dryer issues

I print on cotton tote bags with polyester handles that melt (warp) in the dryer and to get them to cure temp without warping the handles I cut pieces of corrugated cardboard big enough to cover the handles and shield them from the heat, leaving the print on the cotton part exposed. This solves the problem

That is what we have been doing but with the volume of product we push a day it just isn't efficient enough

Have you tried this:
After removing the bag from the press, fold the handles and any exposed areas underneath the bag, ideally, you only want the printed part of the bag exposed to the heat. You will most likely need to play with temp/time settings to get a proper cure. Using this method may be tricky at first to do quickly, but you'll get the hang of it after a few rounds. It also may help to do a quick flash before pulling the print off press, just to make handling the item a little easier as you get it to the dryer.

You may need to slow your output to accommodate the extra handling on these items. You can either keep going full speed (messing up product along the way) or slow your roll a bit to keep it running smoothly.

I always try to hide the straps under the bag but even the liner on the inside still gets too hot and starts to melt all while i'm not getting a proper cure.

What are these bags made of? Can we get a pic?

We've had large runs of cheap polypropelene totes in the past that were pretty touchy as well. It required using a low temp cure-able poly-white ink, doing a quick flash before it came off the press, and a quick run down the conveyor belt. Then we set aside any prints that seemed questionable, and ran them through the dryer one more time at the end. The runs were typically close to 1k as far as qty.

Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do to get the job printed and without excessive amounts of spoilage.

You using standard plastisol? How many pieces per day are you trying to hit?

yes plastisol and on busy days upwards of 3000

Jeeez... those quantities are working against you in situations like this.
I think you need to be using a poly white or an additive like Nylobond
to allow your ink to cure at a lower temp and keep the workflow going strong.
Definitely try the quick flash before taking it off the press, should cut down on dryer time quite a bit.
Are you printing on manual or auto?

I'll give poly white a shot and nylobond didn't seem to make much of a difference. it's all manual