"He who marches out of step hears another drum." ~ Ken Kesey
Well you are of course on track when you ask yourself why it's so hard. The real issue is what are the answers. I've counseled some Production Managers/Supervisors at times to try reverse engineered thinking. The premise is that the most expensive thing in the shop is downtime. When the press is down chase the cause. Go back in time and examine what caused the press to become idle. Then put that cause under a microscope and see how or if it can be prevented. There is changeover downtime and interruptive downtime. Then theres the just plain stupid stuff. For sure a pre-registration can typically speed up job changeovers although I can assure you some employees will distrust it and make it not work. Making things not work is easy. What's difficult is change. Many of us have seen demos of these systems at shows and they pretty much work flawlessly. But often you see them tucked away under the dryer in a production facility. "It takes longer!" is a common response. So is it the employee(s) or are there some technical issues? The answer is commonly both. Often the press itself can be a culprit. Loose carraiges, platens micro locks, etc can often be found to contribute to failure. Careless pinning and warped frames as well. When it comes to the employees well....good press ops can be a proud bunch. I've seen so many claim that they are quicker. And screen techs may grumble about having to take extra steps.Entire books have been written about how to hire, train, manage and motivate employees but that would be another thread. Suffice to say that often we are faced on dealing with dealing with a troublesome but somewhat skilled individual or moving on with someone new. There is no set in stone answer. The same goes with hiring a skilled employee or someone with no background. All I can say is use as much positve enforcement as you can."Waiting for stuff!" OK one of the more stupid reasons for changeover downtime. Sure, stuff happens but whenever possible the next job to be printed should be staged at the press before the end of the preceeding one. Keeps the people at their stations.Pinholes? Well again chase it backwards its not rocket science.Have to go now but I'll continue the thread as lon as there is interest........it could go for weeks.best tp