ScreenPrint 101
Product and technology updates from Brown Manufacturing Group, Inc.
Wednesday, March 1, 2023
Brown is our name, but we are open to other options
Tuesday, December 13, 2022
2022 brings big changes for Brown
Go big or go home.
Monday, August 8, 2022
Innovation Center at Brother International
It has been a long time coming and the Brown staff is excited to see that their hard work has paid off. Brother International opened a new training facility at their Bartlett, TN location and the BrownDigital product line took center stage.
This new product line has been under wraps for 2 years. A single operator loads a garment and these garments are pretreated and digitally printed and returned to the same operator. One guy does it all. Amazing.
Thank you to Brother International for the opportunity.
Tuesday, May 10, 2022
Getting creative during the supply chain crunch
For anyone who is chasing garments of every type and style, we understand your pain. The supply chain issue is applicable to everything from ramen noodles in the grocery store to automobiles. It is not just the finished products, but the raw materials and the sub-assembly items.
So what to do?
Changes coming?
Wednesday, January 5, 2022
POD production? It's where the world is.
Our roller coaster world has made traditional printing businesses take another look on how they generate orders. When schools and restaurants were closed, many of our community printers had to consider other avenues for revenue generation. The world of online shopping became essential for all decorators, whether one off orders or bulk. These orders can be challenging to pull into standard community printing production management.
The old school paper production tickets are messy and confusing for small orders. Barcode systems that can function for both small and bulk orders are cleaner and more efficient than sheets of paper floating around a production floor. Scanners at each workstation can pull up all order details within seconds and connect directly with shipping software. With Linx Production software, the barcode will also drive the printers, laser engravers and sublimation systems.
Wait, what? It can connect my online to my production machine and back to my shipping software?
So how does Linx Production software do all that?
Beginning at a web store, information for an order is pulled into Linx and a barcode is assigned. This information includes garment data as well as art and print locations. The PNG artwork is ripped for the DTG as well as scaled for garment size and print location. For other print mediums, the art is converted to match the requirements of the output device. The operator loads the item, scans the code and the output device has all the information needed for production. Print specifications are preset by the user as well as pretreat and cure requirements.
Orders can be sorted by all major factors. This aids in purchasing, product picking, pretreat scheduling and customer management. At shipping, a binning system allows for gathering of multiple items of an order with notifications when an order is complete. In the QC department, if a product does not pass inspection, the barcode returns to th production schedule for a reprint.
A QuickBook plug in will also connect your orders directly to your billing department. Inventory modules are available for small and large users. Custom API connections are available to give full flexibility to your production needs.
How do you get started?
Friday, August 13, 2021
So many decorating options.
Brown did some recent DTG print testing and I had some thoughts. This particular test involved a print run of about 72 shirts ranging from youth medium to adult 3xl. It has a white crest print and a multi-color full back on a dark shirt. A typical order for a community printer. And a profitable one if handled correctly for your shop.
What is correctly?
DTG
Shirt $2Ink $0.95Pretreat $0.30Shop time cost $1.66Labor $0.83Total cost per shirt $5.74
Screen Print on an automatic
Shirt $2Ink $0.06Films/screens $0.08Shop time cost $0.83Labor $0.42Total cost per shirt $3.31
Screen Print on an manual
Shirt $2Ink $0.06Films/screens $0.08Shop time cost $1.66Labor $0.83
Total cost per shirt $4.63
Is cost the only factor in the production path?
Well, we can all say "no" to that answer. But there is $2.50 per shirt here in profit. So COGS cannot be ignored.
COGS is a significant factor. That calculation has to include machine time, shop time and labor time. However, judging the flow of your shop, the availability of your staff and their skill sets, and the print preferences of the final customer will sway the final production decision. If they want "pop" then they will want screen print. If they prefer a soft feel, then DTG is a good plan.
So the real answer is that there is not a "correct" way to do this except to follow some basic guidelines.
- Is the customer happy with the finished product?
- Did you deliver on time?
- Did you make a profit margin that you would want repeat the job?
- Did this job delay other jobs that were more profitable?
Monday, June 14, 2021
New web site launch
We are excited to announce the launch of new web sites.
brownmfg.net is our main catalog site for Brown equipment.
This site features the products for screen printing, from screen room to final cure for all production levels. Additional content will be added as it becomes available and this site is more mobile friendly than our previous site.
On this site you will still find the popular ElectraPrint automatic printers. These are the only fully electric machines on the market. There are suggested parts list for many of the machines as well as cut sheets for installation.From this page you will find links to the associated products such as the Set-N-Go and the QuartzAir flash.
Within this site you will also find information on all of our t-shirt ovens as well. This includes the TRX series, the UltraCure x-series, the PonyDryer and the Sierra dryer. It is a comprehensives site that will provide all the details to help choose the right one for your shop and to help plan for the installation.