FPT Industrial’s engine plant in Bourbon-Lancy, France, is the first of its world major factories to acquire the Gold Level certification in the World Class Manufacturing (WCM) program.

With a production capacity of around 80,000 engines a year, and employing over a 1,200 people, the factory is specialized since 1998 in the production of Cursor C8, C9, C10, C11, C13 and C16 series engines, with 77 technical types and over 5700 options available. The site represents a top notch center in the world of both Diesel and Natural Gas engines, providing a wide range of customers with the best solutions, tailor made on the specific needs of the various applications from on and off-road vehicles to marine and power generation.

The road to the highest honor was built on solid pillars and high knowledge, and key gold points mentioned were: quality, machining maintenance and karakuri system. As an industry 4.0 strongly focused plant, Bourbon-Lancy has applied its built-in innovative and research-oriented approach in a number of sector ground-breaking projects, mainly in the IT and logistic applications, such as the introduction of the Sherpa smart and mobile collaborative robots along the production line. All these activities, projects and team efforts, in addition to internationally recognized by important scientific publications, have been honored by the label Industry of the Future, that acknowledges the most emblematic industrial achievements in France.

The Bourbon-Lancy plant is well known in the Region for its commitment to sustainability, with a number of projects focused on minimizing the impact of industrial activities and on protecting the biodiversity of the surrounding environment, making it the ideal home of the most successful natural gas-powered engines on the market. As a testament of it, in March, the 10,000th Cursor 13 NG engine rolled out from its production lines.

World Class Manufacturing is an international methodology for the organization of the manufacturing process and has been adopted, on a world-wide basis, by the most important companies in every kind of business, from automotive to services, from consumer goods to industrial tools. WCM has the goal of continuously improving production performance and gradually eliminating waste, which helps to ensure product quality and maximum flexibility in responding to customer requests. All this is achieved through a structured and integrated production system that encompasses all the plant’s processes, from safety to the environment, from maintenance to logistics and quality, as well as the involvement and motivation of the personnel working in the factory. WCM activities are formally audited at regular intervals and each production plant is assigned a score and the appropriate prizes and medals (Bronze, Silver, Gold).

Thanks to the application of the WCM methodology, FPT Industrial’s activities have been undergoing a process of continuous improvement and achieving increasingly higher levels of competitiveness, thus contributing to set the company as one of the most important and reliable powertrain developers and producers on a world-wide basis. Thanks to the WCM approach, also customers can benefit of top-quality products.

“After receiving Bronze level certification in 2008 and Silver level in 2010, this incredible achievement rewards the hard work of the whole plant team of the last years,” says Luc Bernardini, Plant Manager of FPT Industrial’s Bourbon Lancy plant. “Each of us must be more than proud of what we were able to get working together day after day, always believing that we had the will, the capability and the determination to make it to the top.”

“I would like to thank from the bottom of my hearth all the present and past workers of BourbonLancy for this glorious accomplishment,” comments Annalisa Stupenengo, CEO of FPT Industrial. “When you can count on people and teams like those, even the most challenging and apparently impossible gold dream can become true.”

For more information, go to www.fptindustrial.com