Managing a Lean Graphic Arts Business with Kodak BusinessWorkflow Solutions

A White Paper from KODAK

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Table of Contents

Managing Lean with Kodak Business Workflow Solutions �

Introduction 5

A brief history of lean 6

Lean principles 6

A short but successful track record 6

Seven types of waste... and counting 7

Tools of the trade 7

Involving your entire supply chain 8

Lean manufacturing with Kodak EMS 9

A new lean tool for the print industry 9

Lean-supporting core methodologies 9

JIT manufacturing 10

Customer relationship management 11

Supplier relationship management 11

Workorder-less manufacturing (Kanban flow) 12

Quality management 13

Electronic collaboration with partners 13

Support for hybrid approaches to lean 14

Emerging technologies in support of lean 14

Lean production planning with Kodak UpFront

Software 16

Lean-supporting core methodologies 16

Template designer tool 17

Planning wizard 17

Neat, digitalized PDF job plans 17

Automation and integration 18

Increased productivity 18

Reduced labor and material waste 18

In conclusion 18

About Kodak 19

About Kodak Business Workflow Solutions 19

About Kodak EMS Software 19

About Kodak UpFront Software 19

Part of Kodak Unified Workflow Solutions 19

About the Kodak Operating System (KOS) 19

About Kodak Lean Services 20

About Kodak Services and Support 20

About Eastman Kodak Company 20

�� Managing Lean with Kodak Business Workflow

IntroductionAlthough lean manufacturing has been an evolving practice for nearly 20 years, it is a relative new comer to the graphic arts industry. In industries such as the automotive industry, lean manufacturing has brought consumers lower prices, higher quality and more involvement in the overall supply process. Today, with increased global competition and the advent of the Internet, customers have more choices than ever before and are demanding greater product flexibility, smaller, more frequent deliveries and higher product quality—all, of course—at a lower price.

Lean manufacturing and the customer-centric approach demanded by the market are natural complements. To meet these demands, manufacturers—including print providers—not only have to concentrate on eliminating non-value-added internal processes, but they also need to ensure that they exactly know what their customer wants and when they want it.

To this end, manufacturers of all types are widening the scope and focus of lean manufacturing to encompass all processes that

contribute to the profitability of a company. Lean thinking is now increasingly being applied to all areas within the organization – from sales and marketing to prepress and production through to delivery, finance and post-sales customer service. The true benefits of lean thinking will only be fully realized when the entire enterprise adopts lean ideology. Kodak EMS Business Software and Kodak UpFront Production Planning Software enable enterprises of the graphic arts industry to achieve this goal.

Managing Lean with Kodak Business Workflow Solutions �

While most credit the origins of lean manufacturing to Henry Ford, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, others credit it to Benjamin Franklin who wrote The Way to Wealth in which he discussed the dangers of excess inventory. Henry Ford is reputed to have credited him as an influence in his business practices that culminated in creating his “moving assembly line” for the Model T in 1913. The innovative principle behind the moving production line was that if you brought the work to the workers, they wasted less time moving about.1

Following World War II, the Toyota Motor Company adapted Ford’s principles to create a managerial system that would compensate for their limited human, financial, and material resources. The Toyota Production System (or TPS) enabled Toyota to produce a wide variety of products at lower volumes and

many fewer defects than their American and European competitors.

Lean manufacturing is an adaptation of the highly successful and significantly copied Toyota Production System as detailed in the national best seller, The Machine that Changed the World, an MIT study of worldwide production methods. In practice, lean principles strive to identify the “value” of processes and eliminate the “waste” or invaluable processes for which your customer or print buyer would not be willing to pay.

The customer-centric business climate that compelled the automotive industry to retool and redefine processes nearly 20 years ago has moved to nearly every other industry, including services, manufacturers, and mill industries such as steel and paper. Faced with global competition today, printers too are starting to ask, “Would my customer perceive this activity as adding value?” In doing so, they have started to identify waste within their organizations and have removed these wasteful processes in order to improve their lead times, expand capacity, and start to maximize their bottom line.

Lean principlesThere is no magic switch that you can simply turn on to create a lean print organization. Rather, lean manufacturing is a continual process of improvement:

• Specifying Value – Specify value of a specific product or service as defined by your print buyer or customer, not your shareholders or other stake holders

• Identifying the Value stream – Identify all the processes that are required to bring a product or service to your customer

• Flow – Eliminate the wasteful steps that don’t create value and let the value-creating steps flow or progress smoothly as products or services are created; minimize the need for waiting between steps

• Pull – Let customers pull the product from you rather than producing large quantities and pushing them onto customers

• Perfection – Continually improve your processes to remove waste and perform activities that create value

While these concepts seem initially quite nebulous, their results have been documented in companies across all industries throughout the world. As James P. Womack and Daniel T. Jones write in Lean Thinking: Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation, converting from a batch-and-queue production system to continuous flow with customer pull will:

• Increase labor productivity by 100%

• Reduce turnaround times by 90%

• Reduce inventories by 90%

• Reduce errors to the customer, waste and injuries by nearly 50%2

A short but successful track recordDespite lean’s track record outside of the print industry, implementations of lean practices are less common than expected. This may be due to the mistaken impression that the pressure and pace of a printer does not enable kaizen events or that printers with razor-thin margins feel that they cannot afford the downtime that they think is required to implement lean.

