Pre-Production Ink Allocation

[cclaud3]

Hello, I'm looking to see if there is a more efficient way to plan out ink for production. We are all waterbased but any ink type would apply.
We are currently printing the formula for each base onto 4x6 dymo box labels from magnamix (magnacolours ink mixing software). We hand write the job #/name on the blank space/lower half.
If it's a non-discharge base we print a label for the ink for a full container. During ink prep, we check if we have inventory on the shelf. If it doesn't exist then we add it to the queue to mix. If it exists we throw away the label.

We make all of the same base inks at a time for efficiency.

The biggest time-suck is going through each job and estimating ink (we know there's an estimator in magnamix), finding the pantone # then hand labeling it to the correct job. We are using Printavo so it would be nice if there was a special ink field that would allow a report to be exported. Has anyone figured out a more automated way to export ink needs for each day?

[Maxie]

How long can you keep your inks after printing?
We don't relate to the job name and number when mixing plastisols, we use M3 Rutland.
We only put the Pantone number on the container.

[ericheartsu]

Hello, I'm looking to see if there is a more efficient way to plan out ink for production. We are all waterbased but any ink type would apply.
We are currently printing the formula for each base onto 4x6 dymo box labels from magnamix (magnacolours ink mixing software). We hand write the job #/name on the blank space/lower half.
If it's a non-discharge base we print a label for the ink for a full container. During ink prep, we check if we have inventory on the shelf. If it doesn't exist then we add it to the queue to mix. If it exists we throw away the label.

We make all of the same base inks at a time for efficiency.

The biggest time-suck is going through each job and estimating ink (we know there's an estimator in magnamix), finding the pantone # then hand labeling it to the correct job. We are using Printavo so it would be nice if there was a special ink field that would allow a report to be exported. Has anyone figured out a more automated way to export ink needs for each day?

we keep a log of all inks, and have a library of over 8 years worth of ink information. So we find similiar sized jobs and estimate based off that.

i've asked printavo for years to put in a ink and screen notes box. it's never gonna happen.

[1964GN]

Hello, I'm looking to see if there is a more efficient way to plan out ink for production. We are all waterbased but any ink type would apply.
We are currently printing the formula for each base onto 4x6 dymo box labels from magnamix (magnacolours ink mixing software). We hand write the job #/name on the blank space/lower half.
If it's a non-discharge base we print a label for the ink for a full container. During ink prep, we check if we have inventory on the shelf. If it doesn't exist then we add it to the queue to mix. If it exists we throw away the label.

We make all of the same base inks at a time for efficiency.

The biggest time-suck is going through each job and estimating ink (we know there's an estimator in magnamix), finding the pantone # then hand labeling it to the correct job. We are using Printavo so it would be nice if there was a special ink field that would allow a report to be exported. Has anyone figured out a more automated way to export ink needs for each day?

we keep a log of all inks, and have a library of over 8 years worth of ink information. So we find similiar sized jobs and estimate based off that.

i've asked printavo for years to put in a ink and screen notes box. it's never gonna happen.

Are you saying that in printavo there is no way to track what mesh and inks were used for a job? If so, that is a massive omission.

[ericheartsu]

Hello, I'm looking to see if there is a more efficient way to plan out ink for production. We are all waterbased but any ink type would apply.
We are currently printing the formula for each base onto 4x6 dymo box labels from magnamix (magnacolours ink mixing software). We hand write the job #/name on the blank space/lower half.
If it's a non-discharge base we print a label for the ink for a full container. During ink prep, we check if we have inventory on the shelf. If it doesn't exist then we add it to the queue to mix. If it exists we throw away the label.

We make all of the same base inks at a time for efficiency.

The biggest time-suck is going through each job and estimating ink (we know there's an estimator in magnamix), finding the pantone # then hand labeling it to the correct job. We are using Printavo so it would be nice if there was a special ink field that would allow a report to be exported. Has anyone figured out a more automated way to export ink needs for each day?

we keep a log of all inks, and have a library of over 8 years worth of ink information. So we find similiar sized jobs and estimate based off that.

i've asked printavo for years to put in a ink and screen notes box. it's never gonna happen.

Are you saying that in printavo there is no way to track what mesh and inks were used for a job? If so, that is a massive omission.

IMO for a shop our size there isn't. They are working on ways to be able to track some of this info, but we've built our own tools outside of printavo.

