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General => General Discussion and ??? => Topic started by: tonypep on July 26, 2011, 09:02:42 AM
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Some observations based on a conversation with a colleague. The one auto/manual shops tend to have it rather easy. Not that they don't work hard but they don't necessarily need to run full speed 24/7 and may perhaps have a couple of employees often whom are family members. Although there is the stress atributed to being in control of your own destiny with it comes the pride of not having to work for another. The larger shops with say six or more autos, multiple shifts, and dozens of employees have their issues of course but they can usually be attributed to sales volume, cash flow, and HR issues.
It's the midsize folks that I find are most often upside down. Often they have grown sales and volume rapidly and have not had time to step back and really put things under a microscope to see whats really going on. One shop in particular hired an old family friend from the food supply business to run the shop. They had/have three autos and six manuals with sixt heads of embroidery. The business mix was a rather healthy mix of local ad specialty, golf and tennis, and and a recently acquired successful pre-print line. The pre-print line was a private label custom dyed blank using discharge print techniques. Since there was fresh capital and this new acquisition a consultant was brought in to aid in designing a new building and assist in hiring and training new staff.
There were five full time sales staff, four people in "support", a creative director, an art director. four artists, eight screen techs, two ink techs, plus accounting etc. And then ther are the press ops, dryer folks, embroidery staff.
All this to support a factory with one shift three autos etc.
When I first accepted an invite to come up and "look around" it was pretty scary. Actually very scary. Turns out most of the production staff had no experience and were trained very briefly before the consultant left for another project. The production floor was total chaos. Screens and inks were pulled for jobs that had no stock and vice versa. The presses were from three different manufacturers and had different image limits which caused huge setbacks. The dye house orders were based on projections rather than actual sales.
Theres more and a part two on how we "right sized" the company but that will have to be in a part 2 if anyone is interested. I actually need to go run this place as that is where I actually earn a paycheck!
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I'm interested in reading more about your findings. I don't know what we would be considered as, a small auto shop I guess, and depending on how the rest of the year goes, we will probably surpass 1000 jobs this year which isn't much compared to some. Our first full year printing we only did 600 jobs so we are growing. I'd sure like to have a second auto back there one day.
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Id be a smaller than small, small business I am sure but love to hear more.
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I'd like to think most of you regular visitors here stand much less of a chance of getting into trouble as you grow because you "get it". The problem there was too many people hired from outside the industry. They have survived a 30% management and labor force reduction, several acquisitions by company turnaround specialists that could not turn it around and much more, and "business coaches" who gave bad advice. One of the first things I had to do was trim some of the management layers and implement scheduling software.
More on those business coaches later.
tp
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Tony
I feel what your talking about. We are kind of in that size now and some days are very tough. Limited experience on the floor really stretches the guys who are capable of supplying the answers and quick resolutions. And keeping enough work on the floor to maintain cash flow and pay the bills, its a real challenge. Then through in a bunch of bad luck and you really have problems. Like two broken glasses on the exposure unit in a month, transformer burned out on the exposure unit twice in 10 months, thats nearly
3 days of down time this month. Then add in some misprints, scorched poly shirts, etc... Can we just have one good day? I don't even need a week, just a day would be great.
Life would be boring if everything was easy. >:(
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That's true Toby life would be boring but........when you start work at 7:00 and break at 9:30 without printing a single shirt that's a problem. What would happen is that the upstairs management put out a schedule based on due dates.
Sounds rational but when you don't grasp the importance of co-ordinating the interdependant sub assemblies then everything falls apart. The order might be due today but if it has not been approved or the blanks haven't hit the building whats the point?
Back to the print floor. Screens would often be shot with image limits for one press but when the schedule hiccuped and a job needed to be moved it often needed to be re-shot with different image limits. By re-programming two of the machines so that all of them printed towards the center of the press this was resolved. Next two "parking lots" were established at opposite ends of the shop. On the pre-press side we had carts containing all the parts necessary to run the job including screens, inks, squeeges, floodbars, and print instructions. Back on the clean side carts containing garments were staged and flagged. I picked an assistant to help monitor these areas to ensure they were working in relative synchronicity. Production meetings began at 9:15 sharp and it cost a dollar if you were late.They lasted exactly 15 minutes and bickering was prohibited.
Job descriptions for every function were eventually scripted and revised. Signs and instructions on various tasks were posted everywhere even for some of the simple stuff. We began to track production rates for all machines and manual printers and record progress. Misprint ratios and causes were tracked as well.
