Printing both sides of a T

[Maxie]

I am having a disagreement with my printing staff.
When we have big orders that have to be printed on both sides, they put the shirts in 10's and fold them in half after we print the first side.
They say it's easier to count them this way but it means that when we print the second side we have to open them up again.
I think this is a waste of time.
What do you do?

[3Deep]

My wife do the same thing, she sez it's to keep everything in count...stacks of ten

[Colin]

First.... Why do they feel the need to count the shirts in the middle of a run?  I am assuming you counted the shirts before printing and are counting all misprint/mill rejects....

Second: Are you storing the shirts on pallets in between printing?  If so, then that is an acceptable storage method to me. 

However, if the shirts are staying on tables and getting turned around to print the next location right away, then they are straight up wasting time.

[Frog]

Yep, even when i worked in larger facilities, I never heard of this. Just separator sheets of paper or something to indicate a size change.
Count 'em in, count 'em out, not halfway through unless an issue somehow cropped up.

[Action1]

I am having a disagreement with my printing staff.
When we have big orders that have to be printed on both sides, they put the shirts in 10's and fold them in half after we print the first side.
They say it's easier to count them this way but it means that when we print the second side we have to open them up again.
I think this is a waste of time.
What do you do?

Hi Maxie:

We don't print shirts as you're aware but do have similar challenges. When we run our parts there are times that they go in and out of our machines more than once. I am in favor keeping a a watchful count going. Our team also stacks by 10's for most items so that we can easily count in between setups and be certain we're accurate. I'm in favor of it here.

Erik

[jvanick]

we count on the inbound (and outbound).

The shirts come off the dryer onto a 2nd cart so that they can be wheeled right back to the press for the 2nd side.
We stack them print side down.  This way as soon as they come back to the press they're ready to be printed without restacking.

if it's a over about 300 shirts... we still try to do the same thing, but on pallets.. however the shirts get moved from the pallets back onto the job cart.

we NEVER fold them mid-run, just seems like a waste of time.

-J

[mimosatexas]

I agree with those saying it is a waste of time.  count when you check items in from your supplier and stack em as you go.  Once you have your full inventory you print one side and note any misprints, add in replacements at the end of your run by subtracting from the original inventory if you do that kind of thing (i do not typically tell my clients to expect spoilage since most of my orders are simply too small for that to work).  Everything is simply stacked flat and flipped, then the next location is printed, again with any misprints noted and filled in with additional stock.  Final inventory is done at the end while boxing and I also stack in 10's.

Seems like a waste of time to count a 3rd or fourth time in the middle of trying to produce shirts, especially when it also wastes time to unstack them all at the end.

[blue moon]

I am having a disagreement with my printing staff.
When we have big orders that have to be printed on both sides, they put the shirts in 10's and fold them in half after we print the first side.
They say it's easier to count them this way but it means that when we print the second side we have to open them up again.
I think this is a waste of time.
What do you do?

I think it's a waste of time, but . . . if the system works and you are not having any counting issues, it might be worth keeping it in place.

pierre

p.s. 6 answers while I went away. 'did not get a chance to read them before posting this.

[Sbrem]

We lay them all out flat waiting for the second side, separated by size only. You count them when you open them, and when you fold 'em to put them in boxes to fill out the packing slip. If you fold them in half, as someone else said, you have to unfold them, and what would be the point of that?

Steve

[tonypep]

Or you could do it the way we did back at Precision Screen machines (double index style!)
load/load print/print flash/flash flip/flip (yes there is a pallet for this thin aluminum pallet attached to a base with a pall peen swivel and holds form using a strong magnet) print/print flash/flash unload/unload
Shirts come down dryer fully cured both sides. Why isn't everyone doing this? Only takes about eleven people to run the print line

[kingscreen]

Seems like a waste of time, and unnecessary.

[Sbrem]

Or you could do it the way we did back at Precision Screen machines (double index style!)
load/load print/print flash/flash flip/flip (yes there is a pallet for this thin aluminum pallet attached to a base with a pall peen swivel and holds form using a strong magnet) print/print flash/flash unload/unload
Shirts come down dryer fully cured both sides. Why isn't everyone doing this? Only takes about eleven people to run the print line

I think I remember that from a Screen Printing article way back when. The first auto I learned on was a 4 color all electric oval. We made our first flash unit to work in that press.

Steve

[tonypep]

That actually happened. On two machines. 24 hrs. Fun to watch but a 3 million print run gets boring no matter how you do it. These were the dreaded Precision Versa-oval prototypes.

[Underbase37]

It does sound like lost time/effort.

Ditto on the, count out of the box and back into the box, with keeping track of rejects. 

Murphy37

[Doug S]

If we have to print both sides we just stack them as neatly as possible after they exit the drier so they are easy to load for the other side but never fold anything until they are done.  We verify sizes and count before the run, then have the press count the total number of the front prints and make sure that number matches the back print count.  Finally we fold in sizes to box up.  Folding between the front and back would be a time killer for us.