From the day we started our textile screen-printing business in 2006, my father, Bob, and I knew an automatic press was in the cards. But as with everything else, we recognized that timing and planning were critical with respect to making the leap. 

New article from atkinsontshirt: Arguably one of the best business books of all time is Stephen Covey’s classic work “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”.  If you haven’t read this work, get a copy…especially if you are not as effective as you would like to be.  It is Amazon’s #1 bestseller in business books.  Over the years I’ve probably reread that book a half a dozen times or so.  I learn something new every time as I’m usually on a different part of my journey or working on a new challenge.
I thought that it might be fun to compare his seven habits to what we face each day in an apparel decoration production environment and see how they line up.  Here goes:

New article from atkinsontshirt: In the apparel decorating business?  Check out these random tips to help run your shop better, inject some creative awesomeness into your designs, be more efficient, or simply get that job out faster.

Whenever we receive calls from customers who tell us our inks are not performing as expected, we ask them questions to troubleshoot the problem.
Usually, we find that the ink has not been cured properly during the printing process. However, we occasionally find that the ink wasn’t stored properly, causing it to lose some of its printing properties.
Is there really a right and wrong way to store plastisol inks? Does it really make such a difference? Absolutely! Plastisol is affected by temperature, either hot or cold, which can change the viscosity and printability of the ink.
So here are a few things to remember when storing plastisol inks:

Computer-to-screen (CTS) imaging dramatically is changing the way we make screens for screen printing, similar to how photo emulsions changed the process years ago. 
Prior to the introduction of photo emulsions, stencils for screen making were hand cut to allow ink to pass through the open areas of the mesh. Next came photo emulsion that require film positives to expose the screen. 

Today, films still are widely used, but CTS imaging is eliminating the need to make film positives for screen making altogether. (Editor's Note: Some manufacturers refer to this process as direct-to-screen imaging or DTS.)

New article from atkinsontshirt: Frequent readers will know that I have a passion for sustainability in business.  It’s not an earth-crunchy, Birkenstock, hippie thing for me.  It’s all about business.  How did I get here though, and why do I want others to drink that same Kool-Aid?  Let’s look at what just happened, and then take a few steps backwards and see.

New post from atkinsontshirt: Got employees?  How are you managing them?  Hopefully with a firm and even hand, that plays out as fair, motivating, and guides people towards excellence.
Despite miraculous improvements in technology, machinery and consumables we still need employees to do the work in our shops.  They are the lifeblood of our industry.  If you want a prosperous company, you better treat people right.