Printing Industry Articles
Tortoise or Hare Production? Wednesday, 18 November 2009 19:26 |  Written by Admin |   
I know many Production Directors that venomously disagree with this phrase however Tortoise & Hare still holds true. It’s a fact the majority of lost production comes from downtime not slow running. Yes increasing press speed by 10% will reduce the runtime by 10% however it does NOT reduce the make ready by 10% so downtime is still a constant. The shorter the runs the more make readies actually increasing the lost running time on everything other than ZMR machines. Reducing all downtime is critical if you want to increase the overall pressrooms performance. As a pressman there are many tasks that need to be completed form to form these need to be reduced to a minimum or automated if possible. All efforts need to be directed towards getting the press running again. If make readies take 10mins & running time is 10mins the press will be stopped 50% of the time Increasing run speed 10% could save 1min / form = 40mins more run time / 24hrs if the additional speed does not impact press performance or waste which it normally does (Longer Makereadies, web breaks, paper jams etc.) This is obviously a picture perfect day, in the real world very few machines run trouble free 24/7 so identifying & eliminating non scheduled downtime is imperative. As a pressman you need to understand the importance of having the machine running. Organize your crew to minimize make ready, size change, & web break times. As a manager schedule the workflow to minimize changeovers & reduce or eliminate on press paperwork. Ensure job bags, paper & plates are available in a timely manner. Waiting for paper or plates on the press report is a direct reflection of your company’s professionalism.
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Cost Cutting at what cost?Monday, 07 September 2009 20:29 | Written by Simon Says |
Are you really saving money?Printers can only be as good as the equipment allows them to be! Employers are looking for high quality with minimum waste & maximum up-time. With that in mind you would expect they would load the dice in their operators favor by supplying them with the best equipment & materials to achieve it. Unfortunately quite the contrary is more common, many short sighted employers are cutting the cost of consumables (including paper quality) to save a buck or two. I am a devout believer in you get what you pay for & have too much experience of these cost cutting measures backfiring. It is far more common when cutting costs in one area to increase them in another, Digital Vs OffsetMonday, 17 August 2009 03:57 | Written by Admin |
With the Print Show coming in September many people will be traveling to Chicago to look for digital solutions for their printing requirements. But what is short run? For a printer accustomed to printing 50,000 or more a short run could be less than say 20,000, however a niche printer may well be accustomed to printing 1,000 or less so their interpretation of a short run may be less than 500. Obviously the term "short run" is open to interpretation so lets look at the pro's & con's of digital vs offset. |
