Opening: the tint canisters

What does this tour show?

It shows the first five minutes of a paint and hardware shop's day, spent at the tinting machine rather than the till. Nuwan, the owner in our sample business, opens the Pigments page at quarter to eight, sees three canisters at or below their reorder level, and tops up the one that matters most before any builder arrives.

A tint machine is only as reliable as its emptiest canister. A colour like a pale blue-grey might need only a few millilitres of phthalo blue, but if that canister is nearly dry the batch comes out wrong and the customer notices on the wall, not at the counter. The tour is short because the job is short, as long as the numbers are in front of you.

Why check the canisters before opening?

Because mornings are when contractors collect, and a stopped machine at 8.30 costs more than a refill at 7.45. A painter waiting for 20 litres will not wait long. The Pigments page turns a walk round the machine into a single list sorted by urgency, so the owner spends the time on refilling, not on looking.

The page groups canisters into three bands:

Oxide red (240 ml) and lamp black (290 ml) also sit under Refill now, which is why the heading reads "3 pigments at or below the reorder level".

Step by step

1. Open Pigments from the paint menu. Do this before unlocking the front door. The page heading tells you at once how many canisters are at or below their reorder level, so you know whether this is a two-minute job or a ten-minute one.
2. Read the count in the heading. In the tour it says three. That number is worked out from each canister's ml left against its own reorder level, not from a guess, so a canister with a higher threshold (like a white used in most pastels) is judged by its own rule.
3. Look at Refill now first. These cards sit at the top, each with the tint name, its code, the ml left and a bar for how full it is. Phthalo blue shows 180 ml. Most blues, greys and greens in a fan deck lean on it, so it is the one to fix first.
4. Scan Getting low. These canisters are still above their reorder level but under 30% full. They will not stop a mix today, but a large exterior job could push one of them under the line by afternoon. Make a mental note or refill them now if you have the tint on the shelf.
5. Ignore Enough for now, for today. Knowing what you do not need to touch is part of the value. It keeps the morning check short.
6. Refill the canister in the machine. Top up the phthalo blue from your bulk stock in the usual way. Stir or purge it as your machine requires.
7. Type the amount added, in ml. On the right of the page, choose the canister and enter what went in. In the tour it is 1,800 ml, which lifts the canister from 180 ml to 1,980 ml of its 2,000 ml capacity. The "After the refill" figure confirms it before you save.
8. Check it has left Refill now. Once saved, the canister moves out of the top group. If the heading count drops from three to two, the record matches what you just did.
9. Repeat for the other low canisters if you have tint. Oxide red and lamp black are also in Refill now in the sample. Do them in the same way, or leave a note for whoever opens tomorrow.

What should you look for on the screen?

Three things matter more than the rest:

• The ml left, not the bar alone. A bar looks similar at 9% and 14%, but 180 ml and 290 ml are very different when a deep colour needs 20 ml of one tint.
• The reorder level for each canister. Whites often carry a higher threshold than strong tints because they are used in larger amounts.
• The capacity. Typing a refill bigger than the space left is a sign the earlier record was wrong. Fix it rather than forcing the number.

Tips for a smooth morning check

• Do the check at the same time every day, before the first customer, so it becomes routine rather than a reaction.
• Keep at least one spare bottle of your two most used tints. The page tells you what is low, but it cannot refill from an empty shelf.
• Record the refill straight after pouring. Waiting until later is how levels drift away from reality.
• If a new staff member opens on Sundays, show them this one page. It is the most useful thing they can check without training on the whole system.
• After a busy day of deep colours, look again before closing. It saves the morning rush.

Common mistakes

• Refilling without recording. The machine is full but the page still says 180 ml, so tomorrow's warning is wrong and staff learn to ignore it.
• Recording the bottle size, not the amount poured. If you pour half a one-litre bottle, type 500 ml, not 1,000 ml.
• Treating Getting low as safe. A large weather coat order can take a canister from 30% to empty in one afternoon.
• Setting every reorder level the same. A tint used in tiny drops and a white used by the cup need different thresholds. Adjust them once and the warnings become trustworthy.
• Skipping the check on quiet days. Quiet mornings are when a refill is easy; busy ones are when an empty canister hurts.

What should you do next?

With the canisters topped up, the shop is ready for its first mix. The next tour in the day, mixing a colour for a builder, shows how the mixing drawer checks each tint against these same canisters before you press Mark as mixed. It is worth following straight after this one because the two screens talk to each other: every mix takes tint off the levels you just set.

If you are new to reorder levels in general, the reorder point guide explains how to choose a sensible threshold, and the stock control guide covers the wider habit of counting and recording stock as it moves. For a full count of tins and sundries, see how to do a stocktake.

How EasyTaskr helps

EasyTaskr's paint module keeps tint canisters as stock, groups them by how full they are, and records each refill in millilitres. Mixing a batch takes the tints off the canisters automatically, so the morning check reflects the work done the day before.