This is unfortunate since where lean has been documented in the print industry, it offers a demonstrable ROI. The Printing Plant, a

1 “Lean Manufacturing”. www.wikipedia.com, December 5, 2006.2 Page 27

A brief history of lean

�� A brief history of lean

UK-based flexographic label printer implemented lean practices and moved to more of a pull production schedule. This enabled them to reduce their inventory by $300,000 annually and nearly double their inventory turnover rate, from 8 times a year to 15.5.3

The Kodak Operating System a similar methodology used for manufacturing lines, back office processes, and product commercialization, is used both internally at Kodak as well as externally with its suppliers and customers. With a track record of success at non-graphic arts customers, the Kodak Operating System has recently been implemented at two print providers with very promising results:

• Reduced turnaround times by 40 hours per job

• Reduced paperwork by 43%

• Reduced errors and waste by eliminating hand-written job tickets

• Saved $6,400 annually by eliminating 120,000 photocopies (with potential to save up to $101,300 annually by eliminating up to 1.9 million copies)4

Seven types of waste... and countingLean manufacturing is designed to eliminate the waste (called “muda” in Japanese) that exists all around us in the workplace. Waste can include extra inventory, unsold goods, defective products, excess bureaucracy and paperwork, underutilized human resources and more. Toyota in its Toyota Production System identified seven types or sources of waste:

Transportation – wasted movement of unfinished or finished goods, such as from one phase of production to another

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Inventory – waste from finished goods and raw materials not required to produce current customer orders

Motion – wasted or excess motion caused by inefficient layout or production processes

Waiting – wasted time due to a lack of synchronization between various phases of production

Overproduction – producing more goods than needed by customers.

Processing – waste from rework, handling or storage due to overproduction or errors

Defects – wasted products or services that do not meet customer expectations

Subsequently, additional categories of waste have been added to this list. The Ricoh Production System has 35 categories, including 12 subcategories of wasteful motion. Some other lean production systems have more, some have less. How many types of waste are there? That’s not critical. The important thing is to analyze your processes and start eliminating it. Taiichi Ohno, father of the Toyota Production System, reportedly said:

I don’t know who came up with it but people often talk about ‘the seven types of waste’. This might have started when the book came out, but waste is not limited to seven types. There’s an old expression “He without bad habits has seven” meaning even if you think there’s no waste you will find at least seven types.” So I came up with overproduction, waiting, etc. but that doesn’t mean there are only seven types. So don’t bother thinking about “what type of waste is this?” Just get on with it and do kaizen [process analysis].5

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Tools of the tradeLean manufacturing has several “tools” at its disposal for eliminating waste. These include constant process analysis (kaizen), “pull” production (by means of kanban) and mistake-proofing (poka-yoke).

KaizenAccording to the Toyota Production System, kaizen is a philosophy that sees improvement in productivity as a gradual and methodical process. A closer definition of the Japanese usage of kaizen is “to take it apart and put back together in a better way.” Kaizen is supposed to be a daily activity whose purpose goes beyond improvement: it is performed by all team members and successful suggestions are often rewarded. It empowers employees to eliminate waste and improve both processes and working conditions, and creates a better workplace.

Most contemporary implementations of kaizen are structured around specific company-wide processes or departmental procedures over a limited period of time (usually 2-5 days). A kaizen event might target improving a key business process such

3 Faust, Chris. “Think Lean”. http://pffc-online.com/mag/paper_think_lean/ (April 1, 2003)4 Based on a 50cpm copier and $10 per hour for labor5 http://gembapantarei.com/2006/07/words_of_taiichi_ohno_sensei_p.html (December 6, 2006). Managing Lean with Kodak Business Workflow Solutions �

as the quoting and estimating cycle or the streamlining the communication of job details throughout the plant.

Kaizen works astonishingly well. Its success it due to:

• having an empowered, cross-functional team with detailed knowledge of the process (heavily weighted towards the people doing the work rather than the managers)

• creating aggressive goals that may initially seem unachievable

• working for a limited period of time with maximum focus and energy

KanbanKanban is a card signaling system used on the shop floor to indicate that more goods are needed for processing. Kanban cards, which may be colored to indicate priority, are stored in a bin or container that holds the items.

They describe the parts, supplier and quantity related to the product (or subassembly). When the bin containing the product is emptied, the kanban is used to order more. When run correctly, it is a perfect “push-pull” system”, providing the exact amount required with only one bin of spare product. This effect is known as the “kanban flow” and eliminates the muda (waste) associated with over-supply. The kanban process is suitable to a number of activities at a graphic arts enterprise. It could be used to enhance the replenishing process of printed materials used in a fulfillment operation.

Poka-yokePoka-yoke was originally called “baka-yoke” which means “idiot-proofing” but was changed to the milder “poka-yoke” (mistake-proofing). Mistake-proofing creates physical conditions or limitations so that errors cannot be made. One example is when you unplug

your head phones from your iPod, the iPod pauses the music and then turns off, ensuring that you don’t waste your battery and can resume listening from precisely where you left off. Another example is that you must put the automatic transmission of a car in the “Park” position before removing the key from the ignition. This locks the car’s wheels and prevents it from rolling away.

