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PROBLEM:  

A major printing company in New York State was undergoing a significant shift in business. This shift away from its legacy product line was particularly affecting the press department. The new business line created the need for smaller product runs, causing losses in line speed, reduction of overall runtime, and increases to changeover times and waste. The company identified the need to introduce Lean Manufacturing practices to the press area to increase flexibility required by changing business conditions.

APPROACH:

CMS was asked to assess the situation and make recommendations for Lean initiatives that would involve all of the employees in the press department. After meeting with the production manager and interacting with supervisors and employees on the shop floor, CMS developed a customized Lean Manufacturing Introduction/Overview that was presented to 80 employees representing all 4 production shifts.

After completion of the overviews, project teams were formed and started by creating Visual Performance Measures. These were posted in a high traffic area and updated regularly so all employees would know the current status of the press department. The measures concentrated on reducing waste and increasing speed.

Secondly, an existing database that contained press setup information showing best work performance criteria was upgraded to make it user friendly and provide additional capability. Upon completion of the upgrades, supervisors had easy access to conditions of past production from any shift.  Having a target speed and setup condition allowed them to maximize current performance.

Another project focus instituted a new culture of pre-planning by shop floor employees. With the legacy product lines, large batch sizes and fewer changeovers did not require much advanced planning. An audit and measuring system was created to assist with the culture change so employees can see the results of their efforts.

In another Lean project, all 4 shifts were videotaped during the changeover of one important press. Each team independently and then collectively reviewed the videos in order to create a Standard Operating Procedure utilizing the best practices from all teams.

RESULTS:

In 2006, the average press speed increased over the baseline of the previous year by 2%.  This increase led to production of several million incremental linear feet of product for the year. Net waste in the department was reduced by 28% from the previous year.  This reduction of tens of thousands of pounds of waste is truly significant.

Process Improvement Home

Material Flow 

Setup Reduction

Lean Manufacturing

Cost Reduction

Waste Reduction

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