Planning and realization of an innovative airline catering production plant: industrial case study

ifp, a consultancy for production and logistics, was involved into the planning of a new “greenfield” production plant for one of the world’s leading airline catering companies. The overall project objective was to design a future-proof production plant being prepared for prospective customer requirements in a growing but volatile market environment which is getting more and more complex. The focus was to develop and introduce innovative lean production processes and an organizational structure which amongst others can be reconfigured and adapted quickly to changed boundary conditions. An appropriate flexible new production planning and control system was developed to support the new processes. As a result of the project an impressive catering facility was put into operation—currently one of the largest in Europe.