In Depth

When Paul Toms, operations director at Southernprint, first floated the idea of lean manufacturing to staff, there were several raised eyebrows. The prospects didn't look good.

“I’m not going to lie,” says Toms. “There is always scepticism when a new management initiative is introduced and lean manufacturing was no exception. Soon enough, though, our workers realised that the scheme was really benefiting them. They grew to appreciate their cleaner, safer environment that was ultimately easier to work in, and more stress-free.”

The resistance that Toms initially encountered at Southernprint would probably be repeated across the industry at the mention of the word ‘lean’. Though Toms has now convinced his staff of lean manufacturing’s benefits, it’s fair to say the industry as a whole hasn’t embraced it in the same way.

But going lean has long been accepted in other manufacturing industries and, according to Richard Gray, director of
Vision in Print (ViP), cost savings are virtually guaranteed. However, to date, only an estimated 5% of printers have embraced the techniques.

Put simply, lean is about finding the greatest efficiency and profitability for a business and the benefits are well documented, so why have printers been slow to catch on?

According to Toms, the reason is that print companies are often too antiquated to embrace the techniques. “The industry only really began taking lean techniques seriously three years ago. The problem is that so much of the industry is run by companies with ageing workforces and out-of-date management techniques.”

Multiple training choices
There are already a raft of training providers that teach lean techniques, including Six Sigma, TQM and Lean. More print-focused options include ViP and Proskills’ BIT PAC initiative.

After conducting a business assessment in 2004, Southernprint opted for ViP because of its reputation for providing bespoke print industry training. ViP was a fledgling operation at the time, but agreed to work with the Poole-based company as a client.

“When a company takes us on, it’s important that everyone from management to shopfloor is on board,” says Gray. “We like to take a ‘bottom-up’ approach to the scheme, enthusing workers from the shopfloor upwards.”

Southernprint’s Toms fulfilled this commitment by organising a day with his staff in which he and the rest of the firm’s management donned overalls to join shopfloor staff for ViP’s training course. He says that building this relationship and showing a commitment from the outset was important in ensuring staff reciprocated this commitment.

The initiatives offered ranged from simple time-saving measures to complex press efficiency tests. ViP’s 5C initiative falls in the former category. Workers are given a range of measures, including issuing diagrams of all the kit needed
to run their press, with hooks on each picture, enabling staff to replace the corresponding tool after they have finished using it.

As part of 5C, there is also a regular maintenance initiative called ‘red slip’, in which staff are encouraged to highlight problems on presses as soon as they are spotted. The idea is to prevent the problems from worsening.

Early warning
“The red slip scheme has also been beneficial, not least because it forges that link between the shopfloor and management,” explains Toms. “Being kept in the loop about potential problems is an excellent streamlining measure.”

The more complex lean manufacturing initiatives are driven by consultation, which often results in ‘tweaking’ the way a press is run to maximise its efficiency. Gray says that firms can typically gain a 15% increase in the productivity of their presses for every year that ViP pays them a visit.

He adds: “There is a huge opportunity here being missed by printers. So often, companies think that they have learnt all there is to know about their presses, just because they took a course with the manufacturer that sold it to them.”

A recent addition to the lean table is Proskills’ BIT PAC initiative, set up by the Manufacturing and Skills Alliance, which started in April 2007. The sector skills council is keen to trumpet the money-saving aspect of the business improvement course, claiming that funding for the initiative can even be sourced from government.

Proskills has joined forces with three other sector skills councils – Cogent, Improve and Semta – to help bring improved profitability through lean manufacturing. PAC’s analysts visit businesses and assess their performance, before giving advice on techniques to improve productivity. Selected staff are also encouraged to undertake a Business Improvement Techniques (BIT) NVQ.

Jonathan Ledger, strategic programme manager at Proskills, said: “We go into a business, do a diagnostic and offer qualifications in response to that.”

Lean techniques are then offered, in addition to other services, via Proskills’ BIT assessors, all of whom have experience in the print industry. Ledger says that going through Proskills is a wise choice because the organisation is independent and has access to a wide range of courses.

It is still early days for BIT, but already 15 manufacturing companies have piloted the scheme. The results, according to Ledger, were that each company made an average saving of £93,000, which went straight on the their bottom line.

Long-term plans
BIT works by conducting a seven-day assessment of a company with discussion about what the business hopes to achieve in the next decade. By looking at the long term, BIT aims to provide continuous improvement by up-skilling staff. The consultation costs £450, but results in a menu of options for a company to choose from.

Ledger says that the print industry is slow to adopt these techniques because it often fails to look to the future. He adds: “BIT will never be a waste of money, we don’t give up until we find measures that work.”

As well as bespoke manufacturing-focused courses, more generic help is at hand. Matt Castle, marketing manager of Warwickshire-based Six Sigma, says: “In the print industry, lean can help teams to improve workflow and to create a culture of continuous improvement.”

Six Sigma claims its approach, based on the lean technique of the same name, can increase turnover by 5-20% per annum, as well as bringing about process efficiency improvements. TQM (Total Quality Management), another lean technique, works in a similar way, applying an organisational system to a business. It has been described as a ‘cultural’ initiative, with an emphasis on creating a united workforce between departments.

Lack of time
According to Mark Snee, managing director of Technoprint, Six Sigma and TQM are well respected programmes in the industry. However, like many printers, he has put off his
lean revolution.

“The main reason that printers are putting off going lean is because overcoming the struggles they face day-to-day is time consuming enough,” says Snee. “Even though my company is very stable, I now find myself spending over half my time chasing debtors and ensuring we get paid. The print industry is all too often about running businesses day-to-day, and not looking to the long term.”

Snee adds that Technoprint is awaiting changes in the way BIT courses are run before he introduces it to his employees. Perhaps due to the concerns of people like Snee, Proskills has announced that it plans to offer businesses the chance to take units in its BIT NVQs, without committing to the entire qualification.

Another flexible option for printers looking to become more lean is the Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS): a lean advice organisation delivered through 10 regional centres covering England and Wales. The company offers a free one-day on-site diagnostic visit by a MAS manufacturing specialist and it has experience in the print sector thanks to the help it gave Dorset-based printer Creeds.

The printer was having difficulty competing in the short-run, high-quality market, so it called on the services of MAS. MAS helped the company decide on which digital printer to purchase and introduced an automated proofing system. South West MAS also automated the company’s quoting system, all of which led Creeds into new markets and freed up its litho machines.

Going lean doesn’t come cheaply, in terms of effort as well as cost, but a growing number of companies claim the purported savings and the long-term benefits of lean manufacturing give them that all important edge over the competition.

TOP TIPS: HOW TO BE LEAN

• Keep working areas tidy and organised
• Keep asking ‘why’ until you come up with a answer
• Ensure that the whole business is on-side, from shopfloor staff upwards
• Never give up and aim to continuously improve working practices – lean’s not just a quick fix
• Think short-term loss, long-term gain

THE HISTORY OF LEAN

Lean manufacturing began in the motor industry with Toyota spearheading the revolution in the early 1980s. The motor company went from being a small business to being the world’s largest car maker. The term ‘lean’ was coined by Professor James P Womack and consultant Daniel T Jones who spent years analysing the success of Japanese companies after the Second World War. The pair summarised their learning in a book called Lean Thinking in 1989. The principle behind lean is that any process that fails to create value for a business is wasteful.