A commercial printing business is indeed a great way of earning a steady stream of income. The initial capital that you need will have to be big but you can save a lot during the initial stages of your startup.
In order for you to operate your commercial printing business, you need particular pieces of equipment. It is up to you to decide how you will run your business. You can decide to run it as an internet business, a storefront or a home-based business.
You can also choose the type of printing business that’s suitable for you. Examples of printing business that you can specialize in include printing of election ballots, documents and brochures, business cards, screen printing fabrics and vinyl printing. It’s vital that you decide which type of printing business you want to specialize in because it will help you purchase the right equipment.
Type Of Printing Equipment For Your Commercial Printing Business
1. Printing System
A printer is one of the most important pieces of equipment your commercial printing business needs. The type of printer that you need will depend on the type of printing business you plan to specialize in.
There are three types of printers: offset printer, screen printer, laser printer and inkjet printer. If you want to, for example, venture into vinyl printing, you’ll need to acquire a label inkjet and extra wide sign printer.
If you prefer to specialize in printing business cards, a laser printer would be an excellent choice. If you want to print large volumes of high quality documents and spend less money, then offset press will suffice. Screen printers are suitable for businesses that specialize in printing onto fabrics.
2. Design Software
You will need a computer and design software to print items for your customers. Once more, the type of design software that you need will be determined by the type of commercial printing business you want to open.
You may want to invest in high end specialized design programs for drawing graphics while simple desktop programs are enough to design documents and business cards. Keep in mind that the design software you choose has to be compatible with your computer; if it isn’t, your computer won’t be able to run it smoothly.
Your software has to have certain features in order to make it more flexible. For instance, a client may approach you with a project that requires different fonts. If your software doesn’t have different fonts or has a limited selection, then you might lose many customers.
3. Inventory
You’ll need to purchase the items you’ll be printing on such as papers and fabric. You must have a variety of inventory to meet your customer’s needs. For example, if you plan to specialize in printing business cards, you need to have different varieties of cardstock to give customers a wider selection of texture and quality that they are looking for.
4. Cutting Equipment
A cutting system is very important for your commercial printing business. If you are going to venture in the vinyl sign printing business, you’ll need a cutter for cutting out graphics and letters. For business cards, a hand operated cutter or a hydraulic cutter will suffice.
5. Accounting Software
Regardless of whether your business is internet based or home based, you will need to track your inventory, expenses and sales and for that, you will need to find the right accounting software programs.
Money Saving Tips
One of the biggest challenges faced by startups is acquiring the equipment that they need to run their business smoothly. It can be very hard for a startup commercial printing business to be able to afford the best equipment money can buy and so some businesses end up buying cheap and low quality equipment.
The good news is that you don’t have to start with low quality equipment. Thanks to equipment leasing programs, you can still acquire all the pieces of equipment that you need without tying up all your capital in equipment. The following are some of the benefits that you will enjoy when you lease your printing equipment:
- Flexibility
- Tax savings
- regular upgrades to equipment
- regular maintenance and repair to equipment
- acquisition of state of the art equipment
For more Information on leasing printing equipment for your commercial printing business, simply CLICK HERE.