Closer to home, poka-yoke could be implemented by designing procedures for handling inventory and raw materials such as paper stock to minimize costly errors related to incorrect substitutions. 6

Involving your entire supply chainLean manufacturing techniques are applicable not only within your business, but also across the businesses of your suppliers and partners. Demand from print buyers is driving products to be produced at an ever-increasing pace with reduced lead times and lowered costs. Indeed the only way for you to keep pace is through faster turnaround—both within your organization—and your entire supply chain. Even many of your customers, who may have traditionally declined to implement lean principles, may now feel pressure to migrate to lean practices. They too will require it from their suppliers—including you.

In the automobile industry where lean manufacturing was pioneered, assembling the major components into a complete vehicle at the final assembly plant accounts for only about 15% of the total manufacturing process. The bulk of the process involves engineering and fabricating more than 10,000 discrete parts and assembling these into perhaps 100 components such as engines, transmissions, steering gears, suspensions.7

In the print industry, you may not have 10,000 discrete parts in a job, but the parallels are clear: your suppliers of ink, paper, and other consumables must be working in synch with your production no less than your subcontractors for embossing, finishing, shipping or any third-party process.

Monitor incoming and outgoing items and process shipments and receipts online.

�� A brief history of lean6 For more examples, see http://csob.berry.edu/faculty/jgrout/everyday.html.7 Womack, James P., Daniel T. Jones, and Daniel Roos. The Machine That Changed the World. 1990.

Lean manufacturing with Kodak EMS real-time sharing and use of information. This reduces data redundancy and inaccuracy and ensures that your strategic and tactical decisions are made from up-to-date information that everyone understands—from the customer service representative (CSR) to a shop floor employee to the CFO.

Demand-based flow Kodak EMS Software is designed to meet the needs of mixed-mode print service providers by offering clear visibility between end-customer demand and production and procurement activity. This ensures that everyone in the enterprise can visualize for which customers they are working at any given time—even though a production worker may be working for multiple customers simultaneously. The real-time pegging of demand to supply ensures that all employees always understand that the customer is at the center of the company’s business.

Paperless manufacturingEMS Software is designed to be a real-time, paperless solution. All employees can have their tasks driven by electronic work queues. Whether it is the buyer making purchasing

decisions, the machine operator selecting the next job to work on, the credit manager monitoring the latest customer credit exception or the shipping clerk packing the latest delivery—every user has access to all the information needed to fulfill their task. For example, EMS Software enables the shop floor worker to access to the latest job ticket with the quantities that were updated by the CSR five minutes earlier. Not only can the worker look at how to produce the product or see special instructions, but the worker is also empowered to interact with the job ticket and suggest improvements.

Automated workflow Kodak EMS Business Software includes an embedded workflow that manages the streamlining of business processes for best practice as well as unique processes and business rules. From Marketing and Sales, to Production and Planning, Sourcing and Procurement, Delivery and Service through to Financial Recognition, EMS Software enables the whole business process to be real-time and paperless. All users of the system, whether internal such as a planner, or

A new lean tool for the print industryKodak EMS Business Software offers the graphic communications marketplace an extensive and flexible Management Information System (MIS). Designed to help ensure your success in changing business environments, EMS Software combines the strength of a leading manufacturing-oriented ERP solution with sophisticated print-focused capabilities.

Kodak EMS Software can be used as an enabler of lean thinking and practice throughout your organization. It works in real-time to optimize supply and demand throughout your entire enterprise, facility, department, or team, without the need to run batch-oriented MRP processes.8

EMS Software provides support for lean print and communications providers in a number of ways, including:

• Lean-supporting core methodologies

• Measure and respond

• Customer relationship management (CRM)

• Supplier relationship management (SRM)

• Work-orderless manufacturing (kanban flow)

• Automated material flow

• Poka-yoke (mistake-proofing)

• JDF-enabled connectivity to plant production systems

• Enterprise-wide shipping management

• Quality management

• Electronic collaboration with partners

• Support for hybrid approaches to lean

• Emerging technologies in support of lean

Lean-supporting core methodologiesEnterprise infrastructure Providing an enterprise infrastructure that integrates and manages operational data is pivotal to sustaining a lean operation. EMS Software offers an embedded solution that integrates all departments within your graphic communications enterprise to enable

Summaries of invoices and shipment are easily accessed through the customerConnect Web Portal.

Managing Lean with Kodak Business Workflow Solutions �8 Although EMS Software is designed for lean, it will support companies that have product lines that lend themselves to control via an MRPII philosophy.

external such as a supplier, are presented with a workbench view that summarizes the tasks that they need to perform.

The entire solution is designed to embrace the elements of lean by streamlining the business cycle so that an enterprise can maximize its resources, minimize its costs and improve profitability. The workflow toolset embedded in EMS Software includes the following key features that enable manufacturers to streamline operations:

• Activity Workbenches

• Business activity management/monitoring

• Task management

Activity Workbenches Activity Workbenches resonate throughout the system to streamline use of the system as well as provide for control and access to key information required in the “Day in the Life” of the agent performing the daily transactional work. For example, the Sales Order

Workbench is a single view of all customer-related information. This view allows sales and sales management to manage all of the following from a single place: pipelines, marketing, telemarketing, leads, opportunities, orders, returns, service orders, contracts, jobs, calls, and tasks. A work list also ensures that the sales person is working on the right task at the right time.

