What is the most expensive thing in your shop?

[Socalfmf]

lost revenue?

[inkman996]

Getting closer to my thought process (well maybe not the beer) but not quite. I do have a point here but I'll wait to see if anyone else bites.

Lunch breaks?

[inkman996]

Oh wait I know  BEER=Rejects

[Mr Tees!!]

...time spent guessing in this thread?       

[GraphicDisorder]

...time spent guessing in this thread?       

LOL

[tpitman]

...time spent guessing in this thread?       

That goes hand-in-hand with the guy standing around doing nothing . . .

[3Deep]

the guy standing around doing nothing

Hell sam thats YOU!!!!! boy you open yourself up for that HA HA

D

[tonypep]

Not surprisingly Alan nailed it.
Labor, rent, equipment, utilites, raw materials.......virtually everything is directly affected by downtime After all these are fixed costs no matter what your throughput. It is almost exclusively the first and foremost consideration in every decision I make whether its buying a new piece of equipment, hiring/firing or simple things like changing emulsion.
When I was at Andy A's shop earlier this year I worked with him on waterbase platen adhesive. Most of us would agree that this is the way to go especially if you see how clean his shop and presses are. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure the cost savings in raw materials either. However he hits some huge runs in the tens of thousands and they are often event driven. They simply can't always take the time to clean and re-apply. So they mix it up between old school spray and WB tack as production dictates. They do what makes sense in order to achieve maximum output.
It's good to see how many of you see it the same way.
Its also why I put staging and proceduralization above all else on the production floor. It's head scratching to see shiny new presses sitting idle waiting for inks, screens, blanks, etc while production managers struggle to tension screens to 50n in order to get x more production. What is the point if the press is down for an hour or so due to poor planning? Trust me once you get a smooth and relatiively seamless schedule that runs with minimum interrupive time then it becomes time to fine tune the the other "stuff".

[3Deep]

If we talking about equipment my press, but if your talking other its Time spend fooling with a nonbuying customer or any time wasted not making money.  LIKE NOW !!! lol

Darryl

[Shawn (EIP)]

Not surprisingly Alan nailed it.
Labor, rent, equipment, utilites, raw materials.......virtually everything is directly affected by downtime After all these are fixed costs no matter what your throughput. It is almost exclusively the first and foremost consideration in every decision I make whether its buying a new piece of equipment, hiring/firing or simple things like changing emulsion.
When I was at Andy A's shop earlier this year I worked with him on waterbase platen adhesive. Most of us would agree that this is the way to go especially if you see how clean his shop and presses are. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure the cost savings in raw materials either. However he hits some huge runs in the tens of thousands and they are often event driven. They simply can't always take the time to clean and re-apply. So they mix it up between old school spray and WB tack as production dictates. They do what makes sense in order to achieve maximum output.
It's good to see how many of you see it the same way.
Its also why I put staging and proceduralization above all else on the production floor. It's head scratching to see shiny new presses sitting idle waiting for inks, screens, blanks, etc while production managers struggle to tension screens to 50n in order to get x more production. What is the point if the press is down for an hour or so due to poor planning? Trust me once you get a smooth and relatiively seamless schedule that runs with minimum interrupive time then it becomes time to fine tune the the other "stuff".

Spray tack is the most idiotic product to use in anyone's shop. It boggles my mind when I see people spraying water based tack from a gun. Cleary it's only cutting cost with some shop owners with no regard for their employees health.

It's heart breaking to see a shop of expensive high end equipment transformed into wookies. 

[Sbrem]

Labor. you buy the press once, you buy the labor everyweek, myself included of course. Our MHM was indeed the most expensive purchase, but we finished paying for it years ago. Does an annual health insurance total count? That's fairly large...

Steve

[ZooCity]

OK maybe costly is better adjective.

in a contract shop it is always going to be labor. . . 60% of our charges goes right back to employees.

pierre

whoa.  you guys must have crazy low overhead and/or crazy high volume.

I think it's always got to be labor in any shop.