1 man press

[Fleetee]

1 person will be running my workhorse sabre. For those of you here who run an automatic press by themselves or have experience running it by themselves, any tips/advice? So I beware/anticipate anything? Just seeking some advice from you guys that are more experiences so that I can better prepare myself and all. ANYTHING will help guys, thanks!!

[Frog]

I may be in the minority, but I think that regularly having only one person run a automatic is a big waste of the machine's potential.
A loader, an unloader, and a catcher at the end of the dryer will keep that machine spitting out money, while one person will mostly just save their back.
I worked in a shop once, in which a particular guy running their Hopkins manual, could come close to matching a single person trying to load and unload their auto.

The increase in production gained by hiring one or two more folks at the going entry level wages in North Carolina will more than pay for itself.

[3Deep]

Well while what Frog states is correct if you have the jobs and man power, but in my shop I run my press load/unload and my wife or help if we need it at times stays at the end of the dryer, and I will also beg to differ on a manual vs an auto , but to his credit he did say this particular guy and shop.  It's all in your setup, press ain't nothing without a good dryer that can out pace it, then you'll never have a bottle neck at the dryer no matter how many or how less of people you have working on the press.

[farmboygraphics]

Made this video about running it alone. I'll do this when I get in early or stay late. Runs 168 pcs an hour. Not lighting the world on fire, but getting things done just the same.
https://youtu.be/m93qmWzpakA

[Sbrem]

Well while what Frog states is correct if you have the jobs and man power, but in my shop I run my press load/unload and my wife or help if we need it at times stays at the end of the dryer, and I will also beg to differ on a manual vs an auto , but to his credit he did say this particular guy and shop.  It's all in your setup, press ain't nothing without a good dryer that can out pace it, then you'll never have a bottle neck at the dryer no matter how many or how less of people you have working on the press.

Yes, there is a middle ground, the first extra person should catch, fold, check the order, box... then the puller. If you have to do it all yourself, you have to stop printing to go fold shirts, and finish the order before you break down, and set up the next job. One extra person will make a big difference. We get to the weekends with leftover work to be done, and my partner and I do it, he prints, I catch and the rest.

Steve

[Prince Art]

Focus on the effiency of your workspace. None of this taking 2 steps over to drop a shirt on the dryer then walking back to the press stuff. You've got to set up so that the pressman can unload, drop, pick, load in a fluid series of uninterrupted motions. Feet should barely move. Also, take the time to stack your shirts VERY neatly. You want the hems & especially the first corner you grab to be in approximately the same place every time you go to pick the shirt. You also want to make sure no sleeves are folded in on each other in the stack. This is the kind of thing that lets you keep a steady rhythm with no press stoppage.

Also, put ink cards in every screen when setting up, and keep your ink buckets nearby, so that you're prepared to push in ink or re-ink when necessary, without wandering off to look for supplies. Likewise, keep a roll of masking tape at the print station for those times when you need to use a bit to pull a bug/piece of lint fuzz off the underside of the screen.

And I agree, 2nd person added should be catcher, 3rd should pull. If your catcher is on his/her game (also depends on production speed), and can keep clean hands, they may be able to do the job of pushing in ink/re-inking with or instead of the pressman. Good communication & teamwork can let 2 people get good mileage out of an auto press.

If you don't have a catcher (pressman is really doing everything): I highly recommend breaking to catch between sizes. (Put pellons or something else between sizes on your load so you know when to go catch.) That way, sizes don't get mixed up in the bin, and you don't have to sort. Just pull shirts from the bin & stack them as quickly as possible. On big orders, figure out about how many dozen will fill your bin, keep count while printing, and stop when you hit that number. This will prevent big messes, shirts backing up on the dryer, shirts on the floor, etc. Also, having enough table space so that you can unload the bin onto a table & stack from there is much more efficient that leaning over a bin to pull out, then stack, one shirt at a time. (Seems obvious to me, but not to everyone I've seen catching!)

[Fleetee]

Jeez didn't expect all this great feedback! Thanks so much guys.
And just to give you guys more context. 1 man will be unloading and loading while another person or 2 will be handling the folding and packaging the t-shirts (if it's just 1 person folding the shirt, I may be forced to use a catching bin). So it is NOT the case with 1 man is completely running the whole process. That would be ridiculous haha, I can't even imagine 1 person doing every single job.
And just to give you guys even further context, we really want 1 person to know the automatic press as if its their own body. And I feel as if the only way to achieve that is if the person is unloading and loading and seeing the entire dynamic of the press. Of course, eventually we will be hiring more eventually leading to a separate loader and unloader. But we are just a start up company and volume is relatively low, maybe 200-300 shirts a day
Thanks again guys, really appreciate you guys taking the time out to help me out!

