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socialgiraffe
17-06-2011, 11:39 PM
At last a forum that is of interest!!!!

My name is Simon and I have been in the screen print and dye sublimation industry for about 15 years. Over the past 5 years the dye sublimation industry has really taken off and am currently printing about 10k mugs per month. Trust me, after reading many of the posts on here, whether you print 1 mug a month or 10,000 we still experience similar problems so I look forward to you helping me as much as I look forward to helping you (if I can!!!!).

Regards

Justin
18-06-2011, 12:47 AM
Hi Simon and welcome to the DSF! You seem to have landed a great job printing those mugs, good for you :wink:

Be interested to discuss your printing methods in another thread.

Justin
DSF Admin

bms
18-06-2011, 10:13 AM
Welcome to the forum Simon :)

Lee
21-06-2011, 01:45 PM
Hi Simon!

10k a month eh! Thats why Im soo quiet!!!!!!!

:-p

Andrew
21-06-2011, 02:26 PM
At last a forum that is of interest!!!!

My name is Simon and I have been in the screen print and dye sublimation industry for about 15 years. Over the past 5 years the dye sublimation industry has really taken off and am currently printing about 10k mugs per month. Trust me, after reading many of the posts on here, whether you print 1 mug a month or 10,000 we still experience similar problems so I look forward to you helping me as much as I look forward to helping you (if I can!!!!).

Regards

Hi Simon,

Welcome to the forum.

Do you mainly screen the mugs or sub print them? Might look into screenprinting of mugs soon.

Cheers,

Andrew

socialgiraffe
21-06-2011, 06:57 PM
Hi Andrew

We do both and more :wink:

My company traditionally was a screen print only company, however due to the industry we supply (tour merchandise for rock and pop groups) we found that deadlines were too short for this method, so we expanded into dye sub and heat transfer in general. We purchased a "5 mugs at once" press from Dom Global a really nasty Epson with CIS (which found its way into the skip after 1 day!!!!) and have never looked back (once we had the Ricoh 7000 delivered!). We still do traditional screen print as the mugs are about half the price and certain customers require pantone matching on black mugs etc so we have more control via the traditional route. We also do a water transfer that means we can print anywhere on the mug (including handle and inside) and IS dishwasher safe and some really nice work with varnish and frosted effects but those are for the gallery when i have taken some photos :wink:

If you ever want a quote for mugs, then PM me. I am convinced we are one of the cheapest around, our quality is superb as 90% of our mugs are sold on tours by the likes of JLS, Katy Perry, Jesse J, Take That and my personal favourite... JEDWARD :wink:

Hope the above gives you some idea of what I do.

Regards

Andrew
21-06-2011, 08:22 PM
Sounds good Simon. Why did you decide to go the press route rather than use your ovens that are used on screenprint etc? I don't know many medium size printers so would be interested to know how you operate on the various different systems. There is not much info out there when you go from printing the odd box compared to the odd pallet. Things obviously change when getting bigger but no defined route.

Screenprinting and waterslide decals are fast approaching as something we are going to be looking into soon. Screenprint looks a little more complicated and costly to get into when you have no past experience.

socialgiraffe
22-06-2011, 02:32 AM
Simple answer to that one... cost and capacity. Our adelco dryer runs us at about £5.00 an hour and cures cotton shoppers from 7am through to about 5pm everyday. Squeezing in mugs would be a problem. Having said that even if I had the room I think I would still stick to the 5 mug press option. It takes my guys about 3 mins to wrap 6-9 mugs, it takes about 1 minute to dewrap and put in the bag. 5 mugs take 240 seconds so it sort of works out that the operator is always doing something. I am actually going to purchase another 5 mug press soon so the operator can increase the output to 80 mugs an hour. Having seen pretty much every option out there I can honestly say that not much really changes. Okay you have more mug presses and you spend a heck of a lot more on ink! but essentially with sublimation you still have to wrap a print round the mug and heat it. Screenprint and waterslide is a whole different ball game and something I would be very wary about before entering. Especially in the current market(which I do not see changing in the next few years). One thing I would say is that before purchasing any machine ask yourself how versatile is it? We purchased a DTG D1 a few years back, have to say that it was the worst purchase I ever made. £17k was sold for £1500 in less than five years, and I think its turn over was less than 6k over those years. My versacamm however... 9K 7 months ago and has turned over about 13k already. Love those machines.... why? Today I printed 5 garment transfer for clothing (2 white and 3 dark), 250 a4 heat transfers, 2000 2inch stickers, 4 small vinyl banners and 6 art canvas prints, all from 1 machine and 1 set of ink. Now I know the examples I have used are digital but the principle is the same. We have a machine that is called a printall. Really nice piece of screen printing kit, but more importantly my head printer really knows his stuff which is absolutely vital. Have you thought about any of the 3d machines out there? If I was going to grow my business I think I would go further into digital as I think that is where the market is heading. Lastly, where abouts are you based? I am in Hatfield, Herts so you could always pop in and I will show you around (you have to like horses and dogs as we are on a farm!)

P.S. Sorry for going on a bit... just realised!!!!

Andrew
22-06-2011, 10:16 AM
P.S. Sorry for going on a bit... just realised!!!!

A forum is the best place to go on a bit ;)

So it's largely other stuff beyond mugs that you spend a lot of time doing then? Sounds like you have a nice bit of lit going on. I've given up diversifying and sticking to mugs for the time being. I've got a pad printer and hot foiler that cost 20k gathering dust. I have a market for mugs so that's what I sticking to right now, hence the questions about screen and transfers etc. I was going to look at Deck ovens as it seems hard to find a suitable conveyor at a decent price. Haven't got the first clue about the screenprinting itself though but it'll be a nice learning curve.

