Nilpeter hosts production optimisation course

In January, Nilpeter hosted a Production Optimisation Course with focus on LEAN manufacturing under the auspices of the Danish Label Association (DLA).

To practice the SMED-techniques, the process of taking the screen in and out of the press was filmed and broken down into work elements by the participants. They achieved the goal of identifying and eliminating the ineffective elements and thereby improved the work process.

Among the participants was Production Optimisation Manager at CCL Label in Brndby, Denmark, Mr. Bjarne Rasmussen. The concept of LEAN is not new to his organisation. The company has been running several SMED-projects over the years.

A reward system with prices for employees, who come up with ideas that ultimately improve the bottom line, has given the company a great push forward. “We have been impressed with the level of ingenuity that our employees have demonstrated”, says Bjarne Rasmussen. And he adds, “They have come up with all sorts of ideas; from increasing the size of rolls from 1000 to 4000 meters, all that was needed was safety shoes; to making money off our waste by investing some time in separation; to saving money just by selling our van and then leasing instead”.

The Danish label printer Etiflex, with a staff of 24 and numerous Nilpeter flexo presses, also participated in the training course. Production Manager and co-owner Brian Sandgaard has no doubt that becoming LEAN is the way forward for Etiflex. Three years ago, the company launched a project to streamline their printing processes. “We had the good fortune of working with Jacob Srensen from Nilpeter, who offered his consultancy on how to organise our people and equipment around the press”, said Brian Sandgaard, “We managed to reduce the time of a job change on our 8-colour press from 1 hour to 15 minutes – a staggering 45-minute-reduction!”.

At Etiflex, the employees have embraced the opportunity to influence the organisation of their work. They have come up with 30 time-saving ideas, which have been pooled into categories and prioritised. Since the optimisation project was launched three years ago, Etiflex has been able to reduce its manpower and grow their business

“This very enlightening training course at Nilpeter highlighted all the possibilities of LEAN, and we realise that this will be a never-ending, on-going process for Etiflex”.