With U.S.-sourced screen printing products escalating in price due to the sudden increase in the cost of a U.S. dollar, and ink being no exception, our focus has been turned back to ink cost efficiency.
First of all though, before we look at ink costs, printers should keep in mind that they have much bigger cost issues brought on by the decline in the value of the Canadian dollar. Garments, equipment and other imported items should be receiving much more attention than the pennies per print that ink represents.
But since at Screenflex our focus is ink, we want to remind you that there are measures you can take to reduce the volume of ink that you apply to garments and in so doing, reduce your ink costs. Don’t overlook the obvious; it always amazes us how often this happens. Here are some important cost-saving measures: proper selection of mesh; proper mesh tension; proper squeegee selection; and appropriate equipment settings.
Just to illustrate what a difference mesh selection can make to ink cost, look at these results that we produced using Wilflex’s Ink Management System (IMS). We entered all the variables to determine the cost per print (ink type, print size, % coverage, mesh count). We did our comparison by changing just one variable, the mesh count.
When we went from a 110 mesh to a 158 mesh we cut our ink cost by 37%. Then when we moved up to a 196 mesh we cut it by a further 15%. We moved up to 230 mesh and cut the per-print ink cost by another 25%. Our model showed that the ink cost using 110 mesh was more than twice as much as the ink cost when using 230 mesh.
Even though, in the end, the ink cost is mere pennies per print, it is worth considering your mesh counts and using higher counts wherever possible. Aside from the ink saving, your prints will be softer, which is very “in” right now.
And what exactly do we mean by pennies-per-print? Well, in our model we assumed a solid 12 inch by 12 inch print covered 100%. And the cost in the worst case using 110 mesh was just over 10 cents per print which we brought down to just over 4 cents per print using the 230 mesh. Oh, and the pricing? That was at the latest prices adjusted upwards for the latest exchange rates.
Screenflex cannot do anything for you with regard to the international money market and the cost of a U.S. dollar. But we can bring you quality products, efficient friendly service and competent technical support; all at just pennies per print.
