New Post on nakulpadalkar.com

Hell0 Everyone. I am moving to my personal website.

 

all the posts are now available on http://nakulpadalkar.com  blog section

Implementation of ISO 12647

Every standardization procedure requires some steps that are to be followed, steps involved in ISO 12647 implementation are somewhat similar to DMAIC methodology in Six Sigma

• Definition
• Documentation
• Quality-Control
• Corrective Measures
• Reporting and traceability

General Requirement

Digital files, Color Separation and Digital Output

Preliminary Requirement

When we say Digital file we generally refer to PDF and related file format that can be ripped and sent to plate processor. These files are supposed to be (ideally) prepared in the four color separation mode CMYK. To be compliant with ISO, all files (no exceptions)that are delivered for printing should have a proof that is a match (which we will cover in Proof and print condition section). One way to verify this to use standard print control tools (usually a control strip consisting Dot Gain, Density (TVI) and slur patches). Every digital file should have the details of the printing conditions (print Process Details).

Form quality

This part of the ISO 12647 talks about minimum transmission density requirement for a film that will be used for reproduction.

• The core density of separated films should be at least 2.5 above the transmission density of the clear film.
• The transmission density in the center of a clear half-tone dot should not be more than 0.1.
• The transmission density of the clear film should not be higher than 0.15.

Measurement

All the measurements are to be done using a UV transmission densitometer whose spectral products conform to ISO 5-3.

Screen ruling

For four-color work, the screen ruling should be within the range 45 lpcm to 80 lpcm.
12647 defines acceptable range based on the material used and offset printing method.

1. 5 lpcm to 70 lpcm for web-offset periodical printing
2. 52 lpcm to 70 lpcm for continuous-forms process printing on coated paper, 52 lpcm for uncoated paper
3. 60 lpcm and higher for commercial/specialty printing.

Screen Angle

The difference between screen angles of cyan, magenta, and black should be 30°, with yellow placed at 15° from another color. While the dominant color is placed at 45°. (the only difference that I saw in this was the placing of dominant color at 45°).

these are major details of prepress part of the implementation, it also contains details about total area coverage, dot shape (Circular, square or elliptical; TAC should not exceed 350 % for sheet-fed and 300 % for heat-set web).

This whole thing looks very complicated, and it sacred hell out of me, but at the end the part that we can take home is just prepare your prepress for ICC based color management and you are done wit ISO 12646/7 prepress part. Rather in my opinion its easy to go for ICC based workflows than ISO.

I will see you in the next post till that time have a good weekend.

 

ISO 12647:2 – Graphic technology — Process control for the production of half-tone colour separations, proof and production prints — Part 2: Offset lithographic processes

Sorry for the delay in posting this guys, I ran into some of the personal problems and still trying to manage them. well enough about me, In the last post I mentioned about ISO 12647 one of the standards that we can use as a benchmark (although not perfect). we will be discussing the scope and requirements of its implementation and then we will discuss simplest and easy to understand method of implementation.

ISO 12647-2 was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 130, The revisions include the following:

1. Introduction of digital data as input;
2. Reduction of the tone value increase by roughly 3 %;
3. Changes in the coloration of the primary and secondary solids;
4. Introduction of an additional measurement condition with a specified white backing;
5. General clean-up.

The second Part of ISO 12647 lists the sets of values of the primary parameters specified in ISO 12647-1 technical properties of offset print. Primary parameters that are included are screening, the tone value increase, the colors of the solids, and the print substrate.

The print proof is to a means to simulate the exact visual appearance of the finished print as closely as possible. To match these two needs values for solids and tone-value increase (TVI/Dot Gain Curve) different from the printing process that is being simulated. The difference between the two is caused by  gloss, light scatter, metamerism and transparency.

Scope of ISO 12647-2

ISO 12647-2 specifies a number of process parameters and their values to be applied when preparing color separations for four-color offset printing or when producing four-color prints by one of the following methods:

• heat-set web
• sheet-fed or continuous forms process printing
• proofing for one of these processes
• offset proofing for half-tone gravure.

