High-performance printing: Maximising efficiency for large orders

Andy Rogers, marketing director at Stahls’ UK, takes the time to explain how you can maximise efficiency for larger orders.

In the fast-paced world of heat printing, efficiency is key to high performance.

An optimised workflow boosts profitability, improves turnaround times and ensures product consistency. Businesses that streamline their operations better meet customer demands and maintain an edge.

Why heat printing efficiency matters

Efficiency in heat printing impacts production quality, cost management, and customer satisfaction. Here’s what high performance printers do:

• Cost savings: Reducing material waste, lowering energy consumption, and minimising labour costs make production more cost-effective.
• Faster turnaround: Streamlined workflows enable quicker order fulfilment, helping meet tight deadlines and increasing output.
• Consistent quality: Uniform heat application reduces the chances of misprints, and defects.
• Higher profit margins: Reduced waste and improved productivity lead to greater profitability.
• Competitive advantage: Efficient processes allow businesses to offer competitive pricing and superior service.

Strategies to improve efficiency in heat printing

Enhancing efficiency in a heat press business reduces costs, boosts productivity, and ensures consistent quality. Here are key strategies to optimise your operations:

1) Optimise workflow and workstation layout

Arrange equipment and materials for easy access to minimise unnecessary movement.

Spending five seconds retrieving each garment can add up to 41 minutes a day when printing 500 garments. Designate separate areas for printing, cutting, and packing. This reduces clutter, and a disorganised environment increases errors.

2) Invest in high-quality equipment

Reliable heat presses with consistent temperature and pressure control reduce errors.

Consider upgrading:

• Automatic heat presses: Reduce manual effort and prevent garment scorching with auto-release technology.
• Dual workstation heat presses: Prepare one garment while fusing another. Ensuring a seamless workflow.

3) Improve time management

Batch similar jobs to minimise setup times. Printing hoodies with three placements is faster when all placements are completed separately. Print the front, back and sleeve in batches. Rather than printing one garment at a time.

Switching accessories during production may take five seconds per garment. Which could translate to 25+ minutes wasted on a small order.

Leverage dual timers: This saves time by automating time adjustments for different applications. Eliminating the need for manual changes.

Automate repetitive tasks:

• Gang cutting HTV on large sheets reduces cutting time.
• Consider switching to custom heat transfers to eliminate cutting and weeding altogether.

4) Use high-quality materials

Invest in reliable, high-quality materials to ensure consistent performance and customer satisfaction. Low-cost products may seem appealing. But poor-quality transfers can damage your reputation and waste resources. Proven, premium materials prevent reruns and reduce costs by minimising errors.

5) Train employees and standardise processes

Provide comprehensive training on heat press techniques to minimise user errors. Connect your press online to track heat press performance. Use detailed reports that identify application errors. For example, if a batch of garments returns faulty, you can analyse the print logs. Then determine whether the correct parameters were applied.

6) Reduce waste and improve sustainability

Optimise cutting layouts: Use gang sheets to maximise material efficiency and reduce costs per design. But, ensure that cutting time doesn’t offset these savings. Spending excessive time cutting out designs can negate the benefits of gang sheeting.

Tip: For larger orders, get your supplier to pre-cut your transfers.

Energy-efficient presses: Top level heat presses offer energy-saving features that reduce electricity costs.

• Programme the press to pre-heat 20 minutes before the workday begins.
• Set the press to enter standby mode after inactivity. Saving energy and reducing costs.

Ultra-high performance – placements efficiency

A dual platen heat press with projection alignment can yield remarkable results. Printing 500 T shirts daily under this setup can save 86 working days. That’s 86 extra days to grow your business, take on more jobs, or enjoy a well-deserved break.

Start your journey into high performance

Make strategic upgrades and process improvements. Then you can increase production speed, reduce waste, and enhance business performance.