As with most any time, the graphic communication

TRAINING Profiting from Lean Management Lean Management revolves around two key principles: continuous improvement and respect for people. BY KEVIN COOPER As with most any time, the graphic communication industry is rife with buzzwords these days. It is always a challenge to determine which of these will merit attention by your company and which you can safely sidestep. Industry publications and conferences are consistently speaking to the topics of Sustainability, Lean, and Workflow (among others). While trying to run your operations as you know them, management must also try to determine which of these topics will become viable trends in the industry and which may fade away to eventual obscurity. In difficult times, choices around where to invest scarce resources become much more critical. Arguably, all three of these subjects mentioned here are not only trends that will drive the industry forward but are also inter-related and mutually supportive in nature. This article will primarily focus on Lean Management and the implications of embracing these concepts to improve your company profitability but will also touch on the bigger focus of how Lean, Sustainability, and Workflow are all part of a broader improvement initiative to help drive profitability in the graphic communication industry. Understanding Lean Management Lean is one of the hottest topics in the industry today. It is also one of the most misunderstood. Because the word lean is such a common one many people believe they are practicing Lean Management when they go through typically presumptive improvement measures such as cost-cutting and headcount reduction. Managers or companies often proclaim they couldn t get any leaner after their latest round of manpower reductions and spending freezes. Frequently, the costs cut are in the areas of travel or training and development as companies find, in the near term, that most other costs are fixed in nature and difficult to alter. These measures could not be further from the principles of Lean Management. To begin to understand Lean Management it is important to clarify a couple of key points. First, Lean is not a manufacturing program. Lean is a management process that takes a fundamental look at the entire process of running a business, not just improving the manufacturing portion. Lean is just as applicable in administrative areas as on the shop floor. In fact, Lean may provide more benefits to many firms in the office area where improvements have typically been harder to quantify and come by. Manufacturing operations for most firms have been under intense scrutiny for a long period of time and while companies may not have been practicing Lean behaviors they have been finding ways to improve productivity in their plants. The growing emphasis on Workflow facilitates thinking about a business within the larger context of entire processes connecting and supporting each other rather than discrete operations that somehow fit together to make a product or service; this is one of the ways that Lean thinking and Workflow fit well together. Second, Lean Management revolves around two key principles: continuous improvement and respect for people. There are many who promote 22 IPA BULLETIN November/December 2008

Lean with an almost singular focus on the various tools it encompasses. You have probably read, and will read again in this article, about 5S processes, set-up reduction, flow, kaizen events, total productive maintenance, and other Lean tools. These are important tools, they are conceptually easy to grasp, and they are easy to apply in general within your organization although sustaining them can prove problematic; but they are only a part of a Lean implementation process. Unfortunately, they tend to be the primary focus of many firms that begin to journey towards becoming Lean. These tools of Lean make up the bulk of the continuous improvement portion of Lean Management. Significantly less has been written about the respect for the people portion of the Lean equation, yet it is significantly more important. Respect for people within your organization speaks to managing the culture of your company. It speaks to how employees are viewed within the organization and, ultimately, whether a company is going to become Lean or continue to operate in its current fashion while employing select Lean tools and then spend time wondering why the total benefits spoken to in Lean literature do not accrue to it. Tools are like technology; they can be learned or acquired. Culture is something that cannot be easily imitated and remains a significant determinant of competitive advantage. Unfortunately, many companies try to gain Lean success through the implementation of Lean tools while choosing not to address the cultural aspects of Lean; then they express frustration when they see some short term gains but never realize the sustained benefits they envision. Lean Management relies heavily on making problems visible. Many companies, and many managers, have built success by working around problems to deliver product on time. Internal metrics focus on optimizing press productivity, books per hour in the bindery, plates out the door in preliminary, or other like measures that tend to optimize a functional area. In the quest for efficiency and lower unit costs, plants frequently tend to recognize record production runs and reward employees who can achieve these records. These metrics tend to force a shortterm view and create a culture of avoiding problem resolution in favor of pushing product through a plant. Many a manager has been evaluated on whether he or she is willing to do whatever it takes to get customer work out without sufficient recogcontinued on page 26 Lean management, workflow and sustainability are not only trends that will drive the industry forward but are also inter-related and mutually supportive in nature. November/December 2008 IPA BULLETIN 23

