In the business world, speed is more than a benefit; it’s a necessity, especially when it comes to printing projects. High-speed printers are necessary to meet deadlines, handle high-volume orders, and turn out two or more projects at the same time on higher-grade multifunctional printers. Speed is important, so knowing what speed settings are best for which projects is a handy piece of information to possess. This guide helps print shop owners, as well as any other interested parties, learn more about printing speeds and what speed is best for which prints. Fine-tune your printing projects to elevate and preserve their quality.
Printing Speed: What Is It?
Before moving on, here’s a basic primer on printing speed. Printing speed is typically measured in pages per minute (PPM) or images per minute (IPM) and refers to how quickly a printer can complete a single page or image. As you might expect, speed isn’t everything. Print quality, media type, and printer capabilities also play crucial roles in determining the best speed for a given job. The key is finding the right balance for each project.
Printing Speed Factors
Several elements affect printing speed:
- Printer type: Laser printers offer higher speeds than inkjet printers, but inkjet printers excel at producing photo-quality prints.
- Print resolution: Higher resolutions slow down printing speed, but on the plus side, higher resolution produces finer details in prints.
- Media type: The type of paper, substrate, or media material used affects speed. Specialty media may require slower speeds to ensure quality, while 20-pound uncoated bond paper may work perfectly well at higher speeds.
- Ink and toner: Ink or toner and their respective drying times influence printing speed as well.
Best Printing Speeds for Different Print Jobs
Now to get to the crux of the question, printing speeds: what speed is best for which prints? A variety of reasons, formats, inks, and so forth dictate the best speed for each job.
Black-and-White Text Documents
For black-and-white text documents—words without images—speed is more critical than producing photo-quality prints. Most modern laser printers easily turn out 35 to 45 pages per minute (PPM) without sacrificing readability. If you have bulk printing tasks, such as printing multiple reports, manuals, and invoices, get ready to set the print speed to the highest setting.
Color Documents With Graphics
If your document is in color and provides accompanying graphics, charts, and other images, you’ll need to take a more balanced approach. Speed is important, but maintaining the quality of the visuals supersedes that. Set a speed of around 20 to 30 PPM. If the graphics are detailed or the colors need to be precise, slow it down even further. As with any print project, perform a test run first to find the best possible speed setting.
High-Resolution Photos
Sometimes you need to slow down and say, “Whoa!” Quality trumps speed when it comes to high-resolution photographs, so pace yourself and your printer. Inkjet printers set at a speed of 5 to 10 PPM offer the best, crispest, and most detailed results. A slow pace allows for meticulous color layering and finer reproduction of detail. Photographers and clients want reproduced photos that show every color and line in detail. You can turn out professional-quality photos at lower speeds.
Large-Format Prints
Going big and living large through large-format printing? Posters, banners, architectural plans, and other sizable and sized-up prints require large-format printers capable of handling oversized paper and other media. These printers often use materials that demand slower speeds to maintain accuracy and detail. For large-format prints, a speed of two to five square meters per hour is a good pace that ensures great work.
Flyers and Brochures
Strike a balance between speed and visual appeal with fliers and brochures, which often feature a mix of text and images. This demands moderate speeds to ensure words and pictures are clear and vibrant. Maintain a speed of 15 to 25 PPM. That should be sufficient for producing high-quality work that people can read without wasting time on persnickety and perfect prints.
Business Cards
Thinking small, as in pocket-sized? Business cards’ smaller sizes and high-quality requirements benefit from slower printing speeds. Keep steady at a speed of 10 to 15 PPM to ensure every card is crisp, legible, and professional-looking. Schedule the print job to ensure you can work at this slower rate without interfering with other jobs.
Optimizing Workflow
Those are a few printing speed suggestions for common projects. But what else can you do to ensure you’re moving neither too fast nor too slow?
Calibrate Your Printer
Check your user’s manual or the manufacturer’s website for details on calibrating your printer for optimum efficiency. Regular calibration ensures consistent quality at optimal speeds as well as other functions. If you don’t feel savvy enough to alter the calibration, ask the retailer who sold you the printer or the manufacturer to provide a quick course in calibration (and recalibration)!
The Right Media for the Right Job
Not all media are alike, obviously, and not every substrate is appropriate for the job at hand. Selecting the proper media for each print job can significantly impact speed and quality. Some may produce better results only at specific speeds. Again, talk to your printer dealer or the manufacturer about different media and their effects and how to effectively adjust printing speed settings to keep your prints looking great.
Manage the Print Queue
Most people deal with more than one project at a time, whether simultaneously or over the course of the work week. Prioritize urgent print jobs and organize your print queue to ensure each job gets the time and attention it deserves. Printer management software lets you track and schedule jobs, ensuring high-priority tasks are completed first. Don’t let one project suffer because of another.
Invest in High-Speed Printers
No lie: high-speed printers are worth the expense, paying for themselves in no time. Find a model that offers a balance between speed and quality and that caters to your business’s specific needs.
Train Your Staff
Don’t keep all the good ideas to yourself! Regularly train your staff in operational efficiency, new printing functions, and ways to improve workflow and printing speed. Keep everyone on the same page, so to speak, by ensuring your team understands your printers’ capabilities and best practices for different print jobs. Regular training sessions keep everyone up to date and savvy about new tech and techniques.
Ready to take your print shop to the next level? Contact us for a consultation on high-speed printers and how they can improve your business, projects, and profits!
