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screen printing => General Screen Printing => Topic started by: tonypep on September 20, 2012, 09:25:37 AM
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I can't tell you how many times I'll walk into a shop and, while discussing the merits of equipment, screen tension, inks and the like, notice how often the autos are down. Very often this is due to the fact that all the pieces of the "job puzzle" are not established in a timely manner. In the picture below we have the next four jobs ready with garments paperwork, screens, print instructions, print out of the design, etc. The ink dept just needs to walk by, eyeball the shirt qtys, check the pms colors, and prepare the ink carts.
It also motivates (most) employees when they come in each morning to a sense of organization and see they have coming up for the day. Sure I'd like to have new shiny machines but I'd much rather be
better prepared.
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Hmm, there is a flip side to that employee attitude. There are plenty of employees that come in and see that pile and go "uggg.... that's a lot of work".
But for the most part... you are ABSOLUTELY right... that is one clean "machine" you are running there!
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True enough but I am fortunate to have operators who love to be busy and hate waiting around for stuff. Also they often catch something that I have missed like "that job prints better on press four"
We have tons of screen racks and use them all day, mainly for transportation, but theres nothing like getting a visual snapshot.
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I agree, tony, do you have a flow chart that you would like to share? I would like to see how the master does it.
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MK beat me to it.
Tony take us through your work flow from takeing the order, approval, prep, embelishment, finishing for pick-up or delivery.
Thanks
Chris
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Hi guys thanks. Maybe I'll start a new thread on that but won't be till next week. And it will be long!
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Perfect!
Thanks
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I love the idea! I am so unorganized right now that everything takes longer than it should. My youngest of 4 kids is starting preschool this year coming up. I can't wait to get my wife in here for a couple hour a day. She will cut the mess down and get me on track. I just hope I still have a few hairs left in my head by then.
Thanks for the pic. Brilliant.
Matt
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I think the way your doing it should be done in shops of all sizes. we have that same mentality here. Its not only organized but visual for employees. we do the same, all orders get pulled and staged as they come in according to the schedule. it also looks very organized and professional when customers come thru. Great looking shop tony.
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I agree 100%. Today is Thursday and I am getting everything ready for Monday/Tuesday. However, we are not perfect by any means and I swear we get two or three rush jobs a week of multiple designs and they need them within 48 hours. While financially worth it never fun
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Almost exactly like we do it but we only have one press so we put all the screens ready for production in one area down by the auto and not with the shirts. We have a job folder with a printout of what the job looks like, that was approved by the customer and the work order with the production info like ink color, shirt color, etc that sit on top of the stack of shirts. I'll see if I can get a pick of our staging, but it's really no different than Tony's when you really look at it, just a much smaller scale.
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Hey Tony, is that Revolution Swag job one of your discharge "faux" fountain fill jobs? I see two colors spec'd on the sheet so I assume that is the case but I wanted to know.
I'd like to see a close up of that job once it's done, if you get a chance.
Always learning!
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what do you use to print the mock ups of the shirts?
Our problem is we have to much work for our small crew and there is alot of mistakes. we keep working on it, but it takes a long time!
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First of all it isn't military perfect and things get moved around and of course, like everyone else mistakes are made and we hiccup now and then (but I believe this goes a long way to minimize this)
Gil I'm impressed at your observation. You are spot on that's a faux fountain.
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First of all it isn't military perfect and things get moved around and of course, like everyone else mistakes are made and we hiccup now and then (but I believe this goes a long way to minimize this)
Gil I'm impressed at your observation. You are spot on that's a faux fountain.
Hey, I do what I can. ;)
This process is of much interest to me... the more you would be willing to share (even if just by email) the better!
I haven't even touched discharge YET... but I'm constantly blown away by it. For the right customer I will slow things down and get busy with some discharge!
