The Transfer Print Column
Heat printing productivity hacks for 2024
Heat printing is one of the most popular techniques for garment decoration. When done right, it remains the fastest way to produce high quality prints. Experienced printers can decorate hundreds of garments within a single working day. Andy Rogers, marketing director at Stahls’ UK, explains how.
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et’s dive in and look at three ways in which successful heat printers increase their productivity today.
1. Education
To work with an educated staff means to minimise risk of mistakes and having work done efficiently. No matter if you are the one working a heat press or if it is your employees, a good understanding of the work process is key.
When training your employees, make sure to supervise them intensely within the first couple of days. Allow them to make mistakes on their first couple of prints and give them the opportunity to learn what to do and what to avoid for themselves. If you want to offer on demand or on-site production, it is also useful to educate your employees across departments. During those days where you need everyone working on heat presses, you will have the entire team being able to assist where they are needed most.
Do not forget – Challenge yourself! To learn how to increase productivity it is always useful to exchange ideas with other successful businesses. For quick answers to your questions, it is also worth checking out YouTube for tutorials on how to use heat presses and transfers.
2. Heat printing accessories The field of heat printing accessories is vast – from platen protectors over exchangeable lower platens all the way to bespoke alignment systems. There are a lot of products that help you raise the quality of your prints or to expand the range of items you can decorate. But some accessories are specifically made to increase your productivity. Here are the most noteworthy. • Quick slip platen covers Keep a lookout for Teflon covered slip covers. These sheets are heat resistant and go on top of a lower platen. When working
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machine mobile, and you are able to move it wherever you need it at a given moment. • Alignment systems
A big improvement for any heat printer are alignment systems. Existing products work through a grid of lasers – once they are set up, this grid works as a guideline of where to place your designs on the garment. Especially for those tricky left-chest decorations, this saves a lot of time with every print.
Advanced projection systems are also being developed. The placement of designs is one of the most time-consuming steps in the heat printing workflow and thus a vital one to explore for increased productivity. If you attended Printwear & Promotion LIVE! this year, you would have seen the first of these in action.
Minimise mistakes by educating staff
with a heat press that has threadability, the anti-static coating allows you to slide your garments onto the platens much more easily. This simple accessory can take five to 10 seconds off the time it takes you to load your garment onto the press. If you just do 100 prints each day, a quick slip platen cover can save you a full working day, each month. • Heat press caddies and equipment carts
If you are heat printing in a small workshop, look for a way to make production more ergonomic and ultimately easier for your staff. A heat press caddie is a product that you can mount your press onto. It is height-adjustable, so whoever works the heat press can set the perfect height for themselves. Many heat press caddie stands also come with castors. This makes your
3. Heat print on demand To offer print on demand is to focus on what’s important. That means, structuring your time efficiently, making sure your staff is ready when they need to be ready and being a fast and reliable partner for your customers.
With the obvious benefits of print on demand being low cost of investment and quick turnover times, entrepreneurs and small businesses have used this production method for nearly a decade now. By using nothing but a heat press and on demand ordered blanks and transfers, these businesses are able to produce highly personalised items in next to no time. The benefits of print on demand that small businesses are making use of for themselves can also be applied to bigger scales. It does not take a lot: An efficient and easy to use heat press plus reliable partners that can deliver transfers and blanks within a couple of days. Add to that well-educated staff as well as a few heat printing accessories and every heat printing business can push their productivity to the max and offer print on demand.
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