Reducing setup time by 40% without investment
Short runs were quoted at a loss because setup was averaged across all jobs instead of charged to the job that caused it.
Case study engine
Figures derived from the shared calculation kernelReducing setup time by 40% without investment
Eight weeks of process work, no purchase order, 13.5 press hours recovered per month and short-run margin from 9% to 23%.
- Business
- Promotional and merch printing
- Volume
- 16,500 impressions / month across 74 jobs
- Employees
- 9
- Equipment
- 1 automatic 8-colour press, 1 manual carousel
- Country
- Netherlands
Investment
none
Cash benefit / month
1.850 €
Payback
0.0 months
ROI (36 mo)
—
Before / after
| Metric | Before | After | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average setup | 28 min | 17 min | lower is better |
| Registration share | 13 min | 5 min | lower is better |
| Press hours in setup / month | 34.5 h | 21.0 h | lower is better |
| Short-run gross margin | 9% | 23% | higher is better |
| Test garments per setup | 6 | 2 | lower is better |
Lessons learned
- Measure before you buy: the shop had been quoting a second press.
- Charge setup to the job that causes it, otherwise short runs subsidise nothing visible.
- Process gains stick only when the new time becomes the standard costing input.
Pitfalls
- Recovered hours only count as cash because the shop actually sold them.
- Averaging setup across all jobs hid the loss on every run below 100 pieces.
Recreate this case with your own numbers
Prefills 74 jobs per month, the 28 → 17 minute setup change and the registration split of the recorded setups.
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