The world headquarters and manufacturing operation of Mark Andy, Inc. was the final destination for leading printing companies as part of the 2012 Printing Industries of America Continuous Improvement Conference held earlier this month in St. Louis, Missouri. A plant tour of Mark Andy concluded the three-day event, providing printing managers and executives a first-hand look at how Lean initiatives and continuous improvement has successfully impacted the company.

Over the past 18 months, Mark Andy has implemented a focused Lean program, initiating completely new ideas and processes to drive efficiencies and improve quality in their manufacturing workflows. Plant tour visitors were exposed to workflow organization tactics, key visual management tools and work cell procedure approaches. Another important part of the discussion included learning curves and other aspects of the culture change needed to accomplish a successful Lean transformation.

Mark Andy began the ‘continuous improvement’ approach four years ago, starting with their product R&D and design process, to directly impact their customers’ work flows and bottom lines. The Mark Andy Performance Series, winner of two international innovation awards in 2011, is a proven machine platform that specifically supports continuous improvement in a printing operation’s workflow. Rotoflex is launching new inspection/rewinding platforms that achieve direct improvement to the finishing workflows this year.