I was just given permission to go on a shopping spree...

[ReproElectroProspero]

New manager of an inplant here (though I've worked here for years). After my first year managing the budget and making changes, we've saved a ton of money in the budget, and I have been told I can use the savings to buy new equipment I want for the shop. I was asked to put together a wishlist, which contained:

• An HP Latex 700W Wide-Format Printer, List price: $22,995
• An iJet Color NXT Memjet Envelope Printer, List Price $20,000
• A GFP 865DH-4RS Wide Format Laminator, List Price $18,000
• A Graphtec FC9000-160 Plotter, List Price $9,900

Well, management came down today and said they reviewed the budget and I can get ALL of this, maybe even more.

I'm posting because I would love your opinions on these selections, ideas for alternatives (I need to get multiple bids from multiple vendors), or bad experiences owning.

We want the Latex so we can expand our wide format offerings (currently have a wide format aqueous), the envelope printer because we outsource 100k envelopes each year easily, the wide format laminator because we're still using a 1990s 25" GBC laminator, and the plotter because we are unable to offer custom cut stickers and such for clients.

Thanks for any input everyone!

 

[smalloffsetpressexperts]

Did you add new computers etc?

 

[kslight]

If the money faucet is on, hopefully they are budgeting raises for the staff so they don’t have to hire / train new folks.

My concern with buying an envelope press right now is how hard it is to get envelopes, make sure you have materials to feed it. Otherwise don’t really know enough about your work or existing equipment to make a solid recommendation.

 

[ReproElectroProspero]

Did you add new computers etc?

Thought about it, but we have pretty powerful machines from 2019 and they aren't quite in need of an upgrade yet for the work that we do, plus they are still under warranty for any hardware mishaps.

If the money faucet is on, hopefully they are budgeting raises for the staff so they don’t have to hire / train new folks.

My concern with buying an envelope press right now is how hard it is to get envelopes, make sure you have materials to feed it. Otherwise don’t really know enough about your work or existing equipment to make a solid recommendation.

My staff is unionized, so they have raises built into their contracts that I have nothing to do with.
Yeah the envelope shortage is an interesting thought when planning this out. Hopefully WCP can keep me fed.

 

[tngcas]

Thought about it, but we have pretty powerful machines from 2019 and they aren't quite in need of an upgrade yet for the work that we do, plus they are still under warranty for any hardware mishaps.


My staff is unionized, so they have raises built into their contracts that I have nothing to do with.
Yeah the envelope shortage is an interesting thought when planning this out. Hopefully WCP can keep me fed.

WCP has done a good job of keeping us supplied with envelopes so far. We have had to source some from Uline for insertable envelopes (for bulk mailing) but for the most part we haven't had too much trouble with envelopes.