Survey Shows that Print is Getting Lean

The PIA/GATF/Point Balance survey clearly reveals that printing company managers view Lean manufacturing as important for the future. Sixty-two percent of survey respondents said that Lean manufacturing is “very important” or “critical” to the future success of their companies.

Commenting on the importance of Lean manufacturing, Point Balance principal G. David Dodd said, “The essence of Lean manufacturing is an all-out attack on waste and a relentless drive to improve productivity. It’s no secret that printing companies must continuously improve productivity in order to survive and prosper, and therefore it’s not surprising that our survey revealed a high level of interest in Lean. The real challenge for printing company managers is to determine which of the traditional Lean tools will work well in a printing company setting and which ones will need to be modified or adapted in order to be effective.”