By: Shannon Mayerl, President of Top Promotions
Mistakes happen. Even with the best laid plans, we are human. But there is hope! With a well-defined process that is consistently followed, the likelihood of errors can be limited. We follow these 5 steps to assure quality is maintained:
Step 1 – Art Proof
When working on a new design, our art team places the graphic on an image of the garment or product being decorated. This proof sheet not only shows the artwork in detail, it also specifies the imprint size, the imprint location, the imprint color(s) and the placement of the graphic on the product. We require approval of this proof (including all the details) from the customer before we can proceed with their order. We assign a unique number to the artwork and the same number to the proof sheet to tie-them together. On reorders, with that one number we can pull up both the art to use and a confirmed visual reference of the project.
Step 2 – Compare art proof to the decorating medium
For screen printing we make screens, for embroidery we digitize the file, for heat pressing we cut the design – in any scenario, we pause at this step, before a single item has been decorated to review print method preparation against the approved proof. The team is confirming not only that the artwork is correct, but that words are spelled right, the correct decoration colors are listed and that image placement they have prepared matches what is specified on the order paperwork.
Step 3 – Supervisor approval
Once the operator is finished setting up the equipment for decoration (screens in the press, embroidery machine threaded) the operator runs 1 shirt from the order. This product must be reviewed and approved by a supervisor. If the operator is a supervisor, he or she cannot approve their own work. A second set of eyes is required. Have you ever worked on a project, you look at it over and over, perhaps for days and then someone points out a mistake and you realize you had been looking at this error all along and didn’t notice it? A second set of eyes is our answer to getting an outside perspective.
Step 4 – Reference Sample
Generally, the operator who printed the product is not the same person that packs the product. The person working at the end of the line may change throughout the length of the project, a project may span several shifts. In order for the last person in the line to monitor quality, they need to know what was approved at the start of the process. We take that first piece that was approved by the supervisor and we hang it at the end of the production line. This way anyone working the line has a reference in front of them to compare each completed print against it. We do this to assure quality doesn’t drop over the life of the run, it is maintained throughout.
Step 5 – Equipment Maintenance & Spot Checks
While step 5 isn’t specific to a single order, it is critical to an overall quality plan. Establish a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly maintenance plan and document completion. We spot check any equipment that has a heat element several times during a shift to make sure the equipment is holding at the required temperature. In screen printing inks cure at different temperatures, but it is impossible for a human pulling a shirt off the end of the belt to tell if that shirt reached all the way to the curing point or if it fell short by 10 or 20 degrees, but that difference will make all the difference the first time you wash that shirt. We also perform spot checks at our final QC step. A supervisor randomly stops at the end of each production line a minimum of once per hour and spot checks the quality of the product against that approved sample. This is again bringing a second set of eyes into the control process.
Yet even with all of this, a mistake can happen at any point in this process and get through to the customer, but following a plan such as the one detailed here will drastically lower the chance of that happening and will establish your shop as one with high quality standards.