Operational information management:
and started, and that the information collected is accurate and satisfies as answers to questions pertaining to each step of the manufacturing process. Pre-press information gathering is often an evolutionary process, improving with each iteration of an organization’s continuous improvement program. The steps we consider first are: What information is needed. For prepress it might be determining the line screen a job gets printed at. For the pressroom the information might be how many colors and what kind of press layout. For the can assembly plant, what size and type of can will be assembled including what type of weld margin. The mantra: Gather the data, centralize it, and make it accessible. But…It’s not good enough to just gather the information and go. There must be a validation process for the accuracy of the information being disseminated. Information must be centralized and accessible for each process step. Finding something out in an email is great, but no good unless the data is captured properly and documented in a way it can be referenced by all the units involved. It is an inherent aspect of the prepress department that we are the gatekeepers of information. Customer service representatives manage data on a daily basis to ensure that everything is consolidated, accurate, and published before the job is released for production. It is worth taking a hard look at your prepress department and to evaluate how information can be managed successfully because the reality is, it all starts with prepress.
Prepress operations of any print or manufacturing organization is the nexus between customers, sales teams, press plants, fillers, in short, we are the centralized gatekeepers responsible for HOW the job will be successful. Information is gathered by category and is specific to each area of operation. Such specific data must be supplied and available for each business unit so the data being managed is categorized for each step in the process. For a prepress (graphics) department, the information gathered may appear obvious at times such as what substrate are we printing on, size coat or white basecoat metal? Info was provided. What size and type of can are we assembling graphics for, straight wall or necked in? Info was provided. How many color separations will print? Info was provided. What’s the pressure rating on the can for DOT (dept of transportation) labeling? Info was provided. You get the point. There is no right method to manage information, or what and how it is gathered. Each organization’s operation is unique and may have specialized processes unique to them. For this reason, it is incumbent upon each organization’s business unit to determine WHAT information is needed and HOW it is provided, including specific or specialized instructions, and the methods utilized in the information gathering process. What is important to stress is the following: You can have the fastest production lines, the newest equipment, the best coaters, it all means nothing unless the right questions are asked when a job is getting set up
folding carton, large format, and most recently Metal print for Aerosol and specialty packaging. Being multilingual has helped in unforeseen ways throughout working career. Past work experiences included coordinated visits abroad to learn about prepress and printing operations in England, Australia, and South America.
Mark Gojkovich is Production Manager of Midwest Graphics, a modernized, state of the art prepress production facility located in Aurora IL, part of the CAPP division of Crown Cork & Seal. Employed with Crown for 5 years managing prepress operations for Metal Deco. Worked in the offset print industry for 30 years. Experience includes Commercial, Packaging,
FUNDAMETALS Newsletter
Q2 2023 [ 13 ]
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