The short answer
Makeready is everything between the last good unit of one job and the first good unit of the next: plate or die changes, inking, registration, color matching and test prints. It costs press time and substrate on every job, whatever the run length. On long runs it barely shows. On the short runs that now dominate many shops, it can be a fifth or more of the material on a job, and a large share of its press time.
Run lengths have been falling for years, and clients are still cutting them: commercial printers report clients reducing run sizes, with real (inflation-adjusted) sales down 1.8% in the first nine months of 2025 (Printing Impressions, December 2025). Each shorter run makes makeready a bigger share of cost.
What makeready really costs (illustrative)
A sheetfed job of 2,000 sheets with a 150-sheet makeready allowance and 40 minutes of makeready on a press costing $180 an hour, fully loaded:
| Cost | Calculation | Per job |
|---|---|---|
| Makeready press time | 40 min ÷ 60 × $180 | $120 |
| Makeready sheets | 150 × $0.12 paper and ink | $18 |
| Plates | 4 plates × $15 | $60 |
| Makeready total | $198 | |
| Running the 2,000 good sheets | at 6,000 sheets an hour, plus paper and ink | $300 |
Here makeready is about 40% of the press cost of the job. Halve the run and it becomes more than half. Use the print job profit calculator with the Offset, Digital press or Labels preset to see it on your own numbers.
How to measure makeready
- Time: from last good unit to first good unit, per job, from press logs or operator entries.
- Waste: sheets, meters or units run before saleable output, per job.
- By job type: number of colors, substrate, special inks, coatings, dies and finishing.
- By press, crew and shift: the gaps between the best and worst are often large.
Industry benchmarking has long shown wide spreads. A PIA/GATF benchmarking study reported by Frank Romano found a five-times difference in press waste between the most and least efficient participants on the same test job. The point is not the old numbers but the spread: in most shops, the best crew’s makereadies already show what is possible.
Six ways to cut makeready waste
- Gang and sequence similar jobs by paper, size, colors and inks so each changeover is smaller.
- Prepare off press: plates, inks, dies and substrates staged before the press stops.
- Standardize color targets and use measured ink presets rather than adjusting by eye.
- Move short runs to digital where the crossover point says so, and keep offset or flexo for longer runs.
- Set a makeready allowance per job type and track actual against it, by press and crew.
- Quote with makeready in the price, so short runs carry their own setup cost.
Labels and packaging
Narrow-web label and packaging printers face the same math in meters of substrate and in die and plate changes. Frequent short jobs, many SKUs and versioning multiply changeovers. Measuring waste by job, substrate and press, and scheduling to minimize changeovers, usually pays back faster than new equipment.
From measuring to predicting
Your print management or MIS system already records jobs, presses, substrates and times. An AI layer on top of it can show makeready time and waste by job type, press and crew, predict which upcoming jobs will run long, and suggest a better sequence for tomorrow’s schedule.
Want to see where your makeready time and waste really go? Bring us one problem. We’ll show you on your own data.
Bring us one problem →Frequently asked questions
What is makeready in printing?
The setup between the last good unit of one job and the first good unit of the next: plate or die changes, inking, registration, color matching and test prints.
What is makeready waste?
The sheets, meters of substrate or units used during makeready before saleable output starts.
How do you reduce makeready time?
Sequence similar jobs, prepare plates, inks and substrates off press, use measured color presets, and track makeready by press and crew against a standard.
When should a job move from offset to digital?
When the run is short enough that offset makeready time and waste cost more than digital click and run costs. Compare both with your own numbers.
How much makeready waste should I quote?
Set an allowance per job type from your own history and include it in the quote, so short runs carry their own setup cost.
