Setting Up A Press
1. Creating a Press
[v39] To create a press in printIQ go to the
Admin Menu and following it down to
Configure Factory
From here go to the
EQUIPMENT section and click on
PRESSES
[v40]
To create a press in Print IQ go to the
Admin
option and under
Factory
select
Configuration.
From here go to the EQUIPMENT section and click on PRESSES
Click on the
PLUS button at the top of the
MANAGE PRESSES screen
2. Entering the Detail
Enter the details for the press. Each number corresponds to the description below:
1. NAME: Enter the name of the press as you want it to appear in IQ - in estimating, and on the job bag/docket
2. PLANNING GROUP: Choose the planning group
PRESS from the choices of
Machine, Press and Guillotine.
3. IMPOSITION DEVICE ID: (this is not needed for basic setup), it is used in automation
4. INHERIT COST COMPONENTS FROM: This is utilized if you are setting up a press that is identical to another press and you want to inherit the
COST Components.
5. OPTION NAME: Options are used when you are creating another version of the press, such as a NO BLEED VERSION whereby you have no bleeds in your setup. Typically this is left blank unless you are creating versions of the press for specific reasons. Another example would be a Heatset press using two units.
Options are commonly used in label printing where the press have various cylinder options - see the labels section below.
6. PRINTING OPERATION: This is where you set the type of printing you would be doing such as:
a.
SHEET WORK - regular printing (also use for digital presses)
b.
WORK and TURN - for sheetfed (litho) presses (flipping the sheet on the Y-axis)
c.
WORK and TUMBLE - for sheetfed (litho) presses (flipping the sheet on the X-axis)
d.
STEP and REPEAT - for step and repeat presses
e.
ROLL - for reel/roll feed presses (such as a web-press), and roll-fed wide-format
f.
ROTARY - for label presses and roto-gravure
7. INHERIT PRODUCTION PATH FROM: this is you can set your press to inherit the production path from another press.
8. INHERIT COST PLUS COMPONENTS FROM
- This is utilized if you are setting up a press that is identical to another press and you want to inherit the
COST PLUS Components.
9. TYPE:
This is where you chose the type of press from the list:
a.
Offset - choose this for any typical offset presses (including roll and rotary presses)
b.
Flexo - for any flexo presses [v40]
c.
Digital - choose this for digital and wide format (flatbed or roll)
d.
Outsource - choose this for any presses that are purely for outsource pricing.
10. PLATING OPERATION: This is for traditional press that uses plates. It is here that you connect the operation you have created for adding plates. The operation will add the material and time to your job. You have to create the operation in order to connect it.
11. CAPACITY PLAN AS: For estimating a sheetfed (litho) press we might create a Sheet Work (SW), Work & Turn (W&T), Work and Tumble (W&TM) and Perfecting (PER) version of a press. However; you only have one press to run on the shop floor. You would use the Sheet Work as the press you would capacity plan to, and set the W&T, W&TM, and PER to capacity plan as the SW press.
12. LOCATION: This is where you choose where your press is located. Most companies have only one site so they choose their company name here. If you have multiple sites you need to choose which site the press resides in, choose it here.
13. ORDER:
Typically, presses will have the same order (see your production workflow plan) and will probably be numbered 2000. If you engage several presses in a particular job, you will want to set the order according to the flow of work through your plant.
14. MARKET SEGMENT:
This is typically not used. It is if you are trying to identify your equipment by the market segment it fits into.
3. Entering the Technical Specifications
GRIPS:
GRIPS
These are the non-printable areas of the sheet where the press "grippers" grab the sheet, or the side lays come into effect on a litho or sheetfed press. For digital presses, these are typically the non-printable areas. For Wide-format presses this might be the space that is allowed for positronic marks (for Zund cutters etc).
1. BOTTOM - the top of the sheet (sometimes where a colour bar is put)
2. TOP - the gripper bar is usually at the top of the sheet. There are a row of metal tabs or clips located on an impression cylinder (or others) as part of the infeed system. They grab the sheet of paper and pull it into the press.
3. LEFT
- left side of the sheet (sometimes where the side-lays will effect
4. RIGHT- same as the left.
5. CENTRE GUTTER
. This is used by presses like the Goss Urbanite that has two plates strapped to one cylinder, and there is a gap between the printable area of the plates is the centre gutter.
CAUTION: being to aggressive on grips can cause your job not to print on a sheet. Often press operators will cheat on the grips, and put the colour bars in creative place to save on paper. Check with your press room and prepress department to find out the realistic numbers you should use.
SHEET SIZES:
These are used if you want to constrain the press to run only certain sheet sizes. This is a good idea, and common practice.
