Getting a 2nd auto. What now?

[jvieira]

We've been working for the past 5 years with a M&R Diamondback 8/6 but in the past 2 years things have REALLY picked up and it's not cutting it anymore. Too many revolvers involved due to lack of heads and it's a slower machine, so we're adding a Sportsman 10/12 to the floor.

We got most stuff dialed in by now regarding optimising as much as we can pre/post production. We've also just got an i-Image ST to speed things but we're still averaging 1 month to deliver our orders, which is crazy (business is booming, it's a good headache)!

Here's my problem. I have no idea how to go about this. We have two persons on staff for screen printing (not including art department) and just added a third one. I was considering manning both presses with 1 operator or the Sportsman with 2 operators, which will always be faster than how we've been working now. The 3rd person will help with set up/tear down and catch shirts.
I know I could speed things up more if I was to hire more people but I'm not a fan. We're based in Europe and there's too many laws protecting employees vs employers, so hiring is a difficult decision.

For those who took the leap to the 2nd auto, how do you handle things? How many people do you have working on those machines?

[GraphicDisorder]

I would fully staff the new Auto, Loader, unloader and someone at the back of the dryer. Then look at maybe hiring a 4th person to set up the second press while the first is printing. The printers move over to the other press. Your spare guy breaks the other press down and sets it up. Rinse and repeat. That person could also do your screen imaging during down time/longer runs.

[mimosatexas]

What brandt describe is exactly our plan when we get pur second auto. 4th guy sets up and breaks down while the 3 man crew moves between presses, way less downtime.

[blue moon]

that's what we were thinking, but it did not work out. We ended having two crews. . .

pierre

[DCSP John]

If you've got the biz, ya gotta have the bods...
juggling from one machine to the other works - but
lots of heavy equipment sitting idle half the day. you'll
figure out what works best based on your volume...

- John

[3Deep]

I'd rather have one nice size press with one crew than two press's with half crew and sitting idle waiting unless I got tons of work to keep both busy.  Even with our two person crew someday's we can out work it , then other days it out works us.  I like the old saying get more than you need and most times it will catch up with you.

[Homer]

I'd rather have one nice size press with one crew than two press's with half crew and sitting idle waiting unless I got tons of work to keep both busy.  Even with our two person crew someday's we can out work it , then other days it out works us.  I like the old saying get more than you need and most times it will catch up with you.

agreed. I have two autos and it never pans out how you think it will. Buy one really efficient machine and it will out perform two so/so machines in a heart beat...

[jvieira]

I really like what Brandt described and it's definitely now on the table as a way to test things.

The Sportsman will be our n1 machine as it's bigger and will work faster than our Diamondback. I do see the advantages on having it done like he said and at times hiring help to have both machines working at the same time (we're having lots of big jobs right now, we could work with both presses at the same time too and pump them out in half the time).

If you've got the biz, ya gotta have the bods...
juggling from one machine to the other works - but
lots of heavy equipment sitting idle half the day. you'll
figure out what works best based on your volume...

- John

This is true as well, but I have no problems having equipment sitting idle at times if at the end of the day we're more efficient and can have a higher output of shirts/orders. Considering the market we're in, it's cheaper to have a press being idle a few hours a day than hiring more people.

[mimosatexas]

Every shop is a little different, but we currently have 6 or 7 people in our screen department most days, but that includes a lot of peripheral stuff like printing transfers, pressing hats, folding and bagging, plus all the screen stuff, seps, ink mixing, inventory management, etc. A second press for us with a single crew would be the norm, but give us the capacity to run balls out with 2 full crews when necessary prior to hiring more folks.

[Maxie]

We were in a pretty similar position, ran one machine for 5 years, (MHM E Type 10/12) and then added a second machine (MHM S Type 12/14).
One of the problems with this business is that it's seasonal so for a large part of the year we manage with one machine, in our busy period from April to August we cannot keep up so we add staff and run two machines.
One thing you need to get rid of is working in revolver mode, it's not economical, hopefully your bigger machine will have more flashes.
We used to keep up by working overtime, with two machines we keep up in one shift.    Saves a fortune.
We also record everything we print so we can see by the numbers that we cannot keep up with one machine in busy months.
Having two machines makes us more economical in quite months, we can set up the second machine while the first one is printing and have the printers move between the machines.
For me possibility the biggest advantage to having two machines is the security of knowing that if one gives problems we can keep working, we work on tight deadlines and when we had one machine I almost had heart attack every time the machine gave trouble.       I must say i in 5 years we only lost 2 days but did have problems here and there.
How can you take a month to deliver?     I'm at a week and my sales team are crying.       In my opinion get a second machine quickly.

[RICK STEFANICK]

I would fully staff the new Auto, Loader, unloader and someone at the back of the dryer. Then look at maybe hiring a 4th person to set up the second press while the first is printing. The printers move over to the other press. Your spare guy breaks the other press down and sets it up. Rinse and repeat. That person could also do your screen imaging during down time/longer runs.

We do some of that but we are running 8 autos wide open 2 shifts. With tri-loc the set ups are so fast unless you are doing small runs your actually hurting yourself if you have the volume. Just something to consider

[jvieira]

We were in a pretty similar position, ran one machine for 5 years, (MHM E Type 10/12) and then added a second machine (MHM S Type 12/14).
One of the problems with this business is that it's seasonal so for a large part of the year we manage with one machine, in our busy period from April to August we cannot keep up so we add staff and run two machines.
One thing you need to get rid of is working in revolver mode, it's not economical, hopefully your bigger machine will have more flashes.
We used to keep up by working overtime, with two machines we keep up in one shift.    Saves a fortune.
We also record everything we print so we can see by the numbers that we cannot keep up with one machine in busy months.
Having two machines makes us more economical in quite months, we can set up the second machine while the first one is printing and have the printers move between the machines.
For me possibility the biggest advantage to having two machines is the security of knowing that if one gives problems we can keep working, we work on tight deadlines and when we had one machine I almost had heart attack every time the machine gave trouble.       I must say i in 5 years we only lost 2 days but did have problems here and there.
How can you take a month to deliver?     I'm at a week and my sales team are crying.       In my opinion get a second machine quickly.

We too have the seasonal problem. We struggled in Jan and Fev with lack of orders and then came March and all hell broke lose, hasn't stopped since. That's my problem with hiring too many people. It'll work out ok during the busy months but not during those quiet ones (and you still have to make payments).


The second auto is coming in about a month or so. It's going to be a struggle setting it up, getting all the staff on point for how to work with two autos. I'm planning on 3 flashes to avoid revolvers as much as we can. Not having as many revolvers alone is going to save us a massive amount of time. We'll use more screens though, but it'll be worth it. I'm happy with this plan until I can afford a 4th person