The Factory Around the Press: Where Print Margin Is Really Won

A new press is easy to get excited about. It is visible, it has a nameplate customers recognise, and its spec sheet is full of numbers that are simple to compare: sheets per hour, metres per minute, substrates, uptime, inline options. It feels like progress the day it is installed.

Pat McGrew and Ryan McAbee make the case in WhatTheyThink that feeds and speeds may start the conversation, but lasting differentiation comes from the connected factory around the press. That means linking customer portals, estimating, prepress, scheduling, production, finishing, fulfilment, MIS or ERP and data into one coordinated workflow. When friction comes out of the customer-to-cash process, it is easier for customers to buy, easier for staff to produce and easier for the business to protect margin as it grows.

That matches what we see on the ground. In most print businesses, the press is not the constraint.

Why a faster press often changes less than expected

A press can only print what reaches it. If files sit waiting for preflight, proofs wait for approval, jobs wait to be imposed and finished work waits to be invoiced, a faster engine simply spends more time idle. The extra capacity is real, but the business cannot feed it.

The quickest way to see this is to follow one ordinary job and record how long it spends being worked on compared with how long it spends waiting. For many jobs, the press time is a small fraction of the total.

Walking the customer-to-cash chain

Here is where friction usually hides, and what removing it looks like.

• Ordering. Orders by email and phone are re-keyed by hand. A storefront connected to production captures the job once. See web-to-print integration.
• Estimating. Quotes depend on one person's spreadsheet or memory. A properly configured MIS makes estimates consistent and fast. See choosing the right MIS.
• File intake and preflight. Operators open every file by hand. Automated preflight checks, fixes and reports on arrival.
• Imposition. Layouts are built manually for each job. Imposition and ganging automation does it from job data.
• Finishing. Cut files and finishing instructions are prepared separately and matched by hand. Automated workflows generate them alongside the print file, as covered in print-and-cut automation.
• Status and invoicing. The office chases the floor for updates and invoices late. MIS integration feeds status back automatically so jobs are billed as soon as they ship.

Each of these is a modest project on its own. Together they often unlock more capacity than a new press, at a fraction of the cost.

Questions to ask before the next capital purchase

1. How much of a typical job's lead time is spent waiting rather than being worked on?
2. How many times is the same job information entered into different systems?
3. What percentage of incoming files need manual prepress intervention?
4. How long after dispatch is a job invoiced?
5. If the press ran 30% faster tomorrow, could the rest of the business keep up?

If the answers are uncomfortable, the best return may be in the workflow rather than the press. Sometimes both are needed, and a connected workflow makes sure new equipment delivers what the spec sheet promised. Our workflow automation ROI guide shows how to compare the two.

Start with a map

You cannot remove friction you have not seen. Mapping the whole customer-to-cash flow, system by system and handoff by handoff, is the first step, and it usually reveals quick wins straight away.

That is exactly what a workflow audit does. If you would rather talk first, get in touch.

Source: The Factory Around the Press by Pat McGrew and Ryan McAbee (WhatTheyThink).