Worked scenario
Two operators, the same job, forty sheets apart
On short runs makeready can consume more paper than the job itself, and unmeasured it looks like general stock variance.
3 min read
Every press run begins with sheets that are not saleable. On a long run this is a rounding error. On a run of five hundred it can be a material share of the paper cost.
Why a flat allowance misleads
Costings usually carry a standard makeready allowance. Actual consumption varies by job complexity, stock and operator, and using one figure means short complex jobs are systematically under-costed.
Measuring without accusing
Operator variation is real and mostly reflects experience with a particular job type. Presented as a training and scheduling input it is accepted; presented as a scorecard it produces under-reporting, which destroys the data.
The pricing consequence
Printers who measure this frequently discover their short-run pricing is wrong in both directions — some jobs are unprofitable, others are priced above the market for no reason. Neither is visible while setup is a flat assumption.
What changes
- Setup waste recorded separately from run consumption
- Waste per job type and per operator, visible without blame
- Costings that include realistic setup rather than a flat allowance
- Short runs priced with their true setup cost
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