[cclaud3]

Hello, I'm looking to see if there is a more efficient way to plan out ink for production. We are all waterbased but any ink type would apply.
We are currently printing the formula for each base onto 4x6 dymo box labels from magnamix (magnacolours ink mixing software). We hand write the job #/name on the blank space/lower half.
If it's a non-discharge base we print a label for the ink for a full container. During ink prep, we check if we have inventory on the shelf. If it doesn't exist then we add it to the queue to mix. If it exists we throw away the label.

We make all of the same base inks at a time for efficiency.

The biggest time-suck is going through each job and estimating ink (we know there's an estimator in magnamix), finding the pantone # then hand labeling it to the correct job. We are using Printavo so it would be nice if there was a special ink field that would allow a report to be exported. Has anyone figured out a more automated way to export ink needs for each day?

we keep a log of all inks, and have a library of over 8 years worth of ink information. So we find similiar sized jobs and estimate based off that.

i've asked printavo for years to put in a ink and screen notes box. it's never gonna happen.

Yeah, we do the same. We just moved over to Yoprint after using Printavo for numerous years. Printavo was ok but the lack of partial garment check-in plus the 60% price increase was the issue. There is a report section in Yoprint that can output a CSV of production notes with a specific job status & date range. There still aren't specific fields for mesh, ink amount but can at least see some info in 1 screen.

[cclaud3]

Hello, I'm looking to see if there is a more efficient way to plan out ink for production. We are all waterbased but any ink type would apply.
We are currently printing the formula for each base onto 4x6 dymo box labels from magnamix (magnacolours ink mixing software). We hand write the job #/name on the blank space/lower half.
If it's a non-discharge base we print a label for the ink for a full container. During ink prep, we check if we have inventory on the shelf. If it doesn't exist then we add it to the queue to mix. If it exists we throw away the label.

We make all of the same base inks at a time for efficiency.

The biggest time-suck is going through each job and estimating ink (we know there's an estimator in magnamix), finding the pantone # then hand labeling it to the correct job. We are using Printavo so it would be nice if there was a special ink field that would allow a report to be exported. Has anyone figured out a more automated way to export ink needs for each day?

we keep a log of all inks, and have a library of over 8 years worth of ink information. So we find similiar sized jobs and estimate based off that.

i've asked printavo for years to put in a ink and screen notes box. it's never gonna happen.

Are you saying that in printavo there is no way to track what mesh and inks were used for a job? If so, that is a massive omission.

Do you use a custom or off-the-shelf software solution?

[ericheartsu]

Hello, I'm looking to see if there is a more efficient way to plan out ink for production. We are all waterbased but any ink type would apply.
We are currently printing the formula for each base onto 4x6 dymo box labels from magnamix (magnacolours ink mixing software). We hand write the job #/name on the blank space/lower half.
If it's a non-discharge base we print a label for the ink for a full container. During ink prep, we check if we have inventory on the shelf. If it doesn't exist then we add it to the queue to mix. If it exists we throw away the label.

We make all of the same base inks at a time for efficiency.

The biggest time-suck is going through each job and estimating ink (we know there's an estimator in magnamix), finding the pantone # then hand labeling it to the correct job. We are using Printavo so it would be nice if there was a special ink field that would allow a report to be exported. Has anyone figured out a more automated way to export ink needs for each day?

we keep a log of all inks, and have a library of over 8 years worth of ink information. So we find similiar sized jobs and estimate based off that.

i've asked printavo for years to put in a ink and screen notes box. it's never gonna happen.

Are you saying that in printavo there is no way to track what mesh and inks were used for a job? If so, that is a massive omission.

Do you use a custom or off-the-shelf software solution?

we looked at yoprint, and had them mod a ton of stuff for us, but it still wasn't right.

we have a hodge podge system of printavo, basecamp, google drive, and monday. And also production tracker.

[sunday]

One method that works for us is adding an approximation of ink used to the work order for its respective job, so that when it comes around again we don't have to keep doing the same math every time. That info lives in our digital database of all our print jobs, so we don't have to worry about keeping track of a physical piece of paper.

For example, we've got one job that's a massive print area with discharge ink, and there isn't a way to save that super long-term (even with a fridge, though I can dream). There's a note attached to that order that says "1 gallon of ink = 300 shirts", and I can use that to calculate how much ink I need to charge out based on the amount in the current print run. Getting to that place, though, did require a bit of extra work on my part -- I recorded how big the print area was, how many garments were in the print run, if it was a high-mesh screen or not, and how much ink I charged out for the job, and then I asked the printers to bring the container of ink back to me so that I could record how much ink was left over at the end. Once a few jobs have been recorded, then those numbers can be used to estimate how much ink is needed for future jobs.