Printing, Labels & Industrial Converting worked example

Color Changeover Time at 12% wash-up, purge, and make-ready allowance: a worked example

What does the result look like when wash-up, purge, and make-ready allowance reaches 12%? The full calculation is worked below with real intermediate numbers. Use it when color changeover time in printing, labels and industrial converting needs a defensible run time before a quote goes out.

The inputs for this scenario

  • Impressions to run before the color change: 120 units (unchanged)
  • Press throughput at running speed: 12 units / min (unchanged)
  • Wash-up, purge, and make-ready allowance: 12 % (raised for this scenario; the documented default is 10)

Working through the calculation

  • Applying the documented formula (Base color changeover time = color changeover time workload รท color changeover time completion rate) to the inputs above produces each figure below.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 11.2 hr for required color changeover time, the number this scenario is built around.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 10 hr for base color changeover time.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 12 % for color changeover time allowance applied.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 12 pieces / min for color changeover time completion rate.

How this compares with the baseline

  • Against the tool's baseline example, where wash-up, purge, and make-ready allowance sits at 10% and the headline result is 11 hr, this scenario comes in 1.82% above the baseline at 11.2 hr.
  • A figure at this level is achievable when wash-up, purge, and make-ready allowance is genuinely sustained, not just peaked for a shift. It treats the allowance as a flat percentage of run time; in reality wash-up and registration set-up are largely fixed and do not scale with impression count, so very short runs will be underestimated.

Results at a glance

  • Required color changeover time: 11.2 hr (headline result)
  • Base color changeover time: 10 hr
  • Color changeover time allowance applied: 12 %
  • Color changeover time completion rate: 12 pieces / min

Run it with your numbers

  • Every input above is editable in the live Color Changeover Time calculator, which recalculates instantly and can be shared with the inputs intact.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.