Sectors / Manufacturing / Colorman Ireland – Under/Over Production Case Study

Case Study · Manufacturing / Print

Colorman Ireland: Tackling production waste at source

An employee-led Lean project addressed the root causes of over-production and under-production across the print line — reducing raw material waste and establishing data-driven production targets.

Manufacturing LeanPlus (EI)8-Step Problem Solving Brainstorming Impact/Ease Chart Process Mapping

Industry

Manufacturing / Print & Packaging

Programme

LeanPlus (EI)

Location

Dublin, Ireland

60% → 12.5%

Raw material annual cost reduction target

70%

Target: jobs within 0–100 sheet excess

Quarterly

Management KPI meetings established

The Problem

Over-production wasting materials, under-production triggering costly reprints

Colorman Ireland is one of Europe’s leading full-service print and packaging companies, established in 1959. From their 200,000 sq ft campus, they operate lithographic presses, book binding, carton manufacturing, secure printing and digital facilities serving clients across Ireland, the UK, Europe and America.

A team member identified that production quantity accuracy was a significant source of waste. The problems worked in both directions:

Over-production increased raw material consumption (inks, varnish, board), machine time, and generated excessive scrappage at end of line
Under-production triggered complete reprints for the deficit — a far more expensive outcome than the original waste
Short deliveries impacted Customer KPI reporting and damaged client relationships
Lower volume jobs suffered disproportionately — each wasted sheet equated to 25 finished units
Average waste figures were based on “guesstimates” rather than actual data, creating a vicious cycle of inaccurate production planning

The target was ambitious: reduce raw material annual cost from 60% to 12.5% waste, and ensure 70% of jobs ran within a 0–100 sheet excess target.

The Journey

From guesswork to data-driven production planning

Challenge

Key Challenges

The production team needed to:

Replace estimated waste figures with actual data from end-line processes
Reduce over-production to within 0–100 sheets excess for 70% of jobs
Eliminate under-production that triggers costly full reprints
Bridge the knowledge gap between departments about what happens to product at each stage
Address raw material storage and temperature sensitivity issues
Establish ongoing KPI tracking and accountability

Solution

The Lean Solution

Using the 8-Step Problem-Solving Process with a cross-departmental Kaizen event:

Collected actual waste data from end-line processes to replace estimated figures
Calculated waste percentages in terms of units and sheets by job volume
Ran a Kaizen event revealing that departments worked independently with little cross-functional understanding
Used an Impact/Ease chart to prioritise countermeasures
Set print excess targets: 70% of jobs to run within 0–100 sheets
Established labour recovery baselines for Litho, Bindery, Cartons and SPV
Moved to a single quote-to-delivery system (Tharsten Pro)
Introduced structured corrective action for reprints and complaints
Committed to quarterly management meetings for KPI review

“We are a big company with personal values. Attention to detail, stringent brand control, on-time delivery and reliability are cornerstones of our service levels.”
— Colorman Ireland

Our Approach

8-Step Problem-Solving Process

The Kaizen event was critical — it revealed that each department worked in isolation with limited understanding of upstream and downstream processes. The cross-functional brainstorming surfaced the lack of data as the primary root cause.

Problem

Over-production wastes raw materials and machine time. Under-production triggers costly full reprints. Both damage customer KPIs.

Current State

Collected actual end-line waste data. Found that average waste figures were guesstimates. Small volumes massively overproduced, large volumes tended to be short.

Target

Reduce raw material cost from 60% to 12.5% waste. 70% of jobs within 0–100 sheet excess. Establish labour recovery baselines.

Root Cause

Kaizen event revealed departments working in silos. No data collection or analysis. No cross-functional understanding of production stages.

Countermeasures

Data-driven targets, single system (Tharsten Pro), structured corrective action, quarterly KPI meetings, cross-departmental visibility.

Implementation

Print excess targets set. Labour recovery baselines established for all departments. Single system rollout planned for calendar year.

Evaluation

Excess print reduced. Labour recovery now measured — presenting a significant opportunity for the business going forward.

Standardisation

Quarterly management meetings committed. KPI tracking established. Standardised corrective action procedures for reprints and complaints.

Key Outcomes

Data replacing guesswork across the operation

The project established the data infrastructure and management discipline needed for sustained improvement:

Print excess reduced. With actual data replacing estimates, production planning accuracy improved and over-production was reduced toward the 0–100 sheet target.
Labour recovery measured. For the first time, labour recovery was measured across Litho, Bindery, Cartons and SPV — revealing a significant opportunity for the business.
Single system committed. The move to Tharsten Pro for quote-to-delivery created end-to-end visibility across the production process.
Structured corrective action. Reprints and complaints now follow a standardised procedure rather than ad-hoc responses.
Quarterly KPI meetings. Management committed to regular reviews of project progress, bottlenecks and changes — creating accountability.

Learnings

Stepping back and looking properly at the root cause — rather than jumping to solutions — was essential. The real problem was a lack of data, not a lack of effort.
Things had to be tried more than once. Iteration is part of the process.
Team involvement was beneficial — particularly the cross-departmental Kaizen event which revealed how little each department understood about the others’ processes.
Lack of communication can have a serious negative impact on production accuracy.
Sometimes all it took was someone to take responsibility for an area — ownership drives improvement.
Help came from people least expected — the Kaizen format ensures all voices are heard.
This is the start of many projects — the data infrastructure created here enables future improvements.

Conclusion

Data is the foundation of production improvement

This project’s most significant contribution wasn’t a single dramatic result — it was replacing guesswork with data across the entire production operation. When waste figures are based on actual measurements rather than estimates, every subsequent decision becomes more accurate. The quarterly KPI meetings and single production system create the discipline to sustain and build on these improvements.

LeanTeams has worked with Colorman Ireland through the Enterprise Ireland LeanPlus programme. You may also be interested in: Case Study 2 – Lean Time Management. All our case studies are available here.

Tools & Approaches Used