The currently-forecast economic slowdown is the perfect time for businesses to seriously consider lean manufacturing. A slow season is an ideal time—though any time is good—to figure out how your company can do more with less.
Before lean manufacturing the traditional way to look at your bottom line was “Cost Profit = Price”, but these days, consumers have a pretty good idea of what they think the price should be, which means that “Profit = Price (fixed) – Cost”. The only true way to increase your profit today is to decrease your costs; that’s not easy in our industry, but it is doable.
There are several approaches that you can incorporate to help trim the fat on a process, but be careful that you don’t implement something too dramatic too quickly. These ideas are meant to improve your bottom line, and any movement in the opposite direction should be examined immediately.
Let’s begin with the Kaizen approach, which is simple and easy to implement. The idea is to empower employees to help recognize, identify, and eliminate wasteful behavior. While one would think that employees would voice concerns about waste on a regular basis, it is easy to fall into a routine. Try mentioning the point in a memo or email, and include a small reward for those who find significant savings. Be sure to look at the overall impact of any suggestions and explain why those you reject are not being used. This further understanding of the process in general may improve productivity on its own.
SMED is an approach which emphasizes zero set-up time. In print this seems far fetched—if not impossible—but reviewing all your set up procedures, and the productivity of crews and operators, may be valuable in identifying where productivity is lagging. One of the main approaches behind this method is good ergonomics or space set-up. Eliminating distance travelled or backtracking that needs to be done with materials helps reduce the time needed for the process in general. The movement of materials is also part of the set up. Unfortunately this may not be best observed in slower times, as some operators tend to take their time when they are not rushed, and rightly so. I would much rather take a few extra minutes to get something right than rush through it and have to do it over again.
Poka-yoke is the idea of zero waste. Again not totally possible in print, but certainly an area where minimums can be achieved and reducing waste can save a company hundreds of thousands of dollars in wages, materials, and time. Even the smallest savings here can add up over the course of a year; multiply savings across a few departments and the number becomes very staggering. Poka-yoke can be examined in detail during slower times, as it’s a great time for operators to be meticulous in finding ways of reducing waste. It may be best to attempt experiments of this nature with jobs that are easier to run before gambling on new methods with a critical quality job. Zero waste refers to both make-ready waste and failure waste. Saving sheets on the make ready isn’t saving them at all if they are wasted during the run.
Finally, there is Just In Time or JIT. Many of you are familiar with this idea from Dell Computers, who make PCs to specific specs as they are ordered. JIT reduces the amount of inventory kept on the floor in order to save space and time. Customers are increasing their time demands on the print industry—which makes inventory of standard items increasingly essential—but too much inventory may take space away from other, more valuable things that could be done with the space. JIT would be applied very differently in web and digital shops.
There are several other methods of Lean manufacturing that I have not mentioned, and I encourage you to do your own independent research on the subject. Your plant, your jobs, your customers, and your employees are the forces that will allow or not allow any of these methods to work effectively in your operation. Lean is doing more with less, but you must implement it across the board, and not just in one or two departments. So tighten up those belts—it might be the best thing you’ve ever done.