A cylinder register that stays up to date
- Cylinders grouped by job, with colour, circumference, print width and face length
- Rack and slot location, searchable by cylinder code or rack
- Engraving cost, and whether the customer or your company paid the engraver
- New cylinders received from the engraver against the purchase, then put away
- Status: in store, on the press, sent for re-chroming or scrapped
Linked to the job and the artwork
Colour separation lists the cylinders a job needs: process colours and spot colours. When the cylinders arrive they are added to the job, so planning knows the job is ready to print and the store knows which rack to pull them from.
In a company with several plants, each cylinder belongs to a unit.
Questions
Why track gravure cylinders in software?
A cylinder set costs a lot and is reused for repeat orders. A register with location, condition and owner avoids re-engraving cylinders you already have and saves time on every changeover.
Can we record who paid for the cylinders?
Yes. Each cylinder records whether the customer or your company paid the engraver, which matters for repeat orders and job costing.