Tool Box
Issue No. 30 - August/September 2006
The power of continuous improvement
by Mr Matthew Michalewicz
Experts don’t regard the printing industry as a high-growth business, but don’t tell that to the people at Finsbury Green Printing.
Headquartered just a few minutes from Adelaide’s CBD, Finsbury has grown from two staff in the early 1970’s to more 200 employees in three locations. During the past two decades, the company has also won a staggering 278 international, national, and regional print awards. And to top off this impressive record, the company is currently enjoying double-digit growth.
According to Steve Osborne, General Manager of Finsbury, the company’s success can be attributed to “the power of continuous improvement.”
“Our mission is to drive improvement and efficiency into every part of our business,” adds Andrew Mitchell, Manufacturing Manager of Finsbury. “We want to be on the leading edge, and that often means pushing the envelope.”
Over the past decade, Finsbury has generated substantially improvements in almost every area of its business, from web-based ordering and costing, through print management and job tracking, to proofing and logistics. In many of these areas the company has developed its own solutions when it couldn’t find off-the-shelf systems to fit the bill.
The company has also adopted a strong “green and clean” focus, implementing many environment-friendly initiatives over the years. Although not all of these initiatives produced a cost benefit, the end result is impressive in terms of improvement: Today, Finsbury is Australia’s leading environmental printer, with 95% of all waste material recycled or reused and 97% alcohol-free printing practices.
But whether we are talking about technical or environmental improvement, what exactly is “continuous improvement” all about? Although continuous improvement goes under many different guises – including sustainable business excellence, continual process improvement, and best practice – it’s...
