Walking through a massive operation like Pacific Sportswear reveals real quick that pushing hundreds of dozens a day comes down to systems, discipline, and flow. Michael Fader gave us an inside look at their Tacoma facility, taking us step by step through their screen room, ink department, press room, and finishing lines. When you run a high-volume screen printing shop, every minor friction point gets multiplied across seven automatic presses. Here is a look inside how Pacific Sportswear keeps production moving and maintains tight quality control across every department from start to finish.
Captured Live at Screen Fling at Pacific Sportswear
This shop walkthrough was captured live during Screen Fling, an exclusive community event hosted by Ryonet and Pacific Sportswear at Pacific Sportswear HQ. Printers gathered from across the country to connect, share shop methods, and walk through high-production strategies. From darkroom precision to multi-press shop automation at scale, Screen Fling brought screen printers together to level up their production knowledge and grow their businesses.
Darkroom Discipline and Screen Preparation
At Pacific Sportswear, everything starts in the darkroom. Michael emphasizes that your press operators cannot print clean graphics if your screen room hands them loose mesh or dirty stencils. Their screen room is organized into distinct zones for reclaiming, stretching, coating, and exposure so screens move in a continuous, one-way cycle.
Retensionable Frames and Mesh Rotation
Pacific Sportswear runs retensionable roller frames across their shop to keep screen tension locked in. Static frames lose tension over time, which causes registration shifts and inconsistent ink laydown in a high-volume screen printing shop. Michael's crew measures tension across every section of the mesh using a screen tension meter, making sure not to rely solely on corner measurements where mesh naturally stays looser.
They date every stretched screen and let the mesh relax overnight before coating. If you coat a screen right after retensioning, the mesh relaxes on press and ruins registration mid-run. Pacific Sportswear also manages active screen inventory by stripping inactive job mesh, like cutting out old static runs to stretch specialized roller frame mesh panels for high-demand water-based or discharge jobs. This keeps roughly 275 active frames rotating through production without cluttering storage racks with dead artwork.
Automated Reclaiming and Chemical Rinsing
Moving 150 screens in and out of circulation every day requires heavy-duty darkroom automation equipment. Pacific Sportswear uses an automated reclaim chamber that recirculates ink remover and emulsion stripper in closed-loop cycles, cutting manual labor hours drastically.
Even with an automated wash chamber doing most of the work, final manual rinsing remains a non-negotiable step. Leftover chemical residue on mesh causes fish eyes during emulsion coating, which forces your crew to throw out entire batches of prepared screens. Michael's team follows every wash cycle with a thorough rinse and a dedicated application of degreaser. Wastewater gets pumped through a washout booth filtration system in their washout booth to capture solids before water hits the drain.
Recipe Coating and Emulsion
To eliminate human error during emulsion application, the screen room uses custom coating recipes programmed into an automatic screen coater for high-volume screen printing shop production. Hand coating often leads to uneven stencil thickness across the screen, especially when operators get tired late in the shift.
For standard detail screens, a 1 over 1 coat provides a crisp stencil. For heavy color passes or specialty gel prints, they switch to a 1 over 2 recipe on the squeegee side. This extra pass builds an emulsion gasket on the print side of the screen, allowing more ink to lay down cleanly on dark garments without forcing press operators to double stroke color passes. Once coated, screens dry flat inside a temperature-controlled screen drying cabinet to keep dust off the wet emulsion.
Computer-To-Screen Imaging and Job Routing
To keep pace as a high-volume screen printing shop, Pacific Sportswear replaced older film exposure and wax imaging setups with direct-to-screen laser technology. Moving to laser imaging eliminates consumable film or wax costs and accelerates pre-press exposure times across every shift.
Direct Laser Exposure and Halftone Detail
Instead of relying on wax systems or film positives, Michael's team images and exposes artwork directly onto coated stencils using a laser-to-screen exposure system. Direct laser imaging burns artwork directly into the emulsion without physical film barrier distortion or wax consumables. This allows their crew to hold ultra-fine halftone dots for simulated process jobs and small cap logos that traditional film exposure setups struggle to reproduce.
