Printing, Labels & Industrial Converting worked example

Color Changeover Time at 7.2% wash-up, purge, and make-ready allowance: a worked example

This worked example runs the color changeover time numbers for a tougher week than the baseline: 7.2% wash-up, purge, and make-ready allowance instead of the typical 10%. Estimate color changeover time for printing, labels and industrial converting using production-ready inputs so teams can plan labor hours, schedule the work, or check whether the job fits the available shift time.

The inputs for this scenario

  • Impressions to run before the color change: 120 units (held at the documented default)
  • Press throughput at running speed: 12 units / min (held at the documented default)
  • Wash-up, purge, and make-ready allowance: 7.2 % (the input this scenario stresses; the baseline uses 10)

Working through the calculation

  • The calculation starts from the formula this tool documents: Base color changeover time = color changeover time workload รท color changeover time completion rate.
  • Required color changeover time works out to 10.72 hr at these inputs, and this is the headline figure for the scenario.
  • Base color changeover time works out to 10 hr at these inputs.
  • Color changeover time allowance applied works out to 7.2 % at these inputs.
  • Color changeover time completion rate works out to 12 pieces / min at these inputs.

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 2.55% below the baseline at 10.72 hr.
  • Use it when planning a run that requires an ink or color-station swap, sizing SMED improvement targets, or quoting jobs with multiple color changes per shift. A result at this level usually justifies acting on the stressed input before touching anything else, because every other figure in the table is downstream of it.

Results at a glance

  • Required color changeover time: 10.72 hr (headline result)
  • Base color changeover time: 10 hr
  • Color changeover time allowance applied: 7.2 %
  • Color changeover time completion rate: 12 pieces / min

Run it with your numbers

  • To rerun this with your own numbers, open the live Color Changeover Time calculator, set wash-up, purge, and make-ready allowance to your actual value, and adjust the remaining inputs to match your operation.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.