Ideas Drive Interprint Forward

Interprint, located in Pittsfield, Ma, has had the philosophy, "Think global, act local," for more than 40 years. With more than 1,200 employees worldwide, the Interprint Group is one of the worldwide leading décor printers. Interprint’s décors decorate the surfaces of numerous wood-based panels that are processed into furniture and flooring and used for interior finishing. Interprint's wood, stone and creative décors are eye-catching because of their 'authenticity'. This authenticity is also a part of the corporate culture. The people who work with real passion for décors at Interprint come from worldwide more than 30 cultures.

Interprint was struggling with the culture at the company. They had implemented the Idea System developed by Dr. Alan Robinson about six years ago, but still struggled with safety concerns and sustainability. The basis of Dr. Robinson’s Idea-Driven System is this: idea-driven organizations have many times the improvement and innovation capability of their traditional counterparts. If you learn how to tap the ideas of your front-line workers, you can truly break free of the reductionist “more with less” mindset. You and your employees will thrive in environments where you once would have struggled to survive.

Interprint was contacted by MassMEP, part of the MEP National Network™, regarding a consortium of area companies it was putting together. The consortium training programs, facilitated by MassMEP, allow small companies to train together without interrupting each company’s production, and offer a wide variety of training programs within a set time frame. Each participating company has input into the training included in their consortium program.

The TWI (Training Within Industry) Job Safety course was of particular interest to Interprint as Job Safety has become the #1 priority within the company. They are now running a proactive safety program, which includes direct impact from the employees. Part of the program is addressing cost avoidance when purchasing new equipment. They expect the program to provide a cost savings in the future. Interprint has changed their standard purchasing requirements for new equipment to include a review of safety issues on any equipment purchased.

Interprint has seen a tremendous value in MassMEP’s training method of providing classroom training along with application time. Interprint believes the employees are retaining more of the information and as a result of the application time are able to implement immediate changes based on lessons learned. The availability of MassMEP staff for follow-up questions and mentoring after the training has been of value to Interprint as well, and they are looking forward to additional TWI with MassMEP.