Lean Into Waste Reduction

Print providers often operate with a staggering 80% of activities adding little to no customer value—a costly burden across time, resources, and effort. Lean principles offer an effective remedy by helping printers focus on what truly matters—value creation—while minimizing wasteful behaviors.

In a new Printing Impressions article, John Compton, principal at Compton & Associates LLC, a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt (MBB), and senior member of the American Society for Quality, shares his wisdom with printers ready to embrace lean manufacturing. Compton highlights the seven classic wastes that plague print operations: transportation, inventory, motion, waiting, overprocessing, overproduction, and defects. These often hidden inefficiencies slow down processes, expand lead times, up storage costs, strain communication—and significantly erode profitability.

Michael Bouquet explains Los Angeles, California-based Superior Litho’s lean operations to his fellow OPEX/Lean peer group members. | Credit: John Compton

A particularly potent first step: implementing 5S (Sort, Set in order, Shine, Standardize, Sustain). This practice establishes a clear, orderly workplace, reducing time lost in searching, walking, and waiting, and often reveals other critical improvement opportunities across the workflow.

To turn waste‑reduction from concept into enduring results, printers must couple metrics with targeted actions. Measure not just material waste—such as makeready scrap or rejects—but also track time‑based metrics like cycle time, lead time, and process time. Most importantly, engage frontline teams: involve those closest to the work in diagnosing issues and crafting solutions. Start small and build discipline through daily huddles, reviewed KPIs, and steady leadership reinforcement.

Read the full Q&A with Compton here.