SCREEN PRINTING

One of the best ways to keep your screen printing customers happy and returning with additional business is to produce their orders as quickly as you can without sacrificing quality. Reducing your turnaround time is a good way to separate your business from your competition, since many screen printing orders are highly time sensitive.

The travel and hospitality industries are always booming, and where people are vacationing, touring, eating and drinking, they’re buying t-shirts, bags, glasses and more customized with their destination’s logo. Nearly every locale has destination spots, whether you’re in a tourism hot spot or located near a local amusement park, microbrewery or annual music festival site. For screen printers, that means the hospitality and tourism markets provide ample business opportunities. Once you’ve located local tourist hot spots, there are a few strategies you can use to successfully pitch your products to potential clients.

Businesses invest a lot of time in attracting new customers, often to the detriment of their existing customers. One of the best growth strategies for your screen printing business is to focus on building a loyal base of customers. Not only do loyal customers provide you with regular sales, they’ll also sing your praises and recommend your services to their friends and colleagues.

In today’s digital world, email marketing is a must for businesses large and small – and screen printing businesses are no exception. Email marketing is quick, easy, affordable and measurable, making it an invaluable addition to your existing marketing efforts. Sending out regular emails that your target market finds interesting and valuable is a great way to stay at the front of your customers’ minds and give your sales a boost.

Screen printing requires heat. Every screen printer knows that applying the right amount of heat for the right amount of time results in a crisp screen print that’s fully bonded to your substrate. Sometimes, however, heat can prove the enemy. 

For most screen printers, liquid emulsion is the preferred tool for coating screens to make stencils. There is an alternative that’s often overlooked and undervalued: capillary film. Capillary films are sheets of hardened emulsion on a polyester backing. The emulsion side of the film is applied directly to a wetted mesh screen. The emulsion forms a firm bond with the mesh as it dries, and the backing is peeled away. From there, the printer can expose a stencil much as they would a screen coated with liquid emulsion.

Screen printing remains the top method for garment decoration for a variety of reasons. It’s a straightforward, versatile and time-tested process that’s economical for high-volume printing and delivers great results on almost any substrate. However, emerging new technologies have created some doubts about screen printing’s future. So where might the screen printing industry be headed in coming years?

Today’s screen printing industry seems like a completely modern endeavor, with computer-based design, commercial-grade electric screen printing machines,  special effects inks, UV lights and commercial dryers. The reality, however, is that screen printing has had a long history, evolving through the ages as people look for different ways to decorate paper, material and even buildings. So how did the high-tech screen printing industry of today come about?

What are you working toward at your screen printing business? If you don’t have goals in place — and an action plan to meet them — you’re flying blind in your business. Having a goal for your business helps you to keep your focus, guides your decision making and motivates you and your staff as you work toward a common purpose. 

Whether it’s your first screen printing machine or you’re looking to add another press to your setup, it can be tempting to go the used route. Screen printing presses – especially automatic machines – are big investments and every dollar counts for your business. You can save a bundle by opting for a used press over a new model, but there is some risk involved. If you’re set on purchasing pre-owned equipment, you have to do your research to make sure you’re getting a solid machine.

How do you reclaim your screens? This might be one of the least liked jobs in the entire screen printing shop, which leads most screen printers to explore all screen cleaning options. If you’ve undertaken the search for the best way to reclaim your screens, you’ve likely come across the controversial dip tank. Some screen printers love them, touting them as time and supply savers, while other screen printers warn against them, saying they waist chemicals and produce hazardous waste.

An unmotivated staff can pose serious problems for your screen printing business. Only 33 percent of American workers report being fully engaged in their jobs, according to a Gallup report, and that majority of unmotivated workers results in more than $550 billion in lost productivity. A motivated staff keeps your screen printing shop running quickly and efficiently. And on top of that, happy, motivated employees help make your shop a pleasure to run and a pleasure to spend your work day in.