[Frog]

Jeez didn't expect all this great feedback! Thanks so much guys.
And just to give you guys more context. 1 man will be unloading and loading while another person or 2 will be handling the folding and packaging the t-shirts (if it's just 1 person folding the shirt, I may be forced to use a catching bin). So it is NOT the case with 1 man is completely running the whole process. That would be ridiculous haha, I can't even imagine 1 person doing every single job.
And just to give you guys even further context, we really want 1 person to know the automatic press as if its their own body. And I feel as if the only way to achieve that is if the person is unloading and loading and seeing the entire dynamic of the press. Of course, eventually we will be hiring more eventually leading to a separate loader and unloader. But we are just a start up company and volume is relatively low, maybe 200-300 shirts a day
Thanks again guys, really appreciate you guys taking the time out to help me out!

Looks like you guys will only be working a few hours a day, in that case

[Fleetee]

Made this video about running it alone. I'll do this when I get in early or stay late. Runs 168 pcs an hour. Not lighting the world on fire, but getting things done just the same.
https://youtu.be/m93qmWzpakA

Great video! Short and sweet to the point, but honestly helped me a lot. Took notes on the videos and I will try the 20 second index. Probably will start with a longer index just until I get a natural flow of things and lower the index accordingly.

[Fleetee]

Jeez didn't expect all this great feedback! Thanks so much guys.
And just to give you guys more context. 1 man will be unloading and loading while another person or 2 will be handling the folding and packaging the t-shirts (if it's just 1 person folding the shirt, I may be forced to use a catching bin). So it is NOT the case with 1 man is completely running the whole process. That would be ridiculous haha, I can't even imagine 1 person doing every single job.
And just to give you guys even further context, we really want 1 person to know the automatic press as if its their own body. And I feel as if the only way to achieve that is if the person is unloading and loading and seeing the entire dynamic of the press. Of course, eventually we will be hiring more eventually leading to a separate loader and unloader. But we are just a start up company and volume is relatively low, maybe 200-300 shirts a day
Thanks again guys, really appreciate you guys taking the time out to help me out!

Looks like you guys will only be working a few hours a day, in that case

Yea, we plan and expect to work long hours. Excited for the challenge! I'm sure I will have plenty of questions, even more than now...

[Sbrem]

Jeez didn't expect all this great feedback! Thanks so much guys.
And just to give you guys more context. 1 man will be unloading and loading while another person or 2 will be handling the folding and packaging the t-shirts (if it's just 1 person folding the shirt, I may be forced to use a catching bin). So it is NOT the case with 1 man is completely running the whole process. That would be ridiculous haha, I can't even imagine 1 person doing every single job.
And just to give you guys even further context, we really want 1 person to know the automatic press as if its their own body. And I feel as if the only way to achieve that is if the person is unloading and loading and seeing the entire dynamic of the press. Of course, eventually we will be hiring more eventually leading to a separate loader and unloader. But we are just a start up company and volume is relatively low, maybe 200-300 shirts a day
Thanks again guys, really appreciate you guys taking the time out to help me out!

One folder should be able to handle the output to start, I can catch, fold, and box around 500 an hour, and write the packing slip while I'm at it. I don't do it very often, as I have the owner's responsibilities to handle, but all of us here, young and old alike, can do that. You can do it too!

Steve

[mimosatexas]

On a sabre you should be able to comfortably load and unload around 30 to 35 dozen an hour as a relative newbie. I have guys in my shop who never saw a press before 2 months ago who can keep that pace. Catcher can absolutely keep up with that pace as well, while folding, boxing, watching Netflix, etc

[kingscreen]

Our press operators run Sabres solo regularly at 30-45/dz/hr.  Catcher in my opinion is a requirement.  When running solo, we load/unload from the unload station and index counter clockwise.  That way if you misload a shirt, you have time to pause and correct.

[mimosatexas]

Yep, same as king. Load from the unload so you aren't moving awkwardly to unload.

Fastest I have been able to solo run our sabre with any consistency is 48 dozen, but i wouldnt expect anyone to hit that without a lot of experience.

Also, we have an 8 color, 10 station. I recently ran a shift on a 6 color, 8 station and was able to run 5 dozen faster per hour than on our press, all settings the same so size.of your press will also change your expectations a bit.

[Prince Art]

Another tip, if you've got anyone who will be running the press and has no auto experience: During time when the press isn't needed for a job, give them a short stack of cheap blanks, run the press with no screens, and let them practice unloading & loading. Start at a moderate pace, but don't let them stop for crooked shirts. Just keep unloading & loading. This can help break the tendency to want to fidget with shirts, and instead fine tune the ability to get them loaded straight the first time. (This is sort of the "wax on, wax off" approach.) As the operator gets better, they should keep lowering the dwell time.
Also, if you are able to do this first thing in the morning, you may even be able to leave the dryer off, so that the unloaded shirts don't go anywhere, and can be restacked right away, so practice keeps going.