Publishing Magazines: Outsource or In-house

[sifar]

Hello,
I am not sure which forum to post this in, but the Offset forum seemed the most suitable ...

Here's the thing - we are planning to publish a monthly student magazine (10,000 copies - A4, 20 pages, multi-color, saddle-stitched). Being a web & graphic designer, I am in charge of all the designing and printing. In the process of getting quotations from printers for this, one of the printers offered to lease us a mini-offset printer.

We are considering this option too and working out whether it would be financially viable at this stage to lease and run it. On the other hand, I do not know anything about operating an offset printer (or the print process in general).

As many you are in the print business, I'd really appreciate your suggestions - does it make better sense for us to outsource or lease the printer and print the magazine in-house? How difficult is it to run a mini-offset? What are the costs involved?

(Buying digital presses is not an option as we can't afford it and the cost per click is nearly 5-6 times higher).

 

[ajr]

Thats alot of work, if you don't know what you are doing forget it. Pay for someone to do it. Get a few quotes. Where are you based we will price it for you.

 

[lfelton]

Operating a 4 colour litho press is a pretty complicated task and takes serious time and training to become competent. They are also expensive machines to purchase and maintain.

I'm not sure what a "mini offset" machine is??? If you post the manufacturer/model, someone will tell you what it is and what it's good for.

 

[sifar]

I'm not sure what a "mini offset" machine is???

As per my understanding, it is a one man operated machine for small businesses. Here's a video of one - YouTube - Video of Mini Offset

While I don't have the technical specification of the machine right now, it may be similar to this:
Autoprint 1510 Machinery from Coimbatore, India

Where are you based we will price it for you.

India.

 

[ajr]

Can't do India i'm afraid unless you want to outsource it to the UK (LOL)!

Think about how long it would take you to print a 10,000 4col A4 magazine on a machine like this, it looks like a single colour machine so each SRA3 sheet would have to go through 8 times (4back4).

Ow!

AjR

 

[GazKL440]

Can't do India i'm afraid unless you want to outsource it to the UK (LOL)!

Think about how long it would take you to print a 10,000 4col A4 magazine on a machine like this, it looks like a single colour machine so each SRA3 sheet would have to go through 8 times (4back4).

Ow!

AjR

agreed! ouch indeed! What do you reckon maybe 2-3 hours on a 40 inch but literally DAYS on a basic lil single colour.. if you have a good pressman!! save a massive nightmare and outsource it..

 

[Gatekeeper]

stick with what you know!

stick with what you know!

do yourself a favour and get on with what you know best! dont even entertain the idea of doing it yourself.
offset printing belong to highly trained artisans and even they get it wrong sometimes.

 

[sifar]

Truly appreciate all your advice - you've given us a lot to think about.
One thing for sure - if we do go ahead with leasing an offset machine, we'll definitely be hiring a good operator to run it rather then try to do it ourselves.

Can't do India i'm afraid unless you want to outsource it to the UK (LOL)!

Hey, if your rates are competitive, why not?

Thanks again, everybody.

(P.S: Anybody wants to add anything more, please do go ahead. The discussion is open ... )