All obvious stuff but not easy to implement all at once. Real progress achievement was not truly realised for nine months.
So my friend Toby I feel for you. But know that strong leadership, solid structure and yes, some patience, will eventually get you there.
best tp
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This is a great topic. I'm not sure what our size is. We're pretty unorthodox i know that. My wife does the sales and printing. We have another employee that does folding, stacking, press setup / tear down, deliveries. We just hired on an employee to do reclaiming, and general cleaning a few days a week. I usually come in nights and help out a bit, fix stuff, do art and the website.
We have a 6 color sportsman, and are getting a 10 color sportsman in a few weeks. We have a vinyl cutter for names, numbers etc. We're kicking around the idea of getting a 1 head embroidery machine. I know nothing about embroidery though.
We're pretty much internet only. No customers come to the shop which is nice. We try to automate most of our functions, or at least do them with the least amount of human effort. Dip tank, rollermaster, mesh panels etc.
Seems to be working pretty so far ;)
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How did you get your wife to do the printing? I have to learn this trick.
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An excellent topic for sure. We've been a midsized shop for some time, with 2 autos, 1 really good manual, and a couple of so-so manuals for simple overflow. Though we do OK, I'm particularly tired of it being so effin' hard all the time. To quote Roseanne Rosannadanna, "It's always something." Our biggest issue is help, reliable help. Out of 9 right now, 5 can be counted on every day, and 2 of them are me and my partner, and we average 60 hours a week. So we're always shorthanded, and the workforce out there is not to be commended, everyone is on their phone or has something to do today. Where is the commitment to a job while you're there? Frustrating, but it's still better than working for someone. Anyway, please keep it going Tony, it's good to have the advice from experienced people.
Steve
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Well you are of course on track when you ask yourself why it's so hard. The real issue is what are the answers. I've counseled some Production Managers/Supervisors at times to try reverse engineered thinking. The premise is that the most expensive thing in the shop is downtime. When the press is down chase the cause. Go back in time and examine what caused the press to become idle. Then put that cause under a microscope and see how or if it can be prevented. There is changeover downtime and interruptive downtime. Then theres the just plain stupid stuff.
For sure a pre-registration can typically speed up job changeovers although I can assure you some employees will distrust it and make it not work. Making things not work is easy. What's difficult is change. Many of us have seen demos of these systems at shows and they pretty much work flawlessly. But often you see them tucked away under the dryer in a production facility.
"It takes longer!" is a common response. So is it the employee(s) or are there some technical issues? The answer is commonly both. Often the press itself can be a culprit. Loose carraiges, platens micro locks, etc can often be found to contribute to failure. Careless pinning and warped frames as well. When it comes to the employees well....good press ops can be a proud bunch. I've seen so many claim that they are quicker. And screen techs may grumble about having to take extra steps.
Entire books have been written about how to hire, train, manage and motivate employees but that would be another thread. Suffice to say that often we are faced on dealing with dealing with a troublesome but somewhat skilled individual or moving on with someone new. There is no set in stone answer. The same goes with hiring a skilled employee or someone with no background. All I can say is use as much positve enforcement as you can.
"Waiting for stuff!" OK one of the more stupid reasons for changeover downtime. Sure, stuff happens but whenever possible the next job to be printed should be staged at the press before the end of the preceeding one. Keeps the people at their stations.
Pinholes? Well again chase it backwards its not rocket science.
Have to go now but I'll continue the thread as lon as there is interest........it could go for weeks.
best tp
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Well you are of course on track when you ask yourself why it's so hard. The real issue is what are the answers. I've counseled some Production Managers/Supervisors at times to try reverse engineered thinking. The premise is that the most expensive thing in the shop is downtime. When the press is down chase the cause. Go back in time and examine what caused the press to become idle. Then put that cause under a microscope and see how or if it can be prevented. There is changeover downtime and interruptive downtime. Then theres the just plain stupid stuff.
For sure a pre-registration can typically speed up job changeovers although I can assure you some employees will distrust it and make it not work. Making things not work is easy. What's difficult is change. Many of us have seen demos of these systems at shows and they pretty much work flawlessly. But often you see them tucked away under the dryer in a production facility.
"It takes longer!" is a common response. So is it the employee(s) or are there some technical issues? The answer is commonly both. Often the press itself can be a culprit. Loose carraiges, platens micro locks, etc can often be found to contribute to failure. Careless pinning and warped frames as well. When it comes to the employees well....good press ops can be a proud bunch. I've seen so many claim that they are quicker. And screen techs may grumble about having to take extra steps.
