Lean in Europe #32 - 05 & 06 February 2024 in Klagenfurt

The 32nd and penultimate Lean in Europe visit will be to Kostwein Maschinenbau GmbH in Klagenfurt and will look at how it uses 'Japanese' production principles to develop its own local, Austrian, Kostwein activities. It has learnt from Japan and Japanese experience (including participation in the EU-Japan Centre's WCM programme) and used that exposure to develop its own "Kostwein approach" to successfully develop its business.

The application deadline has passed. It is no longer possible to apply for a place on this visit. See the main Lean in Europe webpage for application details of our final Lean in Europe visit taking place in March.

Kostwein is a family owned and led business with over a 100 years history of innovation. Today it operates in Europe, the USA and the Indian sub-continent, all led from Klagenfurt in Austria. The company has focused relentlessly on building the capability and capacity of its full team to be able to realise its clients' machine concepts into fully operational equipment, in class leading delivery times. This Lean in Europe visit to Kostwein will focus on trying to learn how the Kostwein leadership team are working to develop its people and processes to be ready for the next generation of product, process and opportunity.

The visit will be hosted by Hans Kostwein (Group CEO) and by Stefan Kostwein (Head of Production & Innovation, Managing Director). It will be led by Richard Keegan, Adjunct Professor of Lean Operational Excellence at Trinity Business School, the EU-Japan Centre's Lean Advisor. This will be the second Lean in Europe visit hosted by Kostwein - it hosted a Lean in Europe visit in 2014.

Visit agenda

Split over two days, the KOSTWEIN visit will include:

Evening of Monday, 5 February (at a local hotel):

• Lean discussion / activity led by Richard Keegan, Adjunct Professor of Lean Operational Excellence at Trinity Business School, the EU-Japan Centre's Lean Advisor

Morning and early afternoon of Tuesday, 6 February (at KOSTWEIN):

• Introduction to Kostwein
• Gemba visit 1 - production
• Gemba visit 2 - assembly
• Debriefing and Q&A

For more information on the host company, click on its logo.

Applicant Eligibility

• Priority will be given to applicants with a clear role in shaping their company's lean strategy / process management activities who explain why their company would like them to take part in this visit.
• Priority will be given to people who have not taken part in previous Lean in Europe visits.
• People working for KOSTWEIN's direct competitors will not be able to join the activity.
• Applications are welcome from companies based in the EU27 or, under the EU Single Market Programme, in a number of other countries. Please check the status of your country on this webpage - for EFTA countries, please only refer to the sub-paragraph: "COSME strand (SMP COSME)". For EU acceding countries, candidate countries and potential candidates, please only refer to the countries for which the agreement is in force.

Last chance...

The Lean in Europe activity will end on 31 March 2024. So don't delay, if you would like to benefit from this activity and engage with other lean enthusiasts from across Europe as you learn about how the host company uses lean tools inspired by Japanese production methodology to drive its improvement activities. Apply for a place on this visit or contact us to get details of the final visit taking place in March 2024 as and when it is announced.

Costs

There are no application or participation fees. Participants will be responsible for covering their own travel and accommodation costs.

Lean in Europe visits aim to facilitate discussions of good practice and the sharing of ideas. Originally started in 2013, 31 visits to 33 companies have taken place so far, with 668 participants to date.

  For a look inside a Lean in Europe visit see the highlights videos from the visits to SkiBeat (2023), PakMarkas (2022) or HansaMatrix (2017). Details of other past visits can be found in the Lean in Europe visit archive.