Work areas are notorious for accumulating clutter. This non-essential material gets in the way, creates a larger work area than is needed, and causes employees to have to work around clutter to perform essential job functions. nition for the necessary problem solving that must exist at some level for a plant s problems to ever get identified and resolved. Lean management takes the opposite view. Lean encourages the identification of problems in order to allow for their resolution. Production is stopped if problems cannot be quickly resolved to allow for sufficient resources to come to the problem area and work to ensure that problems are properly diagnosed and corrective steps are put in place to prevent their reoccurrence. Beginning the Lean Process Making problems visible inside a plant starts with making them easier to see. A foundation of Lean management is 5S; this process is where most every practitioner of Lean starts. The five S s are sort, straighten, shine, standardize, and sustain. Companies typically choose select areas to implement 5S practices to gain a foothold and establish traction for the Lean efforts in the plant. This effort centers around identifying Islands of Excellence and many companies choose to start in areas that are in need of the most improvement. Teams are formed to own the 5S efforts in their workplace including efforts to grade 5S efforts and recognize results. Sorting efforts include removing anything from a work area that is not needed for current production. Work areas are notorious for accumulating clutter that sits around just in case it is needed. This non-essential material gets in the way, creates a larger work area than is needed, and causes employees to have to work around clutter to perform essential job functions. Straightening a work area puts essential items in place where they are easy to find, easy to use, and easy to put away. Every item is clearly marked and its location clearly noted. This eliminates confusion around where to find something and minimizes errors of something being used incorrectly. Shining involves cleaning to a high level of housekeeping. Cleanliness of equipment and work spaces allows for easier recognition of problems when they occur. We have all seen presses where oil was always pooled at the bottom of units. How could a crew ever tell if an oil leak leading to a breakdown was occurring if oil pools were always allowed to be present in the layout? Standardize deals with creating schedules and fixed patterns for maintaining and improving your 5S efforts while sustain deals with practicing and repeating the 5S processes until they become a way of life throughout your business. Proponents of Lean have stated that Lean begins and ends with efforts around 5S; if you cannot get this going in a sustainable manner in your facility, there is little hope for being able to successfully implement other Lean tools. Identifying & Eliminating Waste All the tools of Lean focus on making issues visible and identifying and eliminating waste. Waste in 26 IPA BULLETIN November/December 2008

Lean plants encompasses a much broader definition than traditionally found in the print industry. Simply stated, anything that does not add value to a customer is deemed to be waste in Lean thinking. Examples of waste would include excess motion performing work tasks, over processing or doing more work than is necessary, transporting or conveying work, producing something sooner or faster than the next process requires, any time spent waiting for work or instructions, and inventory are all considered waste in Lean. These broadly defined categories of waste are in addition to scrap or defective product. Inventory is deemed waste as it indicates something was produced before the next process was ready to process it or it was produced in excess of what was required. Think about your facility and how much space and money is tied up in raw materials, work in process, or finished goods inventory. Accounting systems classify inventory as an asset while Lean thinking classifies inventory as a liability and something to be minimized. A good exercise to identify waste in your facility is to simply stand in the middle of your production floor and quietly observe how much activity is taking place that does not directly add value to customer work. It is easy to confuse motion with work and many factories excel at appearing busy. Lean proponents do not encourage people to work harder or faster but simply to become more aware of what activities add value and which are simply creating waste through excess motion or movement. Implementing Additional Lean Tools Once 5S is firmly in place the other tools of Lean can be implemented. Many companies move from 5S to setup reduction as a logical means of continuing to find improvement areas in the plant. Setup Many readers of the IPA Bulletin are familiar with IPA s e-lean program as a process for achieving graphics workflow excellence. Developed specifically for the graphic communication industry, e-lean is designed to improve both traditional and digital workflow efficiencies. IPA s team of workflow experts has upgraded traditional lean management principles and applied them to the digital world of graphic communications. To be e-lean is to process and deliver graphic solutions without wasting time, materials, creativity, and essential human resources. The decision to transform from an inefficient producer to an e-lean producer is a declaration of war on waste and inefficiency. e-lean tools are designed to identify and remove waste and to prevent it from ever returning. IPA s e-lean tools were developed by combining traditional Lean Manufacturing principles with realworld analysis of IPA member companies who opened their digital workflow to the IPA e-lean team. These companies are achieving increased levels of efficiency, growth and profitability utilizing IPA s e-lean tools and support. With e-lean, they are able to develop value-conscious teams, map digital and traditional workflows, and optimize the flow of communication. The IPA e-lean program includes a series of educational webinar programs, a detailed implementation handbook, and personalized consulting and coaching opportunities. All tools include a description of real-world implementation case studies of the e-lean principles (though actual company anonymity is protected). The case study examination allows senior managers to find the right methodology to achieve a maximum return on their investment of time, resources and effort. IPA's comprehensive program is available as a Total Learning Experience, including educational webinars, implementation handbook and personalized coaching, all working to improve total production workflow speed and efficiency AND to better meet customers' demands of reduced costs, faster time to market and improved product quality. More information about IPA s e-lean program is available at www.ipa.org/e-lean. 28 IPA BULLETIN November/December 2008

