Annual Report 2012 - Knorr-Bremse AG.

52 Report Site-specific projects // Commercial vehicle systems
Commercial Vehicle Systems
Knorr-Bremse opens
a new training center
aimed at promoting
improvement at all
levels of value
creation within the
company.
New Lean Management Training Academy opens in Liberec
During the year under review, Knorr-Bremse’s site in Liberec, Czech Republic, established the Value
Stream Academy – a new company training center for employees from both the Commercial Vehicle
Systems and Rail Vehicle Systems divisions. The aim is to promote improvement across the entire value
stream and create a robust theoretical background at Knorr-Bremse. All levels within the company and
its suppliers will be scrutinized to identify where there is room for improvement and where processes
that do not add value can be eliminated. Throughput times and inventory will be reduced, flexibility
and quality improved and employees made more aware of the issue of waste. At all times the focus will
be on customer benefit.
The Academy will offer various training sessions in a range of different languages, and participants
will then have the opportunity to apply their theoretical knowledge in practical workshops – almost
50% of the content is of a practical nature aimed at establishing best practice solutions that set standards
for the entire Knorr-Bremse Group. The idea is also to set up networks of experts and promote
an exchange of ideas between sites as well as training more instructors for the Value Stream Academy
(VSA) itself.
Liberec offers an ideal location for the Value Stream Academy: it is a new facility equipped with stateof-the-art
production technologies and also has a range of products representing a typical Knorr-
Bremse portfolio. The next step is to roll out this successful concept in the USA.