The parameters and values are chosen in view of the complete process covering the process stages “color separation”, “film setting”, “making of the printing form”, “proof  production”, “production printing” and “surface finishing”.
ISO 12647-2 is

• directly applicable to proofing and printing processes that use color separation films as input.
• directly applicable to proofing and printing from printing forms produced by filmless methods as long as direct analogies to film production systems are maintained.
• applicable to proofing and printing with more than four process colors as long as direct analogies to four color printing are maintained, such as for data and screening, for print substrates and printing parameters.
• applicable by analogy to line screens and non-periodic screens.

We will look at the Requirements of ISO 12647-2 Implementation in the next post

Quality In Relation to Printing

last few posts we looked at Lean Six Sigma Procedures and their Implementation.

When it comes to quality/process improvement in printing there are several factors that doesn’t fit in normal context of Manufacturing. The whole business of Printing is dependent extremely on the process that we use for the reproduction.

To initiate the standard procedure in some of the organizations starting developing standards regarding how a document/material should be printed for every printing process.

ISO 12647 is one of those standards. we will be discussing the ISO 12646/12647 in this section. I am using the material that I used for implementation of 12646/7 (my notes, some of my previous research, and of course a copy of ISO 12646/7 document.).

ISO 12647

The 12647 International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard which provides standard process control aim points and tolerances for various printing methods and processes.

ISO 12647 consists of the following parts, under the general title Graphic technology — Process control for the production of half-tone colour separations, proof and production prints:

• ISO 12647-1:2005: Part 1: Parameters and measurement methods

• ISO 12647-2:2004: Part 2: Offset lithographic processes

• ISO 12647-3:2005: Part 3: Coldset offset lithography on newsprint

• ISO 12647-4:2005: Part 4: Publication gravure printing

• ISO 12647-5:2001: Part 5: Screen printing

• ISO 12647-6:2006: Part 6: Flexographic printing

• ISO 12647-7:Draft: Part 7: Off-press proofing process working directly from digital data ISO 12647-7 is currently a Committee Draft.

One thing the we need to keep in mind is that there is no ISO certification for ISO 12647, but we can still do the next best thing use those standardization procedures that utilizes the norms/guidelines mentioned in 12647.

Implementation of ISO 12647

Before we go on discussing the implementation procedure, we need to look at why we need this standard and why we need to implement that.

Goal of ISO 12647 standards is to provide small and large printers the means to optimize their quality, productivity and the profit.
The work done by ISO TC 130, CIE, ICC, FOGRA (German Research and Competence Center), and many more international organizations. we can now work with the tools that integrate Quality Assurance and Control in printing environment.
A standardized production requires the following operations, at each step in the process: (I don’t know but this look little bit like DMAIC)

• Definition
• Documentation
• Quality-Control
• Corrective Measures
• Reporting and traceability

Benefits of implementation of ISO 12647

• Saving on materials
• Internal time-saving
• Improved customer relations
• Improved company reputation
• Improved competitiveness
• Process stability
• Quality improvement

In the next post we will discuss each part of ISO 12647 and how we use it in practical context of implementation.

Team Work, Facts and Figures

Hope everyone had excellent Christmas, in the mist of holiday season I laid back for a while and started tweaking the methods that we normally use for data analysis.

I tried some of the softwares like Minitab, Matlab, Mathematica, SPSS and finally Excel. it seems like if you are going to do extensive statistics work Minitab and SPSS are the one which you should be looking at, for general use I would go with excel.

All right now that we have basic software discussion done we can move ahead with the LSS discussion

Company getting ready to implement the LSS methodology should keep in mind that, teamwork doesn’t just mean having formal teams make improvements (that’s part of the LSS implement strategy). Another important thing is developing an environment where people are encouraged to work together every day. People discuss and resolve problems openly rather than behind closed doors. Usually when an issue arise we as human have tendency to blame others for it that what we have to minimize while implementing LSS

Working Together

Recent development (changes in market and economy) made most of the companies think back on their group dynamics. The group members should have the following traits:

1. Listening skills: Listening is something most of us think we do well, because we do it all the time. But despite all of this practice, most of us don’t know how to listen well, especially when tension is high or tempers are about to flare. Learning how to use listening to really understand what people are trying to say is a cornerstone of effective collaboration. Part of “listening” includes developing inquiry skills so you can draw information out of your teammates.

