
In this paper, lean thinking has been applied to improve
information management inside a manufacturing com-
pany. The authors proposed the case of an automotive
manufacturer. Because information technology is one of
the pillars supporting information management, attention
was focused on its improvement. The authors decided
not to add further IT, but to improve the efficiency of
the existing software. The information flow was analysed
as a process and the muda present was detected. Two
 14 M. Bevilacqua et al.
main muda were identified. At first, the need of a com-
mon support to connect all the functions involved at the
same time in the vehicle production was highlighted.
The operators of the different functions need to have a
common overview of the whole process. This intercon-
nection between the IT systems used by distinct func-
tions is crucial to coordinate their decisions and
activities. Then the authors incurred in the muda of ‘flow
excess’. When excessive information is available too
much time and too many resources are uselessly spent to
identify the most significant information. Such muda is
not specific for the automotive context and it can be
identified in a great number of both production and ser-
vice companies. Even if the waste causes identified by
Hicks, Culley, and McMahon (2006) and Hicks (2007)
could be enriched and improved, they provide a useful
reference point for waste detection. They can be used as
a check list in order to better understand the existing
Downloaded by [ECU Libraries] at 13:23 25 April 2015
problems and to identify a specific direction for further
improvements. In order to eliminate the muda detected, a
visual management approach was borrowed from the
production field. A visual and textual device was pro-
posed and implemented. In order to quantify the
improvement obtained, a performance index was used:
the percentage of vehicles completed late, in time and in
advance. The introduction of the system caused an
increase in the average value of the vehicles meeting the
delivery date from 45 to 57%. Furthermore, the analysis
of firm records highlights that the delays caused by mis-
understandings between operators were reduced by 50%.
This study points the attention on the importance of
searching for and eliminating muda not only along the
production line, but also inside the information flow. As
suggested by the results obtained, the extension of the
lean approach in the field of information management
can bring to tangible improvement in efficiency and eco-
nomic benefits. The lean approach needs to be an effec-
tive holistic approach and so it needs to involve all
sectors, including information management. The
approach implemented is not specific for the automotive
sector; it can be adopted and can bring to significant
benefits also in other production areas.
Notes on contributors
Maurizio Bevilacqua, full professor in
Industrial Plants at the ‘Università Politec-
nica delle Marche’. His research activity
mainly deals with multiphase flow transport
and separation analysis, environmental
analysis of process plants and maintenance
management. He is author of several papers
that have been published in several national
and international journals (e.g. International
Journal of Quality and Reliability Management, International
Journal of Logistics, International Journal of Operations and
Production Management, The Journal of Enterprise Information
Management, Technology Law and Insurance, International
Journal of Production Economics, International Journal of Pro-
duction Research, Journal of Purchasing and Supply Manage-
ment) and also in conference proceedings.
Filippo Emanuele Ciarapica, associate pro-
fessor in Industrial Plants at Facoltà di Sci-
enze e Tecnologie, Libera Università di
Bolzano, Italy. He is author of more than
50 scientific papers that have been pub-
lished on national and international pro-
ceedings and journals. His research topics
mainly focus on industrial plants design,
Facility Management in the healthcare sec-
tor, Fuzzy mathematics and QFD methods, Modeling and
dynamical system applied to end-of-life problems, BPR
methods in operation sector, new Key Performance Indicator
for industrial plants, innovative models for risk analysis, multi-
phase flows, soft computing techniques in reliability analysis
and maintenance activities planning, and Logistics.
Claudia Paciarotti, full time researcher in
Industrial Plants at the ‘Università Politec-
nica delle Marche’, Ancona, Italy. Her
research activity mainly deals with: emer-
gency management, operation management
in in industrial and healthcare sectors, pro-
cess management and reengineering in
healthcare and third sector, risk analysis in
industrial plants and services sector, indus-
trial plants design. She is the author of papers that have been
published in national and international journals and conference
proceedings.
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