We gang everything we can. We don't have any issues with doing so, and every time we gang a design we save one screen. That one screen doesn't have to be reclaimed, coated, exposed, taped, etc. and over the course of a year, we might save thousands of screens by ganging. I understand why some shops don't, cause it really doesn't take long to just slap another screen on the press rather than flip the screen or do a color change, but I think of it by looking at the entire process that you don't have to do by saving a screen. I'd like to know how long each shop spends on one screen to go through the entire production process?
A minute to coat
3 minutes to expose & washout
A few minutes to dry
1-2 minutes to tape up
5 minutes to reclaim
I figure that for each screen put into production, it takes 15-20 minutes of labor, no telling how little or how much chemicals go into that screen, maybe several dollars worth overall. I would rather save that 15-20 minutes by ganging screens since for whatever reason, we don't have to deal with any issues that arise from ganging some jobs. It takes only a few minutes to do a color change or to flip the screen and tape up the old image, so to me, it saves us more time by saving a screen from the production process.
I guess it would depend on where that time is coming from. If you're doing a color change and the press is waiting, I don't think you're saving any money. If you gang and all the color changing and retaping, etc is done off press with another job being run during that time perhaps you are saving money. We used to gang everything, but don't do it anymore. I personally would rather just throw another screen on and get to printing. I do the same thing for color changes as well.
I'd guess I have around 12 minutes into each screen.
This comes down the the answer no screen printer wants to see -
it depends.
I hate that answer myself but it is far too often true some things that are great savers for a small shop would make a larger shop go broke in short order.
This also brings up what I refer to as
active and
passive tasks active tasks cost
labor dollars passive tasks on the other hand only cost
labor dollars in the movement in and out and of course whatever the energy, water, or supplies cost.
This idea of targeting each task and review the effects of your methods in relation to the
total process is important and you will find that each person is different at the same task. I am slow and meticulous by nature, this works great for art production or fine tasks that take skill and planning, not so great for production, again targeting your needs will be necessary.
Part of our problem in the industry is the desire for
cut-and-dried cookie-cutter answers for everything and it often does not exist, we have facts we work with, like photo emulsion exposure and chemical reactions, and then we have process implementation and that second part becomes contentious and problematic.
There is nothing inherently wrong with “ganging” screens, we use the same sets of products in a set way to produce the stencils, how that fits into each shop or even each printing team is now at question. To add to this problem is the fact that things change - inks, emulsion, individual workers, locations, equipment, and customer demands all
change and to have intrenched inflexible procedures will only make things difficult.
Change, exploration, and pursuit of information has been my central theme for 11 years now, every shop could benefit from stepping back and analyzing the procedures set in place. If a time, supply, or step saving procedure cost more later in the process then the savings is nullified or even becomes a liability - you have to keep looking for this constantly and this changes as you grow and change.
