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The Value of a Minute

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What is a minute worth to you?

This may seem like a silly question but time, as the saying goes, “is of the essence.”

Orbital X

Orbital X Photopolymer Processor

Minutes don’t seem to matter much until you attach value to them. For example, take the fully loaded, hourly cost of running photopolymer processor, including the machine operator, possibly a helper or assistant, photopolymer material, the monthly lease payment, amortization, and any overhead costs associated with your business. You already know what that comes to for every hour you are open because you factor it into each job you quote. So divide the total hourly rate by 60 and you get the cost per minute. Chances are, it may not seem like much so you may not think about it. And where do you save a minute anyway? Well, how about by using materials designed to give you that minute, over and over again?

Time to do the numbers.

A sheet of photopolymer typically takes 24 minutes to produce, from first exposure through wash-out, drying and post-exposure. In a busy operation, a plate processor will handle between 45 and 60 sheets over an 8-hour shift.

Using the new, faster processing material from Nova Polymers we see a savings of one minute per sheet,” explains Chris Bell, President of Bell Company in Leeds, Alabama. “For us, if we’re just running one of our two processors, that adds up to 250 minutes per week, or a little over 4 hours in every work week.

Even at the most basic cost level with an employee making $15.00 per hour as a processor, faster curing materials can save a company $60.00 per week or $3,120.00 per year, by simply using this faster processing polymer,” continues Mr. Bell.

Bear in mind that this only reflects basic labor costs. When you factor in fully burdened labor costs, materials, utilities, equipment expense, and overhead, the per-minute cost is much greater, driving the value of a minute higher and more clearly linked to profitability.

One minute may not seem like much, but when we calculated our yield, the advantages of using the new, faster exposure time material from Nova were immediately apparent,” notes Mr. Bell.

All businesses are looking for every possible way to save money and increase profits our new faster processing material lets you leverage the value of a minute, that increment of time that can help transform your business.

This new, faster processing material from Nova has proven to be one of the easiest ways for us to save money without compromising the materials we purchase and trust of our customers as we create our high end ADA & Wayfinding Signage,” concludes Mr. Bell.

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