Entire books have been written about how to hire, train, manage and motivate employees but that would be another thread. Suffice to say that often we are faced on dealing with dealing with a troublesome but somewhat skilled individual or moving on with someone new. There is no set in stone answer. The same goes with hiring a skilled employee or someone with no background. All I can say is use as much positve enforcement as you can.
"Waiting for stuff!" OK one of the more stupid reasons for changeover downtime. Sure, stuff happens but whenever possible the next job to be printed should be staged at the press before the end of the preceeding one. Keeps the people at their stations.
Pinholes? Well again chase it backwards its not rocket science.
Have to go now but I'll continue the thread as lon as there is interest........it could go for weeks.
best tp
excellent thread Tony, thank you VERY much for taking the time to post it. Obviously, I know I am speaking for many others, please keep it going!
pierre
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speaking of waiting for stuff, I need to find out where that stupid freightliner is.
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Yes, please do continue. It all seems so obvious once you hear someone else say it but I'll be damned
if I would have ever thought of it.
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Thanks Pierre. Just an FYI the genesis for this was born from a conversation with a press manufactuer. I've mentioned before there seems to be a certain amount of over attention to press mfgr and options. Not that this isn't a good thing but I think there appears to be quite a bit of underattention when it comes to the day to day challenges we all face that can cause even the shiniest and fastest presses to remain idle. These are real issues!
I've also mentioned before that saving a few bucks on raw materials can more often than not cost you money in the form of downtime. I've tried inks that saved me $60 per five which; while it made the accounting people happy; in turn caused slower flash times. I kept rather elaborate production rate tracking at the time and noticed after a few months we were experiencing a consistent drop in throughput. Sure enough I put two and two together and noticed the drop off occured almost exactly at the same time when we switched inks. I went out to a press and observed it's cycle rate. The flash dwell was excessively high. Thinking I had case of the lazy press op I dropped from 7 seconds to the normal 4. Immediately the tacky shirts picked up on the successive screens and we had a real mess. The look on my press ops face was priceless and was quite humbled but lesson learned!
This is called unrealized loss of revenue. Sure I eventully did realize it but the folks upstairs and the "Business Coaches" missed it. Even then after presenting the facts I had difficulty in convincing the powers that be to switch back. Turns out business coaches don't like to be proved wrong.
I have to do this in installments and might be jumping around a bit so let's try something: Post some of your specific challenges; downtime and otherwise and we can review together
Best tp
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Our biggest challenge is lack of extra hands. So its often hard to shift gears from embroidery to screen print to design all in the same day often. When possible we schedule days all embroidery, or all screen print or all design and so on. But its tough at times to do that. So thats our biggest struggle. We are just two people so it is what it is I guess. I think a lot of our issues would go away with another employee and I struggle often about when to do that. Gut keeps telling me not yet so I listen.
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Undoubtedly my biggest downtime is ink color mixing. Particularly with discharge. The Rutland software
is surprisingly accurate for a lot of colors, but occasionally you get one that's "what the hell were they thinking?".
Not to mention some colors you just don't know until it's through the mesh and out the other side of the dryer.
We count shirts in and stack on carts as soon as they arrive, screens are typically shot a day in advance, registration
is very quick, it's just that damn ink.
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How did you get your wife to do the printing? I have to learn this trick.
You need a wife that has an eye for detail, mine does not... nor the patients. Her motto is "as long as the "paint" is on there". LOL. A real bummer. ;D
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I am having one of those "what the f*ck am I doing days." It seems I can't get everything dialed in right so I am working through bit by bit. There aren't enough hours in the day to get this crap sorted out.
Luckily we are slow right now and I am hoping to work the kinks out.
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Ok I'll go after this one first because the answers are slightly more concrete than Brandts issues. First I like to have a little one color jig set up in the ink room with a screen ganged up with some one inch circles. This is obviously for pre-striking off discharge colors. One of those industrial hair dryers will accurately cure the ink. Nothing like instant gratification. In the smallest batch allowable make up 1%, 3%, and 6% pigment loads of all the PCs. Activate at 6% and test swatch on garments of your choice. Next; using the same method; only splitting the pigment load in half ie .5% red+.5% yellow etc. Combine as many pigments that you like or even every possible combination. (Be sure to have someone assisting with wash up and documentation this will speed things up tremendously.)
