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One of the assembly areas in the Image Access factory
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Thomas Ingendoh and Ed Avis
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One of the bags filled by the workers with disabilities.
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The small assembly put together by workers with disabilities.
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3D printers at work
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Scanners on their way to customers.
By Ed Avis
I visited the headquarters of scanner maker Image Access in Wuppertal, Germany, after the German reprographics association’s annual meeting in early November. The company is an innovator in many ways – smart engineering, wise market development, effective manufacturing processes – but one practice that got my attention was their partnership with a nearby organization that serves people with disabilities.
Here’s the back story: Some processes in a manufacturing operation are repetitive and tedious, and workers often shy away from those tasks. At Image Access, those repetitive tasks include inserting an instruction sheet, connector cables, and a variety of other items into plastic Ziploc bags; and assembling a piece that includes a ball and a metal stalk. Thomas Ingendoh, the president of Image Access, told me his employees can handle those particular assignments for about an hour…then they need a break or a change of assignment.
About two years ago Ingendoh connected with the organization for people with disabilities, Troxler Werkstaetten, which happens to have an office in the same industrial park as Image Access. Troxler Werkstaetten specializes in finding jobs for individuals who have disabilities that prevent them from holding regular jobs. They discussed the possibilities and eventually agreed that the workers with disabilities would handle the Ziploc bag filling and assembly of the ball and stalk piece.
It has been a “win-win” partnership. The workers enjoy the tasks because they are somewhat more complex than many of the projects they handle, and Image Access gets virtually error-free results. And there’s a financial benefit – the workers are paid, and Image Access gets tax benefits for employing individuals with disabilities.
“The workers like it when we deliver new work to them because they find these jobs interesting,” Ingendoh told me. “These are good projects for them. And the work they do is totally dependable.”
Ingendoh said the quality control on the projects – for example, the bags are weighed after being filled to make sure they contain precisely the right components – confirm that the workers with disabilities handle the tasks nearly perfectly. The arrangement has worked so well that Ingendoh relies exclusively on those workers for those two tasks.
The partnership with these workers is just one of several innovations I observed during my visit. Another was the company’s use of four Zortrax 3D printers to create some pieces of their scanners.
“Let me introduce you to our most dependable workers,” Ingendoh said as he opened the door to the 3D printer room. He was talking about the printers themselves – they run 24/7, reliably cranking out complex plastic parts. He explained that the pieces previously were comprised of three or four separate parts – with the 3D printers, they are one solid piece.
The innovative ideas Ingendoh has implemented at Image Access, which has been a long-time IRgA Vendor Member, should keep his company a leading scanner maker for many years ahead.
Are you interested in traveling to Germany in May 2024 for the DRUPA printing expo? The IRgA is assembling a group. Please email me if you'd like more info: ed.avis@irga.com