Service Up Front

Reducing front-end costs means pennies from heaven for your gravure customers.

November 2007 by Chris Mc Loone

multipage

Front-end cost reduction strategy

The 10th annual PLGA operational conference focused on operating profitably in a global market. Part of operating profitably comes from reducing costs. One way to reduce the cost of a gravure-printed job, according to Fontaine, is to reduce the front-end costs of the print job. In fact, Fontaine asserts that such price reductions are already underway. “There is a concerted effort taking place as we speak,” she says. “I believe there will be new materials coming up on the horizon, and there is new tooling available today from hollow aluminum bridge bases, carbon fiber carriers, to image sleeves.”

She also contends that the gravure process must meet the customer demand for shorter runs. “The presses being manufactured today are ready. All we need is quick turnaround image carriers, hopefully chromeless,” she says.

Fontaine suggests that streamlining current processes through automation, lean efforts, and parallel designing for print, and specifying gravure to mirror SWOP (specifications web offset publications) for offset are ways gravure printers can begin to improve front-end costs of the print job.

Amgraph’s own efforts have led to substantial improvements in front-end costs. For example, since 1991, the company has had a fully integrated electronic prepress department on site. Ten years later, the company switched to sleeves, further reducing its costs. Purchasing steel air mandrels for each repeat size has reduced its inventory from more than 500 cylinders to 80. “This has opened up a lot of real estate on the manufacturing floor,” says Fontaine. “It’s no longer necessary to use a forklift to prepare the press, and we avoid the boxing and crating of cylinders for de-chroming and re-engraving. We print with fresh sleeves when the mileage is up. We reduced the safety risk and made the quality of life much better in the printing department.”

Measure your results

Front-end cost decreases have helped Amgraph compete globally by increasing turnaround and controlling costs. “To stay competitive, it’s the only way,” Fontaine explains. “We are all buying from the same suppliers. If you can’t keep your internal costs in control, you can’t compete.” A critical component of the process is to constantly evaluate where you are and how you can improve. “Measure! If you can’t measure, you can’t improve,” asserts Fontaine. “Value-stream map your processes. Identify your non-value-added steps and work to remove or reduce them. Then do it again—it’s amazing what you’ll be able to improve the next time around.”

Global competition

Foreign competition is the biggest issue for Amgraph in the markets in which it competes. It is not alone, and neither are gravure printers. Offshoring has affected all aspects of the package-printing industry, whether it be packaging produced overseas, knock-off presses that don’t produce the quality of the name-brand presses, or economic conditions in general. Reducing front-end costs associated with a print job at the converter level is one way to be more competitive in a global marketplace. Converters can’t do it alone, however. “To all the chemists and engineers out there, come up with a copperless, chromeless image carrier,” Fontaine concludes. pP

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