"We have customers that we would not be able to serve without the lean transformation path," said Insta Managing Director Alexander Burgbacher right at the beginning of the partner meeting, underlining the importance of the shared lean philosophy. "Highest flexibility, delivery stability, internationalisation as well as quantity structures only became possible with lean processes," he gave concrete examples.

Insta GmbH successfully embarked on the path of lean transformation more than 10 years ago: from the first lighthouse projects in process (production, assembly, plant structure) and management excellence (SFM Light) with clocked logistics connection, to the introduction of value stream segmented operations with 4-stage SFM cascade, to work organisation with value stream assistants (Hanchos) using KATA for value stream optimisation.

In spring 2022, Insta was again certified as a partner company by Staufen AG and thus also qualified as a host of the "BestPractice Circle". The format is aimed at transformation managers as well as plant managers and executives from the BestPractice partner circle.

Topics of the one-day exchange of experiences at Insta were all facets of lean transformation.
During the plant tour, the partner companies gained insights into Insta's shop floor management, the conversion of the work organisation and the introduction of KATA, as well as the consistent development of the lean method box. In a practical demonstration, Value Stream Assistants then used two example projects to demonstrate the implementation of KATA in Insta production and logistics - with complete success, as the participants' voices showed afterwards.

"Our highlight during the plant tour was the transparency via Shopfloor Boards for employees and managers. Cleanliness on the shop floor and consistency of the shadow boards are remarkable." praised, for example, Lothar Köglmeier (WPS integrator) and Johannes Haider (foreman of logistics) from the BMW Group plant in Landshut.
"Today was very inspiring. Absolute practical relevance was conveyed!" Markus Mink (Head of Operations) from FEIG ELECTRONIC GmbH Weilburg also underlined the success of the Partner Circle.
For Insta as host, the Partner Circle also brought enormous added value: "It was excellent for the day to find parallels and symbioses and to further develop approaches - especially for Shopfloor Management, the Hancho organisation and Hoshin Kanri", Heinz Floren (Head of Production Systems) from Insta GmbH concluded.

It is to be hoped that the still very young format of the "BestPractice Partner Circle" will continue to establish itself and that other BestPractice Partners will invite others to exchange experiences on lean transformation in their companies.