NexPressForums

[zelmo]

I know this is an almost impossible question to get a consensus on, given that it is driven so much by the country/region you're located in and the cost of living there, but what pay range are your operators in? At our shop, one operator per shift operates and maintains both 2500's, does the DFE imposition, sets up and runs the small amount of transactional work we run on our Nuvera 144, locates and cuts any ordered stock (we carry cut size, but people want the stock they want - we lost that battle long ago), manages the trash and paper recycling, rebuilds parts, packs up the returns, and puts away ORC inventory. We run everything from full flat color business card sheets 24-up to 14 x 20 posters, and everything in between. Lots of quality expectations, particularly in the current economical climate. We ran 12.3M 8.5x11 impressions last year.
Some of my management still thinks of what we do as 'typing in a qty and clicking print,' like a trained monkey could do the job. That might be true in the b/w world, but not on the NexPress.
When I compare our operator pay rates against all other departments I am dumbstruck. I've been told that perhaps I am overvaluing my staff. Balls. You can make more at Target stocking shelves than as a NexPress trainee. How do you convince someone that they need to show more respect than to pay a folder/stitcher catcher or a 29" press helper more than the position described above?
In the scheme of things, where do you put digital press operators as compared to bindery and offset press operators? Starting pay to experienced operator?
I need some ammo, guys.

[pstuart]

PIA / GATF have guidelines for pay for operators and digital prepress.

Personally, the line is pretty clear.

Digital Operator = someone who pushes the buttons, types in qty's and loads paper. This is an entry level position.

Digital Technician = someone who does maintenance, manages inventories, sets job tickets up like imposition, color management / calibration, etc. This is a journeyman position.

Digital prepress = someone who preps files for digital output, handles proofing, color correction, flattening, troubleshooting, etc. This is a journeyman position consistent with offset prepress skill set.

Digital operators are the lowest paid, because it doesn't require a lot of skillset to accomplish these tasks.

Digital technicians are better paid, much like offset press operators because of what is needed to run a nexpress optimally. These technicians aren't technically required for nexpress operation, but separate the good from the bad.

Sometimes, Digital technicians and digital prepress operators are combined and can be perceived as digital operators, thus the confusion from management. Perception sometimes is reality...

Anyway, ask management to watch a day in the life of operating a Nexpress and see how they value the skillset needed to run the device. That usually helps.

Good luck, but consult the PIA / GATF or local Printing Industry association for the pay scale guidelines for similar positions.

[zelmo]

Thanks for the great reply.
It makes perfect sense to have two classes of operator. Forest for the trees, I guess (or too insular, since we're totally home-grown).

I'll definitely look into this with our local, PIM/SP.

[matthewd32]

While I really do appreciate Pstuart's reply (it is valid and 100% accurate), I don't know if enough owners really appreciate the knack it takes to keep the FE's out of the shop. I'm damn good, I'll admit, but there's guys around my area that are 10 times better than me (better than a few of the FE's).

Unfortunately, showing all the stats of "industry standards" and such doesn't jog the brains of most bean counters, who don't value value. And that value that walks out the door can't be replaced with the flip of a switch. Add to that, like you mentioned, that a pile of other duties often are put on a NP op while he are she are 'just sitting there.' ha

This being said, even salary.com had a few bindery operator and printing coordinator/manager descriptions that helped me ratchet up the pay scale a bit; try them out for your area to get some more ammo. It just wasn't enough for them to take my (trained monkey) position seriously.

Best of luck to you. It's nice to hear of a supervisor still fighting for his team.

