Take vital decisions
while at drupa 2016
Now it’s time for drupa 2016, the world’s largest printing fair and a
conclusive platform for the printing fraternities from all over the world.
Again, this eleven-day expo returns to Dusseldorf after an interval of four
years, bringing the latest innovations in machines, materials and technologies
with a special focus on green, 3D and functional printings. K Nandakumar,
former VP-technical, The New Indian Express and founder of Vibes
Academy, suggests some vital tips every trade visitor must keep in mind
while choosing products at the mega expo.
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As the door to drupa 2016
opens from May 31 -
June 10 at Dusseldorf
Fairgrounds in Germany, a
footfall of more than 300,000
trade visitors are expected from
all over the globe. Anticipating
the phenomenal range of offers
and availabilities in terms
of equipments, services and
technologies, vital decisions
must be made on your needs
to meet specific requirements.
Remember, the enterprise that
hastens and makes wrong
choices in its capital investments
based on short-term profits
and succumbing to shrewd
marketing gimmicks, stands to
suffer in the long run.
Right decisions
decide the future
K Nandakumar
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Let us briefly explore a critical
investment guideline if you are on
the lookout for most appropriate
printing-press equipment at drupa
2016. The first and foremost
element in your selection process
must be a consideration based on
technical factors, not on short
term commercial convenience.
Nothing is free in this commercial
world: either you pay now or
end up paying later. However,
financial considerations are
inevitable. Our focus must
not be based on offered price
alone, but more so on optimum
and high ‘return on investment
(ROI)’ and the earliest ‘payback
period’ potentials. While buying
a machine we need to consider
the ‘possession cost’ rather than
invoiced price alone.
Here, we mention ‘possession
cost’ as the total money involved
by way of capital and all
other running costs spread
over the qualitative life
span of the equipment. The
components of the possession
cost can be divided into:
cost of procurement; cost
of spares and inventories;
cost of service; cost of
maintenance; staff cost;
quality loss cost; cost of
wastes; and resale value.
Procurement cost: This
constitutes the basic cost of
machines, cost of inevitable
auxiliaries, cost of optional
features, packing cost, insurance,
transport and cost of erecting
and commissioning. We should
not have the temptation to overpack
the machines with fanciful
features, but choose diligently
only the essentials. Features that
are not required now but can be
retrofitted later can wait.
Cost of spares and inventories:
Projections are to be made for
the cost involved in procurement
and inventory-building of the
most essential as well as the
spares’ needs against anticipated
wear and tear.
Service cost: Post-guarantee
services of vendors are invariably
very high. The fine lines in the
terms and conditions of your
contracts need to be clearly
understood. Understanding
vendor’s interpretations
of the words ‘Guarantee
and Warrantee’ will avoid
any dispute later on.
Maintenance cost:
Maintenance is a series
of planned activities
that ensure continuation
of productivity and
qualitative performance
capability of machines.
The entire anticipated cost to
fulfil an effective maintenance
plan is the cost of maintenance.
It is prudent to fully know
your vendor’s manufacturing
capability and even details of his
component suppliers as material
quality and workmanship of
manufacturers decide this cost.
Staff cost: The extent of
automation, ease of operation,
ease of maintainability, ease of
make-ready protocol and the
machines’ capability to remain
truthful to the settings decide
the manpower requirement of
any particular machine. More
labour not only costs more
but also results in human
related issues. Hence this cost
component plays a decisive role
in decision making.
Cost of quality loss: This author,
in his article titled Cost of
Quality Failure in the last issue,
narrated this very topic at length.
However, for your immediate
reference, this cost is a hidden
cost and difficult to comprehend.
More than the cost involved, the
quality loss is detrimental to the
very survival of enterprises. Any
purchase decision taken without
considering this aspect of the
machinery will prove to be fatal.
Cost of wastes: The costs of all
consumptions in excess of the
optimum recommended needs
are wastes. This includes cost
of spares, consumables, oil,
manpower, power and unsalable
products generated by equipments
beyond the benchmark. A waste,
besides being an important
cost factor, constitutes severe
environmental threat and hence
needs to be given due attention.
Resale value: As technology is
fast changing, the need to replace
obsolete models are frequent,
therefore resale value becomes
an important decision point.
The bottom line is that a direct
ratio between the sum of all these
costs projected to be incurred
for a specific period and the
anticipated production during the
same time span will give you
cost per unit production. This
number has to play an important
role in your decision making for
investing on any machine.