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Tony..exactly...people are amazed how we push out what we do...but we have our systems in place and things run smooth...every now and then we get a bump but we have morning meetings ( everyone should ) with the staff and run over the jobs we have in house and what we need and if they need anything ...we also have clipboards in each dept for supplies...there is no telling anyone they just write it down and we check it daily and take care of stuff so we are never running out...and if we do they go home without pay the time it takes to get stuff in...and you know what...we NEVER run out of anything....and Gilligan..if someone said wow that is a lot of work with a negative attitude...well there is the door...that is what is paying them....not me...but the customer...yeah I might sign the check, but the customer is the one paying their wage....
great lesson Tony...
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that work is job security. without it, there is no need for employees
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I don't disagree... I was only sharing the flip side of the coin that goes through some employees minds.
Hey, I laid it out the other day for my guy in that I, nor my wife is taking a single paycheck from the t-shirt business at this point... I said "Hell, you might as well own the business, you are the only one making money on it" ;)
But he also isn't stupid, he knows it's because we keep dumping all that money back into buying new equipment... which I pointed out only makes his job easier and more productive.
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Gilligan..just remember they need a leader...and keep leading...if anyone gave me a negative attitude they would be gone...we look at what we do as being the best...some say it is cocky but if you don't think you are the best how can anyone else?
also I didn't take a paycheck for a few years building this business ( which I really didn't build ) but now I am reaping the rewards...
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That was totally out of context.
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We have two buildings, the shipping/receiving is in the embroidery building so 95% of the merch is over there. The first pic is of jobs due in the next two days. Our shipping guy has access to the production schedule in shopworks and he checks in the shirts and will stage them in his area if the job is not due for more than two days, or bring them over to the screen printing building and put them on the shelving you see in this pic.
(http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr211/alan802/SRI%20Pics/F7286FB9-5211-4CA7-80EA-90865A948273_zps43b7338a.jpg)
We have a production schedule that we give the crew every afternoon for the next day and we will put the boxes on top of the carts sometimes to get ready for layout, sometimes we just lay the shirts out onto the cart from the shelves, doesn't really matter.
(http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr211/alan802/SRI%20Pics/31DE63E1-D159-4CE6-B41E-C92C88EFEF40_zps8f7df2ed.jpg)
We put the work order with the handwritten info inside, the production sheet with shirt color and ink color, locations etc, then the film folder with the pdf printout of the job proof.
(http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr211/alan802/SRI%20Pics/58D4DDD3-228A-4659-BAC7-0292E8AD487F_zps731aecaa.jpg)
When the printer is ready for the next job he'll check the production sheet for the next job, roll the cart over and look at the paperwork for specs, then he takes the film/proof folder to the ink station shown in this pic and gathers the ink for the job or mixes up ink, whatever the job calls for, and then we give the work order to the catcher at the end of the dryer so we can check quantities for the third and final time before we box them up.
(http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr211/alan802/SRI%20Pics/4E60E862-928C-488B-86AA-7AFC5CD3B3AB_zps18365937.jpg)
(http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr211/alan802/SRI%20Pics/5B2678EA-E035-4B2F-B493-8B16ADD36186_zps6e9dd1b8.jpg)
Some jobs that are higher quantities we have to stack off to the side and out of the way.
(http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr211/alan802/SRI%20Pics/9FD49F01-E726-4D68-AA74-A050F1353585_zpsd74f912e.jpg)
Sometimes we have cases and cases stacked up where you can't see the shelves, but we have a slight calm before the storm of next week so there isn't a ton of shirts over here yet.
We finish the job, put it on the dolly and then take everything back to the shipping/recieving/pickup area. We used to have a golf cart with a table that would hold 7-10 cases of shirts but the batteries died out and we haven't replaced them.
(http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr211/alan802/SRI%20Pics/189A6F56-0503-4C33-AF54-442687114B80_zpsb6689f28.jpg)
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I am only a one man shop and I do staging on every order. I do it a little different. I don't put the screens and shirts together. (don't think mixing dirty and clean items is a good idea.) I have shirts come in from one side and screens and inks from the other. They all meet at the press. I have all the shirts on rolling carts so when one job is done everything just moves up one position. This saves a ton of time.
Staging is the only way to catch mistakes and missing items before the work flow is stopped.
Good thread Tony. I am starting to think you know your stuff.
