Introducing Lean

The idea of 'lean' manufacturing really took off after Toyota redesigned their production system, taking them from being a small, almost bankrupt manufacturer in 1948 to what they are today. Out of their system, 'lean' was developed - although the principles go much further back in time.

Putting it simply, 'lean' focuses on removing all waste, and making products as the customer needs them, with minimal inventory. Benefits include:

• Reduced human effort
• Better use of capital
• Improved use of time
• Lower raw materials requirements
• Efficient use of space

Vision in Print is a not-for-profit organisation set up in 2003 to support the printing industry. They use a five-step process to help printers adopt the principles of 'lean' to gain higher productivity, performance and profit.

For their Materials Waste Reduction programmes they work with staff from the shop floor in hands-on programmes to identify and tackle the biggest and most easily remedied causes of waste, introducing simple measures to recognise and track waste reduction.

Not only does this help you make savings of up to 5% of your spend on materials, it also helps increase staff motivation and awareness.
Label Apeel Ltd, in Leicester, is one of the companies that have reduced waste and saved money with Vision in Print's help, and how they did it is described in the case study you can download from  here .