{"id":31654,"date":"2023-02-03T14:11:24","date_gmt":"2023-02-03T13:11:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hybridsoftware.com\/testimonial\/lauterbach-group-drives-business-with-increased-collaboration\/"},"modified":"2025-03-10T10:59:17","modified_gmt":"2025-03-10T09:59:17","slug":"lauterbach-group-drives-business-with-increased-collaboration","status":"publish","type":"testimonial","link":"https:\/\/hybridsoftware.com\/testimonial\/lauterbach-group-drives-business-with-increased-collaboration\/","title":{"rendered":"Lauterbach Group drives business with increased collaboration"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Lauterbach Group’s Tony Tyler<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

While we all talk about and explore the ways technology allows us to be better businesses and converters, we can lose too much human interaction. When that happens, some of the improvements we\u2019ve explored may be counter-productive. The Lauterbach Group strongly believes that speaking person to person \u2013 backed with a robust technology system \u2013 is the most effective way to operate.
Headquartered in Sussex, WI, USA, the Lauterbach Group manufactures high-quality product labels and converting for a wide range of customer uses, from food\/beverage to product security and authentication.

Through its OmniMark Management System, the Lauterbach Group strives to alleviate touch points. It does that by providing digital asset warehousing, product art and design, project management, and quality control systems. This makes clients\u2019 jobs easier, more efficient, and helps bring products to market quicker.

\u201cWe are very focused on our employees, whom we call group members,<\/em>\u201d emphasizes Shane Lauterbach, president. \u201cWe try to create an environment to generate value for our group members so they can create value for themselves. In doing so, they generate value for our clients.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Making person-to-person more efficient than email-to-email<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Lauterbach wants to make it easy for people to do business with them, using an operating model that\u2019s built on standardization of materials, process, and specifications. It\u2019s built on speed, quality, differentiation, and decoration \u2013 the excellent value they can provide, with all their embellishments.
The Lauterbach Group believes that a complete, effective automation process excluding manual transactional work provides more time to connect to people, getting jobs done quicker. \u201cWe want to use technology to work with people on a solutions level. The world needs to be more connected personally,<\/em>\u201d says Lauterbach. \u201cRather than using solely email back and forth to communicate, we\u2019ve got to pick up the phone and say, \u2018How can I help you?\u2019 I just think our industry has to make the process easier for clients. By talking to them online or on the phone, we help them improve their businesses, providing new products that could generate value for them.<\/em>“

\u201cWe need to perform at a very high tactical level to generate a result in the future,<\/em>\u201d adds Lauterbach. \u201cWe’re not big KPI people from a goal perspective, but at the activity level. We look at a goal as \u2018What’s next?\u2019 Rather than a multi-year plan, we develop a one-year operating plan. That allows us to pivot, react, and adapt faster.<\/em>\u201d

High-quality proofing is still a significant part of the process, but Lauterbach wants to remove the time-wasting back and forth process. \u201cThink about how many times via email you discuss fonts, traps, or colors,<\/em>\u201d considers Lauterbach. \u201cIf we can discuss that together personally in 30 minutes, everybody’s better off.<\/em>\u201d

The customer still gets a reliable, physical proof, but it\u2019s the final result. Lauterbach doesn\u2019t want to add people to do just prepress or client service work. They want to take everyone\u2019s talents and utilize them at the client level. One of the things they\u2019re also trying to resolve is the work-from-home process for non-pressroom manufacturing people. The fundamental challenge is connectivity and learning. \u201cHow do you teach when you can’t walk out to the pressroom and show how something’s done?,<\/em>\u201d asks Lauterbach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Technology makes it possible<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Both flexo and digital are important to Lauterbach. \u201cDigital technology has moved to a tipping point where we have to automate all of these workflows,<\/em>\u201d suggests Lauterbach. \u201cWe’re going to draw flexo with us, but the workflows are first being built around digital.<\/em>\u201d

