[printsfordays]

Hi guys,

Over the next few years we plan to expand out shop. The majority of the business we do is screen printing. We currently run a 6/6 manual press. We also offer embroidery and can cut and apply vinyl if needed but I prefer screen printing and EMB .

I was wondering how many shirts or imprints per week you guys would say justifies buying an automatic press. What drove you to an automatic finally?

I have no problem printing 500 plus one color shirts a day on my manual but when things get crazy and I've got 3 or 4 jobs that size, with mixed amounts of colors, along with 12 small runs my arms start to get tired lol. Am I just being a wimp?

Thanks

 

[dlanthripe]

When we bought our automatic our decision came down to how much time can I save with an auto. And Save money not having to hire an employee. I was their a couple years ago and was happy if I did 500 in a day. I could not imagine doing that now. One color, dark on a light, I can easily do that in under 3 hours. That's no breaks, phone calls ect. And if I am doing a dark that needs to PFP, I print something else on my manual while the auto does its thing!

I did not like the chunk of money my wife convinced me to spend on it. But I am happy I did. Very happy. I would balk at 1000+ shirt orders, due in a week. But not now. And I can put some larger "rush" orders on it also and not worry so much about the deadline.

Now I feel like a wimp having to do 100 on a manual!

- I was told my auto would do about 300 an hour. But divide 300 shirts into an hour and you can not work that fast that long. That's link unloading and loading every few seconds. That is just how many times the thing can spin around in an hour.

One note... Another decision maker was that my wife got breast cancer and after surgery had lost some of her muscle mass in her chest. She could not print at all on the manual. But she has no problem running the auto. Just a thought.

 

[dlanthripe]

Also to mention in our situation. I work a regular 9-5 and print in the evenings. So time was a major factor with kids and life.