Computer-to-screen (CTS) equipment can be justified in a number of ways using many financial tools, such as payback period, internal rate of return (IRR), and net present value (NPV). While these are easy calculations, we also need to look at the opportunity to increase both quality and latitude in pre-press by choosing the right CTS. No matter how good the press, the quality cannot be put back into a screen at press. Improve the process to increase profitability.

The rate of return in a traditional return on investment (ROI) spreadsheet calculator (which can be supplied by most, if not all, CTS manufacturers) will be dependent on a number of factors:

• Number of screens imaged
• Current cost of film and supplies
• Labor to output the film and inspect (normally done by the art department)
• Retrieving the film
• Film folder jacket
• Taping, storing and disposing the film (latter of which is getting harder)
• Physical steps to and from the printer and the screen room
• Time spent touching up pin holes after developing the screen
• Time spent registering screens on press

Labor can be reduced by about 50% in the pre-press and press labor.

See the payback period in Figure 1 with a customer doing only 32 screens per day. Using the Douthitt Waxjet CTS including a new RIP for 25 by 36 or smaller frames. With a purchase price of about $54,100, the figure shows the financial justification.

Now, onto real numbers from real printers to show the fast payback of the system.

Starting in the screen production area, we talked to Greg Kitson, President and founder of Mind’s Eye Graphics.

Kitson, who has been using CTS for many years, said, “I was thinking I’d be saving $2.00 per screen in film — the reality is, I was saving 15 minutes in time!” You may not understand that type of savings, but consider all the steps that go away and/or are shortened. The artist sends the file to a film output device. Someone needs to unload, cut, package and transport that to the screen room. The screen maker opens the folder, tapes the film to the screen, lays it on the vacuum frame, waits for contact and exposes. The film goes back in the folder and after developing, the screen needs to be inspected for pinholes (dirt on glass or film), and touched up.

With CTS, in less time than outputting the film, you have a screen imaged, and exposure time is cut by over 40% due to not needing a vacuum, glass or film. No film or glass also means no pinholes!

The more exciting savings have to do with the registration time on press. NewLife Industries Inc. also shared some numbers with us recently. When they were using film (and a film registration system), the average setup time for an 8–10 color job was nearly an hour. They switched to CTS (without an optimized registration system) and cut that time down to 20 minutes. Now, having installed a Douthitt CTS with an MHM-optimized registration system, they are completing setups in 8–10 minutes. All times are based on two workers and start when the presses are pallet ready and operators start loading the screens. Richard Humble, NewLife Industries’ President, stated these times are all on their MHM Synchroprint 4000.

Kitson will see a typical 5-color setup time reduced from up to 12 minutes a color with film to 3–4 minutes a color with CTS and his M&R. “In my contract shop, that is an extra $1,000 or more per machine every shift,” he said.

MHM and M&R presses have very different registration systems, and it’s very important that the CTS and press registration systems are matched. Make sure your CTS manufacturer will adopt the same registration system on their equipment that the press has.

Do the math in your shop. How many screens? How many setups? How much savings?!

A quick review of some of the advantages of CTS Technology:

• Elimination of film
• Fewer processing steps (taping films, vacuum drawdown, etc.)
• Elimination of the handling and storage of films with digital workflow
• Elimination of leading cause of pin holes
• Faster exposure times
• First generation of art on screen
• Faster on-press setup and registration

Again, with 32 screens a day, the payback period is well under one year. This technology is easily justifiable to anyone with even one automatic and doing 15–20 screens per day. It is important not to settle for a low initial cost item that does not offer long-term durability. You want to be sure the design and support allow for long-term production use and quality, with a proven track record.

Most CTS can save you a lot of labor and time on press. However, the other important consideration is the quality improvement of wax CTS vs. inkjet. The dot quality and detail of a good waxjet unit will greatly improve the quality over inkjet film or an inkjet CTS. With inkjet CTS, many customers still go back to film for the “quality jobs.” With waxjet CTS, you should never go back to using film for any job.

• There are many considerations for choosing ink or wax:
• Incompatibility of some emulsions/ less latitude with ink.
• Ink splatter vs. wax. Wax gives a much cleaner dot that does not spread with time
• Wax gives a much higher density vs. ink for correct exposure.
• Choosing emulsions based on exposure/ink rather than press process factors.
• Underexposing emulsions to compensate for poor ink density or need for faster exposure.
• Need to change coating technique to compensate for ink-based system.
• Wax prevents you from having to revert to film to do “quality.”
• Issues with underexposure (durability of mesh and issues reclaiming).
• More tonal compression hurting image quality with inkjet vs. wax.
• Wax offers a smaller footprint and is more ergonomic to load. Advantages of the wax vertical design over the ink horizontal units.
• Environmental conditions are not as critical with wax.

I’ll reiterate the best part of screen printing is the latitude it provides, but latitude is also the worst part of screen printing. In other words, it is often the case that key steps or fundamentals are not optimized. The key is to not settle because it works for what you do now, but strive for the best print quality on the shirt to stay competitive or — better yet — ahead of many of your competitors.

In an article published in Screen Specialty, David Makin of SAATI wrote: “I’ve been able to go into many shops that have both technologies side by side. We’ve produced the same image from both machines onto one screen. I’ve developed the wax and ink at the same time in one of the machines that prints and exposes, first by printing half on the wax machine, then the other half with the inkjet, then allowing the inkjet machine to expose the emulsion. After washout, both images looked good, but at the press, the waxjet image was by far superior. It was because of the density as much more detail was held with the waxjet. We had speed, quality and consistency with the waxjet that the inkjet just wasn’t delivering.”

Compare, compare and compare. Send your coated screens to the manufacturer(s) you are considering, have them show you the speed and quality and then run the job on press. A customer in Pennsylvania does 500 images per shift on one waxjet from Douthitt. He did his due diligence and made sure the registration system and speed were all in place since his main factor was press make ready. The added quality was just the bonus for them.

One of t he most i mpor t a nt considerations is the level of support after the sale, which can be a significant advantage. Many people find out too late they will not receive the level of after-sale support they expect.

When I worked for Ford Motors in the 1980s, we had to study Edward Deming’s philosophy. The work he did with the automotive industry is legendary and he strove to improve the process every step of the way. Screen printing is no different. On press is the wrong time to discover a problem and what’s worse, is it is more costly to fix at that point. To paraphrase a few of Deming’s many points:

1. Create a purpose toward improvement of product and service, with the aim to become competitive, to stay in business and to provide jobs.
2. Adopt the new philosophy. We are in a new economic age. (Definitely still true today for screen printing.)
3. Building quality into the product in the first place. (Screen fundamentals in prepress and the right tools to achieve them.)
4. End the practice of buying equipment on the basis of a price tag instead of value and quality.
5. Always keep improving the system to improve quality and productivity, and therefore constantly decrease costs.

Quality and service are easy things to boast about — and many companies do — but the real measure of a company and its products is when the quality and service are born into reality rather than someone’s word.

The best, and worst, part of screen printing is the latitude. Take the time to ensure your new equipment does not limit your latitude but instead takes you to the next level. Demand quality and service on all capital equipment.

After graduating with an MBA in Finance and AB in Economics, Mark Diehl began his career with the Ford Motor Management Program before being offered the opportunity to join the Douthitt Corporation. In his more than 30 years with the company, he has performed all major activities, including accounting, purchasing, engineering, production management and sales. The last many years have been devoted to computer-to-screen manufacturing and customer service