Printshop Bauer GmbH from Pfedelbach in the southern German state
of Baden-Württemberg has succeeded in unlocking significant
potential for improved quality and productivity thanks to the
Prinect printshop workflow from Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
(Heidelberg). The company, which produces more than 220 million
folding cartons a year, integrated all management, pressroom, and
postpress processes in a standardized workflow within two years -
and halved delivery delays in the process. In the pressroom,
throughput rose by 20 percent - within the same time and with the
same number of staff. By integrating the folding carton gluer in
the postpress process, the time required to enter jobs was cut from
six minutes to just one - equivalent to a time saving of around 80
percent. Automatic data evaluation also enabled the time required
for actual costing to be cut by approximately 50 percent.
These achievements have now won the company first prize at
the CIPPI Awards 2009 in the "Best cost/benefit realization and
improvement in efficiency as a result of process automation
implementation" category. "Investing in workflow management has
more than paid off for us. Our predicted return on investment over
a period of four years is in the four-figure range," stresses
Eberhard Bauer, Managing Director of Bauer GmbH.
Step by step to success
As the Bauer printshop continued to grow and face
increasingly demanding customer requirements, the need for an
integration solution also grew. In 2007, following a lengthy period
analyzing the market, the company opted for the Prinect printshop
workflow from Heidelberg. Bauer has been using the Prinance
management information system (MIS) from alphagraph since 1996. The
first step was therefore to connect this MIS to the pressroom. The
primary objective was to automatically combine color and job data
and route it directly to the press. The next stage was to use
Prinect to link postpress to the MIS. The entire project took
around two years. "The gradual workflow integration process was the
key to success," states Bauer. "It gave our staff time to learn how
to use the new workflow. We were able to keep track of the project
at all times, which enabled us to immediately address and solve any
problems that occurred," he adds.
In addition to the described improvements in quality and
productivity, the integration solution also resulted in an overall
increase in process transparency. Job tracking now takes place in
real time and the process for repeat jobs is largely automated.
Figure: Bauer GmbH receives the CIPPI Award 2009. From left
to right: James Harvey from the CIP4 organization, Mark Wilton from
Wilton & Partners, Matthias Bauer, Managing Director of
Druckerei Bauer GmbH, and Ray Cassino, Product Manager at
Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG.
Further information for journalists:
Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
Corporate Public Relations
Matthias Hartung
Phone: +49 (0)6221 92 5077
Fax: +49 (0)6221 92 5069
E-mail:
matthias.hartung@heidelberg.com