Paragon

Source: Manufacturing Digital

Date :13/11/2007 12:00:20

At over a hundred years old, Paragon has seen it all. We look at how continual improvement is keeping the the document creation and printing firm competitive in a challenging industry.

Written by Sam Wright and Produced by Ben Weaver

There are not many companies that can match Paragon’s history. Founded in 1886, the document creation and printing firm has had its fair share of peaks and troughs, from near market dominance to less-than-successful partnerships.

The company merged with the Canadian Moore Group in the 1970s. In the process, it become the world’s first global print company. Things however, as they often do, lost their shine, and it was acquired by the Grenadier Group in 1998. A continual improvement plan, brought in two years ago, has stepped the company up another gear, and now they are reporting recurrent growth in an industry normally associated with doom and gloom.

Changing times

Steve Pollard, Operations Manager at Paragon, has been with the company since 1997. In today’s culture of frequent job switches and career changes, this to some may seem a long time. But some of the workers at the plant in Sunderland, however, have over 40 years of service behind them, and memories of previous practices are sometimes hard to shift.

“They [Moore] had certain improvement activities that they implemented,” explains Mr. Pollard, “and to be fair, they’re not to dissimilar to what we’re doing now, but for some reason it all fell by the wayside.”

“One of the challenges I have,” he points out, “is convincing people that we’re not going to let it drop this time; we’re going to sustain it.”

Market forces

Changes in ownership are not the only challenge that Mr. Pollard and the company have faced. “The print industry has changed beyond recognition,” he says. “Ten years ago, there was a lot less pressure. There was nobody, in print terms, in Eastern Europe for example. And the rising costs of energy and materials are a problem for us, just like everybody else.”

As Paragon works in an industry that has notoriously high energy consumption levels, questions about its environmental policy are unavoidable. Paper is recycled at Paragon, obviously, but the company is also planning to have ISO 14001 accreditation by January.

“There was a lot of work that we already had in place to support it, which is why we could do it fairly quickly. The reason that we’ve decided to become accredited is, quite simply, to respond to our customers’ requirements, who are themselves under pressure to go ‘green’,” he explains.

And the evidence supports him. Back in March this year, Climate Change and Environmental Minister Ian Pearson said: “There are rapidly expanding markets for low carbon products and services - the world market for environmental goods and services is projected to grow from $548 billion in 2004 to $800 billion by 2015. Environmental concerns are becoming core business - not as an alternative to making profit, but as a route to it.”

The UK manufacturing industry, perhaps because of the phenomenal pressures that it has suffered and of course its high waste output, has proven to be one of the most open to change. It follows on that since kaizen surged in popularity over the past few years, many throughout the sector have taken it onboard.

Moving forward

“To make any money in printing, you’ve got to be trying to improve all the time,” Mr. Pollard says simply, before pointing out that this is exactly what his company has done. Four sites in the UK, including a print management division, mean that it is difficult to give a precise figure, however, turnover is up a considerable amount, and “in two years,” he says. “We’ve reduced make-ready times by 22 percent and quality issues are down by two-thirds.” The Sunderland plant now makes up £22 million of the company’s £40 million annual turnover.

All this positivity seems a little out of step in an industry that has seen 8,000 job losses since January 1 this year. So what precisely can this be put down to?

“Communication,” is his instant reply. “I think people can see what we’re doing now doesn’t make them sweat more or work any harder. It’s all about communicating and building confidence.”

“The focused improvement activities that we run,” he points out, “other people may call kaizen. We try and stay away from titles like this for the reasons I explained before.”

Although he is understandably keen to distance himself from labels, Paragon’s programme seems to contain some continual improvement stalwarts such as cross-functional teams and preventative-maintenance programmes. The real emphasis however, and perhaps the secret of Paragon’s performance, is on maintaining and improving its relationship with its workers.

The company is a firm believer in achieving this through training. “We’re currently advertising for internal positions on a Total Productive Maintenance team,” says Mr. Pollard.

“It’s for workers who want to improve their understanding and get a little bit more involved in activities that would traditionally be carried out by the Maintenance Department. If we want to take a machine down over the weekend for example, it gives us a little more flexibility. And of course, it helps to have machine operators with a better understanding of the machines that they’re working on every day.”

On top of this, every person in the operations area is studying for an NVQ Level 2 in Business Improvement Techniques, and all the managers are undergoing training through the Institute of Training and Management, while future plans include Lean Leader courses, among others. It is a mark of the belief that Paragon’s staff have in the company that they are willing to give these processes a second chance. If Paragon continues to place its emphasis on continual improvement, not just in the sense of kaizen, but also the way it interacts with its staff, the future will continue to be bright.