Details:
Summary:
This study was designed to benchmark companies' performance based on imaging, press makeready, downtime, plate remakes, maintenance, and other key operating measures. This gives unequivocal comparisons with competing firms since all companies will be producing the exact same job. Benchmarking is the process of identifying, understanding, and adapting outstanding practices from organizations anywhere in the world to help your organization improve its performance. -Wikipedia. The objective for this investigation was to provide a technical benchmark for sheetfed printers on their production performance both in the prepress and then on the press. This information was gathered using a "real" production job where it has been possible to characterize each individual step of the process. Two earlier studies, carried out in 1998 and 2006, proved effective on identifying the bottlenecks within workflow systems, provided opportunities for improvement, and revealed which equipment changes had a large impact on productivity. The job selected for this study is a four-over-four print run, that has been provided as either PDF files or Adobe InDesign files, which in both cases one side needed to be imposed. The test files have been designed to challenge the prepress workflow and identify differences in performance. There is no specified screening technology; the prints produced have been made using both conventional and stochastic screening methods. The benchmarking evaluation has shown that there are significant differences in imaging, platemaking, production speeds, and waste levels and downtime between the printers that participated in the study. Press sheets were provided to allow an acceptable match to be obtained. The main differences in performance are identified and solutions suggested improving performance.