There are more than ten customizable workbenches available in the system including:

• Sales Workbench

• Planners Workbench

• Inspection Workbench

• Service Call Center Workbench

• Buyers Workbench

• Credit Manager Workbench

• Plant Floor Workbench

• supplierConnect Supplier Web Portal

• customerConnect Customer Web Portal

Business activity management Business activity management is a further extension of the workflow process. More than a series of interlinked tasks surrounding a process, the Business Activity Management Module, including the Business Activity Monitor, allows a company to use simple proactive business rules to create functionality throughout the system. Monitoring your business activity in real-time lets you proactively make decisions and provides an avenue to identify and manage unique business rules. Forms of communicating these components of workflow include historical logging of activity, HTML-based email to key agents that require the information, as well as the Business Activity Monitor user interface. This interface is designed to fit the unique needs of the user and contains the key “monitors” required to perform their job functions.

Task management The task management functionality allows users to define workflow processes are required for completing key transactions. Tasks may be a single-step process or may be a series of interlinked processes involving many different parties. At all times, users have a dynamic list that informs them which tasks they need to perform. Task sets can be dynamically assigned based on circumstances. For example, different types of job or product changes may require different levels of authorization and work. The task management system will automatically assign and route the work needed to process the change. Task sets are tightly embedded into the system ensuring that transactions can only be updated if the task set is at the right status. For example, a quote cannot be sent out to the prospect unless the sales manager has approved the pricing.

JIT manufacturing With Just-in-Time methodologies, many printers developing value-added fulfillment operations are faced with constantly changing blanket orders, small-run repeat orders and delivery schedules that are shorter than

10 Lean manufacturing with Kodak EMS

The Salesperson Workbench makes sales people more productive with a sales pipeline, to-do lists and other features.

Customer relationship management In lean organizations, inefficiencies are not streamlined solely on the production floor. From initial prospect contact to customer account follow-up, the sales and marketing processes are managed for optimum efficiencies and customer service. Whether your print buyer is a Fortune 500 company or a new business just getting started, the customer relationship management solution you select needs to be built on solid manufacturing principles for supporting your sales and marketing.

The EMS CRM Module is one of the first truly embedded customer relationship solutions designed specifically for the needs of today’s graphics communications enterprise. Whether doing simple account follow-up, defining marketing campaigns, reviewing sales analysis for the year, quoting a custom part on the road, or responding to customer inquiry over the Web, the customer-centric CRM Module incorporates leading technology for optimum customer service and sales effectiveness.

Supplier relationship management The EMS Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) Module makes the entire purchasing process more cost-efficient, improves quality of purchases, and enables more strategic and prudent spending decisions. The EMS (SRM) Module incorporates supplier management with demand-based purchasing to enable purchasing agents to minimize work in process expenditures while building key relationships with vendors. A primary component to minimizing wasteful inventory, the EMS (SRM) Module enhances visibility during the buy process and alerts of changes in demand as they occur.

The following is included in the toolset available with the EMS (SRM) Module:

• Purchasing management

• Purchasing RFQ management

• Payables

• Supplier web portal

• Vendor management

The CSR Dashboard provides a customizable, focused workspace that can display order information, job files, customer web sites and more.

Managing Lean with Kodak Business Workflow Solutions 11

material lead-time. EMS Software supports JIT manufacturing through its integration of procurement with production schedules as well as customer order monitoring for optimum delivery schedules.

In addition, the Material Requirements Planning (MRP) Module can alleviate the stress of these situations by automating the processes required to keep supply and demand synchronized. Specific functionality related to material control includes automatic adjustment of MRP-based orders and forecasts and automated purchasing tools that ensure materials are delivered when needed.

Measure and respond Continuous improvement doesn’t just happen. The tools that you need to measure how your business is performing must be concise and well delivered. EMS Business Intelligence (BI) provides a predefined toolset for measuring efficiencies across the entire enterprise. From Sales and Marketing to Production, Inventory Management, and Finance, EMS Business Intelligence is ready “out of the box” with key measurements that lean manufacturers require. In addition, enterprise-specific measurements are easily identified and tracked for optimum efficiencies. From high-level measurements of enterprise-wide analysis to the detailed events that drive key business decisions, Business Intelligence gives upper and middle management the tools to define and make changes for optimum efficiencies.

More than just after-the-fact analysis, Business Intelligence also offers real-time “watch dog” analysis of key events. BI Alerts can be used to manage key processes.

Automated responses streamline process flow and help you more proactively improve your processes. From sales and customer service to production and quality, the flow of information to key decision-makers is automated through standard workflow and the real-time monitoring provided by a customized Dashboard.

Workorder-less manufacturing (Kanban flow) Automatically replenishing supplies based on demand is not a new concept to manufacturers. Inventory replenishment is a key concept that has been a core functional requirement in software systems since the 1970’s. However, the concept of automating the replenishment and essentially pulling the product through production without human intervention is revolutionary.

While some manufacturers and printers are not ready to seemingly give up control of their production for this “hands off” style of management, others are exploring and implementing kanban flow after reading the numerous stories of increased profitability.

Many software solutions “bolt-on” third-party “demand pull” or “workorder-less” systems that have great functionality but lack the tight

integration to the core enterprise system that would make them effective tools.

