How to Optimize your Printing Equipment to Increase Workflow?

by Kevin Cook| in Printing Guide on April 12, 2021 1552 /

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Last Updated on: 10th April 2024, 10:13 am

You have to save time and increase profitability. Thus, optimizing your printing equipment not only saves your time performing jobs but also increases profitability.

There are various factors that determine how well you’re doing your job. Including the type of size of jobs. The factors are:

• Using the type of printing equipment
• The surface on which you perform the job
• The Heat Press Machine
• Auxiliary Equipment
• Tools that make your job complete

It is time to set up your print shopkeeping as per the directions below.

1. Using the type of printing equipment:

It is not only the type of machine you have but also how you place it in your workplace that is important. Like, spending thousands of dollars but you fail to work due to wrong placement at your workplace.

You must ensure that the workplace is in a clean, static-free, and humidity- and temperature-controlled environment.

Place your printing machine in such a way that you can easily move it around in any direction as required. Moreover, you can also shift them to other locations without difficulty.

While some printers like to place their machines against the wall, remember that you will need to get behind it.

Everything should be in close proximity, but not so close that one operation and the people performing it interferes with others.

2. The surface on which you perform the job:

For performing functions such as weeding material, some sort of work table or surface is required. The size of your most important jobs determines the size of your job from the Tabletop.

A number of shops use tables of 4 ‘x 8’ but that might not be large enough. If you have space, 5 or 6 feet may be preferable and the need to make up for the printer size will be eliminated.

It is essential that you can cut to the tabletop. Place a cutting mat over the table and make sure it is large enough to accommodate the materials you’re working with. Also to have a grid on the surface

Pretty helpful. Some decorators print a 1 “x 1” square grid on decal material to cover the surface of the table and then place clear plastic on it. This is faster and more practical than trying a cutting board. Be sure the height of the table fits for everybody, or find flexible tables so people don’t jump or fall all day.

When someone weeds stuff even when sitting back, make sure the correct height is a solid stool.

3. The Heat Press Machine:

You have some options about the heat press position but you will pay attention to the temperature controls. The heat it produces will have no impact on certain equipment or operations.

It may make your workflow faster if you have it closer to the printer, but it depends on the application. The ink can need more drying time for the T-shirt media.

You can wait a couple of hours before masking after you print and cut. So it’s Cool to keep the heat press in a different place.

For example, the printer could be in one area, and the weeding table and heat press in another. In fact, you may want to allow room for a line on which to hang the prints if time or volume doesn’t allow them to just stay on the printer and you don’t have an external drying system.

With a heat press, size is a big concern because it can limit what you can do with your printer/cutter. A normal format for business (16 “x 20”) is favored.

It also is important to take people into consideration. Sound ergonomics are proven morale boosters and need not be expensive.

Using a pad on the floor in front of the heat press will enable you to stay at a convenient position and wear appropriate footwear. Find an adjustable stand for your heat press in the same way and can also allow it threadable to further improve workflow.

4. Auxiliary Equipment:

Such products may also affect workflow, and when assessing their importance, they must be weighed both in terms of their positions in the cycle and their place in the store.

One such unit is an external drying machine, running from the printer’s edge. It typically heats up to approximately 120 F, while making the distance to the take-up wheel about three times longer and providing more time for drying.

Laminators may be used to complement a printer/cutter. They are useful if you are printing signs and decals; lamination can take the place of a mask and provide enhanced protection.

Although decals do not always require lamination, in geographic areas where ultraviolet light is a problem, it may help to maintain ink color.

Stock for laminating / masking comes in sheets that are the same widths as the material it is used for and can be placed on the same shelf. Designating what each roll is is important, since all the masking materials are clear and look the same.

Apart from labeling rolls, placing them in a designated place either at the top or bottom of the rack helps make pulling the correct stuff easier and avoids expensive mistakes.

5. Tools that make your job complete:

There are also many devices that can improve the workflow of printers/cutters. A weeder, a tool with a sharp tip, makes it even less challenging to spin, which saves energy.

Media clamps are constructed from metal and are mounted at screen edges. They are important when working with media or decals on T-shirts, which tend to curl from heat when the head of print comes across them.

They also can be used when printing wall graphics and most other materials, except banners, where the media is too thick for the clamps to hold.

While helping to improve efficiency and processing, paper clamps can also mitigate problems caused by print head strikes and minimize system maintenance.

Light-, medium- and heavy-tack masks are available in the same widths as printer/cutter media.

You usually have a soft- or no-tack mask with adhesive decals, when having a medium-tack mask with simple T-shirt content and maybe one with a hard nylon tack.

Your supplier can help determine the best option.

Conclusion:

Smart scheduling also plays a part in producing efficiency. Try performing smaller tasks through the day, for example, and larger ones overnight, because the ink has room to cure until the next morning delivery.

Lastly, it is a method that fits well if you have a career creating expertise because no one can control the operation.