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The Rybnik Eng Center was reactivated at the beginning of 2008. One of the objectives of this new center is to develop the lean spirit and to directly apply it to the new center. Two years have now passed and these 2 papers give the opportunity to review the current status and to reflect on the lessons learned so far on our lean journey. The 2 papers are structured around people, processes and tools. The first paper focuses on the people, the second one on the processes and the tools. Some great progress has been made in the different areas of application including: - Processes: Some key engineering processes in Testing, CAD, CAE and prototype shop were thoroughly investigated and improved. Especially the quality of the outputs and significant reductions in lead times have been achieved. - Tools and Technologies: Tenneco worked on both aspects, the soft and hard tools. Soft tools are covering visual management which allows a better alignment.

The Rybnik Engineering Center was reinforced at the beginning of 2008. One aim of this new center has been to develop the lean spirit and to directly apply it to the new center. Two years have now passed and these 2 papers give the opportunity to review the current status and to reflect on the lessons learned so far on our lean journey. The 2 papers are structured around people, processes and tools. The first paper focuses on people which arguably represents the most challenging aspect of the development of an R& D center abroad. One the key objectives of 2008-09 was to develop the engineering skills required to take over full customer projects. This target was especially challenging given the operating conditions, operation and capital expedites have been drastically reduced to the very severe downturn of the automotive industry in 2008. The first paper concentrates on the processes how to identify, hire, train and retain people.

Lean Engineering began at Tenneco in 2004 [1], [2]. A current status of lean engineering is shown. This paper focuses on 2 major principles of Lean Product Development: Establish customer defined value to separate value add from waste Front load the product development process to explore alternatives thoroughly.