How do paper packaging and printing enterprises grasp process control

The difficulty in quality management of paper packaging and printing companies is process control. This is determined by the characteristics of paper packaging printing: a wide variety of products, covering almost all categories of goods; orders vary in length, long but a few hundred thousand dollars, short only a few hundred dollars; product process routes vary Some have only two or three processes, and some have more than a dozen; production processes are mostly stand-alone operations, it is difficult to achieve on-line assembly line production from beginning to end, one process is completed and transferred to the next process, repeated feeding, repeated delivery , School bus many times; control conditions are relatively easy to change, man-made factors. Based on the above characteristics, compared with other industries, paper packaging printing can be described as a "semi-automated" industry, and the constant control of the process is relatively difficult.

The quality control of domestic paper packaging and printing companies can be described from the data point of view as follows:
Prepress: basic realization of data control.
Printing: Some companies realize data control.
Postpress: Only a handful of companies have achieved data control.
From the perspective of implementing the ISO9001 quality system, the basic situation can be described as follows:
Formally, a considerable number of paper packaging and printing companies have already implemented the management of the ISO 9001 quality system, but in essence they are able to deeply understand the connotations of the ISO 9001:2000 system, and only a part of the enterprises are effectively implemented.

In contrast, European and American companies pay more attention to system management and hope to use the system to guide and constrain operators to control the production process, while Japanese companies emphasize the responsibility and professionalism of the employees in this position, and thus pass higher levels. Personal work quality to achieve control of the production process. At present, China's printing companies are mostly in the European and American system management model, and relatively little is known about Japanese companies' management models. Here, we only describe the quality management situation of Japanese companies that we have seen and are for reference only.

At first glance, the quality management of Japanese paper packaging and printing companies has a kind of "self-employed" type of feeling, lacks a very sound quality management system, and even does not have the "quality management department with a certain number of people" emphasized by European and American companies. We have seen a representative Japanese paper packaging and printing company, Sen Paper, which has nearly 150 employees throughout the company. The annual production value is about RMB 400 million. However, there is no special quality management department, and only 3 people are responsible for the whole company. In quality management, 2 of them are responsible for purchasing inspections. The company's printed matter is mainly daily-use packaging, with a wide variety of cardboard boxes and corrugated boxes. Its production processes include: prepress, printing, bronzing, calendering, glazing, tamping, die-cutting and gluing. From the perspective of technical equipment, its advanced nature is not top-notch, and it can only be considered as a “second-rate” level, but its quality control level can be described as world-class.

Through in-depth exchanges with the company's production managers and what the shop actually saw, our impression is that Japanese companies place great importance on the responsibility control of this process. This responsibility control is not limited to quality, but also reflected in the production efficiency and environmental 5S. This sense of responsibility control is not mandatory, but has formed a habitual specific corporate culture.

In the printing shop, usually two printers are configured for five individuals. When quality problems are found in the printing process, the captain first identifies the problematic product with cuttings, and temporarily stores the pallet's printing products. Next to it, when it can be turned, the personnel of the machine evacuation (the machine is still in normal production) will be sorted out separately, and the bad products will be singled out and marked, and the product flow will be transferred to the next process. There is no such thing after printing. This is also the case for the finishing group of the “Chang Zhang”. The subsequent processes are also the same. All the problems occurring in all processes are the responsibility of this process.

It is worth mentioning that during the pasting process, we saw a magazine gluing machine with 3 individuals. They were a captain (1) responsible for operating the machine, checking the quality of the gluing box and assisting in packing, adding 1 person, and collecting. 1 person. At a folder speed of 60,000/hour (200 sheets), they are also responsible for packing, cartoning, labeling, and pallet placement. If you don't see it with your own eyes, you don't believe it. In addition, there is no need to reload the paper between processes. When the previous process is received, the paper stack is already aligned, and the next process can directly push the whole pallet to the machine to start the work. This is also the result of the responsibility control of this process. There is no “help” operator in the entire production process to shut down more. The company does not even have the final inspection before the factory. The Japanese are unique about the quality of packaging in the world. Even so, the company has only 3 to 4 return records throughout the year. This kind of return is usually selectable, not fatal. Therefore, this kind of quality control has been rated as world-class.

Compared with European and American packaging and printing companies, China's paper packaging and printing companies still have a large gap in systematic quality management. Compared with Japanese companies, there is still a big gap between the professionalism and sense of responsibility of our employees. As a domestic packaging and printing company, to accept orders from European and American brand customers, we must pay attention to the construction and effective implementation of the system's quality management system. To undertake orders from Japanese brand customers, we must be realistic and pragmatic, and step by step. In view of the fact that China's packaging and printing companies are different from European and American companies and different from Japanese companies, for this reason, China's packaging and printing companies should draw on the strengths of their respective companies and organically combine the management models of the two major schools. The following is the author's view. ,for reference only.

First, set up an authoritative quality control department, not too many personnel, but the quality should be high, the department should be independent of production, in order to promote the continuous improvement of the company's quality system, this improvement should be mandatory, authoritative Only in this way can we gradually develop a quality-conscious atmosphere throughout the company. The prerequisite for this success is that the first leader of the company must have this awareness.

Second, training-based, reward and punishment combined to improve the quality of the process operator awareness. Concepts such things can not be changed in one day, two days, one month or two months, and even more so for less-responsible operators. Due to their lack of accountability, they are not guilty of the loss of product quality caused by their own negligence. In Japan, China, Hong Kong, and Singapore, paper packaging and printing companies actually have very few quality inspections and efficiency assessments, but they still have good quality and high production efficiency. This is probably related to the team’s awareness of education, responsibility, and professional ethics. Therefore, according to the status quo of domestic packaging and printing practitioners, training is very important. Only through continuous training can we exert subtle influence on this team and gradually cultivate a sense of responsibility.

Third, systematically and pragmatically carry out quality improvement activities. For example, to establish a monthly quality analysis meeting, use the statistical tools to analyze the quality problems found in a month, and identify the main quality problems that need to be improved according to the “28 rules”, formulate improvement measures, clarify relevant responsible persons and complete Dates will be monitored and supervised by the quality control department after the meeting. For typical quality cases, the quality control department shall promptly organize related personnel to hold quality seminars, conduct on-site education for related personnel, analyze the causes, formulate measures, and form meeting minutes. Afterwards, the quality management department conducts tracking and supervising; for the complex quality issues, a Quality Improvement Team (QIT) must be established and implemented according to the project management method. Only in this way can the concept of quality-oriented orientation be formed throughout the company. When we go through the process of ISO quality management, the quality management department will lose its meaning as a Japanese packaging and printing company.

Source: Print Information