Management
about correlations and key performance indicators. In a kaizen
culture, the goal is continuous improvement: if you can’t meas-
ure something, you can’t improve upon it. KPIs are factors
which directly influence improvement, and if the KPIs improve,
the outcomes will improve. Many times, the KPIs identified
through rule of thumb or observation simply aren’t the most
reliable factors. Sometimes it’s a seemingly unrelated factor
that, when changed, provides the most improvement to out-
puts. This is why data is so important, and why the companies
that recognize this tend to be the most productive with the
highest margins.
When we view a value stream as an ecosystem, it’s easy to
envision the concept of trophic cascades. By making a sub-
stantive change to a KPI, other changes throughout the value
stream occur. Without ample data, tracking those changes
becomes much more difficult. Conversely, by tracking as much
data as possible, you may discover ways to enact new trigger
points for ordering, or maintenance, or even customer inter-
action. Also, that data will help you to validate your selected
KPIs efficiently by tracking their impact through your value
stream and seeing if they truly affect the outputs.
Best practice
Obviously, there is a wealth of known operational best prac-
tices that can be simply adopted into your manufacturing
plant. However, best practice does not account for the specific
nuances of your plant, your equipment, your staff, your cus-
tomers, and your markets. What’s best practice for one plant
may prove highly inefficient in another. Also, a gain made
through best practice may have a number of associated losses
which wouldn’t seem to have a direct correlation if you weren’t
tracking data and inputs from throughout the value stream.
If you make the investment in connecting all of your systems
and establishing a single source of truth, you will reduce errors
while increasing efficiency. If you further invest in establishing
a culture of continuous improvement, you can make use of
your newly integrated data to establish your company’s critical
KPIs and track them in real time. This is where agility is created
and margins are increased.
Adopting a lean culture is not a panacea but creates a solid
and predictable foundation for growth. It’s not a quick fix; it
requires diligence, persistence, and authentic cultural trans-
formation. For companies struggling to grow, it is the most
reliable way to break through the next revenue ceiling.
Dan Sparrow has been at the disruptive forefront of the industry for
the last twenty five years in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. He is
currently a consultant to consumer brands and print manufacturers,
with a focus on lean production, automation, and digital
transformation. He can be reached at [email protected]
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GRAPHIC ARTS MAGAZINE | October 2018 | 33