Printing, Labels & Industrial Converting worked example
Print Setup Cost at 110% percent of setup billed to the customer: a worked example
Push percent of setup billed to the customer up to 110% and the picture changes. This example computes every intermediate figure at that operating point. A print shop uses this to capture the makeready burden a short run must absorb before pricing.
The inputs for this scenario
- Make-ready labor hours: 3 hours (unchanged)
- Combined operator and press hourly rate: 95 $/hr (unchanged)
- Percent of setup billed to the customer: 110 % (raised for this scenario; the documented default is 100)
- Wash-up and setup material waste cost: 140 $ (unchanged)
Working through the calculation
- Applying the documented formula (Total setup cost = setup hours x operator+press rate x chargeable share% + wash-up cost) to the inputs above produces each figure below.
- At this operating point the engine returns 454 $ for total print setup cost, the number this scenario is built around.
- At this operating point the engine returns 151 $ / piece for print setup cost per unit.
- At this operating point the engine returns 314 $ for variable print setup cost.
- At this operating point the engine returns 140 $ for fixed print setup cost adder.
How this compares with the baseline
- Against the tool's baseline example, where percent of setup billed to the customer sits at 100% and the headline result is 425 $, this scenario comes in 6.71% above the baseline at 454 $.
- Computes total setup cost from make-ready hours times a loaded rate times the chargeable share, plus wash-up and waste, then divides by hours to give cost per setup hour. The value of this scenario is the size of the gap it exposes: that gap, priced out over a year, is the budget you can justify spending to close it.
Results at a glance
- Total print setup cost: 454 $ (headline result)
- Print setup cost per unit: 151 $ / piece
- Variable print setup cost: 314 $
- Fixed print setup cost adder: 140 $
Run it with your numbers
- Every input above is editable in the live Print Setup Cost calculator, which recalculates instantly and can be shared with the inputs intact.
Last reviewed 2026-05-12.