Fighting downtime: How smart prepress support can slash press idle time

Every second counts.

Yes, it’s a cliché that you’ve seen printed on a thousand and one movie posters, but that doesn’t mean it’s not true. Today’s ultra-competitive print industry understands that better than most.

Every second a printer’s press isn’t running is time that’s lost forever. And, in an increasingly competitive print industry, the cost of that lost time is steeper than ever.

Often, these losses can be cut simply by taking a strategic approach to the prepress process. The prepress stage is where you optimise jobs for production success, so getting it right can result in smoother runs, higher throughput, and significantly less press downtime.

Small errors lead to big problems

Something as small as a single error in your plate specs can quickly cascade into any number of big problems during a production run. It can dramatically affect the overall quality of a print run, creating registration errors and plate mounting problems that push jobs outside of increasingly stringent production tolerances. Compensating for these errors through registration adjustments can result in extended press idle time, and it takes valuable time away from operators who could add value to other areas of the business.

Likewise, errors during file preparation are much easier to avoid in prepress than they are to fix at a later stage. Checking supplied files for proper bleed, dot gain compensation, and artwork resolution, among many other issues, can affect job quality significantly. Printers can’t always control the quality of the files they work with, but they can control how efficiently they deal with those files while ensuring job quality and consistency.

However, in today’s challenging market, finding experienced operators to keep all of these plates spinning at once can be a challenge. That’s where a reprographics expert like Creation can help.

A proactive approach to prepress

We are a proactive reprographics partner that understands the reality of today’s packaging industry – not just what looks great on paper. We know that today’s market demands perfect consistency across a wide range of substrates and print formats, delivering results that customers expect at an affordable price. And you can’t build a process that delivers all of this without strong foundations.

Proactive prepress practices like in-depth file checks on artwork ensure that each file contains all the detailed information it needs to guarantee a smooth run through the press. Likewise, our approach to plate imaging ensures that plates are easy to mount and align, ensuring changeover time is minimal and avoiding problems that can stem from improper tension when the printing plate is wrapped around the impression cylinder.

We understand that every element of the prepress, from proofing and colour management to plate maintenance and cleaning, has an impact on the idle time of your production floor. That’s why, from our cutting-edge proofing technology to our water-washable flexo plates – plates that are quick and easy to clean without the use of solvents – everything we do is aimed at maximising the value from each print run by minimising downtime.

Our secure digital portal ensures that each element of our prepress offering is always at your fingertips, giving you the perfect technical foundation on which to build print success.

If you’re ready to revolutionise your prepress capabilities, we’re here to help. Get in touch today to learn how we can support your print operations.