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What is the turnaround time?

turnaound time

A deep dive into print shop job processing and turnaround.

Some people call or email and ask “how long does it take to print” a product.  They want to know what is the turnaround time of the job, but are asking only about the machine time.   But “printing time” and turnaround time are very different.  Machine time is only part of of the picture.

Turnaround time consists of the time it takes to receive and prepare an order for print, press time (the actual printing), finishing, and in some cases, delivery.  For a top to bottom view, customers want to know if they place an order now, when will it be in their hands. 

How much is it and when will it be ready?

The question of turnaround time is usually asked when a quote is requested, and many times without any context.  We are being asked to predict a finish time for an order that has not been placed, often without seeing the artwork or knowing materials and quantities, and not knowing when the start time is. 

At best, the customer will get an overstated guess, and perhaps a mention that rush service is available, for a fee.  Turnaround time is almost always a factor in providing a quote, and print shops don’t do a great job of helping customers understand why.

A Walkthrough of a Typical Print Job

Here, we will go through the print production process one step at a time to help you see what all is involved and get an appreciation of the time it can take. 

You will see where and what kind of complications can arise that impact the turnaround time for any print job, and we will give you 5 tips for things you can do to help speed up the turnaround time for your print orders.

Table of Contents

Print Process, Start to Finish

1. Request for quote and payment

For some orders, the first step is a quote request.  Many online print shops, like ours, provide pricing instantly online, empowering customers to browse and compare options.

Most often, quote requests are made with incomplete information, as might be the case if someone walked into a restaurant and asked “how much is lunch?” 

Before pricing can be given, the print shop needs to seek clarification, calculate the price, often with multiple paper variations and in various quantities, and prepare a written response.  This can take time, and if full information is not provided, may need to be revised.

Often the request is for a quote on a standard product that can be found and priced in the online store.  Customers request a quote and wait for a response even though they don’t have to.

An order is completed when the details and artwork are received and payment is made.  Online, this happens in one fluid process.  For custom quoted jobs, an invoice is sent to the customer for payment.  Generally the job is not processed further until payment is made. 

Starting before payment can be a mistake if the customer suddenly changes their mind about quantity, media, size, or going ahead at all.  Payment is commitment to the job.

2. Full order information and print ready artwork

Next, we go through a series of steps to review the print job details and print readiness of the artwork that has been submitted.

  • File check: make sure the artwork matches the product size and page count, has suitable resolution, a proper bleed (if necessary).
  • File correction and/or requested edits: we combine files, add bleeds, convert the file to pdf, resize if necessary and complete a variable data merge if it is requested in the order.
  • Proof: we prepare and send an electronic proof if it has been requested.
 
Sadly, the vast majority of files submitted are not print ready.  Most commonly, they come with no bleeds, incorrect file format, multiple files, and low resolution.  Sometimes with all of those issues.  This is multiplied when more than one design file is submitted.
 
Quality control check #1:  Most issues can be corrected, but if the artwork fails badly, the customer is notified and asked to fix the issue and resubmit the a print ready file or is offered graphic support services.
 

How is turnaround time affected by artwork files? 

Fixing and editing files can take a lot of time, especially if there  are multiple issues and files.  Sometimes, when we are asked to do edits, the instructions are vague, and we have to seek clarification.  

There can end up being a lot of back and forth and headaches on both sides before the file is finally ready to print.  This is particularly the case if the customer claimed in their order that their artwork was print ready and they didn’t need a proof.

3. Proof approval 

When a proof has been requested and sent, we wait for a response from the customer.  Sometimes, the response is unclear and does not give the go ahead, and other times the customer requests changes.  

I have had customers ask for content changes, or event to use a completely different artwork file, using the print proof as an editing tool.

How is turnaround time affected by proofing?

The print process stops until the proof is approved, so customers who have requested a proof and are not watching out for it can take a very long time to respond and may need to be prompted several times.  

Changes and multiple corrections to file content that should have been made before printing was ordered, now send us back a step to repeat all of the work done in around print readiness.  

