Printing Industries of America Continuous Improvement (CI) Conference
April 5-8, 2009
Lexington Downtown Hotel and Conference Center

Presented by: 

Partnership with:

MULTIPLE REGISTRATIONS MUST BE SENT BY FAX OR DONE BY PHONE.

Why Attend
Who Attends
Featured Presentations
Special Events and Toyota Tour
Case Studies
Preconference Sessions
Meeting Site and Hotel Accommodations
Registration Fees and Information
About the Organizers

Imagine an Event that Could Increase Profits

"The Continuous Improvement Conference helped us decrease our makeready by 20 minutes-a 47% reduction. We found an extra three hours of run time every day, saving us nearly $187,000."
Jason Ketz, Quality Manager, Gopher State Litho

"Thanks to ideas sparked by this conference, The John Roberts Company saves $52,000 each year in reduced spoilage?dollars that go straight to their bottom line." Wendy Haluptzok, Quality Systems Manager, The John Roberts Company

Imagine One Conference So Valuable that Attendees Return Year After Year?
?to learn from informative sessions, case studies, and roundtable discussions offering cost and time-saving methods for your company!

Attendee Learning Objectives:

• Take home at least five improvement ideas that you plan to implement at your company
• Meet at least three people that you can contact later for suggestions and advice
• Assess if your company?s corporate culture supports rapid and sustained improvement
• Determine improvement opportunities through the use of Lean and other quality processes

The Continuous Improvement Conference?Not a maybe, a must!

Who Should Attend
This conference is designed for any graphic communications company looking for practical ways to save time and money through process improvement. It is ideal for presidents, plant managers, vice presidents of operations, and quality managers?anybody playing a vital role in their company?s quality efforts.

Conference Dates
Sunday, April 5, 2009 through Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Featured Presentations

NASCAR Racing: A Model for Teamwork, Leadership, Continuous Improvement, & Business Success
Robert Williamson, principal, Strategic Work Systems, Inc.

Championship racing teams practice many of the principles that we strive for in modern manufacturing and maintenance. After studying NASCAR teams and pit crews for almost two decades, Robert Williamson offers insights in how race teams use the concepts of teamwork, total production maintenance, and visual systems to eliminate waste and failures. He?ll share his ?ten key points of race team competitiveness,? which apply to any capital-intensive business like printing. Williamson is an expert on improving equipment reliability and performance, and author of the book, Lean Machines for World-Class Manufacturing and Maintenance.

Building and Sustaining a Lean Culture the Toyota Way
Mike Hoseus, executive director, Center for Quality People & Organizations
Toyota has built a culture and philosophy that is largely foreign to western thinking?that the right process includes input from others to generate consensus. The company nonetheless successfully implanted the culture in Georgetown, Kentucky, with manufacturing workers discussing how they might improve on their efforts, even as they walked out of the plant at the end of their shifts. Mike Hoseus, author of the Toyota Culture and former manager at the Georgetown plant, will reveal how Toyota selects, develops, and motivates its people to become committed to building high-quality products?and how you can do the same for your company.

The Right Way to Manage Change (presented by AGAT?the Association for Graphic Arts Training)

Gary Fisher, training manager, Goss International Corp.; Dan Wheeler, corporate learning manager, RR Donnelley; other speakers to be announced

Whether due to changing economic conditions, business strategy, technological advancements, or markets, printing companies must keep pace with change to stay competitive, or to simply survive.  Change management is a structured approach to transitioning individuals, teams, and organizations from a current state to a desired future state. This session will introduce organizational change management processes and individual change management models, which together are used to manage the people side of change. Basic concepts will be introduced, followed by a panel of companies discussing the strategies they have applied to manage specific change.

What Separates the SuperPrinters from the Rest of Us?
Dr. Ron Davis, Vice President & Chief Economist, PIA/GATF
SuperPrinters, those printers typically earning ten times the average industry profit margin, do things differently. PIA/GATF Ratios studies have identified the superior strategies, tactics, and practices that allow SuperPrinters to outperform the competition year after year. These strategies, tactics, and practices work in good times and bad times, for small printers and large printers, and printers using all printing processes and in all print market segments. This session will identify the steps you can take to move your firm into the elite ranks of SuperPrinters. Dr. Davis will also discuss the keys to managing in this period of economic turbulence. 