6. USE SIZE RANGE: If you want to constrain the press to certain sheet sizes turn this on.
7. MIN WIDTH: This is the minimum width of a sheet that you want to accept on the press. This measurement includes all non-printable area. The press may accept a smaller sheet, this should be set according to your company's guidelines.
8. MAX WIDTH: This is the maximum width of a sheet that you want to accept on your press. This measurement includes all non-printable area. The press may accept a larger sheet, this should be set according to your company's guidelines.
9. MIN DEPTH
: This is the minimum depth of a sheet that you want to accept on the press. This measurement includes all non-printable area. The press may accept a smaller sheet, this should be set according to your company's guidelines.
10. MAX DEPTH: This is the maximum depthyof a sheet that you want to accept on your press. This measurement includes all non-printable area. The press may accept a larger sheet, this should be set according to your company's guidelines.
CYLINDER AND ROLL OPTIONS:
These are used for roll and rotary presses. You can leave them blank if you are not using this type of press.
11. CIRCUMFERENCE:
This is the distance around the roll. In web presses it is the "cuttoff". If you are using a Wideformat press then you do not need to enter the circumference. If you are using a label press this is also not necessary.
On a label press with cylinders, you will use the ‘Circumference’ on the option to set the cylinder* See note below under Label Presses.
12. WIDTH: This is the width of the roll that can be run on this press
13. GAP AROUND:
This is the gap required between images around the cylinder.
14. GAP ACROSS: This is the gap required between images across the cylinder.
15. MAX GAP ACROSS: This is the maximum allowable gap across the cylinder.
Plate gap for a web press is entered as grip in the GRIPS area above, and the total is included in the circumference to give you a true cutoff. Circumference = Printable area + the Plate Gap
OTHER OPTIONS
These are the bleed override and the digital frame length.
16. DIGITAL FRAME LENGTH: The Digital Frame lenth is used on presses like the HP INDIGO.
An article on how this is handled is linked here.
17. BLEED OVERRIDE: Bleed is typically set for the entire system, but you can override it for a press if you want to remove it, adjust it, or add more.
When bleed is added to (either at the site level, the press level, or the override), it adds to the outsides of the form, not between individual pages. If you need to account for extra bleed, over and above the form, add it to the outer margins in the FOLD CATALOGUE. For example on a 16p form, bleed is required on every side of each 2 page spread. IQ adds it to the form, so you need to make an additional allowance for the bleed between the two 2-page forms. If you wanted .124 (3mm) page, you could add .25 (6mm) to the outer margin.
PRESS STOCK AND INK REFERENCES
This is where we link the various parts of the press (the time, stock or ink) to the GLS (Nominals). This is used when a sales or purchase is pushed over to the accounting software. The references tell the accounting software which GL or Nominal to assign the sale/cost to.
There are three areas you can assign these
A. The Press
B. The Stock/Substrate
C. The INK
All three areas work in a similar way.
1. DEPARTMENT
- which department does the press belong in.
2. ACCOUNT (REVENUE) - which GL/Nominal you want
a
sale being mapped to for the Invoices
3. ACCOUNT (EXPENSES) - which GL/Nominal you want
a purchase being mapped to for the Purchase Orders
4. REPORTING CODE - when reporting codes are used you can assign it here
5. INVOICING METHOD - how you want the invoicing to be handled. The default is AUTOMATIC which is also the most common. The available options for Invoicing Method are:
- Each Number of times the operation is applied. Always ‘1’
- Job Quantity Quantity ordered
- Section Quantity Quantity on the section (including spoils)
- Run Time Time is taken to perform the operation
- Total Sheets Total number of sheets being printed including all spoils
- Finish Sheets Total sheets coming out of the press (includes finishing spoils)
** Ink only has two choices - Automatic / Each
DON'T FORGET TO HIT SAVE!
LABEL PRESSES*
On a label press with cylinders you will use the ‘Circumference’ on the option to set the cylinder:The name should correspond to the size:
Then when quoting a die may be made for a particular cylinder. This means you would select that press and cylinder option when quoting with the selected die:
4. Hours of Operation
This grid governs the times that will be allowed in Capacity Planning.
1. Click the Operating Hours tab at the top to enter the scheudle for the press.
2. Turn on a DAY of operation by clicking the check box
3. Slide the START TIME button utill the correct start time is seen
4. Slide the END TIME button until the correct end time is indicated (the total time in the shift will show up)
Repeat this process for all days of the week you are running.
You will be able to print outside of these times in capacity planning, but you will be warned that you are printing out of hours.
5. Adding Functionality
Once you have created a press you will need to add functionality in order to have it price correctly. This is done by pressing the Q or Magnifying glass beside the press name you have created.
There are four areas of functionality you are required to add c:
These will be treated separately in their own articles.
*Presses will not price in your system without these component records.
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