time for cleaning up 10" mark andy

[longtimefan]

I am in process gathering info from my presses on clean up time.

I would like to know how long others take to clean up water based ink in a 10 inch mark andy 2200 press.

[Frank Burgos]

Hi Longtimefan,

Five minutes, if the operator doesn't de-mount plates, store tooling, move materials, wash pans, etc. I find that narrow web operators tend to have too little support, more often than not, so add to that, depending on what the operators have to do that others could, instead.

If the operator has to do the above sort of stuff, it takes much longer and varies from place to place.

In five minutes, a Mark Andy 220 operator can:
Remove plate cylinder and set on lower shelf of workbench
Remove and wipe doctor blade assembly and set on lower shelf of workbench
Drain ink and set ink jug on lower shelf of workbench
Wash and dry anilox and rubber fountain roller, in press
Remove anilox and set on lower shelf of workbench
Drain wash water from pan
Remove ink pan, set on lower shelf of workbench and wipe excess ink/wash from pan, or just leave as-is with plug in place

That's off the top of my head. Ideally, the tools and materials will disappear and there will already have been the tooling and materials for the next job staged on the upper shelf of the workbench, ready to go.

[longtimefan]

Ok..

Most of my experience is wide web CI..

My crew claims it's at least up to15 min per station.. I said that's way to long.

I Want to observe their procedure... I think it's way to long

[Frank Burgos]

If they're taking 15 minutes per station, there's opportunity to be had. If you set yourself up, as an operator, and work diligently and have an efficeint and effective wash-up process, five minutes. If they do it consistently in an average of 10 minutes, allowing for miscellaneous challenges or missteps, I'll be OK.

Among the greatest stumbling blocks I see in the narrow web world is all the stuff the operators keep at and around there work station. Cleaners, spare parts, obsolete items.etc. Clutter and lack of working surface.

Set up the environment to be ergonomic and organized to facilitate lower wash-up times, wherever you're starting from. It'll help with downtime, set-up time, waste, quality and morale.

[Fuzz]

For estimating purposes we calculate 10 minutes per deck. I think they use all of that. Press helpers does speed this up.

[longtimefan]

I see them draining one deck at a time.. I questioned why can't we do more than one at a time..reason is we use water base and will dry up.

I explained that just watch it and keep squirting it with your soap.. They don't belive it would work

[Fuzz]

We use water based too. Among others. Years ago we designed a tray the anilox roll sits in. It holds wash fluid. The operator just needs to set it in and spin it around, get working on the next drain then get back to cleaning the anilox or spin it around again. Works well. Better yet, is having someone else cleaning that anilox and draining the other decks while the operator is setting up the new decks/job.

[Frank Burgos]

[quote="longtimefan"]I see them draining one deck at a time.. I questioned why can't we do more than one at a time..reason is we use water base and will dry up.

I explained that just watch it and keep squirting it with your soap.. They don't belive it would work[/quote]

Hi longtimefan,

I don't recommend multi-tasking deck cleanup to people I train. I want them to focus on being as efficient as possible, one deck at a time. I want them calm, focused and under control.

[Fuzz]

Smooth is fast....I agree with Frank.

[RollerGuy]

Are you using Dip trays? If not, I would suggest giving them a try.

One thing that I like to do is presoak all of my rags with with whatever cleaning agents you may use.

I will have 3 piles of folded rags soaked with the following: water, slow and UV Clean (yes, I use it on waterbase).

This cuts down on LGFG time by not having to stop what you're doing and wet your rag down. It keeps me in my groove, so to speak. This may be common logic but I don't see anyone else in our shop doing it.

[RollerGuy]

Among the greatest stumbling blocks I see in the narrow web world is all the stuff the operators keep at and around there work station. Cleaners, spare parts, obsolete items.etc. Clutter and lack of working surface.

Set up the environment to be ergonomic and organized to facilitate lower wash-up times, wherever you're starting from. It'll help with downtime, set-up time, waste, quality and morale.

As an Expeditor/Press assistant, I can't love this statement more. Our operators are not usually involved in the cleanup of the press but throughout the run, many will just throw dirty rags and tools on the workbench when finished with them.

The old statement "A place for everything and everything in it's place" , I find, is key for a timely washup.

[Frank Burgos]

Yup