Press Operations of the Future: PIA/GATF Offset & Beyond 2007 - Part 3
May 11, 2007

The case for remanufacturing was well made by John Bell, CEO of Fulton, Missouri’s Ovid Bell Press. They contracted with B&L to remanufacture a 4 unit M-1000 and retrofit it with all available automation upgrades. This 2 X 4 press would have a top speed of 1,000 fpm and be used for heavy coverage, tight register publication printing with an average run length of only 15,000. In another 12-18 months a second 4 unit B&L remanufactured “smart press” will be brought in parallel to the first in order to deliver two webs of 32 process color pages.

After only a few weeks of operation, Ovid Bell Press is realizing 34 minute per press form cycles on the “smart press” versus the 68 minutes for the same form on the older generation Hantschos which have no automation. The improvement to 1,200 make ready cutoffs and 3% run waste is only part of the cost savings leading to double the throughput and twice the capacity at only 60% of the investment of a new press. “High (investment) cost and high speed have no role in short run printing,” concluded John Bell.

Hobby described other case studies of remanufacturing M-1000 and M–300 legacy war horses quite successfully with investment paybacks of only a couple of years. The same economics model is not as successful for half webs. Ray Prince, NAPL Vice President and Senior Consultant, added that the remanufacturing of sheetfed presses has not turned out to be as attractive as the 2 by 4 web application. This is because the new automated sheetfed presses are replacing at least 3 older model presses. Therefore the best ROI is solidly with the purchase of new rather than a rebuilt sheetfed press.

LEAN manufacturing is gaining acceptance with increasing successful case studies being reported. A key LEAN practice is 5S, which means sort, straighten (set in order), shine, standardize, and sustain. Chris Illa, Japs-Olson’s Operations Manager, detailed his firm’s experience targeted at reducing the setup time on their Drent web press. This was their first introduction to Kaizen and 5S. Therefore, their own “learning” process was quite methodical since sustaining the improved results was a key objective. Illa showed a number of before and after photos illustrating how personal tool boxes were replaced with an easily accessible “hanging tool board” as well as a nifty, well organized “Drent wash-up cart.”

Illa is delighted with his firm’s initial two-year experience with Kaizen and 5S. He offered a series of do’s and don’ts leading to a successful Kaizen event. While it is important to help the project team to scope the event by keeping the focus narrow and deep, “don’t dictate improvement ideas but let the team discover the improvements and work with them to focus their resources,” summated Illa.

Ken Rizzo, PIA/GATF’s Director of Consulting Services and a black belt in Kaizen implementation, provided a thorough “how to” of LEAN, Kaizen, and optimizing processes. “Begin with a value stream mapping which lists all actions and activities from planning through production processes,” stated Rizzo. In creating a current state process map of all individual tasks, activities and times a video camera recording is often helpful. He applied the 5S principles to typical preventive maintenance functions on sheetfed presses to illustrate how these activities can be optimized.

With fuel costs escalating and expected to continue climbing, energy management for printers quickly moves to a front burner priority. Gary Jones, PIA/GATF’s Director of Environmental Health & Safety Affairs, offered sage advice in realizing a quick 5-15% cost savings with little or no capital expenditure. “Conduct an assessment focusing on cost not usage,” suggested Jones, “and you’ll find the big three quick fix opportunities to be compressed air, the heating ventilation air conditioning system and the lighting systems.”

Simple act of genius
While the cancellation of the sheetfed conference after a run of a decade and a half was met with disappointment in many circles, many attendees and sponsor suppliers heralded the combining of the web and sheetfed conclaves as simple genius on the part of PIA/GATF. Likewise the initial concern for this first gathering being held so far away in Toronto was quickly put asunder as attendees got to meet the always strong cadre of exceptional Canadian printers as well as experience the extraordinary hospitality of our northern neighbor.

Reach Clint here
C. Clint Bolte, C. Clint Bolte & Associates, Chambersburg, PA. For additional information please call 717-263-5768 www.clintbolte.com

Posted by on May 11, 2007 | Comments (0)