All employees participated in the 18-month programme, which focuses on removing waste from every facet of the business. Waste is defined broadly as the use of any material, energy, effort and time that does not lead directly to the creation of a product or service.
Darren Greene, managing director of Mystique says the whole company benefited from the measurable and tangible improvements achieved during the process.
He says, “It had positive effects throughout the entire company from reception through to the sales team, our pre-press department, press, finishing and dispatch.”
The project was initiated and managed by Mystique’s environmental manager, Mat Eldred, who had the task of keeping everyone on track in conjunction with Printing Industries’ training partner SkilledForce who provided the on-site support and printing industry expertise.
Eldred says, “Added benefits were delivered from the fact that this whole experience resulted in a terrific team building exercise that brought us a much improved communication that would have otherwise been hard to achieve.”
Meanwhile, David Galbraith, SkilledForce training facilitator says Mystique’s programme provided a great deal of satisfaction over the implementation period as he has watched the development of almost 30 employees who also received a national recognised qualification.
He continues, “Mystique is now able to clearly measure their output from each of the various departments and will be able to go on to seek additional ongoing continuous improvements from here.
Bruce Lowery, manager for member services Printing Industries Victoria says competitive manufacturing was making inroads throughout Victoria with an increasing number of companies embarking on the program, a trend being reflected around the country.
Lowery says, “Our LEAN and Green programme has some 2,000 trainees around Australia undergoing training in both competitive manufacturing Certificate 3 and Certificate 4. That’s a great result.”
Organisations wishing to know more about competitive manufacturing should contact their local Printing Industries office for more details.
Comment below to have your say on this story.
If you have a news story or tip-off, get in touch at editorial@sprinter.com.au.
Sign up to the Sprinter newsletter