I mark the formals directly on the swatches and record in an excel format as a backup. You now have quite a few formulas but not only that; by observing the formulas and their subsequent results you can make reasonable deductions on how to make additional colors. You'll be surprised how quickly you will amass a tremeendous amount of colors. Accurately produced by you in your factory. Like most things the hardest work is on the front side but after a while it will be a non issue. Need some opaques? Add white pigment or create an opaque base and strike away. You can keep the swatches in a book or wall mount for quick and easy identification.
If you find that some colors are very popular then batch mix in gallons and activate in smaller batches as needed.
If you are getting shifting on a partcular garment go back to drawing board, being sure to use the above methods and documentation.
Finally if you're serious about discharge and have the means get a cheap plastic sink (or used stainless from kitchen supply outlet) and set this up in a designate area free from distraction. You'll thank me later....
tp
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OMG Tony...........someone who "gets it" when it comes to running a mid-size shop!! thanks for your insight!! One of the best posts I have ever seen on any board anywhere.
I have one of these shops and I think I think the same way as you. I have 50 employees, 3 autos, 2 shifts, embroidery, 2 buildings, screen departments, art departments, shipping and recieving, office staff, production managers......
I have one word for it all......STAGING.
No matter how you sub-devide it, the word is staging. All your have to say here in these posts are right to the point. Thanks for showing this to everyone.
I have just one question......what scheduling software did you use to make the changeover? I need to make that change, it is one of my log jams. I have a good piece of software but our growing pains are requiring something better to carry us into the future.
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Not to hijack the thread but maybe History Channel or Discovery Channel could do a series on garment decorators. They would have plenty of different sizes and business models to choose from.
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Hi Ron....I don't recall seeing you here before but welcome. In the shop I was originally posting about we used Impress. Overkill and expensive for many. I like Shopworks and Fast Manager. I print overflow for a large company with nine autos two shifts. They are responsible for many of the Shopworks upgrades as they have 36 users. What I've seen from them is nothing but amazing. You can capture a single order in real time and know exactly where all the pieces of the puzzle are. Blanks ordered, recd, approval status, prepress status, etc. It tracks production speeds on each press and can configure based on certain parameters when a job will be complete. If I remember right it won't let you schedule a ten color on an eight color press!Design sheets with production specs and color mockups. Much more. They schedule weeks in advance and know when to send me work. Other software is also good but if you're growing well....
Send me a p-mail if you need to
best tp
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OMG Tony...........someone who "gets it" when it comes to running a mid-size shop!! thanks for your insight!! One of the best posts I have ever seen on any board anywhere.
I have one of these shops and I think I think the same way as you. I have 50 employees, 3 autos, 2 shifts, embroidery, 2 buildings, screen departments, art departments, shipping and recieving, office staff, production managers......
I have one word for it all......STAGING.
No matter how you sub-devide it, the word is staging. All your have to say here in these posts are right to the point. Thanks for showing this to everyone.
I have just one question......what scheduling software did you use to make the changeover? I need to make that change, it is one of my log jams. I have a good piece of software but our growing pains are requiring something better to carry us into the future.
Great post guys. Its not just the mid sized shops that could use this. Staging works if your busy period. Its been huge with us and we are just a 1 auto 1 manual place at the moment. This has turned into such awesome thread I hope it keeps going. Tony thanks for the waterbase info. Priceless.
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Industrial heat gun to test discharge colors? GENIUS!!!!
I've got a good handle on what the different pigments do, and have developed a
few of my own colors, many out of necessity due to software weirdness. But your
recommendations are priceless on developing your own system so to speak.
We'll be remodeling shortly and number 1 on my wishlist is an ink sink for the waterbased section.
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We are primarily a contract printer and have a pretty solid scheduling and proofing system. We use a spread sheet that's networked throughout the shop and we color code each entry. As soon as an order is written it is entered in the spreadsheet as needing proofing (one color) and the order goes to art. After proofing and waiting on approval the job goes to another color. Once approved the job goes to another color and we know it can be scheduled to run. We also use a color for holding for art and have one for job on hold etc... Our two biggest challenges are ever shorter lead times and employees with minimal experience. Then add in fast growth and more low level employees than highly skilled people and you have many potential time wasters in a day.
Today I spent all day in the shop and we had a great day. Only one minor set back. Tore a job out before verifying all the counts, missed 48 shirts and had to reset a 4 color job. Got back on track in about 30 minutes but can't ever get that time back. Thankfully it was only 30 today. Usually a bunch more. Talked about this In our Monday morning meeting. We call it finishing the job. The job isn't finished until it is properly counted, packed, labeled and moved into shipping. Seems quite obvious but training is often something we feel we do not have time for but need to do daily. Reenforce the good habits and talk about potential bottlenecks and time wasters.
