Help with going digital

[Rod Gray]

Hi Claire,

If you use the search feature on the site, you`ll see there are literally hundreds of posts on this very subject and answering all your questions.

Glean as much info as you can from those, then post more specific questions and i`m sure you`ll get the answers you need.

[biggoj]

hi claire

hmm, taking the digital plunge eh,, dont worry, its all good fun!
i run a uniform grenadier, and both mac and pc platforms (networked)
i must say i would use the pc to run the printer rip as they are more flexible
but be warned, running rips for printing uses alot of PC power, so i would ensure your pc is up to speed, cos if it isnt, it will get crippled, dont belive a word anyone says about, oh yeah, it’ll run using windows 95 and 20mb of ram, pah!
as for software, i use illustrator, and use eps files, nice and stable, good colour control, industry standard, so if you network your mac and pc, best of both worlds!!!

hope this helps, if you want more info, dont hesitate to ask, been doing this kind of thing a while now!!!

laters

jas
:lol1:

[Robert Lambie]

hi claire
what do you see most of your print work covering?

labels
wraps
signage
point of sale
exhibition work
etc

just asking as it will help others advise whats best 😀

[Claire]

Thanks for your replies!
To give you a brief outline… I work alot with vehicle and retail signage.
This is where I would like to grow initially but also would like a machine that would allow me to expand in the future.

By the way, as I mentioned I use flexi-letter at the moment however it keeps crashing just at the right time!!!!!!!

Flexi have promised to send yet another upgrade however I also have the option of sending it back and getting a refund.
What would you suggest I do?
Is there a better software out there?

Oops!
I said it would be brief 😳

[Rodney Gold]

My best advice is this : Work out if digital is really cost effective for you to be doing in house.
At the moment there are TONS of digital machines floating around , prices of them , their inks and media are dropping at huge rates and todays machine is often 2 years futures white elephant.
Real costs are NOT illustrated for most of these machines and can WAY exceed the cost to print. If you arent the only one on the block to have a machine like this you will be subject to price wars and so on. We use our machine internally and compete in niche market applications so general run of the mill signage is not a priority or indeed profitable.
Had I needed mine for general signage or vehicle signage , I would have outsourced my prints.
To give some idea of true costs , the advertised cost to print should be doubled to take account of wasteage , test prints , profiling , ink purges etc etc.
You will need a laminator of some sort , so factor that cost in as well , even liquid lams etc have a quite high cost associated with them

Then you have to add in the cost of an operator and FULLY amortize he machine over a 2 yr period after adding in maintenace costs.
Essentially my machine cost $30 , We amortise that over 24 months which results in a monthly cost of $1.3k , add in the operators salary (Even if YOU operate it , you got to get paid) of at least $1.5k a month and your cost of ownbership without even printing a THING is round $3000 a month(perhaps less with a cheaper machine) which is $150 a day!!! (20 working days in a month)

Print 10 sq meters a day and then add $15 per sq meter after doubling advertised print costs (about $15-20 a sqm if you use good media and average ink coverage – good media is at least $7-8 per sq and you use about 15ml of ink per sq at about $300+ per litre + wasteage etc)
Costs can EASILY get to $40 per sq meter what with owning your own machine. We have guys here printing good quality to the trade at less than that , much less than that!!!
the more ppl in your ae with digital printers , the more scrabbling their is over avialable work.
Other issues are the fact that you have little experience in various media and its properties and learning to operate a printer like this is a steep learning curve. so essentially your own ineptitude (bad word but it fits) works against you. Hence the HUGE importance of adequate training by your machine supplier , you need to make money from day 1.
You also have the guarantees you have to offer etc and these have costs assoicated with them.
Im not wanting to put obstacles in the way of your getting into this field , but am merely pointing out that it’ not a recipe for printing money and their are pitfalls.
IMHO there are better avenues of investment for signage etc , a laser engraver/cutter could be more useful and open up many more avenues of service to exisiting clients.
Of course owning your own machine allows you ultimate control over the print and if you are doing significant amounts of printing with tight deadlines and fussy customers as to colour etc or are using the digital print as part of a much larger job or as a component of a finished product (finished products generally command good prices rather than raw print) then it makes great sense!!
We use our mainly for very intricate die cut full colour decals that are then domed or for Overlammed Die cut decals that can command prices of up to $500 per sq m or more. At that price level , the cost to print is not that relevant , generally on raw print on banner , mesh , reasonable vinyl , we cant get more then $40 per sq meter and even that is a struggle sometimes.