2. Brainstorming & discussion techniques: One of the reasons for having people work in groups is to tap into everyone’s ideas and knowledge. And discussion techniques can help groups make sure that everyone gets a chance to be heard.

3. Organizing ideas: If you do a good job at listening, brainstorming, and discussion, many times you’ll end up with a long list of ideas. That’s why collaboration techniques include methods for sorting through, organizing, and prioritizing ideas.

4. Decision making: Most of us have worked in situations where decision making was easy—the choice was “whatever the boss says.” Teamwork comes with greater responsibility for everyone to actively participate in decision making. The skills and techniques you might find helpful include methods for determining how a decision should get made, which people or groups need to be included, what roles they should play, how to develop criteria for selection between options, and so on.

Role of Data and Facts

There are a plenty of reasons why data and facts are necessary to lay a launching platform for Lean Six Sigma.if you want to know who your customers are and what they want? You need to collect data. if you want to improve processes? You’ll need to collect data on variation, defects, and process flow. if you want to avoid the kind of needless arguments and squabbling that destroy teamwork?  have a rule that people must support their opinions with facts.

Type of data

Once the company makes the commitment to collect data, the obvious question is “what kind of data?” Making that call is something we’ll learn about if we go through training or participate on a team. To jump start our own thinking. In general, it all falls into two categories: result and process :

• Result reflect the outcome of a process or procedures—how the product or service turned out

• Process reflect what goes on to produce the result.

We need both results and process measures to be effective in Lean Six Sigma. we  have to keep track of the final result. But the only way we can improve a result is to change the process, and we’ll need process measures to tell you what has to change and how.

What should you actually measure? Here are four typical types of data that teams find useful:

1. Customer satisfaction (a result): Data gathered through surveys or interviews on what customers think about your product or service, and what it’s like doing business with your group or organization.

2. Financial outcomes (a result): What impact the quality and/or problems have on revenue, expenses, costs, etc.

3. Speed/ lead time (result or process ): Data on how fast (or slow) your process is. “Lead time” is how long it takes for any individual work item to make it all the way from the beginning to the end of the process. If measured at the end of the process, speed is a result measure. If measured on individual steps, it becomes a process measure.

4. Quality/defects (result or process): How many errors are made, whether the product or service has flaws that affect the customer, and so on. Like speed, quality can be a result measure if the data are collected on the final product or service. But most teams also use it as a process measure, collecting data on what happens within the process.

The steps we just read are the one which will start the process of LSS implementation and will help us to gather the preliminary requirements to perform a process improvement.

Improve Your Processes

On my last post we discussed how to understand your customers, the next step is figuring out a way to get better at delivering what they want. The answer lies in improving the processes your company uses to generate the services and products you sell.

Deming, spent much of his time trying to convince people that most quality problems are “in the process, not the person.” He promoted his 80/20 rule, based on his experience that 80% of problems were built into the way work was done (and hence under the control of management). Only 20% of the problems, he said, were really the fault of individual employees.  This we know as Pareto Principle

Almost all of the person (frontline or direct users) he interacted with had problem accepting Deming’s assertions. After all, they were the people who paid the price for a lack of training, poor equipment, little communication, and unrealistic goals. In short, they worked under conditions that guaranteed poor quality. It was often managers who resisted Deming, because they were trained to find “who to blame” when something went wrong.

Why does it matter if most problems are “in the system”? Because it means that if you want to improve quality, you have to change the way work is done. That’s why Lean Six Sigma focuses on process improvement. In fact, the purpose of most improvement efforts is to use data to find out what’s wrong in the system that allows the problems to happen in the first place. Removing these problems will allow your company to provide better products and services to customers.

What does it take to improve processes?

everyone who is here have some process knowledge, simply as a result of performing your job day in and day out. But more than likely, you’ve never been asked to document that knowledge, or discuss it with others doing the same kind of work. Perhaps no one has ever used the term “process” before in regards to your work. When something goes wrong, people have only their experience and trial-and-error to come up with a solution.

All of that changes with Lean Six Sigma. There is a great deal of emphasis on:

• Documenting how work gets done (same way ISO does).

