Press Options - Restricting production paths calculated

Introduction

‘Press Options’ allow setting up multiple configurations for a single physical press.

In flexographic environments the number of options can be substantial, based on the cylinder options defined.

At quote time, each of these ‘Press Options’ is put through quote calculations when determining the production paths.

This can cause unnecessary delays in quote calculations.

Without some means of filtering, all qualifying options would be applied to calculating the most efficient production path and quote price.

Example

In the example below we have 78 different cylinder tooth options.

When quoting that could be up to 78 different production paths being calculated.

That could then be multiplied out again based on the various stock roll widths available:

The logic is that the number of colours defines the number of plates. You need one cylinder per plate per colour.

The number of cylinders you have for that size determines how many colours you can print. 

Example:

if you run ‘CMYK’, you need 4 cylinders.

If you run ‘CMYK + 2 spot colours’ you need 6 cylinders otherwise you have to run the job through the press twice.

Configuration

There are multiple steps to configure the links:

Press Options

Base Configuration

All presses have at minimum a ‘Base Configuration’. This is the overall default setup of the press:

Options

In addition to the base configuration, multiple press ‘options’ can be configured.

This allows you to override certain defaults from the base configuration.

On the press details screen for press options only (not on the base configuration), 
under the ‘Other Options’ section are Min Plates and Max Plates.

Using these fields in conjunction with the cylinder and roll option details will reduce the number of production paths
further based on the products ‘number of colors’.

In the example below we have the ‘M.A. Flexo’ press with a ’90 Tooth’ option:

The ‘90 Tooth’ press option will price for up to 4 plates/colors:

Press Process Mappings:

The press has the process options set against it to use up to 10 colors.

Each color is defined with the number of plates required

When quoting a job with up to 4 colors:

All cylinders that can take up to 4 plates will be included. Here we see out ’90 Tooth’ option:

Changing the quote to a process option over 4 colors:

Excludes all press option that exceed the max plates.

In this example changing to ‘9 colors’ reduces the paths calculated to only 3, greatly speeding up the calculation time on the quote process:

View Press Options

From the ‘Manage Presses’ screen you can view all option via a summary screen.

Select ‘Press Options’ from the dropdown against the press:

A summary dropdown will show:

From a quote, you can see the ‘max’ plates next to the press option:

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