Operations research helps reshape operations strategy at Standard Register Company

Standard Register (SR) Company is a 93–year–old firm leading in high–volume print production of forms and print stationery for major US firms. SR is facing the strategic challenge of minimizing the total landed costs to offer competitive pricing in the highly competitive traditional print market segment. We applied a trio of operations research (OR) techniques to help SR optimally allocate the production orders across its production–distribution network for minimizing the total landed cost: (1) regressions to estimate the cost and time efficiency attributes of various printing presses on print jobs of different types; (2) optimization modeling to determine the optimal order–routing strategy; and (3) simulation modeling of the production–distribution network to assess the effectiveness of optimal and heuristic allocation strategies under uncertainty of customer orders and equipment performance. With an estimated potential annual savings of over $10 million across SR's major product segments in the high–volume rotary production business, the study has resulted in a strategic shift in SR's capacity–allocation policies. SR's executive–leadership team has launched system–wide production–distribution improvement initiatives and expedited efforts to build real–time supply chain decision–support capabilities to support this philosophy.