• Process Control
• Procedures
• Manufacturing
• Foundry
• Empowerment
• Cultural Change

The foundry industry is historically associated with bad manufacturing practices and is usually linked to poor working conditions. For this reason, the implementation of standard procedures and best practices is considered essential for companies’ survival in this business, in particular for the Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
Nevertheless, the companies operating in the foundry industry barely implement a change in how they work and that is even more accentuated for the SMEs. In fact, they do not have the possibility of large investments, the operators usually work without following defined instructions and there are not defined tasks because the organisational hierarchy is more flat. That is demonstrated by the lack in the literature of clear steps to follow in order to improve their business.
The methodology used to develop this project, validated through an industrial case study, provides a systematic approach applicable for the implementation of manufacturing procedures within the foundry of a SME, allowing to achieve a competitive advantage. In particular, starting from a best practices research and highlighting the importance of people involvement, the thesis demonstrates the positive effects the procedures implementations, such as the minimisation of jobs reworked, their related costs and the shorter lead time to deliver the product, with the consequent achievement of a higher customer service.
For the validation of the method proposed, the project has been developed in collaboration with J H Richards, a small family-run English company that produces and repairs bearings for pumps and power stations. The foundry of the organisation, in particular, is facing problems with the quantity of jobs reworked due to the wrong execution of a process. The thesis shows that with the manufacturing procedures implementation and the change of the employees’ culture, this company can achieve savings for 2.5% of turnover, with consequent other benefits.