Lauterbach operates two 20″ flexo presses and two 13″ presses that are nine and 10 colors. Originally, Lauterbach had problems connecting to its MIS software and communicating with customers. \u201cHybrid Software was the first cornerstone of our automated world. We want to automate all transactional workflows to assure that our group members can spend their time with our clients,<\/em>\u201d notes Lauterbach. \u201cThe Hybrid Software system is just more open and easier to integrate. Our first step was to bring in HP, Label Traxx, Hybrid Software and our own development team to re-imagine our concept. They looked at what we were doing and suggested ways to automate to deliver more dedicated time to converse with clients.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commercialazation with Hybrid<\/strong> Software<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Lauterbach has just finished the first step of commercialization. The Lauterbach Group calls its front-end system OmniMark, where they connect with clients, providing both sales generation and sales order processes. This also includes asset management where the converter houses clients\u2019 art. The company has processes where it will integrate projects with clients online. When done, customers hit the OK button, and the job goes to press. Hybrid Software\u2019s open architecture is aligned to Lauterbach\u2019s HP Indigo presses: an 8000 press, 6K, and a new 25K. They also work with Label Traxx Siteline software as the CSR customer portal front-end system.

The result: ease and effective use by both staff and customers. Employees are excited about the speed and the ease in which Lauterbach can develop workflows.

\u201cCustomers also find our system easy. We’ve completed the implementation phase and are now into iterations, working with two core clients who are finding great value in the simplicity to get proofs or return approvals,<\/em>\u201d comments Lauterbach. \u201cThey can easily look at different SKUs \u2013 or even repeat orders with changes \u2013 and understand what was done. We\u2019re literally eliminating time from their days so that they can focus on other things.<\/em>\u201d

These two clients have many SKUs with, typically, medium-run jobs, but Lauterbach will occasionally receive orders for as many as 20 products with a run length of 100,000 feet. \u201cTrying to manage the SKUs and the art is fundamentally different with every order,<\/em>\u201d explains Lauterbach. \u201cBy setting them up so we see them properly \u2013 and the sequencing in our automated system \u2013 the number of issues have diminished tremendously. We’ve worked at this for a few weeks, but we’re already seeing massive increases in efficiency just because of the way the production workflow organizes the work and passes it on to the ERP system.<\/em>\u201d

Lauterbach had a job that was completely variable print utilizing the HP SmartStream Collage personalization process. \u201cThey’re challenging to set up, but with our new system, working with the digital press, the latest job printed with no issues at all,<\/em>\u201d remarks Lauterbach. \u201cWith more simplicity, you can go faster. The automation also delivers higher quality. Then we add our greatly differentiated embellishment, which becomes simpler, too.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking to the future<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In 2023 Lauterbach will be reimagining its entire online ordering process. To date, it has been created only for stock products, but the converter is going to integrate improvements into OmniMark for custom packaging, shrink, and label products.

\u201cWe’re working very hard at expanding our footprint, but in a way that all client interactions, ordering and selling is done in our main facility. It\u2019s a hub and spoke approach where we are setting up microcells to deliver speed to the market, removing logistical challenges out of the process. These spokes could be geographic, or different types of business units. For example, we invested in the HP Indigo 25K so we can run both flexo and digital shrink at wider formats,<\/em>\u201d says Lauterbach. \u201cOnce the automated tool set eliminates transactional work, people can help people.<\/em>\u201d

Lauterbach\u2019s system provides an open mind and open architecture; the willingness to find different ways to bring innovation. \u201cIn our world it’s speed, quality and embellishment,<\/em>\u201d summarizes Lauterbach. \u201cIt’s easy to use and develop value-added parts, whether that’s integration with other systems, training new people, or helping clients so they see how easy it is for them to save time and generate value.<\/em>“

\u201cI’m a big believer that technology exists for us to connect. But I also think technology can be a barrier if you don’t let people help people,<\/em>\u201d concludes Lauterbach. \u201cHow you use technology and how it supports transactional work is extremely important. We need people talking to people just for basic humanity, development and support. Those are not small problems to get your arms around in a macro environment, but we believe in that concept very strongly.<\/em>\u201d

Visit the Lauterbach website here<\/a>.

Originally seen in Label and Narrow Web, here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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