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screen printing => General Screen Printing => Topic started by: tonypep on November 08, 2011, 08:47:35 AM
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So as to not hijack a thread I thought I'd share some different methods for large shops with multiple autos.
1. Dryer op and shirt puller attack the teardown as the loader preps the setup. Squeegee and floodbar set to reat at the front and back of screen respectively. Screen/squeegee/floodbar "disassembly" loaded on bakers racks and along with ink buckets is immediately removed from the press area. Less than 15 seconds per color. The screen room, ink dept, or utility person handles the cleanup. The theory is that press ops make money printing not performing ancillary tasks.
2. The entire press crew attacks the teardown in a same or similar manner while a Production Manager or Team leader performs the setup. The final cleanup and setup happen simultaneously.
Again this is common for shops with six or more autos and differs in each shop. I'm at four machines and am just not on the cusp of adding the extra staff so we currently do it old school, being sure to have all the pieces to the puzzle performed in a timely fashion. Yes I do pitch in when needed.
And it's just plain smart to have at least one entire extra set of squeegees and floodbars. In the end the Blade Runner was not thorough enough or quicker so we abandoned it and attacked the issue from a common sense/human resource approach.
Which is sometimes better.
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As hard as it was for me to do, I gave up most of the press op duties and have let my best guy take over most of the setups. I overlook most of the tougher ones and help setup and teardown as needed, sometimes I'm out there 9 hours and sometimes 2 hours a day. My dryer guy is also my screen reclaim and maker so he doesn't get back where the auto is very often. Any second he's not catching shirts, he's cleaning screens or coating them. I like to setup and teardown jobs so when we are fairly busy, I'm at the press a lot. I can see how multi-auto shops would have to do it differently than we do, and having a flexible employee to bounce around and handle all kinds different tasks would be very beneficial. I like to have as many people cross trained and able to do many different things around the shop, but big shops probably need specialization in many areas.
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At Starter we had 4 people per press. Loader. Un Loader. Catcher. Third Man.
The Third man's job was to keep the press running. Scrape ink, wipe lint, tape pinholes, etc. While doing this he/she would get the inks, screens, and squeegees and flood bars for the next job.
Last shirt loaded and the loader would follow around press releasing screen clamps, squeegees and flood bars.
Loader then put in the registration screen (under lay or black) centered and printed and flashed strike off. Unloader and third man remove all other screens and such while this is being done.
Loader then registers subsequent screens. unloader puts in squeegees and floodbars behind loader. Third man puts in ink.
Sample printed
Tweaks
Start
All members could do all positions. We often rotated out of sheer boredom or break rotations so as not to shut the press down at all.
My team and I could take out 8 colors, put in 8 colors, and be running good shirts in 15-20 Minutes.
The year ... 1989.
The Press ... M&R Challenger 16/14. 3 Flashes.
The Screen ... Static Aluminum.
The Print ... 7 Metallics and black ... 2 Whites, 5 puffs and black ... 4 whites, 3 colors and black.
No registration system. Tried the "on line" by M&R. Did not work.
This was before the Tri Lock.
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Sonny was that here in Connecticut?
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Laying squeegees/floods on mesh scares the hell out of me. We use a lot of wings and the MHM variety
don't exactly lay flat. So pop the head up and scrape the ink off of squeegee and flood onto the screen
pull the sq/fl and put in gallon bucket zip-tied to the dirty screen cart. Probably adds 20 seconds or so per screen.
Everything else is pretty much as described.
We'll likely be adding a second press in the next few weeks so we'll see how my strategy changes. There used
to be this kid that worked for me that couldn't load a shirt straight to save his life, but holy hell could he set a job up.
Anything we threw at him was ready in 10-15 minutes max, literally anything. I wish he was still around. I'd have him
alternate between screen room and setup-guy. Loader/catcher would tear down while he was setting up. Maybe have him
start early so that we'd always be one job ahead. Man that would be sweet.
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Sonny was that here in Connecticut?
Nope. Pensacola FL
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Sonny was that here in Connecticut?
That would have been James Street in New Haven. That place was a mess! Had a pretty good fire when a can of tack blew up in the dryer. Lot of smoke damaged goods.
Memories!
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Ahhh you got it Tony!
Used to sell ink to them and even printed some stuff once upon a time for starter.
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My team and I could take out 8 colors, put in 8 colors, and be running good shirts in 15-20 Minutes.
The year ... 1989.
The Press ... M&R Challenger 16/14. 3 Flashes.
The Screen ... Static Aluminum.
The Print ... 7 Metallics and black ... 2 Whites, 5 puffs and black ... 4 whites, 3 colors and black.
Sonny: I don't want to be a doubter but I didn't even know that M&R was manufacturing 14 color presses all the way back in 1989.
These must have been some of Rich's earliest large format presses.
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My team and I could take out 8 colors, put in 8 colors, and be running good shirts in 15-20 Minutes.
The year ... 1989.
The Press ... M&R Challenger 16/14. 3 Flashes.
The Screen ... Static Aluminum.
The Print ... 7 Metallics and black ... 2 Whites, 5 puffs and black ... 4 whites, 3 colors and black.
These were some of the first Challengers built I think. They had just got rid of their ovals when I got the only job in the printing dept. Cleaning screens in an enclosed non vented room with mineral spirits.
Sonny: I don't want to be a doubter but I didn't even know that M&R was manufacturing 14 color presses all the way back in 1989.
These must have been some of Rich's earliest large format presses.