Paper aims : Highlight the practical implications of coupling collaborative robots with lean manufacturing techniques and understand mutual contributions towards enhanced operational performance. Originality : Usage of an experimental approach, focusing on lean techniques as a differentiating skill to implement efficiently collaborative robots in a production representative environment. Research method : Experimental case study, based on the gradual implementation of a collaborative robot within a manual assembly process in order to design a collaborative process. Main findings : Guidelines for transition from manual to collaborative process, incorporating incremental improvement loops – and related skills – enabling enhanced performance. Implications for theory and practice : Identification of a set of lean techniques contributing positively to collaborative robots’ usage, incorporated in a step by step operator driven implementation process.