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Pancyprian TS Graphic Arts III Π.Κ. study materials
Pancyprian TS Graphic Arts III Π.Κ. study resources

Pancyprian TS Graphic Arts III Π.Κ.: Workshop organisation, production planning and cost estimation

Pancyprian TS Graphic Arts III Π.Κ. · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.

All guide sections

Workshop organisation, production planning and cost estimation

Planning questions hand you a job and ask for a date, a sheet count or a price. Show the arithmetic: paper with spoilage, machine hours with make-ready, then overhead and margin. Method marks are usually worth as much as the final figure.

Job planning

  • The job ticket carries quantity, substrate, colours, imposition, finishing, delivery and sign-off; it is the single source of truth on the shop floor.
  • Schedule against the bottleneck, not the emptiest machine. A press queue running three days limits delivery whatever the folder can do.
  • Gang similar jobs on one sheet to cut make-readies, but check sheet utilisation after gripper and trim; below about 75% the saving disappears.
  • Plan to roughly 85% of available machine hours, having subtracted planned maintenance, or the queue grows without limit.

Cost build-up

  • Direct costs: paper at gross quantity plus spoilage, plates, ink, machine hour rate multiplied by time, labour and outwork. Then overhead, then margin.
  • Spoilage depends on run length and process, typically 2-3% on long offset runs and more on short digital runs or heavy coverage.
  • Make-ready is charged at machine hour rate and is what makes short runs expensive; quantity breaks reflect the fixed make-ready spread over more copies.

Worked example

10,000 A4 leaflets, 4/4, 150 g/m2, 8-up on B2. Sheets = 10,000/8 = 1,250; add 4% for make-ready and running waste = 1,300. Paper at 0.35 per sheet = 455. Running time: 1,300 sheets at 2,000 sheets per hour = 0.65 h, plus 45 minutes make-ready = 1.4 h at 120 per hour = 168. Plates: 8 x 12 = 96; ink 30. Direct cost 749; add 15% overhead = 861; add 20% margin = 1,033, about 0.103 per leaflet. Halve the order and the unit price rises, because plates and make-ready stay fixed.

Traps that cost marks

  • Quoting on net quantity and letting spoilage eat the margin.
  • Forgetting plates, make-ready sheets and wash-up time in the machine hours.
  • Comparing a quote built on 20% margin on cost with one built on 20% margin on selling price.