Two senior academics and specialists in lean management workflows, Prof. Malcolm Keif and Prof. Kevin Cooper will give a 20-minute presentation on lean printing for packaging converters at the drupa stand of GSE Dispensing (Hall3 – Stand F50) on May 8th at 1.30pm.

Prof. Keif and Prof. Cooper, from the Graphic Communication Department of the California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, USA, have researched and published extensively on lean management.

Prof. Keif specialises in flexography, quality management, lean thinking and printed electronics. He has worked in the print and packaging industry for over 20 years. As well as authoring four books on printed media, he has published several papers in many of the world’s leading industry journals.

Prof. Cooper has worked in printing and manufacturing for over 20 years. He is a professor of graphic communication and actively presents and consults with printers on lean management methods. He is the author of three books. 

Twenty-five signed copies of ’Setup Reduction for Printers’, the new book on lean management authored by Keif and Cooper, can be won in a free prize draw during the show. Show visitors wishing to enter the competition can leave their business cards at the GSE Dispensing stand.

Maarten Hummelen, marketing director at GSE Dispensing, comments: “The high level of competition, volatile raw materials prices and shorter production runs make the search for added value more acute than ever. Packaging print converters must adopt a lean management philosophy to combat these challenges. We share Prof. Keif and Prof. Cooper’s vision of a lean value chain. Everything we do is aimed at empowering printers to apply that vision in an ink logistics context as well.”

GSE Dispensing helps packaging printers reduce ink waste from the work-flow with gravimetric ink dispensing systems that mix spot colours in less than three minutes, table-top flexo proofing systems and software that provides per-job ink costings, real-time stock analysis, tracking of all inks to original batches and various management reports.