MELVILLE, N.Y. – As discussed in part one of this news brief series, there are a wide variety of creative applications that can be produced on today’s color large format color printers. With an understanding of which applications are right for your customer base, you’re now ready to conduct a return-on-investment (ROI) analysis to determine which large format device is right for your commercial print shop. 

“Today’s commercial printers and print for pay providers have more options than ever when it comes to wide-format print technology,” said Bob Honn, Senior Director Marketing Support, Canon Solutions America, Inc. “To make a truly apples-to-apples comparison, it’s critical to go beyond a simple cost, volume and price ROI assessment and instead conduct a sophisticated analysis that takes into consideration the many factors – some of which are often hidden – that may impact the profitability of each job.” 

In the second installment of this series, Canon Solutions America, Inc., a subsidiary of Canon U.S.A., Inc., identifies the key factors to consider when selecting a color wide-format printer that will deliver the highest level of profitability for your business.

Key Factors to Consider When Determining Color Large Format Printer ROI

Conducting a sophisticated ROI analysis requires evaluation of the many issues that could impact the profitability of each print job. For example, some wide-format printers may have higher expected waste or the manufacturer may make productivity claims that don’t match real-life conditions.

Let’s take a closer look at the factors affecting your large format printer ROI:

1. Gross Revenue Calculator: This includes identifying the selling price per square foot and the number of hours it would take to print the necessary volume of work, based on printing speed and quality. This also takes into consideration work days per month, print speed (square feet per hour), the sellable-to-wasted ratio, total printed media per day and sellable output (what you will charge for per day). Finally, you can calculate your monthly gross revenue, which is the amount you could expect to save every month compared to outsourcing based on the assumption on all of the aforementioned factors.

2. Materials Cost Calculator: This will require you to uncover your media costs per square foot and the substrate cost – including waste – requited to produce contracted work. Additionally, you’ll need to understand your ink costs per month, which can be tricky. This includes the typical mL/square foot of ink usage for the printer multiplied by the square footage printed. Finally, unless you’re considering LED curing, figure in the cost of two UV lamps per year.

3. Overhead Costs Calculator: These are the last factors to consider, but they are no less important. Overhead costs include labor rate per hour, labor ratio (the number of man hours per one printing hour), monthly labor costs, total monthly production costs, gross profit and monthly maintenance payments. And finally, any miscellaneous costs per day such as daily maintenance, per-square-foot floor space costs, building modifications and energy requirements. 

Your Unique Investment and Return Calculator

With a firm grasp of the considerations outlined above, you’re now ready to calculate your true ROI. This can be done using your print shop’s unique data and a spreadsheet tool (such as Microsoft® Excel®). Alternatively, click here to utilize the ROI tool we’ve create to help commercial printers quickly determine how fast you can recoup your large format investment. Armed with this ROI information, you’re now ready to make an informed decision on which large format printer is right for your business, your customers and your bottom line.

 To learn more about how you can get the most out of your large format printer investment, please download Canon Solutions America’s Getting More out of Your Large Format Color Printer whitepaper.