How much money can you make with the new, compact direct-to-film printer, the DTF-12H2? We did an ROI study to let you see the potential.
For this study we are using a full color image of a Maine Coon Cat with an Attitude. The image is 9.26” wide by 13.8” tall. In another ROI article we did this job as a 100 shirt retail print job. But in this article, we are going to base our calculations on a wholesale transfer order.
To determine time and costs we did a run of 10 designs on the DTF-12H2 and then multiplied our numbers by 10 and added the costs and time associated with the lead out of the film at the end of the prints.
Ink, film, and powder costs are based on “one off” pricing, however, buying larger quantities will increase discount – thus reducing your Cost of Goods sold.
Print Materials Cost | Ink, Powder & Film
We processed the image (10 copies) through the PrintOptimizer software and the total calculated price for the prints (ink, film and powder) was $6.85 total for all 10 prints.
Job Cost for 10 Transfers:
$2.84 Film + $2.01 Powder + $2.00 Ink = $6.85 for 10 transfers
This means each transfer costs $0.69 to produce.
$6.85 / 10 = $0.69 per transfer
And to product 100 of the transfers, it would have cost $68.50 in material.
$6.85 x 10 = $68.50 for 100 transfers
At the end of the print job we send a film advance print file that pushes the remaining transfers all the way through the shaker and dryer unit. This file uses $2.17 in ink, film and powder.
$68.50 (100 transfers) + $2.17 (film advance file) = $70.67 Total Transfer Costs
$68.50 (100 transfers) + $2.17 (film advance file) = $70.67 Total Transfer Costs
You can find DTF Printer Supplies for the DTF-12H2, DTF-24H2, and DTF-24H4, here.
Print Time | DTF-12H2
Print time for these was just under 18 minutes for all. Based on our example we are printing 100 shirts so total print time would be 180 minutes or 3 hours.
18 mins (10 transfers) x 10 = 180 minutes (3 hours) to print 100 transfers
At the end of the print job we send a film advance print file that takes just under 9:30 to print.
We will add together the total print time, plus the print time to advance your film (which you only do at the end of day when you finish ALL your jobs).
It takes 3 hours and 10 minutes from the time the first print starts until the last image exits the shaker/dryer.
3:00 (print time for graphic) + 9:30 (film advance print file) = approx. 3:10
It is up to you as to how you candle things at this point. You can re-roll the prints and drop them into a shipping tube or trim them and ship them in an envelope or a box.
Either way it should not take over 30 minutes to do either.
Job Cost for 10 Transfers:
3:10 (total print time) + :30 (preparing shipment) = 3:40 Total Job Time
Putting It All Together | Total Job Profits
On the low end, the going rate of wholesale transfers online is $0.04 per square inch.
Based on the size of the design in this article, each of these transfers has a retail value or $5.11.
So, an order of 100 transfers would sell $511. That would leave you with a profit of $440.33.
$511 (retail value) – $70.67 (cost) = $440.33 net profit
Even if we allow $76.67 for labor ($20 per hour) we net over $363 in profit for under 4 hours of work. And, in reality, the printer was only running for 3 hours of that.
It is fully conceivable that you could queue up another job and have it printing while you were processing this order after printing.
What Does My Return-on-Investment Look Like?
With a monthly lease payment around $340 on the DTF-12H2, you could make each payment by running one job like this a month!
If you can do two of these jobs a week you would profit over $37,000 per year and if you could do two of these a day – 5 days a week – you would profit over $188,000 per year!
Even at wholesale the DTF-12H2 has serious ROI potential!
