Manual Production rates??

visiontshirts

Hello all,

Trying to dial in productivity expectations for moderately experienced screen printing operators.

I use two 6/4 station manual and one 4/4 station manual (Hopkins) machines.

What would be a reasonable expectation of print/flash/print on two color job for example on any of these machines? 50+/hour 75+ hour? I have printed 6 colors with flash at a rate of 75 shirts/hour on the 6/4's with no issues. I had a rhythm established, few distractions and it was not that hard. So what's up with two colors???

Need to consider some break time, and slowing down towards end of day when one would theoretically get a little tired...

I am seeing 45 or less per hour and it's getting frustrating.

Thanks in advance!!

repogolfer

No better judge than yourself. Try it for a day and see what kind of #'s you can do. But do it all day, not just for an hour. Then expect a little less from your worker.

Jon

numbercruncher

It might be useful to be more specific and establish benchmarks for production.
This will require keeping records of the jobs you do, some compilation and math- but can pay off big time down the line.

Record time for apparel counting/size verification-if this is done while printing it is important to note # of changes(takes more time - easier to count 100xl, than 20s,20m...

Record required times for press registration and make ready(ink,base,flash,test print, etc). Suggest timing/segregating by # of colors.

Record time, quantity and #of colors (stop and start) for each print job. Note any special problem-screen breakdown, press slips out of registration, etc. Note if the job is split by lunch hour.

It really is best to develop your own benchmarks - especially on manual equipment and even on autos the preprint requirements/responsibilities vary from shop to shop. Yes this can get even more detailed but it is info that once procured can pay big dividends. Any questions, want to take this further email me-always love to hear from screenprinters.

visiontshirts

Thanks for all the responses. Useful information. I got some slow printers. All to change soon!!!