Alan Barretto highlights importance of lean production

The presentation was based on a study conducted by Nilpeter. What was unique is, the study was done for the purpose of improving Nilpeter's shopfloor methods and then extended to their technology centre. And from there its scope was further extended - to end up as a tool to help printshops optimise their pressroom output.

Barretto stated, he knows, "how production methods are taken for granted and as long as production happens and deliveries are made one does not care too much about the hidden inefficiencies."

And so, the effort related to the pressroom optimisation, was done over a few years and covered hundreds of demos and thousands of customer visits. The Nilpeter team identified areas of productivity and waste. And within this, they chose to analyse the changeover procedures in the pressroom.

The reason Nilpeter focussed on changeover was, as Barretto said, "It is what largely determines your present productivity – all other factors remaining the same."

Barretto added, "Everyone has a minimum run length in mind below which they feel it is not economical to do the job. We will see that the high costs are basically derived from the time taken – because while your material costs are covered in your pricing – press time is a bit more vague."

He said, there are six steps to follow to ensure lean production.

1. Measure the total changeover time
2. Determine what are the internal and external steps
3. Move the external steps outside the changeover
4. Reduce the internal steps
5. Reduce the external steps
6. Standardise the new changeover procedure and continuous improvement

He pointed out six productivity limiters with examples like:

1. Change rolls: the time and wastage during this operation
2. Change tooling in print station: the change parts and the process of change
3. Change die: One of the more time consuming tasks – mainly because of the weight of the die and the unwieldiness of the process
4. Set in print: setting the register and pressure
5. Print speed: utilising the press capability and running the job at the rated speed
6. Value added printing: overcoming the speed limitations placed by some special processes

Barretto concluded his presentation with a mention of Ajay Mehta's presentation on day one of the conference, which spoke about the demand for labels in India and what it means for the label industry.

He said, "We would love to sell each of you 50-60 machines each but where would you put them. The key to survival in the long – and short run is better efficiency and utilisation, faster turn arounds, higher quality and the differentiation based on these parameters."

He reinstated the principle of lean production. He said, "A new press with features as described in this presentation will quadruple your productivity if used optimally. The improvement in productivity is a team effort – so everybody must be on board and take ownership of their area of work."

His thumb-rule was the 80/20 principle. That is, 80% of the time is taken by 20% of the tasks. Barretto said identify and tackle these first.

Barretto's final words were: "Standardise your procedures. Document it and leave nothing to chance."