In contrast, EMS Software offers embedded kanban functionality that is tightly integrated with the core application.

It delivers the functionality required to manage several types of systems for kanban control, including Manufacturing Real-Time Kanbans, Manufacturing Flow Kanbans, Purchase Real Time Kanbans and Stock Replenishment Kanbans. As inventory levels or order-related demand requires additional quantities of product, kanbans are automatically requested. The Kanban Requests Component manages the stocking and order demand for parts flagged as needing kanban control. Additionally, user-definable rules enable parts to be flagged for kanban control at the part, warehouse, or individual bin or cell location level.

Real-time Manufacturing Kanban In repetitive product environments such as in certain fulfillment operations, Real-Time

Manufacturing Kanbans can eliminate the need for workorders or jobs and reduce the amount of on-hand inventories as electronically triggered for replenishment as they are needed. Instead of planning for each individual order that is processed, products are pulled through production as inventory stocking levels or cell stocking levels fall below minimums. Visually the cell is queued to produce based on the kanban quantity to take the on-hand back to the maximum quantity for the part at its warehouse, individual bin or cell location.

Manufacturing Flow Kanban Differing from the Real-Time Manufacturing Kanban, the Manufacturing Flow Kanban looks at future demand to dynamically calculate future replenishment kanbans. This gives downstream cells and suppliers visibility of future demand (even though the actual kanban events may differ during execution). As kanbans are acted upon, the downstream demand requirement is dynamically updated. This ensures that all cells and suppliers have real-time, up-to-date visibility of future demand.

Real-Time Stock Replenishment Kanban Much like the Real-Time Manufacturing Kanban, the Real-Time Stock Replenishment Kanban moves inventory around your facility needed, whether in a particular production area, shipping area, customer consignment location or any other location. The automatic triggering of stocked materials enables you to use Material Request Queues to tell material handlers where the stocked inventory is required so that it can be moved as needed.

Real-Time Purchase Kanban Used to replenish directly from the end supplier, the Real-Time Purchase Kanban tells purchasing that a stock replenishment is required. It can also automatically send an email to the supplier requesting additional inventory against an open purchase contract and can specify whether the new materials should be received in the main storage area or directly on the production floor.

Real-Time Purchase Kanban functionality automates the replenishment of material from vendor stores and provides for visibility of current supply requests.

Electronically replenish stock and track inventory with real-time shop floor integration.

1� Lean manufacturing with Kodak EMS Software 1�

Whether your organization ships directly from Work in Process or Zone Picks from multiple warehouses located in separate states or provinces, EMS Software offers the tools to cost effectively manage the shipping process.

Quality management A cornerstone to lean, quality standards have developed on the basis of continuous improvement and the principle of “doing it right the first time.” Whether your organization has selected to use the ISO9000 structure, the Six Sigma approach, or any other quality system, EMS offers a fully integrated Quality Assurance module and supporting Document Management capabilities that help you define processes and implement them in your organization.

The Quality Assurance module ties together all quality functions, whether it’s waste, rejecting paper or consumables, or tracking the inspection of proofs. Inspectors have queues of items to inspect with full disposition and corrective action follow-up. Shop floor employees can flag pieces of a job as non-conformant, which moves them into an inspection queue. Pieces that fail

inspection may be flagged or reviewed by a Material Review Board.

Supporting your kaizen events Empowering employees has become a cornerstone to continuous improvement implementations. EMS Software empowers employees by providing essential information to them to make key decisions – right from Data Collection terminals on the shop floor. For example, it enables them to make key non-conformance suggestions and process improvement suggestions as well as define corrective action requests. Shop-floor employees can be empowered with supporting information surrounding their current project. Whether they require part, project, order, imposition, or procurement information, EMS Software delivers the tools and information to help them make better decisions.

Electronic collaboration with partners Reducing the need for paperwork, the EMS electronic communication functionality enables manufacturers to procure, sell, and communicate electronically with business partners.

Part Maintenance with the Kanban Part Entry Interface

Automated material flow In kanban, material is not “delivered”, but pulled material from the supplying operation. In a printing environment, where the same item is rarely repeated, the pull signal becomes the authorization to commence manufacture of the next job.

EMS Software offers advanced functionality when it comes to the management of material in the lean environment. A printer can set up any number of methodologies simultaneously for managing this and support either push or pull methods. EMS Software allows floor stock locations to be set up and can feed stock in a number of ways: to a Job operation that needs material; to an operator who wants to build a certain amount of a product; to an operator who wants to run a machine for a certain time; or based on re-order levels of the floor stock location. The floor location can be supplied via another bin, main stores, or a directly by a supplier. Even in the challenging environment of the print industry, EMS Software helps keep stock at a minimum.

Backflushing can take place at an operation level rather than waiting for the whole job to be completed. Also when inventory is issued to WIP, it is not a black hole. EMS Software allows users to track inventory that is in WIP, but not physically consumed. Many companies in the customize order or ‘to order’ market will run a hybrid approach. EMS Software allows printers to do this with complete consistency and automatically tracks the bin’s raw material and allows the bin periodically to count itself in order to keep the raw material status accurate.

