Printing, Labels & Industrial Converting worked example

Artwork Change Cost at 72% billable revision share: a worked example

Suppose billable revision share falls to 72%. This page works the full calculation at that level so you can see exactly which result moves and by how much. Estimate the cost of an artwork revision from prepress hours, rate, billable share, and new tooling.

The inputs for this scenario

  • Prepress rework hours: 6 hr (held at the documented default)
  • Loaded prepress labor rate: 65 $ / hr (held at the documented default)
  • Billable revision share: 72 % (the input this scenario stresses; the baseline uses 100)
  • New plate or cylinder cost: 420 $ (held at the documented default)

Working through the calculation

  • The calculation starts from the formula this tool documents: Artwork change cost = prepress hours × loaded prepress rate × billable revision share + new plate or cylinder cost.
  • Total artwork change cost works out to 701 $ at these inputs, and this is the headline figure for the scenario.
  • Artwork change cost per unit works out to 117 $ / piece at these inputs.
  • Variable artwork change cost works out to 281 $ at these inputs.
  • Fixed artwork change cost adder works out to 420 $ at these inputs.

How this compares with the baseline

  • Against the tool's baseline example, where billable revision share sits at 100% and the headline result is 810 $, this scenario comes in 13.48% below the baseline at 701 $.
  • It computes the total cost of an artwork revision by adding billable prepress labor to any new plate or cylinder tooling, then divides by prepress hours to show cost per hour. When the numbers land here, the stressed input is the lever to work; the walkthrough above shows exactly how much each output recovers as it climbs back toward the baseline.

Results at a glance

  • Total artwork change cost: 701 $ (headline result)
  • Artwork change cost per unit: 117 $ / piece
  • Variable artwork change cost: 281 $
  • Fixed artwork change cost adder: 420 $

Run it with your numbers

  • To rerun this with your own numbers, open the live Artwork Change Cost calculator, set billable revision share to your actual value, and adjust the remaining inputs to match your operation.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.