Mark Vruno

How do we cope with periodicals postage increases?
July 25, 2007

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Question: How can we help smaller publishing customers cope with the periodicals postal rate increases that went into effect last week?

Answer: Whether you print periodicals for large or small publishers, there’s waste in the mail-preparation process—both in a “lean” context (non-value added motion and processing) and in the traditional, physical definition of waste (banding or shrinkwrapping, for example).

What Does the USPS Want?
The solution must come from a combined effort between you and your customer. No one’s saying to rush out and buy the same equipment that the big printers have, but you both need to figure out a way to provide what the USPS wants. The challenge is how to add this without significantly adding to costs.

Taiichi Ohno taught that “there is a correct sequence to” continuous improvement:
1) manual work
2) equipment
3) process

Don’t Buy First …
Buying (or leasing) new equipment should NOT be the first thing that a printer tries. Work on eliminating all wastes in the existing work process first before exploring new equipment. Using Chihiro Nakao’s 3P (Production Preparation Process) model, challenge your staff to come up with seven ways to accomplish this. After you’re sure you’ve done everything with the existing work process, then you can look at the equipment to see what’s preventing your people from making even more improvements—and look to improve equipment capabilities. And once new equipment is installed, we work on new processes to drive efficiencies with the new equipment.

Crisis = Opportunity
This is a crisis, but it doesn’t have to be a threat; it is an opportunity for improvement of the entire value stream.

Posted by Mark Vruno on July 25, 2007 | Comments (0)