Description: - The description of presses in the system need not only reflect the variety of
presses you own, but could with advantage reflect the presses belonging to companies to whom
you put out work.You can also set up 'different ' presses reflecting different ways of using the
same press.
Types: - These are the different types of press you can currently set up in the system.
Printpak supports 3 basic types of litho press: sheet fed, continuous, and web. In calculation
terms, the main difference between continuous and web presses is simply that paper for web
presses is measured in tons, whereas paper for continuous presses is measured in 100 sq
metres or 100 sq ft.
You can also specify a variable drop continuous press, twin reel continuous press or 'multi-web'
(i.e. multi reels through a single in-line finishing unit.) Continuous label machines usually count
as variable drop . Occasionally 'sheet ' operations can be carried out on a roll of material (e.g.
flexo or screen printing onto banner or ribbon). In this case the press should be set up in a new
incarnation as a continuous machine.
Hot foil machines are considered to be sheet fed machines in general, and the roll of 'foil' is such
as used in closings.
Changing the type to 'digital' will change the window completely as the parameters used to
describe digital presses are radically different.
Running Charge per hour: - Here you should enter the rate per hour at which you want to
charge out each Press before any profit markup. This should ideally reflect not only the actual
gross cost of running this machine, but also the operator's time and its share of the indirect costs
of the business. All of this rate less the cost per 1000 is counted as added value, as printing is
assumed to be in-house.
Copies per hour: -How many cycles does this press make in one hour? You can store the
average speed for three different types of run: light – an easy job to run, low coverage, etc.,
medium – the average “on the floor” speed you would expect from the press (not necessarily
what is in the machine’s user manual.), and heavy – a difficult job, awkward to maintain colours,
etc. You can override this at run-time in the Press window of the Calculation.
Cost per 1000: - Although this is a screen defines a litho press it may also be used for defining a
digital press, depending on charging model. In this case you will need to store how much it costs
you per thousand in terms of 'click costs' to run this press. This then helps in the calculation of
added value.
Run-up cycles: - Run up cycles are the machine cycles necessary to get ink on to the plate and
to produce a satisfactory first copy before the real run starts. Here you are specifying the default
figure for this press. You can override this at run-time in the Press window of the Calculation.
Do not confuse this with overrun (run waste), this is covered in the estimate as it depends on
what you are going to do with the sheets after printing – e.g. trimming, padding, laminating, etc.
Initial setup minutes: - This is the time allowed to adjust the press to suit the size, material,
and
other specific requirements of the job, and for the operator to read the job sheet!
Wash-up minutes per colour: - This is the average time taken to clean down the complete
press unit for each color prior to printing. If you wash up two or four colours simultaneously,
divide the total time by the number of colours to arrive at a per colour charge.
Make ready minutes per plate: - This is the time required to make ready a single plate on a
particular press.
Does this press perfect: - PrintSum has the ability to handle calculations for perfecting
machines, which are capable of printing both sides of the paper in a single pass. If this is true of
the press you are defining then check the box.
Maximum colours per pass: - The maximum number of colors which a particular press can print
in a single pass. For a perfecting machine which can print 4 colours on each side simultaneously
you should therefore enter 8.
Veto 4 colour work for this press: - For on-line quoting, where the selection of presses
happens automatically, this checkbox enables you to ensure that this particular press does not
get chosen for four colour work. E.g. it might be theoretically cheaper to run 2 passes on an older
2 colour press to produce 4 colours, but it would perhaps not be advisable!
Maximum height and width: -Enter the maximum jheight and width of the largest size of paper
that this press can print on. Grip, 'tail' and 'cross-margin' (i.e. an allowance at right angles to the
grip) can be specified when calculating the estimate : they depend on the job you are running and
you may want to run cut-size papers. For this reason we strongly recommend that the maximum
height and width are the maximum paper size this particular machine can handle.
Minimum height and width: - This is the height and width of the smallest size of paper that you
wish to handle on this press.
Grip: - Some presses grip the paper on the long side, and others on the short side. The system
needs to know this when calculating a job.
Fresh material each run-up: - When 'running-up ' a press, in a print run involving more
than
one pass, it is possible to re-use the 'run-up ' material for the second and subsequent passes.
This will affect material costs. You can specify for each press whether or not to use fresh paper
for the 'run-up ' of each pass.
Suppose you were describing a two colour press. For a four colour job, if your normal working
practice is to use the run-up sheets you have printed the cyan and yellow on to run up the
magenta and black, then don't check the box. But if your press operator usually uses fresh
material to run up each pass, then check it.
Plate price: - Enter the price you wish to charge for plates for this press. You should exclude
origination costs such as planning, artwork, camera work. You can specify 4 different charges for
standard plates in the system configuration program. PrintSum uses the standard plate charge in
calculating the best way to print the job as well as including these prices in the calculation build-up. This still leaves you the freedom to add specific costs in origination tasks. The names of your
standard plate types (or screen types) can be changed to suit your company in System
maintenance > System configuration > Plates.
Plate bought-in cost: - This is external cost of the plate - i.e. the cost of purchasing
what is
required for a plate. This is used in calculating then added value of a job.
