The Virtual Press

 

 

Overview

 

In Morning Flight's magical kingdom of make-believe, all offset printers are given three presses: a one-color, a two-color, and a four-color. Three presses exactly. No more, no less.

Quick show of hands, how many small offset shops fit that mold and have that range of equipment? A one-color press with a T-head, usually. A two-color press drafted into service for the occasional four-color run, maybe. In the real world, few small shops can afford a million-dollar Heidelberg.

So what is a virtual press, and why do you need one? In a nutshell, a virtual press is an imaginary clone of a real press you have in your shop. The two share physical characteristics, but on the virtual press you use a different hourly rate. And often, different plates as well. That's the main reason for having it. Same press, different type of work, different pricing.

 

Case in Point

 

Say you operate a single, solitary press in your shop, a two-color Ryobi. Your full-time employee prints one-color and two-color work during the day. Now and then, a more qualified (and higher-salaried) moonlighter comes in after hours to run four-color process. Again, same Ryobi, different hourly rate, different pricing.

Of course, if do you have the three presses Morning Flight wants you to have, then virtual presses never enter the picture. All of your presses will be real. On the flip side, if you're a broker and outsource all your work, all three of your presses will be virtual. This isn't rocket science. Just a business model, a logical way to help you structure your pricing.

 

How to set up a Virtual Press

 

Using the example above, let's assume you accepted the defaults and had Morning Flight set up a one-color Multi, a two-color Ryobi, and a four-color GTO during the prelaunch interview. You don't actually own a GTO, the interview was weeks ago, and today you decide to set up a four-color virtual version of your "real" two-color Ryobi in place of the nonexistent, phantom GTO.

 

 

FourColorRyobi

 

Step by Step

 

ButtonShop Click the My Shop button, then the Presses button. Double-click Ryobi 2-Color Offset. Write down the sheet sizes, plate prices, makeready, and maximum speed you see in the press update window. Close the window.

Back in the press selection window, double-click GTO 4-Color Offset.

Change the Name to Ryobi-4CV.

Press the Color button and select "2-Color" to reduce the press configuration from four print heads to two.

Change sheet sizes, plate prices, and maximum speed to what you wrote down in step 1. Uncheck any plates that can't be used for four-color process.

Cut the Makeready you used for the four-head GTO in half. You're now setting up two print heads at a time instead of four. The program will automatically compensate, depending on whether you're printing a 2-color job once through, or a 4-color job through twice.

Adjust the Hourly Rate until the prices displayed in the black panel are what you want to charge for 4-color process. When you're done, click OK.
 
ANote
Run prices shown in the black panel are different for the three base presses predefined by the program than they are for the rest. The base 2-color press always displays 2-color prices, and the base 4-color press always 4-color process, regardless of whether the press is real or virtual, or whether a 4-color job has to be run through twice because the press has only two print heads. That's to make it easier to match up your run prices to what you want to charge your customers.
 
In contrast, run prices displayed for presses you define yourself do reflect the number of print heads. If you configured the press with a single print head, the prices in the black panel will be for one color. Use the color of the register mark as your guide.
 
UDef1Color
 
 

ButtonOne Back in the press selection window, and with the Ryobi-4CV still highlighted, click the green number 1 button. Make sure the Ryobi-4CV is your primary press for four-color offset.
 
PrimaryPressRyobi4CV

 

 

See also

 

Matching your Run Prices

Press-based Pricing

Adding more Presses