Enterprise-wide shipping management As enterprises move towards lean, they drive the need for their customer to ship more often and in smaller quantities. This adds to the workload of any shipping department and demands that the shipping process, identifying what to ship, from where to ship, picking the product, interfacing with carriers for freight information, as well as tracking information and billing the customer appropriately provides the maximum throughput. EMS Software offers shipping solutions that are designed to offer the maximum output of any shipping department.

Managing Lean with Kodak Business Workflow Solutions 1�

customerConnect Create better customer service by offering customers 24x7 access to the information they need, with:

• StoreFront

• Customer portal

• eCRM

• EDI

The StoreFront functionality provides customers with the ability to place orders online. The Customer Portal enables customers to track orders and other information via the Internet. EDI supports a customer’s need for using more traditional methods of electronic communication. And finally, EMS eCRM makes it possible for all of the information held within EMS CRM to be available to salespersons via the Web.

supplierConnect Provide the means for your suppliers to respond to RFQs, view inventory levels for selected parts, or view invoice payments without a single phone call to you, through:

• Supplier Portal

• eSRM

Through the Web-enabled Supplier Relationship Management (eSRM) Module, suppliers can process electronic transactions and monitor results as if they were working directly on your system. eSRM Module provides you with the ability to negotiate requirements, schedules, procedures and pricing with your suppliers via the Internet. It enables you to integrate suppliers into your operations at all levels of the organization. The supplier portal enables your suppliers to review inventory levels, check on payments, and process open POs and RFQs online.

Support for hybrid approaches to lean Print service providers that are looking implement lean production will not migrate their factories and supply chains overnight. EMS Software accommodates a phased approach to lean manufacturing that allows companies to track material, MRP, and kanban in a mixed environment. By offering printers the flexibility to choose how to manage the production and fulfillment of a printed product or kit, they can more easily migrate to lean, while synchronizing MRP planning and kanban execution.

Emerging technologies in support of lean Businesses that focus on their customers and business relationships to stay competitive will benefit from Kodak EMS Software. EMS Software is more than an application architecture; rather it is a revolutionary ERP-based MIS system, tailored to the graphic communications industry. EMS Software enables print and communication providers like you to more easily deploy business information across your entire supply chain of business partners. Sharing information allows you to stay connected with key relationships and improves your response to changing business conditions, makes your operations more efficient, and builds stronger business relationships with key customers.

Kodak EMS Software is based on Microsoft .NET and has a 100% Service-Oriented Architecture. This provides the ability to tailor the system to your needs, whether displaying information on a Web page; in a Windows form; on a PDA, in an Orchestration tool such as Microsoft BizTalk, etc. This new class of product delivers unrivalled flexibility and collaborative capabilities and allows teams, departments, companies, enterprises, suppliers and customers to collaborate more effectively than ever before.

Manage and count materials by location and quantity from a single view.

1� Lean Manufacturing with Kodak EMS Software 1�

Kodak UpFront Production Planning Software captures decades of planning experience to help make you a better planner. It increases productivity and decreases costly planning errors by replacing the traditional process of manually folding paper and drawing layouts with a powerful, database-driven tool.

Production planners who use UpFront Software can easily implement best practices and produce accurate digital imposition layouts. They can also export cutting, folding, and bind ing data directly to the finishing de partment to minimize manual processes. And they can save every layout and job in a database so that future projects can be delivered even more quickly.

UpFront Software supports lean practices for print and communications providers in a variety of ways including:

• Lean-supporting methodologies

• A template designer tool

• A production planning wizard

• Neat, digitalized PDF job plans

• Automation and integration

• Increased productivity

• Reduced material waste

Lean-supporting core methodologiesCreating digital folding dummiesHistorically, planning a job has been a manual, a time-consuming process with plenty of opportunities for error. Equipped with a pen, pencil, ruler and calculator, the process can take hours as planners:

1. Fold sheets to create signatures

2. Stack the signatures to create a “dummy” book. Then add page numbers and head directions to each page.

3. Unfold the “dummy” book to create an imposition layout.

4. Precisely redraw the job plan using a ruler and pencil. Write all of the relevant job data such as customer name, colors, paper type, and more.

5. Calculate all measurements using a calculator. Verify, and debug them. Then write them on the plan.

6. Make a copy of the plan. Go to the bindery department and give it to the bindery workers so they can manually set up folding and finishing equipment.

1� Lean production planning with Kodak UpFront Software

UpFront Software digitizes the workflow of production planning and shifts the burden of complex calculations to your PC.

Historically, planning a job has been a manual, a time-consuming process with plenty of opportunities for error.

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Lean production planning with Kodak UpFront Software

In contrast, UpFront Software offers a digital workflow that automates the variety of tasks associated with production planning and shifts the burden of complex calculations to your PC. As demonstrated at numerous customer sites, UpFront Software can reduce the process from hours to minutes as you:

1. Import job data from the management information system (MIS)

2. Create job plans using predefined building blocks

3. Export accurate job plans to prepress and bindery using PDF/JDF

Consistency and repeatability CSRs and planners quickly plan jobs using building blocks such as section plans (folding dummies), layout plans, and press layouts (detailed press sheets). This fosters repeatable, high-quality work with minimal variation and thus minimal room for error. UpFront Software also continually tracks the most frequently used folding dummies and press layouts and suggests them for use with new jobs.