Now I will pay for being out of the office tomorrow.
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I can attest to the benefits of having a great software program to help keep things in order. We have shopworx and I'm just now beginning to really use it to manage production and scheduling. There is a glitch in our program however, and not every job that is entered into the system is showing up on the production schedule. I'm racking my brain and deductive reasoning every possible reason why some jobs aren't there. It's hard to use a production scheduler if jobs aren't automatically put in the scheduler.
This is unbelievably valuable info that Tony is sharing with all of us. I certainly don't have everything figured out and always welcome any advice, information, intel, etc. that I can get my hands on, even if it won't work at our shop for some reason.
Is this thread open to other sharing of info or should we leave this one free of all that so Tony's great info doesn't get lost in the shuffle? Personally I'd prefer to leave this thread to Tony so somebody doesn't get overwhelmed with too many posts and rushes through some of this gold.
Oh yeah, shopworks is pretty awesome, even though I'm just now sinking my teeth into it and am sometimes frustrated at it. I also can't find a possible glitch in the software, or perhaps it is user error (probably the culprit).
I have little things that I do that maybe could help others or someone could take my idea and make things better for them.
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Our biggest challenge is lack of extra hands. So its often hard to shift gears from embroidery to screen print to design all in the same day often. When possible we schedule days all embroidery, or all screen print or all design and so on. But its tough at times to do that. So thats our biggest struggle. We are just two people so it is what it is I guess. I think a lot of our issues would go away with another employee and I struggle often about when to do that. Gut keeps telling me not yet so I listen.
The girls at the shop each have their own tasks. They break the tasks into time segments. Something like 1st hour of the day is burning screens, next hour while those are drying is emails, responding to quotes. Presses usually don't even start up till after lunch. But at that point all the other stuff and the press spins no matter what till the end of the day.
Maybe doing stuff like that will help. It works for me to in my personal life. Like the next 30 minutes is email only... then reddit for 20, then a smoke ;)
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How did you get your wife to do the printing? I have to learn this trick.
You need a wife that has an eye for detail, mine does not... nor the patients. Her motto is "as long as the "paint" is on there". LOL. A real bummer. ;D
haha.. i love when people call it paint! I find lots of press ops at big shops are women because usually they are less "get er done" than men.
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This is by far the best thread I ever read on all boards at all times.
Boris
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This thread is definitely full of nice tips and is very interesting to hear the in and outs of the organizational structure of different companies. I'm very interested in hearing more details about shopworks or fast manager or other scheduling software. Scheduling and prioritizing is one of our biggest challenges, we use a cloud based calendar now but it falls short in many ways, basically we need more points of reference as to the status of each job, art, approvals, screens, goods, etc. I want every person in my company on the same page as easily and efficiently as possible. Thanks to all for taking out their time to contribute.
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Our biggest challenge is lack of extra hands. So its often hard to shift gears from embroidery to screen print to design all in the same day often. When possible we schedule days all embroidery, or all screen print or all design and so on. But its tough at times to do that. So thats our biggest struggle. We are just two people so it is what it is I guess. I think a lot of our issues would go away with another employee and I struggle often about when to do that. Gut keeps telling me not yet so I listen.
The girls at the shop each have their own tasks. They break the tasks into time segments. Something like 1st hour of the day is burning screens, next hour while those are drying is emails, responding to quotes. Presses usually don't even start up till after lunch. But at that point all the other stuff and the press spins no matter what till the end of the day.
Maybe doing stuff like that will help. It works for me to in my personal life. Like the next 30 minutes is email only... then reddit for 20, then a smoke ;)
Ya we do things similar to that, we come in do email until its done or until its becoming too late to continue to do it (oldest first). Then she either burns screens or starts embroidery and such. We generally dont print until after lunch as well. Then we generally print the rest of the day, often into the night. Embroidery same thing once we start it we are on it all day.
My day is pretty different. I am on email almost all day, I get bunches of email over night, takes me often till 10-11am just to do email. Then I will do the design work for the day which can take all day depending on the projects. If its not a all day deal I help Shelly print/sort etc.
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... then reddit for 20,
(http://cdn2.knowyourmeme.com/i/000/075/873/original/Raisins_Face.jpg)
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Good Morning All......I'm back and the shop is in running on all cylinders so heres a new installment. The subject is people and it could get ugly!
