NCS Solutions Obtains A Provisional Patent For Its Lean Manufacturing Process

CHESTER, W.Va., Sept. 3, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --  NCS Solutions Inc. (NCS), serving faith-based organizations for more than 100 years through its manufacturing of offering envelopes set out to transform their process and business by moving away from Batch Manufacturing to Lean Manufacturing. The new process is so innovative and unique that today, NCS has filed a provisional patent for its Lean Manufacturing Process.

The century-old manufacturer, NCS, requires a manufacturing process that can efficiently manage large amounts of variable data from its church clients including names, addresses, unique identifiers, and barcodes at very high speeds.

"Working with Xerox Corporation, NCS developed a printing process for envelopes that was truly something that had never been done before," said Doug Wright, President and CEO of NCS.  "Many technical challenges with data and functionality had to be overcome.  The result was something so innovative, that we obtained a provisional patent for the new process."

NCS developed sophisticated processes and equipment to produce envelopes at speeds of over 1000 envelopes per minute inclusive of high-quality, full-color images and variable data on a single machine.  NCS also created sophisticated data management systems to manage and to provide the variable data needed to make these products.

"Church offering envelope companies have traditionally had the same process from company to company for many years," said Daniel Timco, Vice President of Product and Process Development, NCS. "Until recently, advances in our manufacturing processes have only helped us gain incremental improvements.  We have been on a continuous improvement journey, and the key component to these improvements has been Lean Manufacturing." 

NCS's Lean Continuous Flow Planning started back in June 2018, followed by years of continuous lean training. Moving from Batch Manufacturing to Lean Manufacturing is typically not easy.  It takes years and there is a lot of learning along the way from managing the change with technology challenges to having the right people to guide the process. "It takes time, investment, and perseverance," added Wright.

"The improvements have been nothing short of amazing.  What used to take weeks and months, now takes a couple of days. The company has reduced costs significantly and we are now in a position to service our industry like never before.  We're doing something that no one in our business has been able to do.  The future is bright and we're ready for what lies ahead," added Timco.

To learn more:

NCS at www.ncssolutions.org

The West Virginia Manufacturing Extension Partnership has also shared NCS's Lean Continuous Flow Processing  https://wvmep.com/ncs-lean-success/

Contact:

Paulette Duderstadt,
[email protected]  

SOURCE NCS Solutions

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