New in the business

[APIM]

Our company is fresh in the business of wide format printing. Our main source of income is commercial offset printing and have recently purchased an Epson GS6000 to move forward into the market of wide format printing. From what I have read we are going to start with banners, banner displays,wall graphics. posters and magnetic signs. These seem to be what our current customers are most looking for and will help us get a leg out into other markets. I have a few different projects I am working on and would like some feedback. I am trying to get pricing down for wide formatting and am not sure how best to do it. I want to make sure that I am getting all my costs covered and not leave any money on the table. I also don't want to be so low that I am killing the market in our area. Does anyone have any suggestions? We are currently using a double sided tape we ordered from our current vendor (which may change) and it takes 2 people and a lot of time to do. We normally will only have one person working on this part, since this is not the main part of our business. Does anyone have any suggestions to make this a 1 person application? I have a huge list of things I am working on, but these seem to be two of the major problems I am currently coming across and need to get them taken care of so I can move forward to more. Thanks in advance, any advice will help!

 

[Gino]

Welcome from PA................................

 

[jwright350]

You need to call around and see what others are selling for. Just match their price, beat them on quality and service. Otherwise everyone in town will hate you. My advice is to be the new shop with the new machines that everybody goes to when theirs are broke. The GS6000 can make beautiful prints. Those machines have had ink issues, but I'd hope thats worked out by now. (fading) I do a huge amount of lamination for a company that has one. They wrapped an entire building with it and had no printing issues. (don't ask me why they didn't buy a laminator)

You can definitely run the machine with 1 person. You may just need to call your guys over who do your other bindery work to help.

???? For hemming banners.... yep, 2 sided tape is where its at. You'll get faster. We had 57 3' X 5' banners to do today. Pretty much took 1 person the entire day. The heat welding machines are smelly and slower than the banner hemm tape. The sonic welding are really expensive.

Here's another tip. If you sell lots of prints mounted on foam core. Don't try do do them yourself. Its a complete waste. Find someone with a Fuji Acquity or Oce 350 and buy wholesale from them.

 

[petesign]

Why does it take 2 people to hem a banner using banner tape? Maybe I read that wrong.

Anyway, call around and ask other shops what they charge for a 4x8 banner, etc. I'd get a good estimate on what the market will bear in your area. You should also come up with a shop rate... and see if that business model will allow you to price accordingly.

SignCraft magazine also offers a pretty nice little price guide with an annual subscription.

 

[James Burke]

Did you "shop" your market area before you took the plunge? If not, now's the time to do so. That will give you a better understanding of what your market will bear.

But beyond that, your overhead and costs will ultimately dictate your prices. How do they compare with your competition?

Sorry for the redundancy....looks like Pete beat me to it.

 

[jwright350]

Oh...and don't waste your time on the internet...get back to work! That should be tip #1

 

[APIM]

jwright- Thanks so much for your advice! We can run the machine with just one person, it is the finishing suck as hemming that takes 2 people. I am not sure if there is some sort of dispenser for this tape but it seems like I have to go back and hold the tape while he applies it and then pull the paper as he folds the hem. It seems like there should be a much easier way to handle this.

 

[Craig Sjoquist]

Welcome to a outstanding forum and people.

 

[Malkin]

jwright- Thanks so much for your advice! We can run the machine with just one person, it is the finishing suck as hemming that takes 2 people. I am not sure if there is some sort of dispenser for this tape but it seems like I have to go back and hold the tape while he applies it and then pull the paper as he folds the hem. It seems like there should be a much easier way to handle this.

There are easier methods with the df banner tape that only require 1 person.

We switched to using PowerTape which sticks to the back and does not fold over. It also does not use a liner. This stuff is more money @ roughly $25 per 36YD roll.

 

[petesign]

Hmm, still don't see why hemming takes two people. If you have to, get a set of clamps... clamp one edge of your banner to the production table, start on the other end and line the tape up along the cut edge of your banner (You bought 1" banner tape, and cut the material 1" away from the edge of your banner), and start the tape along the side of the banner... Every foot or two, while pulling the banner tape out, stick it to the banner like a tack weld. Go to the end of the side you are hemming, sticking a spot every foot or two feet. Now, go back over the tape with a soft squeegee, with the back still on the tape. Now the tape is firmly attached to one side of the banner, so you can go back and pull off the backing.

Now, since you know you bought 1" tape, and you trimmed the banner material 1" from the finished edge when you applied tape, You know you can just fold over the banner where the inside edge of the tape ends. (If you can't see it, take a ruler, and make a line 2" from the edge on the back of the banner before you start. Go back and do the same like you did putting the tape down in the first place. Just run the edge of the banner up to your mark and just press it down every foot or so. Now that you have done the whole side, go back again with your squeegee and smooth it all down. There's one side. One person. Cut notches where the sides are going to fold over each other, and do the other three sides like you did the first one.

 

[The Big Squeegee]

Welcome from OK

 

[J Hill Designs]

welcome from cali

for taping banners, I draw a line 2 1/8" in from the cut edge (that was cut 1 1/16" out of finished edge of banner) then set the 1" tape against that line...then when folding you dont have to feel for the edge of the tape, you just fold over and line the edge of the banner to the edge of the tape...the extra 1/8" leaves room for air to escape

 

[Mosh]

+ on only one person hemming with tape. Simple task my kids do by themselves in my shop. Apply tape, squeegie down, remove backing, fold over material, squeegie that down, punch in the grommets and you are done. 4x8 banner should take 5 minutes, not much longer. We sew most of our hemmes now, but the tape is easy and woks well.

 

[Bigdawg]

One person to hem. Lay your 1" wide tape (with backing on) on the trimmed banner right on the edge. Roll or squeegee it down good. Now take a long, straight-edged ruler and use it to fold the tape over and crease the banner to create your 1" hem. Make sure the backing is still on your tape.

Now peel a bit of the tape off 3 or 4 inches, at an angle and lightly push down the edge with your fingers. You are not trying to seal the hem - just putting it into place. Do this along the hem, peel, tack down then move on. Once you've got your hem tacked. Take a brayer (works better than a squeegee) and from the middle, go down both directions. If you did it right... the hem will go right down with a minimum of fuss.

Once you get the hang of it you'll fly through hemming. I don't even use a straight edge anymore... I just fold over on the edge of the tape...