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I'm working on this very thing right now. We have press carts that hold up to fifteen screens, so we can stage multiple jobs on one cart. The carts will hold screens, garments, work orders and inks. Depending on the size of the orders, everything may not fir on the cart. The carts are then lined up by the press they will be run on. We image screens today for what will be produced tomorrow. Since we do a ton of quick turn around, product on hand may be an issue, in which case we shuffle things around. Carts make this so much easier. Now what I am working on is how to have a very visual system in place where we can see "hot" jobs, or any other for that matter, at a glance. And speaking of all this, besides building my own, does anyone know a supplier for press carts? Last ones I got were from Sefar, but they stopped making them. Lastly, and this may be a little off thread, but we don't stop presses for breaks and/or lunches.We rotate people in to keep the machines running. If you shut down for breaks and lunches, do some quick calculations and see the mind-boggling throughput you're losing
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Alan..how is it to have all the shirts in another building? At my shop i have a small space for my equipment and then in another part of the building i have a room i use for stock, orders coming in..The thing that bothers me is ups delivers to where the equipment is, then i have to put the boxes on a cart and shell it down a friigin 'L' shaped hallway to open the boxes and count..then when i'm ready to do an order i have to go in and grab the boxes and wheel them back...this wheeling back and forth is through a hobby store...and the people shopping love, i mean love to just be in the way....i hate it
man i need my own place
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Pretty nice setup Alan, we sep all orders up front, only way shirts get to the back is for printing time same with embroidery. My wife counts and checks all shirts and box them for printing, put a production sheet with them I take them to the back and all hell breaks losse for an hour or so, them box them back and tape, back to the front for pick up.
Darryl
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It's not my perfect world and I'd prefer it if we were all one building or if shipping was on our side, but everything runs smoothly. My shipping guy is on top of things and he wheels the jobs over when we need them and when we have 35 jobs in the system it helps to keep things out of our way. We have tons of room but right now we don't make the most of it. There is about 1/6th of our shop that holds junk and personal stuff that should be in storage so we have the room to grow or start keeping all our merch in our building. The movement of the merch through the shop is a horseshoe shape on the right side of the shop and the screens move in a tighter horseshoe as well on the left side of the shop. There is definitely a clean side and dirty side of our space and there is no clutter to disrupt the flow. It's going to be interesting when we get a second auto, our space is narrow yet long, I wish it were about 15' wider and it would be perfect.
We keep all finished product in the embroidery building to keep it all organized and most customers go to the other building to pick up and pay so keeping it over there is working.
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Gilligan..just remember they need a leader...and keep leading...if anyone gave me a negative attitude they would be gone...we look at what we do as being the best...some say it is cocky but if you don't think you are the best how can anyone else?
also I didn't take a paycheck for a few years building this business ( which I really didn't build ) but now I am reaping the rewards...
I am right there with you Sam. Bad attitude= out the door. No room for it in my business. No if, ands, or butts about it.
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I am in a constant state of reorganization around here. You can ask sonny or brannon. Next I am putting in some screen shelves to hold the screens in the various stages of reclaim.
That will free up other space that I can use for staging or receiving. The shop is fine for our normal workflow, but times like now when we are slammed we run out of space. Big sweatshirt orders don't help that either.
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Alan, very informative post.
We have controlled "CHAOS" compaired to most of your shops posted. Mainly due to not enough man power. Keep the post coming I am getting a lot of good ideas.
Thanks to all
Chris
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Inks. All formulas printed out on containers. Organized by PMS#s
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We have a bunch of dollys with plywood attached to the top, all orders over one case go on them going in and going out. That way no one is picking boxes up all day long hurting them selves, plus it makes moving jobs around so much easier. We have a long hall way that we stage all the completed jobs in for pick up, a table for smaller orders and one area for UPS to pick up.
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We have two buildings, the shipping/receiving is in the embroidery building so 95% of the merch is over there. The first pic is of jobs due in the next two days. Our shipping guy has access to the production schedule in shopworks and he checks in the shirts and will stage them in his area if the job is not due for more than two days, or bring them over to the screen printing building and put them on the shelving you see in this pic.
