The design of boxes is a small part of a big story. But if something goes wrong in the communication between the enterprise level and the press room, it could have wide-ranging ramifications.
That was the consensus of a panel on supply chain management at last week’s annual forum of the Foundation of Flexographic Technical Association (FFTA), held at the Kentucky International Convention Center in Louisville, Ky. More than 1,300 registrants signed up to attend this and other tracks on pressroom and production practices, color management and emerging technologies, and to visit exhibits of these technologies on the show floor.
The Pain of Complexity—This pain is associated with the fact that supply chain activities go on in parallel and they are connected by weak links, including verbal, paper and email connections, followed by weak follow-up on a global basis, according to Lieven Plettinck, R&D manager, packaging software, with Esko-Graphics, based in Belgium. He suggests that what’s needed is more automatic execution. That’s where JDF comes in.
The JDF standard, or Job Definition Format, integrates processes in prepress, press and postpress, Plettinck explains. This interface allows better communication between MIS systems and the press.
“This is not a solution, but an enabling technology for clearer job descriptions and communication across the supply chain,” he maintains. “It encompasses commercial printing workflows, packaging and labeling concepts, media definitions including corrugated board, device interfaces to folder gluers and diecutters. The newest interface to be released in the fall of 2007 will be a model of the flexo workflow.”
Exit the Silos—Still, a fully integrated JDF supply chain remains a vision under construction. Once completed, it will provide for a single common language and framework for flexible yet automated workflow management, adds David Taylor, president of Radius Solutions, Chicago.
“Converters need to upgrade their systems, and focus on supply chain issues,” he says. “If you don’t, your competitors will and you won’t be around long.”
He adds that converters can become leaders by getting their companies out of silos. JDF provides a command-and-control language for devices on the shop floor, setting the stage for flexible workflow management.
“Make sure your equipment vendors can support your equipment through CIP4 standards,” he suggests. “These guidelines specify levels of integration. Be selective with JDF suppliers.”
Be Lean about It—Edward Murphy, chairman of Datacraft
Solutions, Douglasville, Ga., talked about the kind of culture in which supply-chain communications can be most effective – a lean one.
“One operation reduced inventory by half, and they were able to increase plant capacity by one-third without moving a wall,” Murphy says. “The value of that is substantial in terms of customer service.”
He discusses the benefits of digital Kanban, an electronic method of signaling the need for replenishment.
“What we found is you can handle 10 times the number of suppliers you did before,” he says. “Even a small mom-and-pop shop supplier can use this system, accepting or rejecting orders.”
Chain vs. Chain—In the future, competition won’t be between companies but between supply chains, says Paul Denmark, senior supply chain consultant for the Avery Dennison Corp. That vision will come about as suppliers start adopting vendor managed inventory (VMI).
“The best supply chains will win,” he says. “Enable the customer to focus on their core business instead of ordering materials, and converters can also reduce the cost of purchasing. That reduces the inventory at the customer site and improves service.”
Susan Stitzel, product manager at Esko-Graphics’s Ludlow, Mass., location, adds that workloads must come together in the fastest way possible across the supply chain. That will enable design changes on the fly.
“Seventy-five percent of packaging is change orders,” she says. “We need to be able to accelerate these changes. Speed to market is critical and errors are very expensive, especially the farther down the supply chain problems hit.”
Stitzel says that communication cycles in the supply chain must be reduced, and online tools are an ideal solution to do that because they’re available anytime, anywhere.
“Will we ever eliminate all those approval cycles by putting everything
online?” she asks. “I would say no. Can we eliminate three or four or five cycles? Yes. Think about what you could save in proofs, samples and shipping.” |
