kdw75
Well-known member
I would be interested in hearing when others have decided it makes sense to move a full color job to the offset press, because of higher quantities.
We generally go to offset when the click quantity exceeds 5,000. Our thinking behind this is as follows. If we have a 5,000 4/4 flyers, and we run them 2-on, we have 5,000 12.5" x 19" clicks on our digital press, we would pay out just under $250 in click charges. If we put it on our 14x20 inch press, we have to make film, develop it, then burn plates, and have to process them. And figuring in all the equipment, and chemistry, as well as time, we are looking at around $100 our cost. Then we have the time to punch the plates, mount them on the press, register them in, and balance color, which takes about an hour to 1.5 hours depending on the color accuracy needed. On top of the money, we are also frequently short handed, so the guy spending the time making plates, and running the press, could have run the same job twice on the digital press.
Please feel free to share your thoughts and comments.
We generally go to offset when the click quantity exceeds 5,000. Our thinking behind this is as follows. If we have a 5,000 4/4 flyers, and we run them 2-on, we have 5,000 12.5" x 19" clicks on our digital press, we would pay out just under $250 in click charges. If we put it on our 14x20 inch press, we have to make film, develop it, then burn plates, and have to process them. And figuring in all the equipment, and chemistry, as well as time, we are looking at around $100 our cost. Then we have the time to punch the plates, mount them on the press, register them in, and balance color, which takes about an hour to 1.5 hours depending on the color accuracy needed. On top of the money, we are also frequently short handed, so the guy spending the time making plates, and running the press, could have run the same job twice on the digital press.
Please feel free to share your thoughts and comments.