Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. - Thomas Edison
I think you need to be a pretty big shop to have an exposure unit as a production bottleneck, if it is, then LED may just be the answer, although I'll put my old converted 3K Nuarc fliptop with an 8+ year old bulb in it up against just about anything for speed on just about any emulsion.If you're looking at both MH and LED new, and the costs are similar, as well as the finished product, I see no reason to not go with LED, but so far we've heard and seen mixed reviews of LED, and with used MH readily available at great prices, it's a tough sell to many shops.
One thing that seems to get over looked on the CTS "I can't justify it" thread is...when we ran a FPU, we had to have a skilled person, aka"someone that gave a sh*t" to do it...you had to be super accurate, and understand how the process works. With a DTS, we can stick ANYONE in in that spot and have them cranking out spectacular screens. The exposure time is already set in stone -thanks to our Starlight- the mesh count is called out in the file and all you have to do is put the screen on the machine. We aren't even talking about reg time / film / ink/ tape / labor time or any of that savings....but I don't want to go into the things you can save on that you have NO idea about.....
That doesn't even take into consideration the giant PITA of cataloging them and handling them.
Not to mention the fact that we couldn't replace just one film, but the entire job all at once. Watch out for water! Registering to carrier sheets, almost forgot about that.
I walk to the CTS, click the file, print right to the screen and im burning in 30 seconds later. I am not sure how it could be much easier.