Reusable imposition plansUpFront Software offers a large library of predefined folding dummies (over 500 generic layout plans and 118 standard folding sections), and all work from planned jobs can be saved as new building blocks. Reusing work speeds turnaround and helps ensure implementation of best practices.

Template designer toolLeverage your expertiseUpFront Planner Application Software is designed to be used by planning and imposition experts to create building blocks including section plans (folding dummies), layout plans, and press layouts (detailed press sheets). These building blocks are re-used with confidence by less experienced planners and customer service representatives using the UpFront Job Builder Client Software.

Create accurate layoutsUpFront Software offers a variety of poke-yoke features that eliminate the wasted plates and time-consuming rework caused by planning errors. UpFront Software automatically checks all jobs against a library of your actual shop equipment to help ensure that your job can be printed and finished. In addition, the software verifies Kodak Preps Imposition Software marks including EPS marks, smart collation marks, and mark groups, against the finished page area to avoid printing marks inside the page trim area.

Planning wizardUpFront Job Builder Client Software is a wizard-based job creation tool designed to be used by production planners and customer service representatives on a daily basis. With its tabular format and simple workflow, it takes minutes instead of hours to create a job plan. The mistake-proof wizard is designed to be used by people who don’t understand the intricacies of imposition work—most of the complicated work of production planning has already been performed by the planning or imposition expert using UpFront Planner Application Software.

Neat, digitalized PDF job plansAll job plans can be exported to PDF for printing, storage, or attaching to a virtual job ticket. Printed plans are neat and easy to read, and can be reprinted if your hard copy is accidentally ruined. In addition to a diagram, the PDF job plans include job information as well as customizable job notes and header and footer details.

With its wizard-based job creation tool, UpFront Software lets you create a job plan in minutes instead of hours.

Managing Lean with Kodak Business Workflow Solutions 1�

Automation and integrationUpFront Software is built on open standards that are designed to reduce manual intervention. It integrates your production planning with qualified MIS, Kodak Software, third-party software, and bindery equipment.

Import MIS job informationUpFront Software imports job information from MIS using the Job Definition Format (JDF). This alleviates the error-prone process of re-keying job intent data.

Automated imposition with the Kodak Prinergy Workflow SystemUpFront Software streamlines your prepress workflow by integrating with Prinergy Software’s automated imposition option. Using the software together, you can automatically convert imposition plans to jobs and reduce the time required to open and impose files with Preps Software.

Export layout information UpFront Software exports JDF and Preps Software jobs and templates to Kodak Prepress Systems and third-party systems.

Export finishing informationDramatically decrease finishing equipment set up time by exporting JDF or CIP3 cutting, folding, and binding data from UpFront Software to the bindery. The time saved can add up to 0.5% to your bottom line.

Increased productivityCustomizable Windows OS-style interfaceUpFront Software has a familiar, Windows OS-style GUI that includes floating tool palettes; zoom-in/zoom-out tools; adjustable layout; resizable and side-by-side windows; and an advanced search for locating building blocks, and jobs. These features allow you to customize your workspace so you can quickly locate the tools and building blocks you need, when you need them.

Marks libraryA library for managing both diagram and Preps Software marks provides flexible and

user-friendly ways to pass on job notes, define mark groups, and marks relative to sheets, pages, and gutters. The library is shared among all CSRs and planners using the same database.

Reduced labor and material wasteUpFront Software reduces costs associated with incorrectly produced plates. The savings can add up to a full percentage point to your bottom line. Actual production data has shown that using UpFront Software can result in a:

• 25% reduction in planning labor

• 10% reduction in prepress labor

• 4% reduction in non-chargeable material waste

• 33% reduction in spoiled plates

• 5% reduction in makeready waste

In conclusionGraphic communications providers are increasingly leveraging technology to stay competitive. Today’s technology provides the edge you need to streamline process flow and reduce waste within your organization.

The technology provided by Kodak EMS Business Software and Kodak UpFront Production Planning Software will help you meet the challenges of today’s dynamic marketplace. These business workflow solutions are designed with the flexibility to embrace new technologies that further enable “lean principles,” as they become available.

A Marks Library lets CSRs and planners share job notes, define mark groups, and create marks relative to sheets, pages, and gutters.

1� Lean production planning with Kodak UpFront Software1�

About Kodak Business Workflow SolutionsKodak business workflow solutions encompass the administrative, financial, operational and strategic aspects of a graphic communications enterprise, and help customers better manage the entire range of their presale, sale, production and post-production activities; from requests for quotations and production estimates to order entry, scheduling and production planning, to shipping, billing, and account receivables—and even supplier management and inventory control.

Business workflow solutions are more than back office and reporting tools. They are designed to help you leverage technology to stay competitive and to become “lean” by streamlining process flow and reducing waste within your organization so you are better equipped to meet the challenges of today’s dynamic market place.

About Kodak EMS SoftwareKodak EMS Business Software offers an extensive and flexible Management Information System for the graphic arts

industry that can transform the way you do business. Designed to help ensure your success in changing business environments, EMS Software combines the strength of a leading manufacturing-oriented ERP solution with sophisticated print-focused capabilities.

Intended for traditional and digital printing businesses with more than 50 employees, or revenues greater than US$ 10M, Kodak EMS Software is a complete, fully modular solution that includes both software and related professional services for localization and implementation throughout the world.

