ROI Analysis for Digital Print Systems

What is ROI Analysis for Digital Print Systems?

Definition: Return on Investment (ROI) is the benefit to an investor resulting from an investment of some resource.

One key area of inquiry when considering the ROI for digital printing and finishing systems is to compare current production costs to projected production costs with the proposed system.

Discovering production costs for the current state: the basic elements for job cost analysis

The analysis uses the available data describing the product specifications for each job. Typically, the data fields will include the job number, date, number of plates, press time, paper, ink, size, product quantity, binding style, and more.

High-level cost information is apportioned across each offset job:

  • Labor, plate maker, press operator

  • Plates, processor, chemistry

  • Paper

  • Ink

  • Press maintenance, supplies

  • Press time, make-ready & run

The cost per page is calculated for each job. The offset cost per page figure is a pivotal data point for conducting a deeper analysis.

Page volume is calculated using a common page unit size. This allows for inputting press volume and loading scenarios for the digital press and finishing solution.

Establish the cost per page for the digital system. This exposes the crossover point. What jobs can be cost-effectively moved to the digital press and finishing solution?