David B
22-06-2011, 02:09 PM
Hi Simon and welcome. Sounds like you have some serious kit there. What printer are you using for the canvas and stickers on? I presume it is a printer cutter.

Regards David

socialgiraffe
23-06-2011, 01:02 AM
Hi Andrew

We have diversified simply because that is what our customers wanted, they are very loyal and basically send us everything (except garments) and tell us to get on with it. Most of the time they do not even ask for a quote!, it also massively helps me with machine downtime. I would love my Versacamm to run stickers all day everyday, but there is not enough demand, by making sure my machines can adapt I can keep them running and earning money. It also makes the job interesting as you never know what is coming in next!!! Even had one customer who asked if we could print on 30,000 pieces of sliced bread!!!!! Screenprinting is a very steep curve and am here to help in whatever way I can, trust me you are going to need it :-) One thing I will say, once you have cracked it, the mug profit is superb. We undercut the "big boys" and I still can't believe how much I am making per mug (I am not saying this to brag, but simply to encourage you to give it a crack). As an example a standard Cambridge mug sets you back about 34p, a screen costs about £5.00 max for that size screen. Set up time is about 15 mins (once you have used the machine for a while), ink is expensive but lasts for ages so I would estimate about 1-2p per mug. 250 mugs per hour printing. Based on a small order (this is where the money is) of 108 mugs @ £1.50 approx a unit (plus screen @ £20) means you are making around £80.00 per hour (have rounded theses figure up and down and taken off a bit for delivery etc but they are not far out). Give 'em a black mug which is 10p dearer and you can add a further 30p per mug! Bigger orders are nice but the figures are not as attractive, I have one client that wants us to take on a contract for 6000 1 colour mugs per month @ 58p per mug, but you still make about £45 per hour and you know its coming in each month. I hope I have given you enough info to wet your appetite and please do not hesitate to ask for any info/advice. If I can not answer it (I am more a digital person) I know my screen printing manager can.

Kind regards

Simon

socialgiraffe
23-06-2011, 01:15 AM
Hi David

Thank you.

Have been through quite a few wide formats in my time! UV, Solvent, Aqueous etc etc. Am currently using a Versacamm print and cut machine which is simply the best piece of kit I have ever used. Entry level is about 9k but if you have the customers you can earn that back inside 6 months easy. Have been using the current one for 10 months, I think I could count on one hand how many times a roll of media has jammed, and even less if you remove operator error!!!! Also love the versatility of it, as I mentioned earlier, on Tuesday I printed 2000 stickers (kiss cut), some heat transfers for dark garments and some others for light garments, a bucket load of transfers for cotton shoppers, 6 canvas prints and a few small banners. All this from one machine, one pirce of software and 1 set of inks. The other bonus is the cost of the raw materials, ink is pretty reasonable and available from loads of suppliers, its on board ink management is very efficient so they last a long time and the media is cheap as chips!!! As an example I just purchased some 24" by 18 meter canvas off an Ebay shop for £16.00. Can only be used in solvent printer so perfect for this machine. I have an Epson 42" Wide format that I used to run the canvas through, this was £30.00 for the same width but 3 meters shorter. It is a serious piece of kit, but for this style of machine I personally think that the price is too cheap, although I am certainly not complaining!

Andrew
23-06-2011, 10:43 AM
Diversifying is good if you have a ready made customer base. We've actually gone the other way and largely concentrate on mugs these days but there might come a time when we get the pad printer going for other products.

Not sure yet when we will get into screened mugs with probably waterslide an easier first step. Still got plenty of growth on sublimation mugs to pick up but I'm turning down orders all the time for the other methods.

David B
23-06-2011, 11:43 AM
Hi Simon

Sounds good. I print canvas on a Epson 9800 44" which is great quality but the Aqueous Inks are expensive and as you said the canvas is dearer. A mate of mine has 3 Mimaki CJV30 printers. 2 print and cut and one just print. At the moment he is doing 1000 canvas's a week and specialises in pop up banners. With your turnover you must have a few on the payroll. Anyway good luck and well done.

Kind regards
David

socialgiraffe
24-06-2011, 02:24 PM
Hi Andrew

I wish I was as brave as you :-) I would love to concentrate on core lines, but am always worried about what happens if we do not get any work as the demand has dissapeared.

If you ever need a quote for screen printing mugs let me know, I can give you a good enough discount so that we both make money :-)

socialgiraffe
24-06-2011, 02:31 PM
Hi David

1000, crumbs!!!! What does he think of the Mimaki? I did see one in action but ended up going with the Roland because Xpress sold it and I trust their technical side of the operation. We have a Epson 10600 here which survived an explosion at the Buncefield Oil disaster (which flattened our building). So I have a softspot for Epsons because straight after the explosion it was the only thing I could turn on and operate and earn money out of. I always give it a gentle pat every now and then as it pretty much stopped me from going under :-)

Too many on the payroll in my opinion LOL!

Kind regards

Simon

Andrew
24-06-2011, 04:14 PM
I wish I was as brave as you :-) I would love to concentrate on core lines, but am always worried about what happens if we do not get any work as the demand has dissapeared.

Well I guess we still do it a similar but the opposite way around. Whilst I concentrate on a core line I have a varied customer base to make sure work doesn't dry up. You on the other hand sound like you have a core customer base but more varied product option. Horses for courses. As long as it works for you that's great.

The cost I would need screenprinted mugs I doubt would ever be viable for me to outsource. In-house would be my only option due to my customer/competitor base. Thanks for the offer though.

GoldRapt
19-08-2011, 11:16 AM
A late welcome to Simon from me,
Some very interesting exchanges of info . I woud love to know more about waterslide and screenprinting.