Stick a fork in me, I'm done!

[tmiller_iluvprinting]

Lean is a tool and not a way of life. Even in Japan now, there are problems showing up with Lean thinking that has gone too far.

I like it as a tool but not as a way of life, which most managers think is what it should be. In the typical Lean environment, thinking and innovation are seen as a waste of time and resources. Lean and innovation are in conflict.

Lean is easier for unimaginative managers to push because it seems to have rules, where innovation is messy and needs the freedom to waste resources in order to find out what can actually be done that will benefit the organization. Managers with no vision can not live with this uncertain situation. And in the printing industry, those are basically the managers you have.

Well said Erik, well said.
Regards,
Todd

 

[Alith7]

Printing IMHO has always had a little intuition in it. In prepress, doing a certain thing to fix a lousy file is not supposed to work, yet it does. A pressman knows his press, not by numbers, but by the sound and the feel of it running that tells him something is not right. Likewise the bindery person and his machines. Yes, measurements and standards are important, but it's that little indefinable sense that good printers have that makes the difference.

agreed! And what I see coming out of the colleges is a combination of people who: went to school because they've been in the industry in a company that stagnated and died and they're out of touch with the current tech and what to get "caught up" but they can't shake their old school ways and are just generally never happy (and I KNOW that that is not always the case, my recent hire went back to school like that and she is an amazing asset to the company); went to school because their old job in XYZ industry became obsolete and they heard the graphics industry is easy money, and they have NO instinct for print and ZERO tolerance for the pace and stress of a busy shop; and then you have the kids that went into it usually because they really didn't have any idea where to go and it seemed like easy money.

With VERY few exceptions, the general result is an industry that has an increasingly aging skilled employee set and a lot of ho-hum employees that are there to pull a paycheck. Which gives you big corporate printers that don't care about much other than the bottom dollar, and mom & pop shops that can't find decent employees to keep the shop going. And a sprinkling of shops here and there that are doing well, have a great employee base of staff that all actually CARE about the health of the company, and employers who CARE about the health of their employees.

Luckily, my shop is one of that last type. And almost every employee who has ever left here has either come back (if they could) or really wished they had never left. To be honest, if I worked in one of the general corporate shops...I probably wouldn't be in the industry. Definitely wouldn't have been here since I was 17.

ok, Rant done.

 

[tmiller_iluvprinting]

If you cut me, I'll bleed 187

Love it! LOL!

 

[JoeatData]

Too many times over the years I've had seen people bail or be forced out of this industry too many times. It's good to hear someone that was able to leave on their terms and do something they wanted to do.

A-Belated-Good Luck to you tmiller_iluvprinting...........as of now you will be known as tmiller_iluvtrucking

BTW when can we be expecting our delivery? We placed our order for 50 lb. Finch Opaque Vellum last week and it's still not here.

 

[tmiller_iluvprinting]

BTW when can we be expecting our delivery? We placed our order for 50 lb. Finch Opaque Vellum last week and it's still not here.

LOL! I stayed away from the paper business also. I will be delivering award winning meats and sausages east of the Mississippi to the Atlantic Ocean.

 

[Possumgal]

Love it! LOL!

Isn't 187 police code for murder? Double good!

 

[Alith7]

Isn't 187 police code for murder? Double good!

oh gees! never thought of that one.... LMAO!