News

Total Production Management

The first speaker of the Power of Print session on Efficient Printing was George Donaldson, Group Continuous Improvement Manager of Newsprinters in the UK. He explained, based on the example of Broxbourne, how to transform a printing plant into a lean enterprise. “We want to be the best in the world and continuous improvement is the way to get there,” he says.

by WAN-IFRA Staff executivenews@wan-ifra.org | October 9, 2013

“TPM, total production management, for us means to involve all staff, to work all together and to include all systems and processes.” He described workplace organisation as fundamental to efficiency. “You have to get things in order, take out what is not necessary and bring in what you need and where you need it,” he says. A clean and neat printing plant makes the printers’ lifes easier.

He took the example of a pit-stop to show how a team should work together, for example to fix of a problem that occurs during production: everybody know what to do and every tool is where is should be. One of the many lean production methods Newsprinters use is SMED. “SMED is about efficiency and effectiveness which is essential to operational excellence,”. Donaldson says.

Printing plant managers who want to follow the example he gives the advice not to expect quick results: “It is a process that takes time”.

Share via
Copy link