Media Inventory & Cost Calculation

A tutorial for tracking rolls, sheet media, consumption, reorder alerts, and estimated production cost per label or job.

Purpose

This guide explains how to use Media Inventory to avoid accepting jobs without enough stock, estimate cost, and keep a production history for short-run labels.

Media InventoryRoll stock Sheet mediaConsumption SQLiteReorder alerts Job costing

1. What to track

Item	Data to store	Why it matters
Media profile	ID, name, width, material, supplier, unit cost.	Used for printer setup and cost calculation.
Roll stock	Roll ID, media ID, initial length, remaining length, threshold.	Prevents starting jobs without enough media.
Sheet stock	Media ID, sheet count, size, tray/bypass notes.	Useful for C651/C844/Xerox/inkjet sheet jobs.
Movement	Quantity, label length, gap, setup waste, calibration waste.	Turns job data into consumed media.
Alert	Remaining stock below threshold.	Triggers reordering before production stops.

2. Create media profiles

Open inventory

Use Tools > Media Inventory.

Add media

Create media IDs for each material, width, supplier, and unit cost.

Add roll or sheet stock

For roll printers, create one roll record per physical roll.

Set thresholds

Choose a reorder threshold based on minimum safe production length or sheet count.

3. Consumption formula

For roll labels, the basic consumption estimate is:

quantity × (label length + gap) + setup waste + calibration waste

For example: 500 × (51 mm + 3 mm) + 1 000 mm + 500 mm = 28 500 mm, which equals 28.5 meters of roll media.

4. Cost calculation

Cost element	Formula	Notes
Media cost	`consumed meters × unit cost per meter`	Unit cost is stored in media profile.
Waste cost	`(setup + calibration waste) × unit cost`	Track separately for margin improvement.
Cost per label	`job media cost ÷ good labels produced`	Use actual good quantity when possible.
Minimum charge	`media + ink/toner + labor + setup + margin`	Important for small runs below 500 labels.

Use estimated cost for quoting, but update with actual consumption after production.

5. Synchronize SQLite

Media Inventory can keep JSON files for portability and synchronize a local SQLite database for reporting.

Click Sync SQLite.
The database is stored as inventory/inventory.sqlite.
Tables include media, rolls, movements, and alerts.
Use SQLite for reports, dashboards, exports, or future Label Server integration.

6. Reorder workflow

Set threshold

Define minimum remaining length or sheets for each material.

Apply movement

After a job, apply consumption to update remaining stock.

Review alerts

If remaining stock is below threshold, create a purchase action.

Update stock

When new rolls arrive, create new roll records instead of overwriting old history.

7. Final workflow

Recommended flow: create media profile → create roll/sheet stock → attach roll ID to job → print test → apply consumption movement → sync SQLite → review cost and alerts.