Iveco’s commercial vehicle manufacturing facility in Madrid, Spain has become CNH Industrial’s first site to achieve a Gold rating under the World Class Manufacturing (WCM) programme – an accolade indicative of the very highest global manufacturing standards.
WCM is a global manufacturing standards for the lean and integrated management of manufacturing plants and processes. It is based on continuous improvement methodologies designed to eliminate loss with objectives including zero injuries, zero defects, zero breakdowns and zero waste.
To qualify for the ratings, periodic third-party audits evaluate these pillars and give an overall score for each plant of Bronze, Silver or Gold.
With the achievement of Gold, Iveco’s Madrid plant is now the highest ranking facility in terms of manufacturing excellence at CNH Industrial, outstripping 64 other manufacturing facilities worldwide.
Iveco’s Madrid site houses production lines for New Stralis in both diesel and compressed and liquefied natural gas, and its Trakker product line-ups, as well as an R&D centre for the brand’s heavy commercial vehicles.
The site’s multifaceted production process means that up to 300,000 different versions of the New Stralis and Trakker models, some 87% of production is destined for export, primarily to European markets, due to their advanced emissions standards, but also to some developing markets.
With this WCM audit, the site has achieved the best results in its 71-year history thanks to the improvements it has introduced over recent years. Improvements include CO2 emissions being reduced by 53% per vehicle manufactured and 99% waste recycled.
A number of improvements were also made possible thanks to feedback of the employees on site, who provided an average of 28 suggestions each during 2016 as part of the WCM programme.
The plant employs over 2,500 people, of which 21% are female: the highest female employment ratio in Spain’s automotive sector. Last year, the site was also given a first prize Excellence Award by The Kaizen Institute in the System of Continuous Improvement category.
