PS 18: Kaizen in the press room

Hirofumi Hoshino began his presentation by crunching macro numbers like the GDP growth from 2016 to 2050 which pegged Indian as the second largest economy. In terms of packaging growth, rigid packaging is expected to grow from USD 85 mn in 2015 to USD 259 mn in 2020. While flexible packaging will grow from USD 233 mn in 2015 to USD 468 mn in 2020.

A revealing stat that was shared is: A printing press is not in operation 50% of the working hours and produces for only one third of the total available time. Komori conducted a survey with 31 companies and numbers are: 33% operating time; 33% in makeready (including change-over plus test prints); the remaining 34% the press is not in operation.

As per the survey, the main reasons for the non-productive time is: Machine condition related to maintenance and materials; colour matching; and the operating procedures or operator skills. Which is why, Komori believes in Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE).

Following the 5S principle, a firm can work on its OEE. 5S are Japanese words which begin with the letter "S" such as Seiri, Seiton, Seiso, Seiketsu and Shitsuke.

For example, Seiton is set in order. This means simple things like to do a UV lamp check. No looking for a tool before trouble. Maintaining a roller maintenance chart for each roller. Then there is Seiso and Seiketsu which is shine and standardise. The idea is to check press sheet daily, weekly, monthly. The idea is to check points and check result. The key is visualisation for all operators.

In 2006, a Komori Preventive Maintenance (KPM) seminar was held in Shanghai. Printers were quite inspired and visited Japan to study and see the success cases. KPM was implemented in China and the results have been impressive. This became a proven way of Kaizen – Improvement

And in this sense, Komori believes in the following four mantras for all its customers.

- It is possible to improve ROI by reviewing the present pressroom – “Gold Mine”

- It is to maintain the good condition of the press and working environment – “KPM”

- It can change the operators’ mind and culture of the company – “Challenge”

- It is not difficult but needs the continuation – “Passion”

Komori in India has been a market leader in India since the last four years in new machine sales. According to Hoshino the main reason is, "The Komori press genuinely offers best ROI and lowest cost of ownership". The company hopes to work with its customers to achieve higher productivity and margins plus continue to add value.