Sectors / Manufacturing / Colorman Ireland – Lean Time Management Case Study

Case Study · Manufacturing / Print

Colorman Ireland: 13.3% → 4.5% lost production time

A Lean project on the stitch line eliminated unnecessary lost production time using 5S, Kanban, SMED and Standard Work — reducing lost time from 13.3% to 4.5% and upskilling the team.

Manufacturing LeanPlus (EI)8-Step Problem Solving 5S Kanban Standard Work

Industry

Manufacturing / Print & Packaging

Programme

LeanPlus (EI)

Location

Dublin, Ireland

13.3% → 4.5%

Lost production time reduction

312 min

Lost time eliminated over 5-week baseline

4 tools

5S, Kanban, SMED and Standard Work applied

The Problem

13.3% of production time lost on the stitch line

An employee identified excessive unnecessary lost production time on the Muller saddle stitch line. Over a 5-week measurement period, the team was losing an average of 13.3% of production time — equivalent to 312 minutes — to non-value-adding activities.

The areas of most concern were:

Time lost looking for work — operators searching for the next job rather than having it ready
Time lost pulling pallets — excessive transportation of product between stages
Staff training gaps — poor utilisation due to insufficient cross-training
Unreliable production schedules creating uncertainty about what was coming next
Not enough pallet trucks, and no system for allocating them
Poor workflow between stations on the line

The target was to reduce lost time from 13.3% to 4%, while also reducing transportation waste, eliminating repeat communication, improving skill levels, and reducing waiting times.

The Journey

From 13.3% lost time to 4.5% using four Lean tools

Challenge

Key Challenges

The stitch line team needed to:

Reduce lost production time from 13.3% to 4%
Eliminate time wasted looking for the next job
Reduce excessive product transportation between stages
Upskill team members to improve utilisation and flexibility
Create reliable schedules and standard processes
Address pallet truck availability and allocation

Solution

The Lean Solution

The team applied four complementary Lean tools after a Kaizen event identified root causes:

5S Workplace Organisation: Sorted, set in order, and standardised the work area — creating before/after improvements that were immediately visible
Kanban: Introduced to prevent stock running out, reduce inventory between stations, and decrease changeover time for spools
SMED: Applied 5-step implementation to reduce changeover time — observe, identify internal/external elements, convert, streamline internal, streamline external
Standard Work: Documented processes for consistency and training
Total Productive Maintenance: Implemented an asset care ledger and log to predict and prevent equipment downtime
Dedicated Muller helper upskilled in all requirements — line clearance, labels, consumables, housekeeping, customer-specific requirements

“Initial plans were not as good as continuous improvements. Projects are impossible without teamwork and trust.”
— Colorman Ireland participant

Our Approach

8-Step Problem-Solving Process

The Kaizen event surfaced six distinct problems on the stitch line. Rather than addressing them sequentially, the team applied four Lean tools simultaneously — 5S, Kanban, SMED and Standard Work — creating compounding improvements.

Problem

13.3% of production time lost on the stitch line. Time wasted searching for work, pulling pallets, and waiting. Poor staff utilisation.

Current State

Measured 312 minutes of lost time over 5 weeks. Mapped the line workflow. Identified 6 root causes from the Kaizen event.

Target

Reduce lost time to 4%. Prevent excessive transportation. Eliminate repeat communication. Improve skill levels.

Root Cause

Kaizen event: unreliable schedules, not enough pallet trucks, no allocation system, poor workflow, insufficient cross-training.

Countermeasures

5S for work area organisation. Kanban for stock flow. SMED for changeover reduction. Standard Work for consistency. TPM for equipment.

Implementation

5S implemented (before/after documented). Kanban introduced. Dedicated helper upskilled. Asset care ledger deployed.

Evaluation

Lost time reduced from 13.3% to 4.5%. Staff training hugely successful. Dedicated helper now covers all line requirements.

Standardisation

5S standards documented. Kanban system maintained. SMED process standardised. Helper training documented for all requirements.

Key Outcomes

Lost time cut by two-thirds

The combination of four Lean tools delivered measurable results:

Lost production time reduced from 13.3% to 4.5%. Over the 5-week baseline, this represented a significant recovery of productive capacity — nearly 200 minutes recovered.
Staff training hugely successful. The dedicated Muller helper was upskilled across all requirements: line clearance, printing labels and dockets, location of consumables, pre and post processes, housekeeping, and customer-specific requirements.
5S visibly transformed the work area. Before/after photographs documented the change — creating a standard that could be sustained and replicated across other lines.
Kanban reduced inventory and changeover waste. Stock no longer ran out unexpectedly, and spool changeover time was reduced through the SMED implementation.
TPM established. The asset care ledger created a predictive maintenance capability — preventing unplanned downtime rather than reacting to it.

Learnings

The project represented only one process on one line — but the methodology applies across the entire operation. One process is only a small part of a larger map.
Initial plans were not as good as the continuous improvements that followed — iteration matters.
Projects are impossible without teamwork and trust between operators, supervisors and management.
Communication is vital — the Kaizen event revealed that many problems stemmed from lack of information flow.
Good housekeeping starts with you, in your area — 5S is personal as well as organisational.
Projects are a trial and error process — not everything works first time, and that’s expected.
People are generally willing to help — the Kaizen format gave them permission and structure to contribute.

Conclusion

Four tools, compounding results

What made this project effective was the simultaneous application of multiple complementary tools. 5S created the organised environment. Kanban ensured materials were available. SMED reduced changeovers. Standard Work made everything repeatable. Each tool addressed a different root cause, but together they reduced lost time by two-thirds — from 13.3% to 4.5%.

LeanTeams has worked with Colorman Ireland through the Enterprise Ireland LeanPlus programme. You may also be interested in: Case Study 1 – Under/Over Production. All our case studies are available here.

Tools & Approaches Used