If being a great printer is like being a great chef, being a great manufacturer is like being a great restauranteur! On the same lines, print managers would do well to learn much about manufacturing as would company owners and executives, who will benefit by having a better understanding of the printing process. One can know about both printing and manufacturing, but without sufficient leadership skills to build and continually raise the level of a team, both will remain underutilized. Synergy, 1+1=3, is to business success what compound interest is to wealth creation. It is the secret sauce!
The curriculum of Kaizen Academy, the education wing of DCC Print Vision LLC, is built on these three pillars of printing, manufacturing and leadership, and the great benefits that can result when the three are considered together and synergized. It is with this perspective that David Permenter, Educational Director, DCC Print Vision LCC, aims to help educate the next generation of managers for screen printing industry in India and Bangladesh. In this three-part series, he will address the science of screen printing and the relevance of the three pillars for outstanding outcomes…
Printing: The first pillar
Printing is a process which is subjected to the nature’s laws of physics and chemistry. In a small print shop, one may be satisfied by simply making ink pass through a screen without real understanding of what is happening, what laws of physics apply or how to use those laws to one’s advantage. But, in a manufacturing facility, one must control all the processes so that they become predictable, repeatable, cost-controlled and acceptable to the customer.
I often speak about my strong belief that great benefit awaits the organization that can synergize all three: printing – manufacturing and leadership! – David Permenter
To control the variables, awareness about one’s existence is very crucial. Only then one can begin to measure, monitor and control them. Nearly all of these variables cannot be seen with naked eye. Until brought under control, they will silently and invisibly work against everything the printing service provider is trying to achieve. However, in turn, a concrete strategy to deal with these problems should be developed. Otherwise jobs somehow get completed with the next question being: But with how much struggle and at what cost? In fact, most of these ‘fixes’ are really just compensations and, in turn, create even more new problems to deal within the next job.
Rather than explaining every detail of this process and its variables, I would approach printing with the same degree of manufacturing acumen that is used in the dyeing house or on the sewing floor.
Transferring ink to the substrate beneath in a consistent and acceptable manner is what a printing provider struggles with. Also, a point worth noting here is that during most of the times while he is struggling, machines remain idle. To avoid these struggles, we must know how to better control them and this requires a thorough understanding of the physics of screen printing.
“If you can dream it, you can do it!” – Walter Disney
The open image area of a screen is the most important which may have literally millions of openings depending upon the size of the graphic and the mesh count. In fact, because of the thickness of screen mesh, each of these openings have a depth and look like vessels. It is significant to note here that with millions of vessels or openings on each screen, a tightly stretched screen mesh has a certain degree of tension. The entire process of ink transfer takes place through three simple steps of flood, print and snap.
Flood
The objective of the flood stroke is ‘not’ to merely move the ink from the back of the screen to the front of the screen but rather to inject the ink in a downward trajectory so that it fills the millions of openings (vessels) in the image area of the screen. Thus, step one of ink transfer is complete!
Here, the one and only objective of the squeegee is to stretch the mesh down far enough to overcome the off-contact distance (in optimal print technique, screens are positioned above the substrate, not in contact with it), and bring the mesh in very light contact with the surface of the substrate. Step 2 is also accomplished here!
Snap
With sufficient mesh tension, the mesh will ‘snap’ itself off the ink film as the squeegee passes just like the flow of a spring. As it snaps up, it overcomes the friction of the ink holding on to the threads of the mesh and leaves the ink sitting gently on the surface of the garment. Step 3 done!
Referring back to the three pillars of Kaizen Academy, printing service providers usually focus on the print aspect whereas manufacturers focus on the process. There exists a real need to lift the level of management in printing departments from just being printers to manufacturers and to give them the leadership skills required to build and uplift their teams to extraordinary levels of achievement. This will occur only when owners and executive management commit to change. Then, all the difficult processes can be made possible…