Getting Production onboard

[prepressguru]

I work in prepress and we have implemented a set of procedures to help us work efficiently and correctly by all operators. But the dockets we receive from production are all loosey goosey. We spend a great deal of time calling back to production because the info is either not organized on the docket, is just missing, or mostly verbal and forgotten when we get to the job. Then there is the email dump, they'll "flip" a email over and the info is there someplace about the job and you know they have not even looked at what is in the email.

It's like constantly running into a wall. Each time I bring it up, it's brushed aside and it's the attitude of deal with it, it' your issue not theirs.

Is there another way I can deal with this?

Thanks

[gordo]

This is similar to situation that has resulted in printers accepting jobs from print buyers and fixing them at no charge. As long as the supplier to the process does not suffer the consequences of their actions there is no incentive for them to change. Who cares what downstream folks have to suffer?
So, you could take a professional approach, do not process the job. Simply return the docket with a note attached indicating what info is missing or required before the job can be processed. Enough jobs going back upstream, unprocessed should catch people's attention and may lead to change.
Since this appears to be an internal issue, you could also take an economics approach and calculate how much money the company is losing per job by not supplying correct materials to your department. Once you've communicated that, if the company is still willing to lose that money then you shouldn't be concerned. If the time squandered on dealing with incorrect materials is sufficient, and the company is happy to lose the money, then you may want to hire a new employee to act as gatekeeper who would also track down the needed info.

best gordo

[prepressguru]

Thanks Gordo! Great post.

[mkeif]

So much of lean is about people and sociology. Management (leadership) must engage people in a higher purpose of focusing on value from the customers point of view. As long as employees view their day to day activities as "pay for work", then details of producing a job like you describe simply aren't very meaningful. "Sure, I missed a few details but we can track them down later." When employees see themselves as a key link in a chain of activities that is bigger and more significant than simply "pay for work", then details are important in the process of pleasing customers. I realize I'm sounding a bit "professorial" here but Toyota has spend 60 years focusing on people (yes processes too, but indirectly). It is about engaging, empowering, and energizing people to believe in something bigger than themselves (hence the importance of doing it right the first time). Without strong employees, strong leadership, and a strong vision, it is an uphill battle. This takes time but the processes are improved or complete changed as a result of employees energized to think differently.

[gordo]

RE: MKeif wrote: "When employees see themselves as a key link in a chain of activities that is bigger and more significant than simply "pay for work", then details are important in the process of pleasing customers."

I would go a bit further. Many, if not most, employees in printing companies are disconnected from how their role, and how they perform their work, fits into the profitability of the company as well as their own paycheck and job security. Nor do they understand how their job impacts the competitive capability of the company they work for. Instead, if they're lucky, at best they just see a series of jobs flowing through their department or across their desktop. (If they're not so lucky there may be downtimes where no work is flowing through.) Some with issues, some without. Some that are panic. Some that just drag on and on.
IMHO, in a well run company, management tries to connect and educate each employee regarding their role and how it impacts the economic success of the business and in turn the economic success of that individual employee.

gordo