Setup Reduction for Printers: A Practical Guide to Reducing Makeready Time in Print Manufacturing

Setup Reduction is how companies increase value to their customers. Yet it is not a simple process. Setup Reduction for Printers outlines a method for reducing setup times by using the proven techniques developed as Single Minute Exchange of Dies (SMED). Malcolm Keif and Kevin Cooper outline a ten-step process that can reduce setup times by 50% or more by focusing on reducing internal makeready tasks and moving those to external tasks. Setup Reduction for Printers goes in-depth by focusing on all aspects of your makeready, from standardizing fasteners, to minimizing adjustments, to incorporating parallel processing, to error-proofing your makeready.Using practical printing examples, Setup Reduction for Printers shows how you can engage your team, utilizing Lean principles, to methodically work through the process of makeready reduction. Using a motorsports pit crew analogy, your employees can work through the strategies discussed in this book to lower your costs and improve your bottom line. Setup Reduction is vital for your success in the competitive landscape of print manufacturing.

Malcolm G. Keif is a professor at California Polytechnic State University specializing in flexography, quality management, Lean thinking, printed electronics, and cost estimating. He has worked in the printing and packaging industry for more than twenty years. He is the author of four books focused on print media. Kevin Cooper has worked in printing and manufacturing for twenty years, managing plants internationally. He is a professor of graphic communication at California Polytechnic State University and actively presents and consults with printers on Lean management methods. He is the author of three books.