4. Preparation of the press sheet

Print ready files are processed through an imposition software that places multiple copies on one sheet for printing.  This is a simple and automated process, though it has to be set up manually for custom sized prints.

5. Workflow triage 

“Triage” is a term often used in medical settings to refer to the need to prioritize patients according to their need.  This is similar to our challenge here.
 
How does this job fit into the current workflow?  We need to consider current machine use, settings (can’t disturb some), and media inventory (do we need to order anything?  How soon? 
 

Even if you are not requesting rush printing, you may be requesting paper that needs to be ordered immediately in order to not affect production time.  Pre-press work will be done until the paper arrives and your job processed accordingly.

Print jobs that require lots of resources, particularly supplies that are low in stock or time to for editing or finishing may need to wait.  Rush jobs get priority.

Rather than risk running out of paper mid-job, if paper stocks are low we will order more and complete the smaller jobs first.

6. Load media/paper 

Next we load paper in the printer.  Changing paper takes a surprising amount of time, so whenefver 

Takes time, may be more than 1.  Can save time by grouping jobs to reduce need for media changes. Stock issues if rival jobs?

7. Prepare printer

We don’t just throw paper into the printer and click print.  The first step is to check the alignment to make sure the print on the front lines up with the print on the back (accurate registration).  We also need to check that the image is printing correctly on the page.  

Sometimes there are issues with how well the toner is placed on the page (image transfer), or there is streaking on the page (machine issues).

Quality control check #2 – We carefully inspect the print to confirm the alignment of both sides, and for blotches or streaks in the print.

How is turnaround time affected by proofing?

Actually, your design may complicate this.  When you include a border, fold along a graphic line, etc. getting solid registration becomes even more important. Any small variation will be visually amplified by the border in your artwork.   

Print quality issues may require machine maintenance (cleaning, changing consumables) or technical service call.

8. Prepare final print settings on computer and test print

This includes selecting the correct paper for the order, changing settings for quantity, colour, duplexing, and finishing.  Alignment issues are fine tuned here by running test prints and tweaking the settings until it is correct. 

Quality control check #3 – When all of the settings are correct, we print one final version and finish a sample.  This is particularly important for products that require a lot of finishing steps, like booklets and greeting cards.  

If customers have requested a printed proof, we will send a scan of this print to the customer for approval before proceeding.  If the sample fails quality control, we need to troubleshoot and fix the issue.

9. Print 

At last we get to printing.  Heavy cardstock needs to be printed first on one side, turned, and printed again on the other side.  It does not automatically duplex like lighter papers.

Large format prints – posters, stickers, signage – takes much longer to print, as much as 10 to 15 minutes for one 24″ x 36″ poster.

10.  Finishing

Almost every print requires finishing of some kind, even if it is just trimming to size.  Very few can be packaged for customer directly from the output tray. 

Finishing involves trimming the edges for full bleed and sizing, (allows for bleeds, keeps costs down), binding, creasing/perforation, folding, corner rounding, numbering.  For large format, it also includes lamination, mounting on substrate, weeding, taping and trimming.  

This can add significant time to production and is often labour intensive.

Quality control check #4: While finishing, we check for consistency and errors.  Damaged product may have to be redone, from printing through finishing. Typical finishing issues are misnumbered forms, product torn or misfolded by machines, a badly stapled booklet, crooked creases etc.

How is turnaround time affected by finishing?

Finishing has the most substantial impact of all of the steps, as it is time consuming and damaged product has to be reproduced.

11.  Preparing the order for customer pickup or shipping

Products are boxed or bundled, as required.

12.  Shipping

This is the final piece of the turnaround time puzzle.  Delivery time depends on how busy the couriers are and the package destination.  Unfortunately, we cannot control  this process, and faster service costs more.  

We can keep our shipping costs down with a shorter production turnaround time, allowing us to pay less for shipping and still meet the expected delivery time.

