Chartwell Consulting

Curly board was a problem for Medica for many years. It affected printing, cutting and gluing lines causing downtime, slow running and waste.

SLOW RUNNING AND WASTE IN CUTTING:

• Board doesn't feed
• Double sheets get fed
• Machine cuts out

TECHNICAL PROBLEMS IN PRINT:

• Incorrect colouration in print causing internal waste
• Potential damage to tooling

Curly board in the past has been problematic; the feed could be stop-start. Tim Standing, Production Manager

The Growth Through Excellence team used Chartwell's best in class problem solving methodology to discover the root cause of the curly board problem:

• A device was created so the team could accurately test and compare the curl of individual sheets of board
• Board curl was measured under different conditions
• Board manufacturers were contacted so the team could better understand their process

The structured approach allowed the team to work methodically to understand and solve the previously described "impossible problem".

Curly board is now a distant memory for Medica. The Growth Through Excellence team has continued to monitor curly board but have not seen any issues.

With the implementation of the team's improvement idea feeding the board is now not an issue." Tim Standing, Production Manager