Last year, Galfer brought VBSS into the executive offices - with incredible results. For obvious reasons, most VBSS projects focus on the factory floor - as value centers look for ways to assemble, inspect or paint their products in the most efficient manner possible. Under the direction of Black Belts Alessandro Aimar and Fabio Bongiovanni, Galfer has pursued a number of its own "blue collar" VBSS projects and, in the process, streamlined the production process for its brake pads, shoes and backplates. But its biggest success to date for this Barge, Italy-based company has come from a "white collar" project in the purchasing department. Because it is in the frictions materials business, the company buys a large amount of raw materials each year. These purchases are equal to roughly 30 percent of sales, and Galfer's management team saw an opportunity for substantial savings by reducing raw materials expenditures. Management made the project a priority, and VBSS Champion Mauro Salini assigned Aimar to work with the purchasing department on finding a solution. Aimar and the company's purchasing manager led a cross-functional team that quickly found a way to get the best possible prices. "They made comparisons and tracked the cost trends of various suppliers," explains Salini. "Based on that, we optimized our supplier shares. Moreover, we improved our internal release process to get quicker benefits from new, cheaper materials." Using the measured and analyzed data, the purchasing department now has new price comparison tools it will use for all future purchases of raw materials. The VBSS team also looked at the "specs" for the raw materials purchased by the company. It turned out that there were cases in which Galfer could accept lower quality raw materials without reducing the quality of its end products. "We were buying product features that we didn't need," says Salini. For example, in some applications, the steel purchased to product back plates didn't need to meet certain high-thickness accuracy - and higher cost - requirements. Now, we are turning our attention to all our purchases, from pallets to big bags and packaging materials," says Salini. Thanks to strong buy-in and commitment from Galfer's purchasing department, the purchasing project has gained major momentum. In January 2001, savings were $10,500. By the end of the year, monthly savings were regularly exceeding $160,000. "We saved our company more than $1 million last year, and we are going to continue to see savings going forward," says Salini.			Galfer's VBSS team is generating giant savings: (l. to r.) Champion Mauro Salini with Black Belts Fabio Bongiovanni and Alessandro Aimar.