Print productivity: a system dynamics approach

The productivity of the printing industry in terms of real sales per employee hasbeen growing at an annualized rate of 1.9% for more than a decade. The NationalAssociation for Printing Leadership (NAPL) reports that the industry is lagging, whencompared to the average productivity growth of 4% from the non-durable manufacturingindustries (2004). Many possible causes and reasons for the slow improvement arepresented, but the final focus is on the inefficiencies of the print production system whenanalyzed as a whole. The technology within the printing industry has improveddramatically; however, its implementation usually delivers localized improvements withmarginal effects on the whole system. Printers are focused too much on the productivityof specific equipment and not enough on the overall throughput of the system.A computer simulation model of a generic print production workflow usingsystem dynamics was developed to address this issue. The use of simple tools known asstocks and flows, in conjunction with information feedbacks, resulted in a completerepresentation of the complexity of the system. Through multiple iterations andinteraction with the model, opportunities for productivity improvement of individual printcompanies can be identified.Additionally, the model acts as a learning tool for testing mental models and forimproving the understanding of the print production system. The model was used tosimulate five scenarios: status quo, aggressive sales, press productivity improvement,shrinking order size, and synergy. The synergy scenario achieved the best overall resultsxiiwhen compared to the status quo scenario. Under this scenario, the throughput of thewhole system increased by 47% during the simulation, considering fixed capital andlabor resources. Therefore, through correct policy design and implementation, realproductivity gains of the whole system can be achieved.