Pressing Plant Actual Starting Cost

[mossboss]

Maybe its time that we have some real life cost of starting a pressing plant
That other sticky is been up for a long time, it has been viewed many many times by all kinds of people
It was based on used equipment as that was all there was available at the time it was written up
Since that Time there has been a number of new machines that have been available, been sold by the manufacturers which have been installed all over the world
Pheenix tells us that they have sold 300 machines in the last 6-7 years
I have no Idea about Viral record press numbers, same for Newbilt, no information at hand, we can guess but that's not the point of this post
It will be useful for people that may have the idea of starting up a plant to have a real life situation in so far as what has been the cost for a clean slate start up, lets say a 2 press setup or a four press It be nice to see the difference
I am sure there are many people here who are in a position to contribute to this, anonymously of course, or even disclosing their identity if they so wish
Lets see if we can get any replies to this little request
In the absence of any real live input I may be able to take a stub at it which may take a bit of time, but lets see if anyone here chips in

Best

[trendkiller]

I'll chime in. Quick answer. Two press startup = around $1 million dollars U.S.

[mossboss]

Thanks Great short and sweet
Can you please clarify that this is from your own experience or heard it from someone
I don't think that's far off the mark regardless

Best

[theinhabitant]

Beyond the money (which is extreme), it will can and likely will take years to get to get the infrastructure and fine tuning dialed in to achieve the quality of pressings customers expect. You also have an oversaturation of pressing plants around the world who have been through all this. Not a wise business to get into currently if you don't have extremely deep pockets, time, intermediate to advanced mechanical ability, and a tolerance for pain.

[Alggys]

Moss, happy to have met you in Haarlem, my Macedonian friend.
For us, organizing and building a small pressing plant in terms of room and capacity- two presses- Newbuilt ones.
Considering that all of the construction and refurbishment (sometimes overlooked, as no place is ready to accommodate all of the specifics that a pressing plant has) was handled by us (no contractors, apart from steam and gas) it took us months of our own time, tools and materials, the estimate is around 300K euros.
So it's not that steep, but we do have a month or to until we're ready, I'll update when we go broke.

[mossboss]

Ok so far so Good We need more Input from ppl that are actually the game or have gone down the path Of course all Input bis welcome keeping it within the scopemof the heading
Hello to the Cherry Tree man as well as the Cow that was provided to Gran as compensation! are you ,liking it yet? Ha
Good Luck and keep in touch
Best

[untitledthe]

I think its not easy to give a detailed overview of costs here open and public for all non-contributers reading along and without biting you in the tail later on.
My project is hobby based and the goal is a converted hydraulic press to a semi-auto press with the usual what is needed to press records, watertreatment, boiler, extruder, trimmer, watercoolingtower, pump.

This is still work in progress and nothing near the level as the proffesional setups people mention here, and - so far - for a fraction of the amounts mentioned here. The goal is to keep it waaaay south of 100.000 euro, perhaps even half of it if achievable. Also important to mention, spread out in 4-5 years when finished/start pressing. So you got very different prices and projects going on here in this topic.

[markrob]

Hi,

I'm curious if you are in a hobby mode if you have looked into the Cook Microfusion process for pressing? No boiler or steam needed and very much lower pressures as compared to the standard approach. I've played with the process on a very low budget on and off over the years with some success such that if I had that much to invest and the drive, I could make it viable for sure.

Regards,

Mark

[untitledthe]

Yes i have read about Cook Microfusion, much easier to start up but downside is you will stay at hobbylevel production with very slow cycletimes and you still need stampers. If i wanted to go in that direction i would have gone into lathe cutting.
My project as in recordpressing will stay hobby as long as its still in research and development, then later on when the process is stable and build up a small clientele perhaps going part time with my regular job. Building it from the ground up.

[untitledthe]

https://www.instagram.com/vinylfeeling/

[llary]

I have always been happy to assist newcomers with technical advice and along the way I have had many requests for help with pricing, margins and general business. Unfortunately these requests always seem to come AFTER space has been leased and presses ordered which I find somewhat astonishing and irresponsible.

Yes, I understand as much as anyone how cool it is to imagine owning your own pressing plant but it's very easy to forget that you are getting into a difficult, niche, fairly low margin manufacturing business. As a small or mid sized plant many of your customers will be independent artists and I think we should all feel some moral obligation to make sure our businesses are solid and stable.

The initial costs of purchasing equipment are just a small part of any potential manufacturing operation. There are lots of questions to answer before deciding whether this business is right for you:

- do you have a good estimate of your annual operating costs, and will you have 2-3 years float to keep you running while you acquire customers?
- how long have you allocated as a break-in/training period? Don't forget if you have zero experience you will not be able to hit the ground running and start making paid orders from day one.
- have you done your homework to understand what your fixed and floating costs will look like? PVC, rent, electricity, gas, chemicals, tools, payroll, taxes.
- will your lacquers and stampers be made by 3rd parties and if so how will you maintain a good relationship with your suppliers?
- what do you expect to achieve in regards to capacity and do you understand how capacity affects your margin?
- have you analyzed the market, identified your potential competition and set target pricing that would make your products attractive? What does your margin look like and are you sure you have a worthwhile business on paper?
- how will you manage and track orders internally?
- if you are planning to operate a one or two press plant, what is your backup plan when machines break down (when, not if)?
- will you have systems in place to monitor plant/employee performance (the answer should be yes)?
- how will you find customers and what is your unique selling point?

[llary]

I forgot to add that I have done the math and in western countries I personally think a 4 auto press plant is the minimum sensible configuration. Efficiencies of scale are very important in this business and it's very difficult to make money out of two presses. With 4 presses your costs per unit are lower but you also need more work to keep them busy. You also have a lot more stability as you can afford to have one machine down longer for maintenance or repairs.

[armshouse]

These are a couple of good posts from llary. All important common sense questions that anyone considering opening a new plant should be asking themselves and few do. I fear that the calculation of 4 auto presses being the minimum setup to turn a profit is also correct. This doesn't bode well for the majority of the US plants who are operating with one or two presses.

[mossboss]

Fantastic input from all as well as the last two post's
How about some numbers like euro/dollars to get setup ??
Simple numbers like:
One, 2, 3 or 4 presses, we already have some input on a 2 press setup
So
Boiler to suit above
Cooling system to suit
Plumbing power supply air compressors vacuum pump (chiller)
We can look at basics first for the common one or two press setup refine later perhaps
Best