Furui Printing’s core business is the development, design, printing, and production of middle to high-end tobacco packaging
Furui Printing has a complete process for printing of cigarette packaging, from pre-press to post-press. (Credit: BOBST)
Hunan Furui Printing Co. Ltd. is a fully owned subsidiary of Shantou Dongfeng Printing Co. Ltd. in China. The company was founded in 1992. Furui Printing’s core business is the development, design, printing, and production of middle to high-end tobacco packaging.
As an enterprise dedicated to high-end production, the company has since its establishment adhered to international standards, and introduced new concepts in construction of core technology, large-scale production, market development, internal organization, and human resources.
Recently, BOBST interviewed Mr. Wu Haijun, deputy manager of Furui Printing’s Equipment Management Department, to learn about the company’s continuous efforts to improve equipment and technology management.
Understand the entire production chain
“Owning and thoroughly understanding the entire production process does not only effectively reduce production costs, but also improve production efficiency. It will also and more importantly provide our customers, the brand owners, with higher added value and quality of packaging and printing products,” said Wu Haijun.
From the day he started at Furui Printing, Haijun and his team have focused on one thing, comprehensive and sophisticated production management.
Furui Printing has a complete process for printing of cigarette packaging, from pre-press to post-press. The company’s big fleet of machines has further strengthened their position in the local market, and new customers are regularly coming in.
Lean management pays close attention to quality
“Printing companies are under pressure. Competition is growing, an emergence of new processes, application of new technologies and materials are becoming more complex and the requirements for environmental protection is increasing. Therefore, we have to provide new craftmanship and new ideas to keep up with the development of the times”, said Wu Haijun.
At the same time, there is pressure from customers to go for smaller batches, faster delivery, and higher quality. The shrinking demand for tobacco products has also led to a drop in prices, and the change of China’s demographic structure has led to rising labor costs.
To overcome these challenges, Furui Printing has invested in lean production and equipment management. “We have implemented Lean Six Sigma, which has enabled us to run production with the highest quality and lowest quantity of production material. We can maximize and stabilize the utilization rate of existing equipment and prevent errors from occurring. It also means that we can achieve cost reductions and an overall improvement of the efficiency”, said Wu Haijun.
Cooperation with BOBST for technical transformation and upgrades
The general lifetime of Chinese machinery equipment is about 10 years, but with imported equipment such as these from BOBST is much longer. “We bought the first BOBST die-cutting machine in 1995, and it is still in good condition. So, our relationship with BOBST started 27 years ago”, Wu Haijun said sincerely.
BOBST believes that satisfying customers is not only about providing them with advanced and applicable technologies and equipment, but more importantly, meeting their growing needs, and providing industry-leading product solutions and technical support.
Printing and packaging companies are no longer satisfied with a single equipment investment, they need to adapt to the new trends of digital, intelligent, green, and integrated development, to pursue the creation of “smart factories”.
Source: Company Press Release