-Matthew

[zelmo]

Thanks, but I'm looking out for my own self and the company just as much as I'm looking out for my folks. I don't believe I can afford to give up on this. I appreciate the need to control the cost side perfectly well, but we all know what happens when a valued but under-compensated technician stops ignoring FE gossip and looks into the job market. There is always someone willing to pay more for talent, or just because they need to expand capacity or replace a position.
I'm trying to make my management team understand why it's short sighted to hold down a salary for a good technician just because the economic climate says we can get away with it. We are producing at a certain level and should we lose a key staff member, we will find ourselves in a corner. We'll end up overpaying for someone new who might not be as good as the one we let get away, probably a lot more than it would have taken to keep the one we had.
The job market is bad right now, so there should be as good a chance now to find an experienced technician as ever. We had recruiters on it for four months and interviewed 2 people, both of whom wanted more than $3 an hour more than our really good 2nd shift guy. I've heard from other area companys who are several dollars higher still. The writing on the wall can be seen from space, but apparently not from the boardroom.

[pstuart]

I also want to throw in work environment is often an overlooked "benefit" in relation to wages.

Would you rather work in a horrible environment for a few dollars more an hour or would you take a few dollars less to work in a place that is fun and exciting to work in?

Also, you have to look at the viability of the company as a whole. Will it be around to pay you your higher wages?

Another good measurement of success would be how efficient you keep the nexpress running. For example, take a look at impressions printed during your shift and divide that by total available impressions (speed x hours) and get a percentage. You'll never hit 100% but ask the bean counters what number they use for estimating, budgeting, etc. Work a deal to keep quality as best as you can, and commit to beating that number and ask for a bonus if you can. The company makes money, you make money. Everyone wins.

The main issue from ownership / management perspective is the downtime all digital presses have. Theoretically at 83ppm it should be able to do 3+ million impressions / month. Accountants tend to take a percentage of this number and set budgets to it. The issue is the nexpress can be run lots of different ways that can cost a lot, and rarely is that cost past on to the customer because of the "click" cost.

I wish you luck, this is a tough market, but my advice would be to focus on productivity, uptime and quality and cost containment and management / ownership should listen.

[zelmo]

I just completed analysis of volume/productivity/revenue over the past two calendar years.
We are woefully short of the yields our pricing is built on, but struggling to meet schedules. Two culprits I see:
1. Too many support tasks placed on press personnel.
We don't have enough volume to warrant F/T cutting and QA personnel, so the press operators have absorbed those tasks. That worked well enough at a lower volume, but our job count and impression totals have grown to the point where as much as 40% of press personnel labor is focused on something other than maintenance and press operations.
Based on that, I was able to hire a former employee with solid prepress/imposition/QA skills, a strong back, a sharp mind, and a willingness to learn new things. Just having the stock organized and centrally located has made the press personnel very encouraged.
2. Economic pressure to move jobs from our 5C Speedmaster 52 to the NexPress with no compromise in quality expectations.
Printing 150 sheets with a flat fields 13" wide for the same price as flyers is okay if I have time to slot that job. If I only have a few impressions each day that either require or obviously benefit from the maintenance required for that one job then the ROI on the level of maintenance doesn't work. The NexPress can print beautiful work but not at any time of any day. I'm working with Sales to set quality expectations based on the schedule whenever possible. We are also waiting on our ICS installation, which I hope will help reduce maintenance for job-specific quality issues.

[DonFeltner]

You'll find that the ICS will help a LOT.

Hopefully.... it did with us. IC's and BC's last much longer, and jobs we used to try to run from are now cake.

[pstuart]

Agreed, ICS makes a world of difference in flat field / image quality / stability.

[DanInTheOC]

Pay wages are also based on supply and demand in your city/state. Right now in Southern California is averaging about one new NexPress install per month. The digital growth is huge right now in the area. So the demand for good NexPress operators are high and the supply is low = higher wages.

So I might have the record for most companies worked at that has a NexPress. I start a new job next week. That would make 4 companies in the last 14 months...

Also a big factor in wages is the digital manager knowledge with the NexPress. A manager that realizes the difference between a new operator vs. a good operator vs. a very experience operator. The difference in amount of downtime is huge. Also less mistakes. ORC's lasting longer and so on.