Impressions - September 2015 - 35

Secondary considerations to note during the screen-room inspection include
environmental controls (temperature and
humidity), proper lighting conditions for
screen making and proper controls to minimize lint contamination.
Inks/ink department: The facility's
ink department's condition quite possibly
is one of the easiest signs of the commitment to care and quality. Most good
contract-printing facilities will have a finished ink or pigment/toner mixing system,
which also should be clean, organized and
updated. Ink inventory should be properly maintained, labeled and organized
by PMS color. Facilities using a current
color-mixing system will have a computer
terminal allowing the ink mixer to easily
pull up a needed PMS color formula when
the time arises. Finally, the inks at the
presses should only be those that are running during your inspection. The printing
area should not be littered with residual
colors from previous production runs.

business with a contract printer. Should
your volume warrant it, you may need
multiple contractors. My general belief is
that you should not commit to more than
35% of a contractor's total capacity. Thus,
when the contract ends your departure
will not be a devastating blow to the company. In addition, should the contractor
not be capable of completing production,
you can use additional resources.
In regard to turn times, ask up front
when your potential contractor can complete production. Ensure the turn time is
not unreasonable and doesn't cause headaches. The company should be able to build
it into its normal production schedule.

MORE CONSIDERATIONS
As you are most likely committing a large
quantity of garments to be printed in the
contractor's facility, it is not unreasonable to
request a production proof to approve. This
can be used as a quality-control standard for

the contractor. You also may supply a garment sample if you have printed the same
image in the past.
Your best source for finding a quality
contract printer is to simply ask industry
colleagues. If not, request referrals from the
potential contractor you are researching.
Ask for quality/misprint percentage, volumes printed, turn times and overall service.
Identifying the ideal contractor is much
easier if you do research and plant inspections, and ask the right questions. This will
ensure you find a facility that will meet
your production needs.
Rick Davis is a veteran of the textile screenprinting and manufacturing industry. He is
a regular contributor to trade publications
and speaker at Imprinted Sportswear shows.
Rick also is a member of the Academy of
Screen and Digital Printing Technology. For
more information or to comment on this article,
email Rick at rickd5050@yahoo.com.

COST
Since you will be looking for the best
quality printing at the best price possible,
consider the contract price list. Most large
textile screen-printing facilities (three
or more automatic presses) will have a
contract-printing price list separate from
its custom-printing price list. This pricing
typically is based on you supplying the garments, leaving only costs for screens, printing, packaging and any required artwork.
Also, do your homework and get pricing
from several sources. Beware of pricing that
is simply too good to be true. Some printers
will lower prices to secure the order. Here,
the interest is in keeping the presses spinning as opposed to making a profit.
On the other hand, more expensive
contract printers most likely have a good
reason - possibly service and quality -
for the higher cost.

CAPACITY & TURN TIMES
Determining capacity and committing
to a particular volume can be a doubleedged sword. When working with a
particular contractor, you can easily determine the facility's general volume capacity
based on its equipment and how long the
staff typically prints daily. Some large companies will contract more than 50% of a
company's total capacity.
Don't place too much of your overall
impressionsmag.com

The environment should be
at least bearable for the contract-printing
staff. This includes proper air-circulation
systems and in-plant air conditioning, as
well as dryer exhaust systems.

September 2015 | Impressions

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Impressions - September 2015

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