screen printing > Non Textile

Pad Printing Equipment?

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3Deep:
Rick is 100% right we bought pad printing equipment years ago, found one place that we could buy blanks for a decent price, then order qty was a problem.  We gave up and just sent people to the company or we just ordered and added a small fee which was really not worth our time, but I did learn how to pad print which we did stuff for us to give away.

mimosatexas:
I guess I will expand a bit on why we want it brought in house so the discussion can focus on the specifics of getting into pad printing vs why we should or shouldnt.

We manage dozens of online stores and offer and huge variety of items for those stores.  Numerous designs, wide variation in popularity, etc.  We do not keep printed stock for most items, or when we do we use analytics to tell us what to print and those runs vary a lot seasonally and as designs age etc.  Many of these stores offer designs reactively to trends, news cycles etc.  We offer a huge assortment of products and have in-house the equipment and personnel needed to produce items in a variety of ways based on popularity, design complexity, substrate, etc.  An example would be transitioning a design from DTG, to transfers, to direct print on shirts as popularity rises and falls.  That flexibility is key.

We have had increasing need to bring pad printed items in house as order minimums and lead times for outsourced products have hurt our ability to serve the needs of our clients, not to mention the associated costs and logistical issues with carrying inventory for a growing catalog of stores.

balloonguy:

--- Quote from: 3Deep on April 24, 2019, 02:06:25 PM ---Rick is 100% right we bought pad printing equipment years ago, found one place that we could buy blanks for a decent price, then order qty was a problem.  We gave up and just sent people to the company or we just ordered and added a small fee which was really not worth our time, but I did learn how to pad print which we did stuff for us to give away.

--- End quote ---
Do you mind sharing the decent place for blanks? We have a pad printer that does not get much use because I never did find a great source for blanks...
Thanks,

mimosatexas:
what blanks are you talking about?  just random blank promo items?

royster13:
I always love these discussions about pad printing.....

I have been a re-seller for 40+ years and have done okay.....But there are times when I need faster turnaround and/or smaller runs.....And pad printing (or flat screen printing) can work for that....But it is so hard to predict in advance what you need for inventory...And if you are buying a bunch of random items in small quantities sometime your landed cost is so close to what you could buy printed product for (or more) it is hardly worth it....

That said, if you identify a particular product and buy in bulk and then go about creating enough demand for it you can do okay.....I know folks that sell coffee mugs, pint glasses, mason jars, floating key tags, etc.....But they spend considerable amount of money and effort direct marketing to create enough demand....And had huge upfront costs to bring in a container from China.....

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