Dirk Schmidtbleicher

As of 1 April 2004, Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Dirk Schmidtbleicher (33) assumed responsibility for the newly established Life Cycle Management Competence Centre of the Web Press Division.Schmidtbleicher had been with Eurografica Systemplanungs GmbH since 1996 where he was head of Process Optimisation.He is a graduate of the Stuttgart University of Media where he studied Printing Technology.

The objective of the Life Cycle Management Competence Centre headed by Schmidtbleicher is to help customers achieve measurable and sustained cost reductions that will make them more competitive.

Dirk Schmidtbleicher, Euro-grafica's process improvement specialist says: "It is not only rewarding to have achieved a set goal, but to return to the sites after several months of absence and to register that the attitude of the people towards the process improvement has not changed is fantastic.

"It is easier to work with each company on their own goals rather than to promote what other facilities have achieved from the beginning."

Process improvement strategies and strategic benchmarking are not just suitable for the press but for the mailroom and other production areas.Once manufacturers realize this, they will see a productivity achievement with their equipment that they would not have thought possible.

Manufacturers are to step in and provide the benchmarking data that may not be available because of confidentiality concerns.

Dirk Schmidtbleicher, Euro-grafica's process improvement specialist says: "It is not only rewarding to have achieved a set goal, but to return to the sites after several months of absence and to register that the attitude of the people towards the process improvement has not changed is fantastic.