Testimonials
“I am very happy with the layout that you put together for us. We are filling up the western side of the building's office space with a design company, a music company and a large format output device. We are going to be rebranding as the COT Media Group later this month. We now need to refine a few Standard Operating procedures to maximize the work flow. Things however are dramatically improved with the new layout. I will keep you posted and please feel free to have anyone contact me for a reference.”
Nigel Worme
Managing Director
COT Caribbean Graphics
Articles
NAPL's Leadership Excellence
Signs of Production Inefficiencies?, Ignore Them At Your Peril
By Hal Ettinger
Red Flags:
- Crowded Operations
- Jammed Staging Areas
- Increased Waste
- Systems At Capacity
It's not enough to understand the printing process, or know how to lay out a plant, or attempt to grow the business with the latest technology. If a printer does not react to existing, sometimes obvious, operating inefficiencies, the best business plans or latest technology will not be enough to overcome operational problems.
The most obvious sign of production inefficiency is overcrowding: People don't have room to move without getting in each other's way. It isn't good for the company image if operations appear chaotic, nor is working in this environment exactly employee friendly. This is one of the first signs something has to be done.
Other clues may appear in the shipping and receiving area: Raw materials and finished goods brought through shipping and receiving without adequate staging or ready-to-ship areas or excessive time spent shifting pallets of finished goods. Problems may also show up on the balance sheet as lost profits due to increased operating costs. Time may have been wasted trying to work around a piece of equipment that was bought to upgrade existing technology, but no one considered what impact it would have on adjacent production areas.
Low Morale, Sloppy Work
Other warning signs are diminished quality of work and increased waste. If an employee has to operate in an environment that has an inefficient material flow, is overcrowded, or is surrounded by a poor equipment layout, the quality of work will suffer. Such problems often lead to low morale, followed by sloppy work.
There are physical signs that should be noted as well: Structural, architectural, mechanical, and electrical systems that can't handle demand; or heating/air conditioning, electrical, plumbing, and fire protection systems that are outdated or at capacity.
If these conditions exist, action is required. First, determine whether the plant could be upgraded, configured differently, or expanded to alleviate some, if not all, production inefficiencies. Begin with a realistic assessment of existing operations, along with a careful and honest analysis of market, location, and future equipment requirements. Can the existing building grow or adapt as the business - and the industry - grows and changes?
It may be difficult to answer these questions honestly because a major expansion or relocation is a daunting prospect. Most printers would rather upgrade and patch because of real or perceived capital cost and construction factors. They often become established in a particular area, feel comfortable, and don't want to move for fear of losing their customer base. Rather than expand or relocate, many printers will stay in a shop that is actually bogging down their business.
There are many factors to consider when deciding whether to retrofit, expand, or relocate, and printers must select the option that will most benefit their business in the long run:
Retrofitting
Determine whether your plant's structure, as well as its mechanical and electrical systems can accommodate future space and operational requirements. If bringing in additional electric service is not practical, or space is not available to add machinery to production areas, increase shipping and receiving areas, or add employee amenities, for example, then rearranging existing operations will not work.
If the decision is to stay where you are, every square foot should be analyzed for optimum use. Solicit input from managers and production people who can give an overall view of how the shop operates and could function most effectively, from order entry to delivery. Wage a war on wasted space. There are often many areas in a plant that can be better utilized, such as storage of old files and unclaimed materials. It's not uncommon to see 15-20% of production and warehouse floor space wasted.
Expansion
If the decision is to expand the building, similar steps can be taken to optimize existing and proposed new areas. Site, structural, and architectural elements of the existing building will influence the layout design of the expansion, which must be practical in light of existing elements. Carefully consider electrical, plumbing, heating and air conditioning systems, for they will define the limits of the expanded plant layout. If attention to these limits is not paid, the entire layout may be compromised and additional money spent trying to implement ideas that were not practical at the outset.
Relocation
Whether the decision is to build a new ground-up (green fields) effort, or renovate an already existing building, the opportunity to do it right gives the move to a new home special significance.
Renovating an older building also requires attention to existing site and building details. Analyze thoroughly both the limitations and opportunities of existing buildings before making any renovation plans. Existing column spacing, shipping/receiving accommodations, available storage height for raw materials, parking availability, and future expansion potential all need to be analyzed before initiating layout design.
A new building has few physical limitations, but presents another problem: meeting budgets. With a clean slate, and particularly coming from a crowded condition mind set, there is a tendency to overextend. Whatever the budget, a new plant should be laid out efficiently for operating flexibility, and designed with future expansions in mind. A war on wasted space should also be waged in the layout stages to assure that all new areas are neither too big nor too small.
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