Assembly vs. Transformation Production: Some Commonalities but Also Differences

      Until recently much of my career I was in the printing industry.  My undergraduate degree is in printing and I spent over twenty five years in the newspaper business.  I’m mostly out of it now but I still keep up with some of the goings on.  Recently I read a printing group discussion on LinkedIn on application of the Toyota Production System to printing production.

      The dozens of comments are interesting but through it all one point was not clearly brought up which is not all production operations add value the same way.  Because of this, not all approaches to improvement apply equally to both.

      Let’s start with vehicle production in any plant.  Very little if anything is actually made in the plant.  Components and subassemblies from different vendors all over the world are placed onto the vehicle as it proceeds ‘down the line.’  Value is added in this case by “assembling” the various pieces onto the vehicle.  In the vehicle assembly plant, product control is key.  Each of those components must have final specifications from their production operation which dovetail with those of other components when they are assembled.

      Printing is different.  Substrates/paper and colorant/ink of many different types are supplied to a printing press.  The paper and ink are put in the press, it is turned on, and through the use of an imaging technology those components are “transformed” into a printed product.  That is how value is added in this production operation.  Printing must use process control to ensure ink is placed accurately on paper during transformation.

      These are two examples of the common types of production and there are many variations.  By all means study the various techniques of how any manufacturer controls and improves quality.  But take a selective approach and you’ll be much more successful.  Approaches don’t apply equally across industries.