Case Study — Sustainability
A multi-year journey with Komax — a world-leading Swiss cable processing machine manufacturer based in Dierikon, Lucerne — from building 57 Green Belt practitioners to deploying an AI-Native Black Belt pilot that redefined the value stream as a strategic leadership instrument.
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57
Green Belts trained
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7
Leaders — AI-Native Black Belt pilot
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2022–26
Multi-year partnership
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Lean 4.0
AI-Native antifragile design
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The journey
Years of partnership as the foundation
Komax, the Swissmem Academy, and Einklang share a multi-year collaboration built on a consistent belief: sustainable operational excellence requires building internal capability — not consultant dependency.
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Phase 1 · 2022–2026 57 Green Belt practitioners Lean Six Sigma Green Belt training across Komax — building a stable Lean foundation with a shared understanding of processes, flow, and structured problem solving. |
Phase 2 · 2024 7 leaders — Lean Leadership Seven members of the Operations Leadership Team trained in Lean Leadership — anchoring systemic thinking and value stream management at the leadership level. |
Phase 3 · AI-Native pilot AI-Native Black Belt — Lean 4.0 The Operations Leadership Team redefined as Orchestrators of the end-to-end value stream. The Einklang Agent and kyro deployed as enablers. |
The methodology
Lean 4.0 — AI-Native design, transdisciplinary thinking
The pilot at Komax marked the evolution from Lean to Lean 4.0. The goal was not further local efficiency improvement — but the development of an AI-Native, systemic design approach that connects Lean principles with new disciplines.
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Antifragility Value streams are not maximally optimised — they are designed so that uncertainty makes them more robust. More resilience, not more efficiency. |
Architectural innovation Focus on structures, interfaces, decision logic, and dependencies — not isolated process improvements. The system design, not the individual step. |
Social cognition Shared perception, decision-making behaviour, and interaction are understood as central levers for system performance — not just process metrics. |
The Einklang Agent + kyro — making it operational
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Einklang Agent Coached leadership along the value stream — supporting statistical analysis, structured root cause reflection, system effects, and decision options. Available 24/7 inside Microsoft Teams. |
kyro Enabled the digital end-to-end mapping of the Order-to-Cash value stream — creating a shared, AI-supported, fact-based system picture for the entire management team. |
Sustainability
Key insights — what Komax proved
The Komax pilot generated insights that go beyond process improvement — they reframe what operational excellence means in the AI era.
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Redundancy over maximum efficiency More resilience in the system strengthens antifragility. The goal is not to eliminate all slack — it is to build a value stream that performs better under pressure. |
End-to-end visibility improves responsiveness A shared, real-time view of the entire Order-to-Cash value stream fundamentally improved Komax’s ability to respond to external changes quickly and deliberately. |
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Shared management enables clearer priorities Joint value stream management enabled clearer prioritisation and more conscious use of resources — reducing waste at the system level, not just the process level. |
The value stream as a strategic instrument The value stream evolved from an analysis object into a strategic leadership instrument — the primary tool through which the Operations Leadership Team leads the business. |
We truly value the collaboration with Einklang. As a member of Swissmem, we see the Practitioner (Green Belt) and Orchestrator (Black Belt) programmes as key anchors for building capabilities and embedding a sustainable lean culture across all organisational levels.
Operations Director
Komax Switzerland
Why this matters
OE is one of the most powerful sustainability tools available
The Komax story is not just about efficiency gains. It is about what happens when an organisation builds deep OE capability over time — and then takes it to the next level with AI.
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↓ Waste
Reduced overproduction, rework, and unnecessary complexity across the value stream
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↑ Resilience
A system designed to perform better under uncertainty — not just optimised for normal conditions
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∞ Capability
Internal OE capability that compounds over time — not a one-off project that ends when the consultant leaves
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Ready to build this kind of capability in your organisation?
Book a call to discuss how Einklang can support your journey — from first Green Belt to AI-Native Orchestrator.