Insight

REGISTRATION & MACHINE INDEX IMPACT

Two shops with the same press can have very different unit costs. The difference is rarely the machine price — it is the time lost before the first good print and the seconds lost on every index cycle. Both are measurable, and both convert directly into cost per garment.

Registration time per job

Minutes spent aligning screens before the first sellable print, multiplied by the number of jobs per month and the loaded labour rate.

Test garments and scrap

Blanks and ink consumed before approval. Scrap raises the gross quantity you must produce for every sellable garment.

Machine index time

The realistic index cycle against the rated speed. The gap between the two defines your true hourly output, not the datasheet.

Bottleneck station

Press, flash or dryer — the slowest station sets the line rate. Improving anything else only produces waiting time.

How the calculator works

You enter the setup and registration minutes you actually measure, the test garments you scrap, your index time and the rated cycle of the press. The calculator converts recovered minutes into recovered press hours, recovered press hours into additional sellable garments, and both into a monthly labour and contribution figure. Every recovered effect is labelled so it is never added twice to an automation business case.

Results are planning indicators based on the process data you enter, not measured shop data.

Open Registration & Machine Index Calculator