EquipmentBeta
Model your machines, their processes, run speeds, setup times, and volume-tiered click charges — the labor and per-unit cost side of every Print MIS calculation.
Equipment represents the machines and resources that do the work — presses, digital printers, cutters, laminators, folders, and any other station a job passes through. Like Materials, the Equipment library is a per-storefront catalog you maintain once and reference from any configuration. Where materials supply a job's material cost, equipment supplies its labor cost and any per-unit running charges.
Equipment
Each piece of equipment is defined by a small set of fields:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | The display name of the machine or station — for example "HP Indigo 7900" or "Polar Guillotine". |
| Department | Optional grouping for organizing equipment by area of the shop. |
| Hourly Rate | The labor cost per hour of running this equipment. Process run, setup, and takedown times are converted to cost against this rate. |
| Description | Optional notes about the machine. |
Processes
A machine on its own doesn't price anything — its processes do. A process is a specific operation the equipment performs, and a single piece of equipment can have several. Each process describes how fast it runs and how long it takes to prepare:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | The operation's name — for example "4-Color Print", "Cut", or "Laminate". |
| Unit Name | The unit the speed is measured in — for example B/W Clicks, feet, sheets, or impressions. |
| Speed | How many units the process completes per hour. Run time for a job is its quantity divided by this speed. |
| Setup Time | Fixed preparation time, in minutes, added once per run. |
| Takedown Time | Fixed teardown time, in minutes, added once per run. |
A process step in a configuration binds to one of these processes. The step's labor cost comes from the time the process takes — run time derived from the speed, plus setup and takedown — multiplied by the equipment's hourly rate. Configurations can override a process's speed, setup, and takedown with formulas when a category needs job-specific timing.
Cost ranges
Beyond labor time, a process can carry cost ranges — volume-tiered per-unit charges, most commonly used for click charges that get cheaper at higher quantities. Each range covers a quantity bracket and sets the cost per unit within it:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| From Quantity | The lower bound of the bracket (inclusive). |
| To Quantity | The upper bound of the bracket. |
| Cost per Unit | The per-unit charge applied to quantities that fall in this bracket. |
When a job's quantity falls inside a range, Print MIS applies that range's per-unit cost to the process — letting you reflect, for example, a lower click charge above 5,000 impressions.
Import and export
The Equipment list supports Excel import and export. The workbook has three sheets, joined by name:
| Sheet | Columns |
|---|---|
| Equipment | Id · Name · HourlyRate |
| Processes | Id · EquipmentName · Name · Speed · SetupTime · TakedownTime · UnitName |
| CostRanges | Id · EquipmentName · ProcessName · FromQuantity · ToQuantity · CostPerUnit |
As with materials, imports are additive and update-only — rows with an existing Id update, blank Id rows insert, and anything not in the workbook is left untouched. Imports never delete equipment, processes, or ranges.
Materials
Build a reusable library of substrates, consumables, and packaging priced per unit — the material side of every Print MIS cost calculation.
Formulas
The Print MIS formula language and its two editors — a code expression editor and a drag-and-drop block builder — with the complete reference of variables, operators, and functions.