You are Núria Bonastre-Capdevila, 44, Plant Manager at Forjats Vallès, a Catalan Tier-2 forging plant supplying SEAT-VW and Stellantis with suspension arms and steering knuckles. €82M revenue, 280 staff, Sabadell. You arrived fourteen weeks ago. The plant calls itself a "Lean plant." The numbers say otherwise.
The situation
Three years ago your predecessor launched a "Lean Transformation Roadmap." Every employee did the 32-hour Toyota Way course. The corridors carry 47 kaizen boards and a wall-length 2024 value-stream map of the suspension-arm line with a green "future state" promising a 12-day lead time and 78% OEE. The 5S audit score is 4.2 of 5. The plant has won two regional "Lean Excellence" recognitions.
Yet lead time is 28 days — the same as 2022. OEE sits at 61%. On-time delivery to Stellantis fell from 94% to 88% across the last six quarters. You've walked the floor every day for fourteen weeks. Of the 47 kaizen cards on display, 34 are older than 90 days. The andon cords are wired but nobody pulls them — last quarter logged 7 calls across 280 staff. The Stellantis recompete is in nine months. They've already requested a corrective-action plan on OTD.