+500
Employees worldwide
WIP Reduction by 35% by Synchronizing the Value Chain for a Luxury-Eyewear Manufacturer
The initiative focused on improving cross-functional coordination between design, production, and supply-chain teams through enhanced planning and digital performance management. As a result, the company achieved greater agility, faster time-to-market, and a more efficient end-to-end value chain.
Consumer Goods and Luxury
Manufacturing
Our Client
Founded in 2017, the company brings together two major players in the eyewear industry, combining their expertise and shared vision for the future of luxury eyewear. It employs over 200 professionals from diverse backgrounds, with a significant number working at its main production site. One of its founding partners has decades of experience in designing, manufacturing, and distributing premium sunglasses and optical frames for renowned fashion brands. In 2018, the group distributed millions of eyewear pieces worldwide through an extensive network of international partners.
+14M
Pairs of spectacles sold/year
125
Countries served
“The difference in working with EFESO is that together, in a very down to earth and joined up way, we managed to obtain serious improvements of our value chain, but it's their focus on the human side of things which is a real asset in this type of projects.
“
The Challenge
Operating in one of Italy’s most renowned eyewear manufacturing regions, the company set out to create a center of excellence capable of designing, producing, and distributing luxury eyewear for leading international brands. However, this ambition came with significant operational challenges.
With several distinct production streams — including metal, acetate, and finishing processes — and more than sixty stages involved in producing a single pair of glasses, the manufacturing environment was inherently complex. Each production step required rigorous quality control to meet the demanding standards of luxury maisons. The company also managed up to 1,300 new product projects each year across multiple collections and special editions, amplifying the need for flexibility and precision.
Despite its advanced technical capabilities and experienced workforce, the organization inherited traditional working practices common in the local eyewear industry, which limited agility and cross-functional collaboration. The rapid pace of product launches and the increasing expectations of global brand partners made it clear that a more synchronized and responsive value chain was essential.
To support its strategic growth and strengthen integration with its luxury clients, the company engaged EFESO consultants to review its end-to-end processes and identify opportunities to improve flow efficiency, reduce work-in-progress, and create a data-driven, agile operating model aligned with the pace of the fashion industry.
Real Results Achieved Together
EFESO's intervention delivered significant improvements across the entire value chain, from development to production.
35%
Reduction WIP in production
-35%
Production lead time
-30%
Obsoletes in supply chain
Transformation Impact
- Reduced response time leading to better shelf availability and faster replenishment
- Increase of value creation in development through faster prototyping and knowledge reuse
- Further loss reduction in technical department (process BPR and digitalization)
- Leveling of workload by setting the cadence of launches
- Industrialization lead time reduction
- Synergy with design, early management of critical issues and sharing people for prototyping
Our Approach
EFESO took two months and three experts to examine the situation. Thanks to EFESO’s previous experience they knew what type of optimization could be achieved. The focus was on the development of processes, manufacturing areas and key suppliers:
- Together with the whole technical team, EFESO implemented
- A lean development system to shorten development lead time, anticipate problems with the concurrent engineering of collections and knowledge capitalization
- A lean design approach to rationalize the product range, by reducing unnecessary complexity and therefore reducing the risk of obsoletes
- A capacity model to balance workload for prototyping, development and industrialization
- Together with the future Operations team, EFESO implemented the industrial strategy by developing a lean factory which has a brilliant delivery time and minimum working capital; the concept of dynamic assembly lines was initially realized in cardboard and is now a reality
- Human dynamics were at the center of all EFESO interventions; in fact, the adoption of lean concepts, where flow is predominant on local productivity required a lot of effort to break the traditional production paradigms
Related Services
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Ready to synchronize your value chain for breakthrough performance?
- Transform complexity into competitive advantage with lean manufacturing excellence
- Stop losing time and capital to disconnected processes and excessive WIP
- Join leading luxury brands achieving 35% lead time reductions while maintaining premium quality
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