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Running a Multi-Machine Direct to Garment Production

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Please find some links and notes from the 2 Regular Guys Podcast. Chris Freeman will be joining our show today. Chris has a long experience in multi-machine DTG production. We’ll discuss this concept, and how this same information relates to the single machine shop. Get some great insight from someone who has been a part of one of the largest Direct to Garment Production based decorating companies in the country.

Sponsored by: SGIA.org | ThreadX – Palm Springs, CA February 25-28, 2018

ThreadX18Our regular listeners know this, but 2 Regular Guys are all about garment decorating, a bit of fun, and no rants or lectures or selling. We are not doing this for our employers, but rather for our industry. Since February 2013, The 2 Regular Guys have been the first and the most listened to garment decorating industry podcast on this planet! We are humbled by all of you tuning in each week. We work hard to bring you information that will make your business better, and our industry better. Take a look at our incredible weekly guest list and you’ll understand where this industry goes for news, interviews and the heartbeat of garment decorating. Thanks for listening!

Thank you to the Veterans!

Direct to Garment Production

Terry: Chris, tell us about your journey through direct-to-garment printing.

Started with 26 Kornits, half of them in existence. Year 1 was testing, Anajet, MSI, brother, Sawgrass, Brother is still there running.  Had the first 3 machines from Belquette, curing problems, pretreat problems, ink problems.  Anajet was early to the Ricoh game and now has real engineers.  Bob Marino and a crazy test a day.

Aaron: It sounds like your DTG experience is on the larger scale side. Does what you do translate to a smaller DTG operation?

It all comes down to control.  Garbage in garbage out.  Most problems are caused by changing situations you didn’t know where changing.  Go use the equipment at a trade show and don’t be shy.  

Terry: You’ve had your finger on the pulse of DTG for quite a while now. Where are we going from here?

Back to the future multi-station?  Single headed consumer machines?  New chemistry?

Aaron: Any surprises we should expect on the DTG front in the short or long future?

It’s not about the machine, it’s about the content and the relationship.  

Terry: What advice would you offer someone just now contemplating or just stepping into the DTG arena?

Have someone like Eric over at Scalable Press make your work for you until you make enough money to buy a decent used machine. There is so much to learn

Aaron: Talk to our listeners about your new business

Web based preflighting.

Terry: Who can benefit from this technology?

Anyone who wants to save time…

Terry: Chris, let’s shift gears completely and tell us about the work you and your wife are doing in Tanzania.

Chris Freeman is a Kentucky native, computer programmer, and Process Engineer. He is a digital printing expert with ten years of experience as an Engineering Director at cafepress. He currently operates a print production consulting business providing advice and software for the print industry. He is a graduate of the University of Louisville Speed School of Engineering. He has spent his career creating unique and automated processes to address the challenges of complex short-run work.

His time at cafepress was marked by phenomenal growth and changes at the company and in the printing industry as a whole, from the explosion of Epson-based DTG printers in 2007 to the next generation of purpose-built machines. At the start of his tenure, he worked for a company that owned half the Kornits ever made, and by the time he left Epson was selling and supporting a DTG printer.

Chris is currently focused on automated graphics preparation for printing and web-to-print integration. He sees the need for smaller customers to be able to easily generate specialty graphics with spot colors and larger customers to be able to do this in an automated fashion. He has developed a web platform to serve both markets that is in beta testing with a few large distributors.

Other Events

Trade Shows

Terry’s Books

Screen Printing: A Practical Guide to Starting Your Own T-Shirt Business Just $4.95 as an e-book.

Direct to Garment: A Practical Guide to Starting Your Own T-Shirt Business Just $4.95 as an e-book.

Scheduling and Estimating Production Time for Garment Screen Printing Just $2.99 as an e-book

SubliSource

Sublimation just got easier with the launch of sublisource.com, the new US distributor for Best Sublimation. Our mission is to help our partners grow with a different way of doing business compared to all the “Me too” distributors in the United States. We will do this by:
  • Offering products as a single item instead of forcing cases on you.
  • Changing shipping standards.
  • Offering unique products from limited manufacturing partnerships.

This show is brought to you for a full hour by:

Specialty Graphics Imaging Association – SGIA will continually strive to be the foremost resource for information and education within the specialty imaging industry. SGIA supports the digital and screen printing community in the USA and Canada by providing services and activities specific to their interests. While the majority of SGIA services and activities are specific to US and Canada, SGIA will continue to partner with national and regional associations around the globe to continually develop the international community. The SGIA National Affiliation Program brings together a multinational community to enhance awareness and encourage the exchange of information. Supporting the Leaders of the Digital and Screen Printing Community

Equipment Zone, with 20 years experience selling garment printing equipment nationwide. Equipment Zone offers the new Epson F2000 SureColor direct-to-garment printer, their own VelociJet-XL DTG printer, and the all-new SpeedTreater-TX automatic pretreat machine with a full 16”x24” pretreat area. Equipment Zone also carries a full line of DTG inks and supplies. Go to EquipmentZone.com

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