Do Printers Believe in Continuous Improvement?

[Ritter]

On a more serious note, I find interesting that no thought enters your mind of passing some the savings to the workers that make the whole thing happen.

Good ol' business school thinking... scary how pervasive it can get into your brain. My thoughts as far as passing on to the employees belongs in another thread suffice to say that if the employees were embracing and leading the lean effort I would certainly share the benefit of the wealth.

[Mark H]

What is the percentage of waste at each step to stay lean?

Everyone eventually gets around to asking the same question. While there are some "industry" numbers out there, those are only samplings of what others experience given specific pieces of equipment, job specifications, and operators. The real question is - how much waste does each step in YOUR PROCESS produce?

Only you can answer that, and you should have the information at your fingertips.

• How much is lost in stocking related issues?
• How much in bad printing?
• How much in finishing? (and separate finishing into the different stages)

Track this for a while and see where your greatest loss is.

Mark H

[gordo]

While I agree that it is important to know ones own costs, wastage, etc. industry benchmarks certainly provide a context.
For example:
Knowing that plate spoilage in film workflow is 6% before press - 2% on press while plate spoilage in ctp workflow is 3% before press - 1% on press does help the printer evaluate their process more effectively.

One source for this type of info is "Managing by the Numbers" published by PIA/GATF.

best, gordo

[Mark H]

"Industry Benchmarks" give me a shudder. While they are certainly useful as a gauge, each shop needs to understand their customer's needs, work flow, equipment, and operator capabilities and then adjust "industry benchmarks" to the reality of the situation.

Just because the industry has a failure rate of x% with a given process or piece of equipment doesn't mean that you have to accept that as the best you can do (it's an average after all), nor do you have to consider yourself a failure if it's not obtainable - AS LONG AS - you understand WHY you can't obtain it.

Mark H

[gordo]

"Industry Benchmarks" give me a shudder. While they are certainly useful as a gauge, each shop needs to understand their customer's needs, work flow, equipment, and operator capabilities and then adjust "industry benchmarks" to the reality of the situation.

Just because the industry has a failure rate of x% with a given process or piece of equipment doesn't mean that you have to accept that as the best you can do (it's an average after all), nor do you have to consider yourself a failure if it's not obtainable - AS LONG AS - you understand WHY you can't obtain it.

Mark H

I'm not suggesting that an industry benchmark is the best one can do.
I'm saying that self-referencing targets (i.e. "The real question is - how much waste does each step in YOUR PROCESS produce?" stated in your original post) is IMHO insufficient. Industry benchmarks do provide a context and some guidance. It's the same notion that your doctor uses when taking your blood pressure readings. The doctor has a benchmark/target and measures your response in the context of typical values for your age/weight/sex demographic.

For example, if you have a plate spoilage of 12% before press and 6% on press, it is helpful to realize that that the industry averages for a mid-sized sheetfed shop are:

in film workflow: 6% before press and 2% on press

and in a ctp workflow: 3% before press and 1% on press

In themselves, the industry averages are not goals. They simply provide some guidance for interpreting an individual shop's performance. So, in this example, if I were a mid-sized shop, the fact that my performance was so different from the industry average indicates that there is likely something not just wrong, but seriously wrong with my process.

I would also expect anyone that is providing me with guidance as to how to improve my performance would be able to provide me with industry benchmarks appropriate to the type of shop I run, so that I could better understand any proposals for improving my current process.

best, gordon p

[Mark H]

In themselves, the industry averages are not goals. They simply provide some guidance for interpreting an individual shop's performance.

I think we're in agreement, and that I have (perhaps) not explained myself as well as I could. I have had the unfortunate experience to have seen too many shops (of all types from machine, to print, to automotive, to programming, etc...) chase their tales into bankruptcy trying to obtain an industry average which was unobtainable given their specific situation. I agree that knowing the industry average, as well as understanding what circumstances need to exist to support that, is an important part of improving an individual shop's performance and reducing its' waste.

Regards,

Mark H

[ondemandbindery]

An average is just that. An average.... As far as I have ever known, every print shop has their own good and bad in manufacturing. Someone may have some throughput rate on a press of 10k across the board but if they are having a bunch of rework that really did not get them anywhere. I am of the opinion that you can't trust a sales force from an equipment manufacturer for true numbers as they will most likely be exaggerated. I would like to think that any person is looking for continious improvement. But the reality is that this is not always the case. I know for myself I have had the opportunity to work in many shops and I have always learned something that outsmarted the shop down the road no matter how small. I like to call them trade secrets and trade debacles. There is a book called "the goal". This is a great one to read and it touches on this exact subject. I know for myself that in production I have always tried to figure out how to solve the bottleneck in the processing but this books really explains the ramifications of it. Those printers that do not pay attention to small things can truly be missing out on some great opportunities. And improvement does not mean an open ended checkbook. An example for us was a box sealer I recently purchased. I already had a 3M and it is a great machine but somewhat large and I knew there was a sealer out there that was more mobile and user friendly for setup and I just had to research it. An opportunity came up and we have a Little David now that gets a workout and though a small improvement it helps with throughput and is easier for people to use. Just a very tiny example of how simple gains really can be simple. And it only cost 100.00

[relicaexpo2]

In good times or bad times, the industry does not want to look at ideas unless they are products from some supplier or they look at the process in the ususal way, which does not lead to any fundamental understanding.

[Xlb]

Hum !! cans of ink for 19 roller systems and cans of ink for 21 roller systems I THINK WE GOT IT.

[Xlb]

Yes I think I have.

By the way, none of those variables above are related to the fundamental cause of ink/water balance. That is why you have not had total success getting it to be controlled.

Hum !! cans of ink for 19 roller systems and cans of ink for 21 roller systems I THINK WE GOT IT. Xlb