Reducing Waste in the Printing Industry Chris Rogers Res-341 January 9, 2012 Louis Laffin Reducing Waste in the Printing Industry The process of reducing wasted paper in the printing industry is and always will be a complicated process; printing companies all over the world have gone to great lengths in their attempts to reduce their wasted materials. The attached survey will supply suitable questions to increase awareness for the need for waste reduction in the printing industry as well as supplying ideas and steps to take during the attempts made to reduce wasted materials.The printing industry is commonly known to produce wasted materials during the process of making products. One of the most common wasted materials during printing production is the paper supplies. Printing companies all over the world create wasted paper during the printing production process because of the make-ready process, spoilage, printing excess product, and the quality control process.
The process of make-ready is the initial stage of a print production when the printers are attempting to setup and create the needed product.During this process many printers will use scrap paper for the initial prints to correct any ink or color changes. In some cases the use of scrap paper cannot be used because of the size or type of paper needed for the products being produced does not match any of the available scrap paper. Spoilage is the paper that gets torn or damaged during production and handling.
The amount of paper that becomes spoiled usually cannot be controlled. The process of printing excess product is a common practice because of the chances for spoilage.Printers produce the excess product to maintain the needed amount of product because of the reductions from possible spoilage. The quality control process is when a printer notices a mistake or error on the printed product during production.
These errors occur when a printing plate becomes dirty or damaged during production. These wasted materials are controllable by performing timely checks and cleanings on the product or paper supply as well as the printing machines.The survey will produce answers to what process are causing the wasted materials, produce ideas and changes that will assist with the reduction of waste, and show how much money could be saved if material waste is reduced. The survey was kept short, concise and to the point when asking questions as suggested by Doane (2007, pg. 44). These survey questions are valid for the attempt to reduce waste because they ask the questions of where is the waste coming from, how can this be changed, and what are the processes that need to be changed.
The type of measurement being used in the survey is percentages. This will show how much waste is being produced compared to how much good product is being produced. When the percentage of waste per departments is completed, an idea of where to start the changes for waste reduction will be answered. The printing industry is becoming obsolete with the advancement with e-readers, computers, and other technology that has the ability to create or view the products that would otherwise be printed.The other concern for the printing industry is the going green revolution.
This idea to produce earth friendly products, reduce the amount of energy used, and reduce the amount of raw materials consumed in production has impacted the printing industry with the --paper supply. Paper is a completely renewable resource (Suttle-Straus, 2012). Suttle-Straus uses vast amount of paper every year but the supply of paper they use comes from a stock of trees specifically planted for printing.Suttle-Straus also recycles 5500 tons of wasted paper annually. The printing industry does in fact use an unbelievable amount of paper every year but with the option to use paper produced from trees specifically grown for creating paper and the ability to recycle and reuse the wasted paper made from production the printing industry can justify the wasted materials.
However, the technological advancements are taking jobs and products away from the printing industry and therefore reducing the amount of wasted materials produced.There will, however always be some products people will always want to be printed on paper; items such as a book or a newspaper are sometimes preferred on paper compared to on an illuminated screen. References Suttle-Straus. (2012).
Green Initiatives. Retrieved from http://www. suttle-straus. com/news/green-initiatives University of Phoenix. (2007).
Week Three Supplement. Retrieved from University of Phoenix, RES-341— Research and Evaluation 1 course website.