reduction is based on SMED principles (single minute exchange of dies) and focuses on achieving a drastic reduction in makeready times. Teams work to identify every discrete step that takes place during a makeready and then determine what steps can be performed while equipment is down and what can be done while equipment is still running. Throughout this, steps that do not add value are eliminated. Using video to examine makereadies in slow motion and accurately record how long individual elements take is a common practice. Given the opportunity to observe themselves and after having a Lean education on waste definitions it is not uncommon for teams to find the means to reduce a standard makeready by 50 percent or more in short order. Setup reduction can only occur as teams implement 5S in their work areas and as they understand the importance of visual management; make it easy to identify problems so they can be eliminated. Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) is another Lean tool that teams embrace to drive waste out of a facility. The goal of TPM is to have equipment running at rated speeds and to be available consistently when needed for production. The use of 5S to get equipment to like-new condition is a prerequisite of any TPM initiative. Teams work to standardize lubrication schedules, establish checklists to ensure proper lubrication is completed, and utilize visual controls to monitor equipment s condition. The use of teams helps to involve all employees in being aware and involved with equipment running in optimal condition. Teams use problem solving skills to perform root cause analysis of machine downtime and correct problem areas. The use of kaizen events are frequently undertaken to bring a specific, focused attack on areas to improve. Kaizen is another Lean tool that brings resources together to resolve problems by continuously evaluating processes for possible areas of waste elimination. Driving Lean Within the Company All of the tools of Lean revolve around a heavy use of teams and empowerment in the workplace. Lean is a process that must be supported from the top down but driven from the bottom up in organizations. Management must reward team-based behaviors and encourage participation from all employees for Lean to succeed. Training around communication, problem solving, and conflict management skills are essential to employees ability to develop into high-performing work teams. Management in a Lean enterprise sees employees as an investment and not a cost to manage or cut. Productivity and cost gains from Lean efforts should not be seen as an opportunity to reduce the workforce but an understanding that waste costs driven out of a business allows either greater profit margins or the chance to compete at a lower price and retain the same margin. Lean proponents do not encourage people to work harder or faster, simply to become more aware of what activities add value and which are simply creating waste. Uniting Lean, Sustainability, & Workflow The intent of this article is not to fully describe all aspects of Lean management but to outline a few of the benefits of beginning a Lean journey. Printers embracing the concept of Sustainability will find its tenants totally compatible with Lean thinking. Sustainable practices discourage the production of waste and work to minimize the resources required to produce products. Likewise, Workflow emphasizes a total system view instead of looking at optimizing discrete functional areas; this again is in total synchronization with Lean principles. Lean management takes a total business view of your operation and actively works to drive out waste, minimizing inputs to create the customer outputs. All three of these trends in the graphic communication industry are important for every printer to consider how they will address them. Practices of the past and management ideas that proved successful previously will not be sufficient to position you for success in the competitive conditions of today s marketplace. Profitability improvement is imperative for most companies. Engaging your employees to identify and drive out waste is a fundamental component of Lean; you can sit and wonder if it is a trend that will stick or you can actively find ways to educate yourself on how to best employ its principles to best position your firm for the future. November/December 2008 IPA BULLETIN 29