impression per hour

ar17

Well-known member
hi guys this happy new year.
trying toset quota for our daily printing and would like to know if anybody has a chart or recommended run per hour if we are using different grammage? example, 250 gsm is supposed to have how many impressions per hour compared to a 380 gsm substrate using same cmyk press. thanks for inputs...


best
 
PIA (Printing Industries of America) published this type of data.
Speed varies by type of printing process (Litho, Flexo, Gravure) and press design (Sheetfed, Perfector, Web-Heatset/Coldset).
Modern 40" (8 up) sheetfed offset litho press, straight, with in-line coater is about 20K sph or iph for 60lb Text (0.004"). About -10% slower for 2/sided perfecting?
Almost independent of number of colors, that is a make-ready (MR) issue.
 
hi guys this happy new year.
trying toset quota for our daily printing and would like to know if anybody has a chart or recommended run per hour if we are using different grammage? example, 250 gsm is supposed to have how many impressions per hour compared to a 380 gsm substrate using same cmyk press. thanks for inputs...


best
Even the machine manufacturer just provide us the mechanical speed of the press machine and when it comes to the real production run, it really varies with the grammage of the substrate or paper not to mention the quality and the size of the paper you will run on the machine, however, we simply put 75-80 percent of the mechanical as our average. this is due to stoppage during production such as loading in feeder file and unloading in delivery, those machines with continuous feeder and continuous delivery have usually more production out put.
 
How fast the press cylinders will turn, and how many sheets per hour on average you can put on your floor, are often WAY different figures. It seems that the press manufactures will always quote the presses top running speeds. They will also falsely quote the quickest possible makeready times. Both of these figures rarely are real world achievable numbers. Company owners will often buy a press based on these quoted figures, and then expect their press crews to deliver these "sales pitch" numbers. Its been my experience that the wishful thinking of many plant owners, do not take into consideration the cost saving measures many companies insist on making as company policy. The best example that I can think of is the upper managements policy of buying sub par substrates. The allure of the substantial savings that come from purchasing job lot paper is often too great to pass up for purchasing agents. So what happens is often as follows.... The company low bids, and gets the contract for a big job based on a substantial materials savings, by buying XYZ job lot paper. The job gets to press, and as soon as the pressman starts laying down some ink, the sheet begins to fall apart. This unstable sheet will often demand lower press speeds just to complete the job. Even with the lower press speeds, the crappy paper will require frequent press stops to clean blankets of hickeys and excessive paper sizing. What your left with at the end of the job, is often sub par printing, and can often require a reprint or at the very least a discount. The saddest part of all of this is that when these things go wrong, fingers are often pointed everywhere but where they belong to be pointed. The estimator has fingers pointed in his or her direction for buying the crappy paper. The press crews wind up being blamed for either taking too long to complete the job, or for poor quality. The reality of all of this is that "the fish stinks from the head" Its upper management that has set the policy that all employees are to follow or else. Im certain that the purchasing agent or production person would much prefer to buy first quality sheet of paper and have a clear head that it will perform. I know that after many years as a pressroom employee, and manager, I would much prefer to be set up to succeed rather than fail. After over 3 decades of running presses and managing press crews ive noticed this dynamic becoming more prevalent.
So my suggest to the original poster is to focus more on the number of sheets per hour that your press crew can put on the floor, while still producing a quality job, than in determining a one size fits all number that does not account for the many variables we encounter in the daily production of quality printing.
 
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"Impressions per Hour" is a phrase that means very little unless you add the adjective "Salable" in front of it.
I see no machinery manufacturer who is candid enough to add that adjective.
 
"Impressions per Hour" is a phrase that means very little unless you add the adjective "Salable" in front of it.
I see no machinery manufacturer who is candid enough to add that adjective.
Along the same lines, the press manufacturers like to brag on how quick their makeready times are. What they don't tell you, when they demo that new press, with the big stopwatch on the delivery, is that the plates are of a known quality, where all the images have been proven to come right up to color, and fit. The paper is usually a top quality sheet, thats nice and flat, with ample weight to maximize both image quality, high speed runability, and all round press performance. The press crew has rehearsed that exact press demo countless times over the course of the week long trade show. The demonstrators KNOW that they are set up to succeed at these trade shows, and all they really need to do is let the press do its thing with all bases covered.
Then some company owner, along with the company bean counter, who has never received a single paper cut, nor seen a spot of ink under their fingernails, other than when loading the copy machine, or back when their pen exploded in their hands in grade school,decides that this new press in the hands of a press crew who has recently been promoted off the broom, will be able to deliver the same results in their non air conditioned plant, with job lot paper, and plates from their pre press department, with pre press employees, again right off the broom. Does this scenario sound familiar to anyone??? If this post makes me sound bitter its because I am. Im bitter that what was once a highly skilled craft and by all rights should still be, has turned into nothing more than a factory job where employees aren't judged by their abilities, but by how fast they are willing to jump up and down the presses catwalks, and by their willingness to accept blame when things go wrong!!! So glad Im retired, and feel sorry for the people that remember better days and have to finish out their careers under these conditions.
 
Along the same lines, the press manufacturers like to brag on how quick their makeready times are. What they don't tell you, when they demo that new press, with the big stopwatch on the delivery, is that the plates are of a known quality, where all the images have been proven to come right up to color, and fit. The paper is usually a top quality sheet, thats nice and flat, with ample weight to maximize both image quality, high speed runability, and all round press performance. The press crew has rehearsed that exact press demo countless times over the course of the week long trade show. The demonstrators KNOW that they are set up to succeed at these trade shows, and all they really need to do is let the press do its thing with all bases covered.
Then some company owner, along with the company bean counter, who has never received a single paper cut, nor seen a spot of ink under their fingernails, other than when loading the copy machine, or back when their pen exploded in their hands in grade school,decides that this new press in the hands of a press crew who has recently been promoted off the broom, will be able to deliver the same results in their non air conditioned plant, with job lot paper, and plates from their pre press department, with pre press employees, again right off the broom. Does this scenario sound familiar to anyone??? If this post makes me sound bitter its because I am. Im bitter that what was once a highly skilled craft and by all rights should still be, has turned into nothing more than a factory job where employees aren't judged by their abilities, but by how fast they are willing to jump up and down the presses catwalks, and by their willingness to accept blame when things go wrong!!! So glad Im retired, and feel sorry for the people that remember better days and have to finish out their careers under these conditions.
Sounds familiar! @turbotom1052 , you may be sounding bitter but you are hitting the right tune.
 
When our company bought a new Goss Sunday 4000 the contact we signed had ridiculous speeds associated with it. The Goss trainers never could get the press to run those speeds and when we did we damaged either the press or created piles of un sellable work.
 

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