• Examining the flow of work between people or workstations

• Giving people the knowledge and methods they need to constantly improve that work

There are a lot of different process improvement methods, we will try to cover some of them. But almost all of them serve one of two purposes:

• To eliminate variation in quality and speed (a major source of defects)

• To improve process flow and speed

The majority of process improvement work you’ll ever do falls into one of those two categories, so we’ll spend a little time explaining what each of them means.

Eliminate variation

Process changes as the time progress, nothing is exactly the same day in and day out. 

Everything varies. What’s important is that the way in which something varies—the patterns in the variation—can expose the cause of problems and point the way towards solutions.

The language around variation is what gave rise to the term “six sigma.”

To illustrate the concept, look at the two charts in Figure Each point represents a single measurement taken on a process.

For our purposes here, it doesn’t really matter what the measurements are—they could be delivery times, weights, lengths, customer satisfaction scores, etc. What’s important is that the right chart shows a process with a lot of variation or spread and The left chart shows a process with much less variation.

Variation defines the “sigma” level

Why is variation important? We’ve taken the same charts and added lines to indicate what the customer wants (their ideal target), and what they will find acceptable.

Yield	Sigma Level
30.85%	1
69.15%	2
93.32%	3
99.38%	4
99.977%	5
99.99966%	6

 

We will look in to the process improvement techniques in the next post.

 

would love to hear your comments on this one

The Four Keys to Lean Six Sigma

1. Delight Your Customers with Speed and Quality

2. Improve Your Processes

3. Work Together for Maximum Gain

4. Base Decisions on Data and Facts

Delight Your Customers with Speed and Quality

At the time of Manufacturing revolution companies used to decide what features to include in its products or service based solely on what their engineers or marketing staff notion.

Nowadays, those old-fashioned notions have been replaced by a new attitude that only customers can define quality.  Customers are the people who will decide whether to spend their money on your company’s services or products. They’ll be comparing your offerings against everything else in the marketplace and determining which ones best fit their needs. (That’s why Lean Six Sigma projects always start by trying to figure out what it is your customers will be focusing on as they compare you to your competitors.)

It’s not just these external customers—people outside your company—whose opinions matter, either. You have internal customers, too. Those are the people inside your company to whom you hand off your work. Have you ever asked these internal customers what they want from you? What is most important to them in the information or service or product you provide?

In Six Sigma, you’ll hear the term Voice of the Customer or “VOC” all the time. It’s used to indicate that the opinions and needs of customers are being represented in decisions about products and services. There is a mix of VOC techniques that help companies live up to the ideal of meeting or exceeding customer needs. Some are simple, like tracking complaint calls that come in. Others are more complex, such as setting up focus groups or visiting customer sites.

Whatever methods you use, the biggest obstacle is developing the awareness that any decision about a service or product should start with customers.

The goal: eliminating defects

As Lean Six Sigma starts with customers, its goal is clear—to eliminate anything that doesn’t meet their needs. In Lean Six Sigma terms, things that don’t meet customer needs are called defects.

One of the challenges you’ll face as you begin to use Lean Six Sigma is defining and measuring defects. The thing to keep in mind is what aspects of your product or service are most important to your customers. Then find ways to determine whether or not you’ve met those needs. If you don’t, your process is probably producing defects.

What’s also important in Lean Six Sigma is checking on the consistency in your products, services, and processes. How likely is it that customers will consistently get something they’re happy with? If you deliver what they want one day, but not the next day, they may take their business elsewhere.

Quality, Speed, and Low Cost

What every Quality Manager should realize before they begin improving a process is that they can’t really achieve any of these goals without doing all of them at the same time. Why?

1. A process that makes a lot of errors cannot keep up its speed. So high quality makes it possible to attain fast speed.
2. A process that works slowly is prone to errors (low quality). The key here is that we’re looking at overall process speed, not how quickly an individual person or machine works.

   You have to do the things that create process speed (meaning “eliminate delays”) if you want to achieve the highest levels of quality.

3. Low quality and slow speed are what make processes—and services and products—expensive. So the only way to consistently offer the lowest price—and still make a profit!—is to improve quality and speed.