Gang-Based Estimating for Wide Format Jobs (BETA)

Offset and Digital printing is not currently supported in this development.

The printIQ Gang module is required to access this functionality.

Custom Quoting

It is common to quote work on a single stock that contains multiple items of varying sizes and quantities.
To quoted in the most economical way, the items can ge quoted based on a ‘gang style imposition’ onto sheets or rolls in order to get the best utilisation and costing. For this, you can a ‘Gang’ based custom template option. 

The gang-based template has an additional section for the individual ‘items’ and for their sizes and quantity to be entered:

Sheet based quoting

In this example we are quoting multiple items onto ‘sheet’ based stock.

When you select a stock, the ‘advanced’ modal will open. You are required to select a sheet size for the gang to be calculated against:

Select your front and back processes and add any required finishing operations:

Enter the individual item quantities and finished sizes:

Once all the items are entered, click the ‘Calculate Gang’ button:

Optimisation
'Waste' will prioritise the imposition to use the minimum amount of waste possible.
'Runs' will look to impose the items on the least number of runs.
When runs are the selected optimisation method, you will also be given an option to select a 'Max Waste %':

Straight Cuts Only

'Straight cuts only’ will place items as efficient as possible but always allowing a guillotine to make a full cut across the stock.

Without the straight cuts only option selected we will place item efficiently as it can without any restrictions on orientation or cutting. This is useful when lining up the cuts is not essential such as when laser cutting.

This will start running calculations on how the items can be imposed on the selected sheet size. This will also create imposition PDF files as a layout reference. The button will show a spinning wheel icon while this process is running:

Once complete, a modal will drop showing the gang splits. You will see the runs numbered on the left, followed by the stock name, stock size and qty of sheets required for the specific run. Click on the ‘arrow’ icon to see what items are contained on the run:

Click on the ‘arrow’ icon to see what items are contained on the run:

You can download and view PDF layouts:

The top ‘Download Layout Images’ will open all images. For this to work your browser must be set to allow popups:

Chrome:

Each run will have its own file:

Run 1

Run 2

Run 3

‘Save & Close’ the modal then click ‘Get Price’ to calculate the quote:

Roll based quoting

In this example we are quoting multiple items onto ‘roll’ based stock.  The stock length is 30m:

Once the gang is calculated, we have a split of x3 30m rolls with the last roll using 20.286m:

*BATCH NO. - This field allows you to send items to the calculator separately. By default they are all sent together but if you add different batches, they will be sent to have the gangs calculated in those batches. So items with a different batch will not be imposed together.

Max Roll Length
When a roll based stock is used, you can override the select roll with a specified max length if required:

Production

Once the quote is accepted into production, the job is created. It will show on the ‘All Jobs’ board as a cross hatched blue line indicating it is a gang job. It will show a number beside the job number that show how many gang ‘Runs’ are contained on the job:

Click on the ‘+’ button to view all runs and sections/items:

The ‘items’ on the gang runs will display in blue so they are visibly separated from the ‘runs’:

The job details screen will show the number of runs with each run below with its own start/stop and plannable operations:

Below the runs will show the items:

The gang run based operations (Printing, Laminate, cutting, etc) will be shown on the section based ‘items’ are for display only (as this workflow requirement or printIQ), no time or cost is associated with them, and you will see they have no start/stop buttons.

While the job is on the pre-production board, only the ‘Runs’ will show. The ‘Items’ are not displayed on the pre-production board:

The gang-based sections only will display while they are in production. No item-based jobs will show until the gang ‘runs’ are finished production:

Once the last operation on one of the ‘runs’ is completed:

That individual run section will be marked as ‘Finished Production’:

This will release the ‘Item’ connected to that gang section off from the run. It will now display on the production board for any individual item-based finishing to now be worked on:

From the ‘Run’ section on the job details page, you can access the layout image by clicking on the ‘Layout Image’ text:

Options

Stock Size Override

With this set to the default of ‘None’, all items will be calculated to gang together as best as possible on the master sheet size set. If you override any items with a different size: 

These will be separated out from the other items and calculated ganged on their own on the selected sheet size:

‘Add’ items and manually change gangs

You can open a gang and manually override details such as Nup. Click the + button to add another item to the gang:

Any manual changes will not be reflected in the imposition pdf files.

Reset Gang Results

If you need to clear out the calculated gangs to start again, click the ‘Bin’ icon:

Gang Based Operations

Some ‘side’ and ‘section’ based operations (such as laminating and cutting) will be produced against the gang section whereas others like ‘Tape Application’, ‘Edge Sewing’ or adding ‘Eyelets/Grommets’ will be produced against the individual job.

When an operation is to be produced against the gang, inside the operation, under ‘Operation Categories’, add the option of ‘Ganging’ or ‘Coating’. This flags to printIQ where in the workflow to include the operation:

In this example, the operations for Laminate and Cutting are flagged as ‘Ganging’ while the Mount operation is not:

Once the quote is priced, the ‘Runs’ include the gang flagged operations:

While the section based ‘items’ will show all operations but only the non-gang operations have a cost attached to them. These are the post gang finishing:

The gang-based operations shown on the section based ‘items’ are for display only (as this is a base requirement or printIQ), no time or cost is associated with them.

Job Edits

Editing of a gang quoted job is not available. This is because any changes can greatly affect the production and costing of the job. Any changes would need to be done via the creation of a new job and the cancellation of the existing job.

Settings

There are various settings inside the ‘Production Admin’ screen related to ganging. Here you can set the default bleed and grips to be set to the gang calculation tool:

Custom Quote Template – Important setting options

‘Use gang options’ must be set to ‘Yes’ and check ‘On’ the option ‘Price sections on same press’.
You can also set the default options for:
Straight Cuts only - On or Off
Max Roll Length - This is in meters or feet
Max Waste % - The default max waste % to be included in the calculations
Gan Optimisation - Set the default to optimise by either 'Waste (for wide format work) or Runs (for digital/offset work)

At a ‘section’ level, name the ‘TITLE’ as ‘ITEMS’, hide the section ‘TYPE’ and hide the ‘Production Method’ (as on a gang this is controlled at a ‘Job’ level):

At the ‘Job’ level, make sure to ‘Show’ the ‘Production Method’ and set the ‘Exclusion Options’ as shown:

Depending on your defaults, the template will look similar to this:

Click the 'spanner' to see additions settings.
With 'Waste' as the default:

With 'Runs' as the default:

Description

To have the information report correctly to the letter, the description template needs to be entered. 

Here is an article on setting up description templates

The correct setup is as follows:

Product Template:

{Product}

{Sections}

{JobFinishing:*}

Section Template:

{SectionName}

{Printed} {Process}{Stock: on *}

{Finishing:*}

{GangItems}

Items Template:

{SectionName} - Quantity: {Quantity} - {SizeName}

Press Setup

Ideally, to get the most out of the ganging efficiencies, your press pricing should be configured to price cheaper the more that you print.

We recommend your price breaks be setup to split by the ‘Job Area m2/f2’ with the price decreasing as the area increases. The breaks would need to be set at the JOB level:

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