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Production Chart request
Anyone have a decent production chart they've cobbled together based on Neoflex print history? I'm slowly starting to build one (I'll share it publicly and with AA as a sales tool) but who wants to reinvent the wheel?
Basically, a production chart lets me estimate productivity so I can schedule jobs properly as well as schedule "sales" if we have a slow period coming up in a few days. It also lets me schedule when to buy another DTG. Plus, I can basically enter how many shirts we have to print on a given day and it'll let me know how many people to call in that day (during slow periods).
Today's productivity was 400-500% more than our previous DTG, which is ridiculous. We also did our first WUB designs today and those were much faster than I expected (production mode!).
Since 90% of our designs are CMYK only, I expect to stick to production mode CMYK for most of our prints, and do WUB designs at the end of the day. 8 hour shift (5 hours of production time) = 4 hours of CMYK (144 shirts) + 1 hour of WUB (12-16 shirts, it seems). At peak, you can theoretically pay off a Neoflex in a month, if you have the business. This is more reason to get people to outsource production until they can bring in enough jobs to make it worthwhile to print 3-4 days a week.
I am also trying to schedule WUB jobs for Mon/Wed/Fri/(Sat) to keep white ink flowing (during slow periods).
Our standard turnaround is 2-3 weeks for a job. We do 5 different turnarounds: SLOW (2-3 weeks), NORMAL (1-2 weeks, upcharge), FAST (5-7 days, bigger upcharge), and RUSH (1-4 days, huge upcharge), SAME DAY (uses garments in stock, MASSIVE upcharge). This allows us the maximum flexibility to schedule jobs to keep ink flowing, AND to give customers the ability to pick savings-versus-speed.
Props to TIGERS
Also, props to the TIGERS yet again. The color profiling is bonkers good. I see detail in jobs we've been printing for 1.5 years that I never realized was in the artwork. It's almost TOO good.
Free Shirt Offer -- Facebook advertising
I'm going to run an ad on Facebook targeting people in our local area offering customers a free printed tee if they bring in a shirt printed at another shop (locally or online) with a receipt from that company. We'll do an in-house print and compare our quality to the competitor's and let the customer decide.
The great thing about this is that a person clicking that link will be taken to a website where they can schedule a visit (in person only) at their leisure, and then that 1/2 hour visit is blocked for others visiting that particular website. This allows me to also turn off that ad if for some reason we get too many people clicking-and-scheduling. $0.25 per click, if I can get 1 scheduled customer per 20 clicks, I can probably get a per-customer marketing cost of under $12 (VERY good).
It also lets me see which fulfillment house locally/nationally is popular, and get a look at the quality output of my competition. Offering a free reprint of their artwork also lets me see what kind of artwork is out there, allowing me to better set my prices based on what I see. Plus, I have a pretty visible foot traffic retail position, so I can offer the customer the option to display their garment on our wall (if I like the artwork), and let them know I would be happy to print it on-demand for passers by (and give the customer the commission on the print). If the customer lets me display-and-sell their artwork, this also lets OTHER customers see what we're doing and who we're doing it for.
Anyone have a decent production chart they've cobbled together based on Neoflex print history? I'm slowly starting to build one (I'll share it publicly and with AA as a sales tool) but who wants to reinvent the wheel?
Basically, a production chart lets me estimate productivity so I can schedule jobs properly as well as schedule "sales" if we have a slow period coming up in a few days. It also lets me schedule when to buy another DTG. Plus, I can basically enter how many shirts we have to print on a given day and it'll let me know how many people to call in that day (during slow periods).
Today's productivity was 400-500% more than our previous DTG, which is ridiculous. We also did our first WUB designs today and those were much faster than I expected (production mode!).
Since 90% of our designs are CMYK only, I expect to stick to production mode CMYK for most of our prints, and do WUB designs at the end of the day. 8 hour shift (5 hours of production time) = 4 hours of CMYK (144 shirts) + 1 hour of WUB (12-16 shirts, it seems). At peak, you can theoretically pay off a Neoflex in a month, if you have the business. This is more reason to get people to outsource production until they can bring in enough jobs to make it worthwhile to print 3-4 days a week.
I am also trying to schedule WUB jobs for Mon/Wed/Fri/(Sat) to keep white ink flowing (during slow periods).
Our standard turnaround is 2-3 weeks for a job. We do 5 different turnarounds: SLOW (2-3 weeks), NORMAL (1-2 weeks, upcharge), FAST (5-7 days, bigger upcharge), and RUSH (1-4 days, huge upcharge), SAME DAY (uses garments in stock, MASSIVE upcharge). This allows us the maximum flexibility to schedule jobs to keep ink flowing, AND to give customers the ability to pick savings-versus-speed.
Props to TIGERS
Also, props to the TIGERS yet again. The color profiling is bonkers good. I see detail in jobs we've been printing for 1.5 years that I never realized was in the artwork. It's almost TOO good.
Free Shirt Offer -- Facebook advertising
I'm going to run an ad on Facebook targeting people in our local area offering customers a free printed tee if they bring in a shirt printed at another shop (locally or online) with a receipt from that company. We'll do an in-house print and compare our quality to the competitor's and let the customer decide.
The great thing about this is that a person clicking that link will be taken to a website where they can schedule a visit (in person only) at their leisure, and then that 1/2 hour visit is blocked for others visiting that particular website. This allows me to also turn off that ad if for some reason we get too many people clicking-and-scheduling. $0.25 per click, if I can get 1 scheduled customer per 20 clicks, I can probably get a per-customer marketing cost of under $12 (VERY good).
It also lets me see which fulfillment house locally/nationally is popular, and get a look at the quality output of my competition. Offering a free reprint of their artwork also lets me see what kind of artwork is out there, allowing me to better set my prices based on what I see. Plus, I have a pretty visible foot traffic retail position, so I can offer the customer the option to display their garment on our wall (if I like the artwork), and let them know I would be happy to print it on-demand for passers by (and give the customer the commission on the print). If the customer lets me display-and-sell their artwork, this also lets OTHER customers see what we're doing and who we're doing it for.