About Kodak UpFront SoftwareKodak UpFront Production Planning Software increases productivity and decreases costly errors. It standardizes production planning by automating and digitizing the centuries-old craft process of manually folding paper and creating drawing layouts. UpFront Software enables you to automatically produce accurate job layouts; create imposition-ready digital templates for prepress; and send JDF/CIP3 information to bindery and cutting equipment.

Part of Kodak Unified Workflow SolutionsKodak EMS Software is part of Kodak Unified Workflow Solutions, our integrated, end-to-end solution for printing using digital technologies. Our unified workflow solutions seamlessly blend and manage a mixed production environment by integrating the four critical components of a print operation—business workflow systems, production workflow systems, color workflow systems, and data workflow systems—to profitably address production requirements and to serve as a basis for sales growth.

About the Kodak Operating System (KOS)The Kodak Operation System (KOS) is a robust methodology and approach that Kodak applies to relentlessly eliminate waste. KOS couples the principles of lean and Six Sigma with a strong bias for action to achieve significant business improvement in a very short time. KOS is applied to manufacturing lines, back office processes, and product

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KodakThermoFlexPlatesetter

KodakMagnus

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Kodak PrepsImpositionSoftware

Kodak PrinergyWorkflow System

Kodak PandoraStep-and-Repeat

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Kodak MatchprintVirtual Software

Kodak EyeMediaSoftware

Kodak UpFrontProduction Planning

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Kodak EnterpriseManagement Solution

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KodakWeb to Print

Kodak InSiteSoftware

Kodak VersamarkCS600 System Controller

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Kodak NexStation IVFront End

Kodak Profile Wizard MioColor Management Software

Kodak ApprovalDigital Color Imaging System

Kodak VerisDigital Proofer

Kodak Matchprint InkjetProofing Solution

Kodak Darwin VIAuthoring Tool

Kodak NexPressDigital Color

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Kodak VersamarkVX 5000 Printing System

Kodak DirectpressDI Digital Offset System

Kodak EMS Software and Kodak UpFront Software are a part of Kodak Unified Workflow Solutions, our end-to-end solution for printing.

Managing Lean with Kodak Business Workflow Solutions 1�

About Kodak

commercialization both internally in Kodak and with its suppliers and customers.

Kodak believes that we will be most successful when everyone in our entire supply chain—customers as well as suppliers—works according to lean principles and works together to eliminate waste in all processes.

About Kodak Lean Services Kodak Lean Services helps implement KOS as part of Kodak’s family of business management services. A KOS initiative usually starts with a “walk the flow” where we take time to understand your process flow in detail and identify opportunities for improvement within your organization.

These opportunities may require a Kaizen event, or the application of other KOS tools such as 5S or Six Sigma. Once we have completed a “walk the flow”, we make a plan on how to tackle each of the identified opportunities. Usually within a few days, we are able to fully implement significant business improvements and identify additional areas for follow-up projects and implementations.

A Kodak Lean Services consultant has extensive experience in identifying waste that others may not see, and can guide your cross-functional team to find easy ways to eliminate the waste. While this is valuable at any time, it is especially useful to eliminate waste before you implement a new system such as Kodak EMS Software or Kodak UpFront Software. Streamlining processes before implementation will make the implementation much easier while driving muda out of your business.

About Kodak Services and SupportSoftware is only one element of your solution. Effective implementation and ongoing support maximizes your investment, and helps you achieve the shortest time to value. Kodak products are backed by Kodak Service and Support, Kodak’s worldwide service organization. Named Best Support Organization at the 2006 International Business Awards, Kodak Service and Support gives you access to more than 3000 professionals in 120 countries. These professionals are fully qualified to help you

control costs, maximize productivity, and minimize business risk

About Eastman Kodak CompanyKodak is the world’s foremost imaging innovator, providing leading products and services to the photographic, graphic communications and healthcare markets. With sales of $14.3 billion in 2005, the company is committed to a digitally oriented growth strategy focused on helping people better use meaningful images and information in their life and work. Consumers use Kodak’s system of digital and traditional image capture products and services to take, print and share their pictures anytime, anywhere; Businesses effectively communicate with customers worldwide using Kodak solutions for prepress, conventional and digital printing and document imaging; Creative Professionals rely on Kodak technology to uniquely tell their story through moving or still images; and leading Healthcare organizations rely on Kodak’s innovative products, services and customized workflow solutions to help improve patient care and maximize efficiency and information sharing within and across their enterprise.

To learn more about solutions from Kodak:Visit graphics.kodak.comOr in North America, call +1.866.563.2533.

Produced using Kodak Technology.

Eastman Kodak Company343 State StreetRochester, NY 14650 USA

© Kodak, 2007. Kodak, Approval, ColorFlow, Darwin, Digimaster, Magnus, Matchprint, NexGlosser, NexStation, Pandora, Preps, Prinergy, SmartBoard, SQUAREspot, Staccato, Thermal Gold, ThermoFlex, UpFront, Veris, Versamark and NexPress are trademarks of Kodak. Portions copyrighted by Epicor Software Corporation and Progress Corporation. Epicor is a trademark of Epicor Software Corporation. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the prior written consent.

No representations or warranties are made with respect to the contents of this document and any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose are specifically disclaimed. Companies, names and/or data used in screens are fictitious, unless otherwise noted.

Subject to technical change without notice.

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