([url]http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr211/alan802/SRI%20Pics/F7286FB9-5211-4CA7-80EA-90865A948273_zps43b7338a.jpg[/url])
We have a production schedule that we give the crew every afternoon for the next day and we will put the boxes on top of the carts sometimes to get ready for layout, sometimes we just lay the shirts out onto the cart from the shelves, doesn't really matter.
([url]http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr211/alan802/SRI%20Pics/31DE63E1-D159-4CE6-B41E-C92C88EFEF40_zps8f7df2ed.jpg[/url])
We put the work order with the handwritten info inside, the production sheet with shirt color and ink color, locations etc, then the film folder with the pdf printout of the job proof.
([url]http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr211/alan802/SRI%20Pics/58D4DDD3-228A-4659-BAC7-0292E8AD487F_zps731aecaa.jpg[/url])
When the printer is ready for the next job he'll check the production sheet for the next job, roll the cart over and look at the paperwork for specs, then he takes the film/proof folder to the ink station shown in this pic and gathers the ink for the job or mixes up ink, whatever the job calls for, and then we give the work order to the catcher at the end of the dryer so we can check quantities for the third and final time before we box them up.
([url]http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr211/alan802/SRI%20Pics/4E60E862-928C-488B-86AA-7AFC5CD3B3AB_zps18365937.jpg[/url])
([url]http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr211/alan802/SRI%20Pics/5B2678EA-E035-4B2F-B493-8B16ADD36186_zps6e9dd1b8.jpg[/url])
Some jobs that are higher quantities we have to stack off to the side and out of the way.
([url]http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr211/alan802/SRI%20Pics/9FD49F01-E726-4D68-AA74-A050F1353585_zpsd74f912e.jpg[/url])
Sometimes we have cases and cases stacked up where you can't see the shelves, but we have a slight calm before the storm of next week so there isn't a ton of shirts over here yet.
We finish the job, put it on the dolly and then take everything back to the shipping/recieving/pickup area. We used to have a golf cart with a table that would hold 7-10 cases of shirts but the batteries died out and we haven't replaced them.
([url]http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr211/alan802/SRI%20Pics/189A6F56-0503-4C33-AF54-442687114B80_zpsb6689f28.jpg[/url])
nice set up alan. looks like you have your scheduling and press staging straight.
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I have also used those 8 ft roller tracks along side the presses with 3x3 plywood boards on top. then you just finish one job and slide the next up. that way you keep the press line full . works great without the investment in the carts.
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I have also used those 8 ft roller tracks along side the presses with 3x3 plywood boards on top. then you just finish one job and slide the next up. that way you keep the press line full . works great without the investment in the carts.
I was thinking about having one of those long enough to go from the end of the dryer to the press loading area that way when we finish the back print we just roll the stack back up to the load station but those rollers are pretty pricey for 25'. Plus we have carts that do the same thing but I was just thinking from a "cool" factor the rollers would be nice.
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The boomerang has cool factor all over that!
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I have also used those 8 ft roller tracks along side the presses with 3x3 plywood boards on top. then you just finish one job and slide the next up. that way you keep the press line full . works great without the investment in the carts.
I was thinking about having one of those long enough to go from the end of the dryer to the press loading area that way when we finish the back print we just roll the stack back up to the load station but those rollers are pretty pricey for 25'. Plus we have carts that do the same thing but I was just thinking from a "cool" factor the rollers would be nice.
check out one of those warehouses that sell fixtures from closed companys. you should be able to pick them up really reasonable. those are my choice if you have the right layout to run them up the side of dryer as you said.
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I have to agree with Tony and the staging. Regardless of your shop's size or volume that you are printing each day, it is imperative that product be staged in advance to keep the workflow going. My Dad used to tell that the more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in battle. If you implement a procedure and adhere to it religiously, when you get slammed, the workflow continues on without having to change your procedure when you are at peak capacity. Your procedures help you identify any shortages or discrepancies well before getting the order set up on press.
Rick Stefanick is spot on with the roller tables. We use them on our automatic presses and can lay out 2,000 shirts at each press with no trouble. We picked them up for about $100 each at a used equipment place.