Earning the Right to Be Heard
Phillip van Hooser, Van Hooser Associates
You?ll be leaving the conference with ideas that can help your company make more money. Your task will be to convince others to implement them. If you?ve been frustrated before by the fact that your boss paid little attention to your ideas or suggestions, regardless of how valuable they might have been, then this session was designed with you in mind. Hall-of-Fame speaker Phillip Van Hooser will examine the five critical questions that decision makers must have answered before they can really hear what you?re saying. This presentation will arm you with a new tool for selling your thoughts, ideas, and yourself.

Book Discussion Session: How Full Is Your Bucket? Positive Strategies for Work and Life
John Compton, consultant, Master Black Belt, Lean/Sigma
Far too few managers go about their day creating enough positive interactions with employees, such as giving out reward and praise. It is through those experiences that the "bucket" within all of us is filled, reinforcing one's positive outlook, confidence, and ultimately, performance. Learn practical strategies for filling your employees? buckets as Compton leads a discussion of the assigned conference book, How Full Is Your Bucket? This is a brief but serious book that can have a profound influence on the way you interact with co-workers.

Note: Register by February 20 to receive a complimentary copy of the book. The publication can also be ordered through any leading bookseller. Attendees are urged to read the book and complete the positive impact assessment prior to the conference.

Understanding the Toyota Production System
Dr. Arlie Hall, assistant professor, University of Kentucky Center for Manufacturing
As preparation for our tour of Toyota?s manufacturing plant in nearby Georgetown, Kentucky, a representative of the University of Kentucky (UK) Center for Manufacturing will review the history of Toyota in America , the workings of the Toyota Production System, and how Toyota successfully transplanted its distinctive continuous improvement philosophy from Japan to Kentucky. The Lean program at the UK Center is an industry-academic partnership initiated by Toyota in 1994.

Special Events

Plant Tour: Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky (TMMK)

Our Tuesday with Toyota will feature a 90-minute tour of Toyota?s plant in nearby Georgetown, Kentucky. There you will see the famed Toyota Production System (TPS) at work (from which the Lean Manufacturing philosophy was derived in the 1990s).

As you travel by tram through parts of the 7.5 million square foot facility, our host will discuss the application of TPS and point out examples of kaizen, just-in-time parts delivery, and the andon system, where team members can stop the line at any time to address quality concerns.

TMMK began production in 1988 building Camrys and is Toyota?s largest manufacturing facility outside of Japan . Nearly 2,000 Camrys, Avalons, Solaras, and Venzas (starting in 2009) roll off the assembly line each day, or one every 55 seconds. 

You will visit stamping, where car parts are stamped from huge coils of rolled up steel, then move to body weld where the stamped pieces are put together by an army of computer-controlled robots. You?ll be within 20 feet of the conveyor most of time as you follow the cars from painting to final assembly.

Networking Discussion Tables
This is your chance to share and get ideas from your colleagues. Each roundtable will focus on a different quality or training topic with a facilitator to manage the discussion. Topics include: Creating a Winning Culture, Six Sigma, Lean (Getting Started, Intermediate, Advanced), Kanban, Value Stream Mapping, 5S, Kaizen Events, Standard Work, Metrics, and Training on a Shoestring.

Welcome Reception
The official start of the conference, our welcome reception is a chance to meet attendees and members of the Conference Advisory Committee. We?ll review each case study and help you select the presentations that will have the greatest benefit for your company.

Lexington Dine Around
Bring your appetite and join fellow attendees at one of several popular Lexington restaurants for an evening of camaraderie, networking, and delicious food.

Hospitality Suite (sponsored by Kodak)
Continue to discuss the day?s events?with wine and hors d?oeuvres in hand?at our evening reception. This is a perfect time to make new acquaintances and find dinner partners for networking long into the evening.

Print Manufacturing Redefined*
Brick Rossie, director of engineering and maintenance, Valpak
In a process that used to take four days, Valpak now produces a set of coupons, stuffed in their famous blue envelopes, and swept into the mailing stream in less than four hours. They do it with a new way of thinking that led them to design and build one of the world?s most automated facilities?bringing the concept of continuous manufacturing to the printing industry. Along the way, they eradicated most work-in-process and rethought how to manage and maintain the process. Find out how lean thinking and automation went hand-in-hand in this ambitious project.

