A new idea.

When he was the president of Impressive Labels, Ron Irwin was a regular and active member of the Tag & Label Manufacturer's Institute, and the head of a successful converting business. Then a couple of years ago he "retired" (or so he said), saying he was going to go back to school, study computers, maybe go into teaching.

Well, Ron Irwin is back in the label business, but in a capacity that not even he foresaw when he left the industry. Yes, he did go back to school, but one thing led to another, and now he's running his own company, marketing his own product, and talking philosophy. He's had the opportunity recently to speak about his ideas to big crowds at two TLMI sessions, the technical conference and the annual meeting.

As Ron tells it (and you can read about it starting on page 30 of this issue), he encountered a process called "Direct Machine Monitoring" on a visit to a copper mine. DMM allows the mining equipment operator to monitor--in real time, electronically--every move they and their machines make, day in and day out. They learn what's productive and what's wasteful, and make changes in their procedures accordingly, and quickly.

What a great idea for the press room, Ron thought. He soon learned that DMM has not penetrated the narrow web converting industry, so he decided to look into developing it himself. That adventure led him to his Visions-Stream system, and to the principles set forth in Lean Manufacturing, a concept that has improved the operations and profitability of many a large manufacturer, starting with Toyota. But the concept is not just for the big players, as Ron explains.

We are pleased to introduce the first in Ron Irwin's exclusive series of articles about DMM and Lean Manufacturing. The articles contain ideas that many corporate decision makers in our industry--as well as every other player on the manufacturing team--will find eminently worthy of consideration.