Never Just One Job at a Time

The printing process is complex with lots of moving parts, and fast turnaround time assumes everything goes perfectly. Everything we CAN do to speed up the process, though, affects the cost/price and may reduce quality.  

Some processes just need time.  Inks need to dry on vinyl prints.  Time and care need to go into setting up the machine.  Sometimes, customer artwork makes getting a great result more difficult to achieve and longer to complete..  

To get an accurate picture of the situation,  multiply all this by any number of print jobs that are being processed at the same time.  Many of the customers are also asking for file edits and rush service.

Behind the Scenes of Print Shop Turnaround Times

Here are a few things that you may not realize.
 
  • Print shop workloads are in constant flux. When your order arrives, we may also be getting rival orders that are competing for the same media and machine time. A sudden large, rush order can significantly and unexpectedly reduce our paper and toner supply, that could lead to restocking delays.  While short, they are a reality.
  • The print shop is also subject to rush charges with its suppliers.  For example, if we need to order paper quickly, we are subject to fees for same day pick up and more fees for placing a small order.

So if we don’t have sufficient amounts of paper in the size required for your order, we may need to make up an order to meet minimum requirements.  That is costly and inconvenient as it means special ordering instead of fitting our standard schedule.  

Sometimes, the supplier is not the problem, but delivery costs more. 

  • Downtime happens.  This is completely unpredictable.  Recently, printer failed to connect to computer and was unusable.  Tech support took time to arrive, then was unable to identify the issue right away, and took 3 days to reconnect.
 
  • Rush jobs often mean staff has to work overtime, adding to cost
 
  • Every job, especially rush ones, affects every other job currently in production.
 
  • Rushed jobs produce waste.  This is especially true for large format prints, unless they are large enough to use the full span of media (50″).  Giving lots of time for a print shop to turnaround your order allows them to group your job with others using similar settings and materials.  Ganged prints can result in faster production times for all of the jobs, and definitely cuts down on wasted material.
 
  • “Can we get a few more?” may sound like a great thing for the print shop, but it is much easier to run one large job than 2 smaller ones. Misjudging your quantity results in almost every step of the process needing to be repeated – and matched!  While some settings, like the imposed file and computer setup do stay in place (for a few days in the case of the computer setup), every other process has to be reset.
 
That leads us to….
 

The Dark Side of Quick Turnaround Times

 
A short print turnaround time is generally seen as ideal, BUT if you have made a design error, typo, or failed to review the proof adequately and find an error, it may be too late to do anything about it.  They have already gone to print.  
 
If you DO find an error and request a change, given the work you can now see happens before printing even happens, and you are not charged to change the file, you really should offer to pay for that file change, even if you send a corrected print ready file.  Sadly, some customers expect the print shop to make the correction and redo all of the file correction, proofing, and setup all over again at no charge.
 
Is it too late to change something?
 
Best to see where your order is in the setup process and know exactly what you are asking.

Instead of asking about turnaround time

The question of turnaround times most often arises because a deadline is around the corner and the order is already late going in. 

Instead of requesting a quote and asking the print shop to tell you the turnaround time for your potential order (often asked without giving details even as to quantity!), give the print shop every detail of the job, tell them how soon you need it completed, and see if that is possible.

Chances are, if you are giving enough time, you may even get an unexpected price break.

5 ways you can help to speed up your turnaround time

  1. Create print ready and finish friendly artwork that does not require intense machine calibration
  2. Be super clear in every step of the process, giving complete information for any edits or variable data jobs required (particularly font type and size)
  3. If you request a proof, watch for it to arrive and respond immediately, clearly stating that you approve the file to print as is.  Do not send or approve a file is not perfect.
  4. If possible, give the print shop a head’s up well before you submit the job.  This will allow them to plan and manage resources.  If it is a large job, consider making at least a non refundable partial payment early to expedite ordering of supplies.
  5. Complete your order online and request rush service.  For custom jobs, be clear about when you need the job done and pay your invoice immediately to prevent a delay.