A System to Live By
Philip Beyer, president, Beyer Printing
In 1993, Philip Beyer realized his young company was in chaos, with no system of organization, and he made the decision to turn Beyer Printing into a world-class operation. Since then, he has worked countless hours to build systems that bring order and quality to his 15-person organization. He wrote the book, Systems Busters, to share his experience and strategy for eliminating bottlenecks, cleaning up messes, and continuously improving. Come hear first-hand about the process management system that has allowed Beyer Printing to prosper.  

Strategies for Becoming the Supplier of Choice*
Stephen Whittaker, vice president, quality management & sustainability initiatives, Monroe Litho
Monroe Litho is a $12 million graphic communications provider that has chosen to invest heavily in creating a market brand through sustainability, safety, and other lean initiatives. As by-products of an internal quality management initiative, these elements have provided significant market differentiation as Monroe continues to seek ?supplier of choice? status among its clients, while continuing to pursue new clients. Listen as the motivation, processes, and results are explained for each initiative and learn how they may contribute to improving the operation of your company. 

Zeroing in on Improvement Opportunities
Amy Burbank, logistics manager and quality coordinator, Sheridan Books, Inc.
Need to know where your quality issues are occurring, where to focus your improvement efforts? Follow Sheridan ?s approach?the company has created a database to track the issues arising on jobs, from quality to service to process defects. The database also identifies issues that customer education would help resolve. No longer is the company blindly reacting as each quality issue occurs. Instead, Sheridan will show you an approach to determine precisely where improvement efforts will have the greatest impact.

Waste in the Front Office *
Ted Straus, chief operations officer, Suttle-Straus, Inc.
Suttle-Straus is a $40 million marketing services provider that has recently begun the journey of continuous improvement. Rather than begin with the manufacturing area, Suttle-Straus chose the front office, an area often overlooked even by Lean pros. With a five-year growth rate of 42%, the company decided it was time to evaluate and eliminate the waste in the order entry through proofing processes. Learn how Suttle-Straus increased capacity, reduced stress, and improved on-time delivery?without hiring new employees or buying equipment.

Effective Continuous Improvement Auditing
Kara McPipe, Continuous Improvement Facilitator, Japs-Olson Company
Many companies do a poor job of auditing their processes to sustain their Lean Initiatives, not Japs-Olson. They have successfully implemented a 5S audit team and have created the forms and metrics necessary to sustain their Lean Initiatives. Their biggest victory came when they moved past simply auditing 5S and instituted Standard Work auditing plant wide.  They have designed an easy to use Standard Work auditing tool that keeps the employees engaged while holding them accountable to the principles of Standard Work. Come hear the lessons learned, what obstacles to expect, and how Japs-Olson continues to improve its auditing process.

Special outside the Industry Case Study

Kaizen Never Rests at Batesville Casket Company *
Mike Wroblewski, Lean Sensei and Six Sigma Black Belt, Batesville Casket Company
Batesville, an industry leader, will share two decades worth of lessons stemming from its relentless focus on the lean basics and total associate involvement. The company?s highly integrated manufacturing facilities in the United States and Mexico employ ?pull production? and ?one piece flow? to quickly and efficiently to meet the growing time demands of its customers. The Batesville Business System of Continuous Improvement (based on the Toyota Production System) and effective execution enables it to reduce waste in administrative process as well as manufacturing and distribution.  

Reducing Ink Downtime and Increasing Press Speeds *
Phuong Nguyen, quality assurance team lead, Outlook Group Corp.
The Outlook Group recently completed two Lean 6 Sigma projects as part of its ongoing continuous improvement. The first project focused on reducing downtime during the transition phase of changing ink suppliers. The second project targeted an increase in average press speeds. This is a wonderful opportunity to hear one of our industry?s more advanced companies talk about their production efficiency projects?the improvement tools that were used, the problem solving approach, and the lessons learned.

One Year of CCL?s Lean Transformation
Bill Ruddy, commercial manager, CCL Label Charlotte
How much waste can a company rid itself of after one year of embracing Lean? CCL Label in Charlotte, a $50 million supplier of decorative and specialty labels to the world?s leading healthcare and personal care companies, has the answer. In 12 short months it sped up production by adopting point of use storage, slashing makeready time, redesigning job tickets to avoid slowdowns and errors, and streamlined the way repeat orders are processed. CCL erased plenty of waste in a short time?with profits climbing?as its presentation reveals.