Raw Material$$$$

[tonypep]

I was having a discussion the other day with a "non industry consultant" the other day who is (now was) a "business coach" for another screenprinting company.The subject of controlling costs came up. He mentioned that they needed help controlling their raw materials. He had done some research and found that there were less expensive inks and screen chemistry out there and suggested the look at switching out some of these products to "cut costs". They switched out emulsions three times only to find that after
 A. wreaking havoc in the screen room and
 B. realizing excessive downtime due to defective screens
 that with the more expensive emulsion they were able to realize increased throughput.
Next came the ink. Well the less expensive ink was too transparent and required multiple revolutions and up to four flashes. Which in turn caused the ink to cure in the screen on occaision. More over the white had shearing issues, printed slower, and flashed slower.
I explained that, in our industry, cutting costs by using less expensive products almost never works and indeed these products are actually more expensive in the long run for the above reasons.
In some industries such as press manufacturing there are numerous ways to reduce costs by using composite parts, cheaper alloys, etc.
But for us its common that these cheaper components impede throughput often dramatically. So while I encourage testing new products I also encourage a thorough evaluation and observe any and all impacts these changes may cause. Sometimes they are hidden. For me cost is the last consideration; performance being the first.
By the way that guy was fired.....for $1,000 per day you better be right most of time!

[mk162]

Tony, you are exactly right.  Cheaper products a lot of times equals more labor or downtime.  I test new products on a regular basis and usually find that the ones I am using now are the best suited for the task.

I actually fairly inexpensive embroidery thread, and it has less breaks and sews better than the more expensive stuff I was using.  I also changed backings, that made a big difference.  It's about the same price, might be a little more.  We also used to cut all of our backing from rolls, that is how it was done when I bought the company and I kept doing it that way until I went back and cut some one day and realized what an enormous waste of time that was.  Now I buy pre-cut sheets and I don't have to pay somebody to stand and cut backing, it cuts down on labor and cuts back on downtime.  I make money sewing, not cutting backing.

I find that instead of saving money on products, it is easier to save on processes.  Look at the little things employees have to do on a daily or weekly basis.  Our drying cabinet had a bucket that had water that needed to be emptied, not anymore.  I had 1 vacuum cleaner for the warehouse & embroidery, now I have a wall-mounted one in embroidery so you don't have to go looking for one to clean up the threads and no more wheels for the thread to get caught in.  Less downtime.

If I can do some small things to make life and jobs easier, I do them.

[Prōdigium]

I was a screen maker at Air-Waves back when the photopolymer was invented. We were a test company for Murakami back then and had been using a Ulano brand that required mixing, extended drying times and very long exposures..also note that our screens were about 4'x5' and used ALLOT of emulsion to build the proper EOM we required....usually about 30-50 gallons per week.

Well, the short story is that after 3 months of keeping seriously accurate records about coating times to build EOM, drying times between coatings, exposure times and reclaim times....we discovered that the NEW emulsion was saving us 40% over the old emulsion even though it was 4 TIMES MORE EXPENSIVE per gallon!!!

I was able to even factor in that we would save hundreds of dollars a year in EXPENSIVE exposure bulbs due to more exposures per bulb due to less exposure times. The truth that SO MANY people often fail to realize is that its not the cost of a product per say, its what that product can do to increase efficiency in your shop. A gallon of $100 emulsion is worth every dollar if you can burn 2 times the screens per hour than a $60 a gallon emulsion that requires extensive exposure times or is harder to reclaim. Sadly, though after almost 20 years in this business....the problem still persists because most printers do not know how to measure efficiency of a product in their own shop, and have no methods in place to calculate overall production efficiency.

So they continue to run their shops based on a "per product" cost basis thinking that if I can save $5000 a year on supplies, than I am saving money....penny wise....ah, ya know the rest?

[jsheridan]

I find that instead of saving money on products, it is easier to save on processes.
 

This is GOLD.. I've been preaching that to owners for years and only 2 of them listened to me. We're not trying to save money, were buying time.
If the more expensive emulsion buys me 2 minutes of faster exposure time and I burn 50 screens a day, I just bought 100 minutes of time per day. What can you do with an extra 100 minutes per day?

[tonypep]

At one verly large rock and roll company where the sim process designs on black are printed over and over ad nauseum we looked at changing our base for color mixing. We were buying it in drums (per week) so even $30 per drum price difference can add up.
Turns out the base altered the color formulas; sometimes hardly a bit sometimes significantly. And there was a difference in translucency.
So when it came time for a reprint order you would often have severe trouble matching the original sample. The downtime was legendary but thankfully shortlived. We switched back to the "more expensive" base and all was right with the world.

[ErinAllenLamb]

Hey Guys! This thread reminded me of an article that Ray Smith wrote for printwear about a year ago. check it out.

http://printwearmag.com/article/business-management/evaluating-plastisol-ink

Erin

[ebscreen]

Hear hear!

When it comes to materials, cost is usually about the last thing I consider.

Unfortunately availability is pretty high on the list.


So we've got emulsion and inks, I'll add film to the list.

What else should money be no object on?
Where else should I splurge to save? Skilled employee's?