Avio Aero Pomigliano Cuts Lead Times 42% With FLIGHT DECK

By applying a proprietary lean operating model to its shop floor, GE Aerospace’s Avio Aero plant in Pomigliano d’Arco, Italy, cut component lead times and inventory costs by 42 percent across its most critical production lines.

The company announced the operational metrics on July 30, 2026, alongside news that the facility received the 2026 Altitude Award for Site Breakthrough. The Pomigliano site manufactures approximately 3,000 individual components for commercial and military engines, supporting high-demand programs such as the GE9X, the Eurojet EJ200, and the LEAP engine produced by CFM International, a 50-50 joint company between GE Aerospace and Safran Aircraft Engines.

Mapping and eliminating production waste

The facility’s transition to lean management formally began in 2018, five years after GE Aerospace acquired Avio Aero. The initiative accelerated in 2022 under the direction of Site Leader Roberto Bertaina. Upon his arrival, Bertaina and his team mapped the existing production journey for stator vanes, discovering a highly circuitous routing path that Bertaina described as a “spaghetti diagram.”

To resolve these inefficiencies, the team targeted the programs where they could drive the most immediate impact. They identified redundant processes, such as performing four separate grinding operations on certain parts, and reduced them to two sequenced, linear steps.

“We had parts moving round the shop to different machines, and different parts coming to the same machine. That generated waste in terms of waiting, because the same machine operator was prioritizing one workflow over another,” Bertaina stated in the company release.

Measurable gains in engine component manufacturing

The application of GE Aerospace’s FLIGHT DECK lean operating model yielded substantial improvements on 12 key ramp-up production lines. In addition to the 42 percent reduction in both lead time and inventory costs, the targeted lines saw a 20 percent increase in labor productivity. These metrics directly improved the facility’s ability to meet takt time, ensuring component output aligns with customer demand.

The shop floor now features 15 control centers equipped with screens and audio systems to facilitate real-time collaboration. According to the company, the Pomigliano team currently manages approximately 60 active problem-solving efforts to continuously refine safety, quality, delivery, and cost.

Bertaina noted that the facility is on track to double its conversion speed compared with 2022 baselines, which previously suffered from several weeks of delinquency on certain lines.

AirPro News analysis

The operational turnaround at the Pomigliano facility highlights a broader industry imperative. As aerospace original equipment manufacturers push to increase production rates, supply chain bottlenecks at the component level remain a primary constraint. By embedding lean principles directly onto the shop floor, GE Aerospace is addressing these constraints at the source. We view the formalization of the FLIGHT DECK model not just as an internal efficiency exercise, but as a necessary strategy to stabilize the supply base for high-volume programs like the CFM LEAP. When tier-level suppliers and subsidiary plants can predictably meet takt time, the entire final assembly line benefits from reduced disruption.

Sources: GE Aerospace