2011 No.72 - Komori

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User Profile User Profile nextdayflyers.com: consistency 42 nextdayflyers.com, Rancho Dominguez, California, US From left: David Handmaker, President, Ben Nouri, Vice President of Operations, and Richard True, District Sales Manager of Komori America Komori On Press Words like efficiency, quality and consistency def ine nextday f lyers.com in Rancho Dominguez, California. The 13-year-old company entered the web-to-print arena just as it was starting to take off — and the company, home to a five-color Lithrone S40 with coater, has remained ahead of the curve ever since. President David Handmaker says: “What separates us from our competition is consistency — consistency in our print quality, our turn around time and our customer service.” Unique level of service Handmaker says nextdayflyers.com is more flexible than other online printing companies. “The options we provide are more extensive. We can provide custom shipping options or proofing options. Our customers have one single point of contact — a customer care representative who is assigned to their account and that’s the person they always work with. The customer is building a personal relationship with our company. We frequently hear from our customers that this level of service doesn’t occur with other web-to-print providers.” What allows nextdayflyers.com to deliver consistency across their organization is their unique approach to continual improvement. Early on, Handmaker knew that the company needed a process-driven approach to grow the business and improve efficiency. “When I started this company, I had a vision that we could institute lean manufacturing in a printing environment, but I didn’t know the steps it would take to get there.” Handmaker hired consultants, studied the Toyota manufacturing method, and got his employees excited about process improvement. “Once they saw that the changes and improvements actually had a positive effect on the business, our people bought into the process.” Handmaker says the most important part of the process is the company’s employees. “You start with hiring the right people. If someone doesn’t want to participate in the system, then they wouldn’t be a good fit for our company. Continual improvement is one of our core values, so we need to have people who are aligned with the value. That’s one of the good things about our culture.” Strategy watchword: lean manufacturing VP of Operations Ben Nouri plays a big role in the company’s continual improvement process. An engineer by training, with a strong background in 6 Sigma and lean manufacturing, Nouri had no background in the printing industry before joining nextdayflyers.com. “I saw the potential of the company and the great team. Plus, they were in the right industry as far as the e-commerce portion of the business and I saw some opportunities to make the company better. Our potential is really good.” Nouri says the company measures everything related to the bottom line. “Everything we do is a process or a procedure. And to make improvements you have to develop action items or you can’t make the change.” Nouri says that the action items are prioritized by which ones will have the biggest impact. “Quality is #1 for us — we have to make sure that the action items we’re working on will have the biggest impact on quality improvement. We’re doing a lot of really good stuff here.” Critical to the success of any lean manufacturing operation is buy-in to the process from the top down. Nouri credits Handmaker with being the driving force behind the process. “David is very assertive in his decision making and wants to take the company to the next level.” ‘Ben tore the manual apart’ The continuous improvement process even included the Komori team as the company installed their LS-540. Komori District Sales Manager Richard True was an active participant in the process. “For every press Komori America installs, there is a pre-installation meeting and a manual that outlines the procedure. Ben tore the manual apart. We met every week to go over the schedule, ensuring that everything was on track.” The meeting included Komori service technicians as well as nextdayflyers. com staff. True adds, “It was a great experience. Everyone was on the same page and knew their roles and responsibilities. I wish we could duplicate it with every installation.” Handmaker explains why he chose Komori: “We really liked the features on the press. It suited our business very well in terms of consistency and speed and we liked the fast makeready. We knew that we could execute for our customers with the Komori.” Channels: social media, search engine optimization and blogs The company currently serves over 100,000 customers across the US and promotes the business primarily through online channels such as social media, search engine optimization (SEO) and blogs. “Our goal is to add many new products to our offering, improve our ability to market on the web and find ways to deliver product even faster to our customers,” says Handmaker. While the competition is fierce, it doesn’t bother him. “Yes, it’s a cutthroat market, but we don’t react to outside competition. We concentrate on what we do, how we do it, and don’t let it bother us.” And with their eye on quality, consistency and always improving the process, the sky seems to be the limit for nextdayflyers.com. Ben Nouri and David Handmaker of nextdayflyers.com are focused on continuous improvement for their business. Komori On Press 43
