Quota & accuracy

[pun_lavor]

Hi,

I'm working in a mid-sized sheetfed printshop. We run in 3 shifts constantly, but still trying to reach the full potential in press and postpress with our employees. Every part of the production process has quota, but sometimes, for example, it's hard to norm the handwork in postpress with numbers (hours); especially in advance, and with so many job diversification. In press, we make it rather precisely (on of the input parameters is the avarage speed of 8000 sheets/hour for 4/0 jobs), but in postpress the truble starts.

So i'm interested in how does it work at your place? Do you have efficient way of valuation and estimation for each separate production process (in press and postpress) and for each employee in charge of certain process (folding, binding, packaging, etc.)?

[Morning Flight]

Originally Posted by pun_lavor

In press, we make it rather precisely (one of the input parameters is the avarage speed of 8000 sheets/hour for 4/0 jobs), but in postpress the trouble starts.

Hi pun_lavor,

Basing your quotas on average press speeds is too broad a foundation not only for the hours the job should take on the press, but for the price you end up charging your customer. Here are just two of the problems with averages: If the job is a milk-run, real production speed will likely be higher, allowing your press operators to sit on their hands while at the same time bloating your invoice. If it's a difficult run, your operators will be either be rushed which affects quality, or they'll take the time to do the job right and your price will be too low.

With offset, there's no such thing as 20/20 foresight. The time it actually takes is rarely the time you thought it would. The best you can hope for is to end up in the right ballpark. With the right tools, a very small ballpark. Even the forever-free edition of Morning Flight can help you with that. The program lets you refine the input parameters for each job, then displays make ready and run time when you click the camera button.

Post press and packaging is another matter. There, Morning Flight generally relies on per 1,000 rates, so the time factor doesn't enter into it. I'll be interested to see what other forum members can come up with.

Hal Heindel
www.morningflight.com

[pun_lavor]

Originally Posted by Morning Flight

Hi pun_lavor,

Basing your quotas on average press speeds is too broad a foundation not only for the hours the job should take on the press, but for the price you end up charging your customer. Here are just two of the problems with averages: If the job is a milk-run, real production speed will likely be higher, allowing your press operators to sit on their hands while at the same time bloating your invoice. If it's a difficult run, your operators will be either be rushed which affects quality, or they'll take the time to do the job right and your price will be too low.

With offset, there's no such thing as 20/20 foresight. The time it actually takes is rarely the time you thought it would. The best you can hope for is to end up in the right ballpark. With the right tools, a very small ballpark. Even the forever-free edition of Morning Flight can help you with that. The program lets you refine the input parameters for each job, then displays make ready and run time when you click the camera button.

Post press and packaging is another matter. There, Morning Flight generally relies on per 1,000 rates, so the time factor doesn't enter into it. I'll be interested to see what other forum members can come up with.

Hal Heindel
www.morningflight.com

Hi Morning Flight,

The avarage speed of 8000 sheets/hour is mentioned as an example. However It's true that we use it most oftenly for basic, 4/0, 4/4 jobs. When pantone is used, the avarage is slower, because ink mixing and longer job preparation is used. Jobs that are printed 1/1 are, on the other side, estimated with 8500, or 9000 sheets/hour. However it's important to mention that in all these estimations, the time for preparation, ink zone justification, complete "ready to print" process on machine is also included. So, you're right that in some jobs operator gets a "quite a lot of time" to print, but on the other side, when he gets 5/5 + varnish kind of jobs, the avarage don't gets so much better for him, as he would need it. At the end, in this way, you get compensation.
As mentioned in previous post, postpress is where trouble starts.

Looking forward to hear more comments.

[Morning Flight]

Hi pun_lavor,

Are you saying the average sheets per hour rates you're using include ink mixing and makeready? That would put your estimating even more off track than I had realized. The reason is simple: Ink mixing and makeready are quantity independent. They take the same amount of time whether you're running 100 sheets or 10,000.

You may want to download the free edition of Morning Flight just to get a closer look at what's happening under the hood. Drill down anywhere on the screen when the cursor turns into a camera.

Hal Heindel
www.morningflight.com

[powerquote]

Can you give a specific example of the handwork you would like to estimate? If you are hand collating sheets how does it work for you to base on number of sheets collated? If shrink wrap, number of sets? If hand marrying pre-collated signatures, separate the machine collating from the hand work and base the hand work on number precollated groups handled?

If you are doing some unusual hand assembly, you should consider doing some "mock production" to simulate the work so you can time it and estimate it.

Bruce Moore
PowerQuote Print Estimating Software

[craiglpress]

You can establish standards for every production activity in your shop. The more granular you get, the better you will be able to measure each process. On the other hand, more detail means more information to collect, more training, greater probability of errors, more complexity, etc. You have to find the balance between how much information you collect and the benefits it brings.

Here are some post press examples:

MBO Folder 26-Gatefold
MBO Folder 26-Letterfold
MBO Folder 26-4 Page
MBO Folder 26-6 Page
MBO Folder 26-8 Page Parallels
MBO Folder 26-8 Page Right Angle
MBO Folder 26-12 Page
MBO Folder 26-16 Page

Handwork-Padding
Handwork-Padding NCR
Handwork-Paper Banding
Handwork-Hand Fold
Handwork-Hand Sort
Handwork-Hand Pack Standard Cartons

Once you find the happy medium, use your MIS shop floor data collection software to track actual time and then compare it to your standards by activity and person. Here’s an excellent article that explains this in detail: Printing Industry Performance Indicators: Measuring plant efficiency