Product

PrintSIM Standard 

These simulation videos illustrate the operation of a simplified model of a label printing plant. Jobs are sent to a conventional flexographic printing workflow, with plate-making, press make-ready, printing and clean-up.

This is compared with a stand-alone digital print system in which there is a much shorter set-up time, but a slower-running print process, and the printed roll must be moved to a separate die-cutting station before the job is complete.

Finally, there is a comparison with a hybrid (analog + digital) printer in which finishing is performed inline, as it is with flexo printing.

Four weeks of production is simulated, and the results tabulated. The simulator can be set to run a variety of different scenarios, and the results output to an Excel spreadsheet, allowing the production of graphs to show the effects of – for example – changes to the job run-length on profitability or productivity.

PrintSIM Standard  can be used by vendors to illustrate the positive effects of their technology or by printers and potential customers of new technology to explore the circumstances in which it will generate an ROI.

This is a simulation of a label printing plant with 3 workflows: flexo, stand-alone digital with offline die-cutting, and a hybrid printer with a DICEweb inkjet engine mounted onto a flexo press with inline die-cutting. The simulation shows the effect of different assumptions on job production and profitability - and clearly shows that hybrid printing is superior for short-run work.

Another label printing simulation. This one allows for a distribution of run-lengths of incoming print jobs, and the splitting of jobs between flexo, digital and hybrid workflows, with the objective of maximizing profitability and minimizing average time in the system.

PrintSIM Custom 

If you are a printer who needs to understand how specific capital investments, staffing changes, or other workflow changes will affect operations a PrintSIM Custom consulting project can help.

We will analyze your production data (number of work orders/day, run-lengths, number of colors, plate, die and substrate changes, etc) and model a specific area of your operations. After validating the model against historical data, we can use it to predict the likely effects of production changes, identify bottlenecks and the sensitivity of KPIs to specific inputs.

A PrintSIM Custom consulting project can help a printer understand how specific capital investments, staffing changes, or other workflow changes will affect their operations. 

Using Simulation to Decide on Digital

By Chris Lynn | November 17, 2014

Modeling a digital print run may reduce the uneasiness associated with contemplating a large investment.

As the last Labelexpo exhibition clearly showed, digital printing and converting is becoming mainstream in the label industry. Different technologies and configurations are on offer which can be broadly classified as electrophotographic (toner-based) printing, or UV-curable or water-based inkjet printing. The products range from $20,000 desktop-type printers to $2 million integrated systems with laser diecutting, and “hybrid” machines that mix digital and analog print technologies.

- Read the rest of the article: Label & Narrow Web