User Profile Open House at KLT in Brazil Indian success with LS-440 Unique Offset, Pune, India Nandkumar Navale (front left) and Mandar Thakurdesai (front right), owners of Unique Offset, with staff Unique Offset is recognized as a premier offset printer in Pune, India. Nandkumar Navale and Mandar Thakurdesai, the owners of Unique Offset, have been in the printing business for the past two decades. After completing their education in printing, they initially started an offset platemaking company. Having earned the confidence of their customers, they ventured into the printing business. From Spica 426 to full-size Lithrone After some years using other presses, they zeroed in on the Komori Spica 426 in March 2007. As Mr. Thakurdesai explains, “Our decision to buy the Spica proved to be very beneficial as we are now running the machine almost to capacity, even though it runs at very high speeds and has an incredibly short makeready time on every job change. Our increased turnover and profitability was mainly due to the purchase of this machine. The service we got from Mr. Bhojraj of Printools Corporation, the Komori distributor, was very good. Having experienced the quality and results of the Komori Spica 426, we decided to purchase the latest version of a new press from Komori — a four-color LS40. We are one of the first buyers of this KHS-AI version in India and we are confident that our progress will be even more accelerated with this new gem.” Confidence in a high-spec machine “We decided to purchase the Komori LS-440 after a thorough comparative study of the machines in use and available in India. We felt that the LS-440 suited our needs almost perfectly. The most important features of the machine were very fast makeready, including de-inking and pre-inking, excellent speed, and the presetting function for paper size and thickness.” “Being the latest version of this press, it has enabled us to keep abreast of the competition in the field. The unique features of the machine will allow us to expand into a wider spectrum of jobs.” With the LS-440, Unique Offset has now become a one-stop shop for its customers. As Thakurdesai says, “The Lithrone’s excellent adaptability to our prepress and postpress setup saves our customers critical time — we can meet all of their requirements in our facility.” “We visited the Komori Tsukuba Plant to get an on-the-spot feel for the company. We had a very informative tour and were even introduced to President Yoshiharu Komori. We felt really proud of being a member of the Komori family.” The Komori Latin America Technical Service Center (Gutenberg Office) in Brazil held an Open House on February 10, 2011. A four-color Lithrone SX29 + Coater and a five-color Enthrone 29 were exhibited. information Komori U.K. Limited Unit 3001 Victoria Business Park Victoria Road Seacroft Leeds LS14 2LA, UK Tel:+44-113-823-9200 Fax:+44-113-823-9201 Komori UK’s Parts Manager Darren Etherington at the company’s new European Spare Parts Centre in Leeds. Komori UK Move Expands Parts Centre Komori UK Limited has moved into new premises in Leeds to provide additional facilities for its expanding European Spare Parts Centre. The company has invested over a half million euros in enlarging the spare parts operation at its new UK headquarters, where it has also constructed purpose-built new sales, service and administration offices. Says Komori UK Managing Director Neil Sutton: “Our enlarged and highly automated warehousing facility has enabled us to The new European Spare Parts Centre at Komori UK’s new premises. increase our stock to around 8 million euros worth of parts to support sheet and web presses, both old and new.” As Neil Sutton explains: “The new premises will enable us, when appropriate, to augment the outstandingly successful new Komori Graphic Technology Centre at our European HQ in Utrecht, where we now have a complete range of Komori sheetfed presses and management systems permanently available for demonstrations, training and print trials.” 44 Komori On Press Komori On Press 45
Page 2 and 3: Feature 1: Lithrone G40 The New Hig
Page 4 and 5: T h e u l t i m a t e p r o d u c e
Page 6 and 7: Rise of the Lithrone G40 Dawn of th
Page 8 and 9: Concept ‘OffsetOnDemand’ empowe
Page 10 and 11: Case Studies ‘We have expanded ou
Page 12 and 13: New Advances: Integrated Control Sy
Page 14 and 15: KOMORI ENTHRONE SERIES K o m o r i
Page 20 and 21: User Profile User Profile GPS insta
Page 24: Komori to the Rescue The city of Br

2011 No.72 - Komori

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