Sooner or later as the company grows from a one to three person shop to over a dozen the owner/operator will need to extricate him or herself from some of the daily tasks often which means actually printing. It's been said that "You can't work on your business if you are working in it". Cute but not necessarily true if you manage your time correctly. True, if you own the company and are running the auto you probably won't have time to focus on the big picture. But when you are in those growing years you may not always have the need and/or budget for a full time screen maker or ink mixer. Someone has to assemble the pre-press elements so who? The printers? I hope not but I know this to be often true. Okay not necessarily a bad thing if you have spotty work flow but again I'm primarily addressing the suddenly steady busy and bustling shops. So herein lies the need to hire a Production Manager or Supervisor.
Often the postion is filled by bringing up the star player from the ranks. Unfortunately this can backfire. A close knit group of employees often like to socialize outside of work and indeed, be good friends. When one of the friends now takes on a mantle of leadership resentment often sets in amongst the group. And this new leader; while they might be an ace printer and excellent employee, does not always have the necessary skill sets to deal with this. I've often had a supervisor approach me about "I just want my press back".
Indeed managing people is an acquired skill and an acquired taste as well. It's not always fun. You have to leave your emotions in check and do your best to be fair, friendly, rational, and balanced. You need to posess the ability to hire, fire, assess, manage, and motivate employees. I've found that the more skilled a person is in the craft, the less of those traits they seem to posess.
So let's look at bringing in someone with prior skills. The good news he/she is usually an unknown and therefore establishing leadership is easier. The bad new is they have prior habits. Not necessarily bad ones but often different. Often when interviewing for this position I'll pose a trick question....."What would be the first thing you would change if you were hired for the position?" The answers typically range from switching ink systems, emulsions, pallet adhesives etc.
But the real answer is......"Nothing". Now change can be good and often is but there is such a thing as managing change. In order to do so one must observe and absorb eyerything and everyone around them. Take notes, mental or otherwise. Consider all possible implications when considering a change is a critical step. "Thats how we did it at at XYZ shop" is not enough reason.
OK so no concrete solutions here mostly observations but sooner or later I hope you get to the point where it's blantantly clear that screen printers don't produce revenue by counting shirts, mixing inks, making screens etc. Screen printers make money printing shirts.
best tp
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Good read. I work in a large shop. We have 5 manuals, 4 autos, 2 embroidery machines with a laser soon to add another embroidery machine and laser. We have roughly 45 people in production including 3 pre-press, 2 press leads, 12 printers which three are back-ups, a slew of catchers and embroidery staff. We typically run jobs that are 48 to 124 pieces with color changes and go through a ton of screens and setups per day. we also have 9 artists, a sales staff and two sister companies that produce all our garments. Without good systems it would all be a trainwreck. We get better each year though. There are two of us that are production managers due to all the work and I also service all the equipment. The great thing about here is I cross trained a lot of the people. Printers can print auto and manual and support staff can fill in wherever needed. The more tools you have the easier the job!
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Cross training is critical especially in the early growth stages. We are not in the manufacturing business more like the mass-customization business. The more versatile the employee the better you can react to what hits you. It's usually a little easier in early growth years as there tends to be more time to be thorough.
Kudos to Matt for mentioning they get better each year.......process improvement is a never ending task.
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i think a good mix of work is also critical with the mid sized shop.the larger contract shops can make it on sheer volume but the smaller mid sized shop needs the good mix of contract/ custom and maybe a couple other threads of income like embroidery or dtg? with mid sized shops sometimes the fixed overhead can be similar to a large shop. cash flow to finance the venture is critical and that takes a good plan and diversified customer base. i know of several really organized, super shops that went south due to cash flow problems..sorry if i got off track .i was going somewhere though..
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No, you are dead on, cash flow is everything. It doesn't matter how much work you have, if you aren't getting paid fast enough, it won't matter. The amount of cash is important, but the velocity of cash is more-so.
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yes tony your right .training in the early growth years is critical when preparing for the future. i think what happens though, is we get comfortable with the small cross trained crew we are so proud of as a small environment and we REACT when the flow starts to change.It is hardly ever a slow change. and then we as owners immediatly step up and take on more responsibility in production.. thats ok short term but we all know you cant REALLY run your business printing everyday. now especially since you have moved to mid size status. bottom line is training people costs money. a great business plan is critical building in all these factors for print volume, mix, cash flow projections, financing? (if and when), shop size etc. our employees are our best asset and labor is our biggest expense and we are only as good as the people who work with us.. i wish i had it all this figured out. great thread.