Always seeking innovative ways to improve processes, Andrea Panepinto is known for living by his favorite saying: ’Never give up!’ Andrea, our process engineering & strategic projects manager, was recognized last year as a Rainmaker 2020 for his leadership in coordinating Lean Six Sigma (LSS) activities at our Quattordio site in Italy. Want to learn his secrets?
A Journey of Continuous Improvement
Andrea joined us twelve years ago as process engineer straight out of university, where he gained a degree in Analytical Chemistry.
Until last year, he was our continuous improvement & LSS manager at the Quattordio plant, where he was responsible for project management and improving production processes though innovation and special techniques. For these initiatives, he was awarded the Rainmaker award.
Just as Lean techniques are used to understand how to eliminate harmful plants and those that steal time, space, and nourishment from the soil, Six Sigma techniques are used to understand how to optimize the growth of plants, from which we will then reap the fruits!
The Many Achievements of Andrea
Committed to doing better today than yesterday, every day, Andrea has been a major contributor to operational excellence improvement at the Quattordio site. One of the key projects that he led was the implementation of the 4DX program to reduce cycle time. This has resulted in improving the service level by 12%, reducing cycle time by 30%, increasing productivity by 12% and saving €1.1M through waste reduction. No mean feat!
Truly someone who runs it like he owns it, he was also commended for his dedication to promoting cultural change, increasing training density, leading Quattordio to LSS bronze level, as well as supporting strategic projects.
This high level of recognition represents a great achievement, not just for me, but for the Quattordio plant and the continuous improvement journey we committed to in 2014.
“I Never Gave Up”
Andrea was also essential in bringing the innovative “Inline Blending” project to life and was responsible for taking it to the Global Leadership Team.
As he explains, for 2 long years, he worked hard to change people’s approaches and bring them round to an “innovative-vision attitude”. He says it took good teamwork, a lot of trust, solid cooperation with internal and external stakeholders, and strong selling skills.
Only with a positive attitude and mindset can you develop a strong business case and make it happen!
The project will bring an innovative production system that will produce hardeners, thinners, and cleaners in a much more efficient way in terms of quality, safety, costs and time to market. He is honored that Quattordio will be the pilot plant to implement and test this new production technology before rolling it out PPG-wide.
We are very proud to be the first plant to bring this new production concept to PPG!
Looking Onwards and Upwards
Since January this year, Andrea has held the position of process engineering & strategic projects manager in which he enjoys the opportunity of working and sharing his experience with a dedicated and supportive team.
We focus on creating value for customers and PPG through innovative production process improvements that boost efficiency and effectiveness.
Motivated by the “positive competition of daily activities”, he looks forward in his new role to improving his effective leadership skills, and to increasing teamwork as well as people engagement.
Andrea also thoroughly enjoys PPG corporate social responsibility opportunities like COLORFUL COMMUNITIES®. He participated with enthusiasm in a 2015 project that the Quattordio, Felizzano and Cavallirio sites organized, where they painted the entrance to The Cesare Arrigo Children’s Hospital.
I really appreciate this kind of social activity for a great cause.
Andrea with Cristina Ottonelli, PPG plant controller, Quattordio, living by The PPG Way: “We trust to our people every day, in every way”