The laser system automatically calibrates exposure energy and speed based on mesh density, running fast exposure passes on fine mesh and higher energy passes on coarse mesh stencils. Because no physical film, liquid wax, or vacuum glass gets used, problems like light bleed, tape residue, and glass cleanup are completely removed from the workflow.
Three-Point Pin Registration and Production Folders
To keep press setup times fast, Pacific Sportswear pairs direct-to-screen laser imaging with a three-point pin registration system. Screens lock against standardized contact pins during exposure so artwork lands in the exact same physical position on every screen in the set. Press operators drop screens directly into print heads and register jobs in minutes instead of spending hours micro-adjusting press heads.
Physical job folders travel alongside every order from art approval down to the press room. Each folder lays out customer details, PO numbers, mesh callouts, and the printing sequence (A, B, C). When screen room technicians finish exposing a job, they sign off on the folder, update the shop management software, and send the screens out to the press room.
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Ink Room Formulations and Color Matching Precision
In a high-volume screen printing shop running seven automatic presses, the ink room operates like an engine room. Pacific Sportswear custom mixes Pantone shades and tracks over 200 custom ink formulas to ensure color consistency across reorders.
Pantone Formulation and Underbase Adjustments
Pacific Sportswear's ink mixing team uses the IMS software alongside a color mixing system to build precise color formulas. They modify standard Pantone recipes depending on what base layer the color sits on top of, since a red printed over standard white plastisol looks different than red printed over a heavy low-bleed base like a poly blocker ink.
Custom formulations get stored in labeled ink mixing containers with modified recipes documented on the back. The team checks cured swatches inside light evaluation boxes under daylight, UV, and retail store lighting to confirm color accuracy before ink goes out to the press room.
Volume Calculation and Bulk Ink Handling
To prevent ink waste on massive production runs, Pacific Sportswear uses software ink calculators to figure out gallon requirements based on image area and garment quantity. For high-volume base inks like standard whites and poly blockers, they pump ink directly from 55-gallon drums using pneumatic air dispensers. Dispensing under pressure shears and smooths heavy plastisol automatically, making it ready for press without manual hand stirring.
When mixing specialty formulas like 3D raised prints or high-density graphics, the ink department blends custom additives or mixes in puff ink additives. Exploring special effects inks allows their team to handle complex retail calls without trial and error in the press room.
Production Floor Efficiency and Specialty Execution
When screens and ink hit automatic presses in a high-volume screen printing shop, setup speed and print order dictate daily capacity.
Flattening Underbases for Smooth Top Colors
Flashing a white or poly blocker underbase heat-cures the ink surface, but garment fibers stick up and create a rough texture. Printing top colors directly over rough underbases causes broken halftone dots and dull color vibrancy. Pacific Sportswear installs inline press irons right after flash units to press warm underbases completely flat.
Flattening the base coat creates a smooth foundation for top colors, improving registration detail and giving cured garments a soft, retail-ready hand feel. Michael keeps press flash stations limited to four or fewer per press to maintain fast index speeds and avoid overheating garment fibers.
Wet-On-Wet Printing and Specialty Sequences
Flashing between every color pass slows press indexing down significantly. Pacific Sportswear prints wet-on-wet whenever possible. To compensate for slight ink pickup when printing wet colors over wet underbases, the ink room formulates top colors slightly darker so the final cured print matches the target Pantone color.
For high-density gel or puff designs, sequence matters. Michael's press team prints and flashes flat bases and standard detail colors first, placing thick gel screens at the final print stations. High-density gel screens require heavy stencils and slow squeegee passes to deposit clean 3D raised edges without squishing ink into surrounding colors.
Retail Finishing and Quality Control Systems
Enterprise clients working with a high-volume screen printing shop require specialized finishing, poly-bagging, and custom barcode packaging before goods leave the building.
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Finishing stations utilize an air fusion heat press for applying custom neck labels and heat transfers. Garments coming off automatic press carousels run through heavy-duty production conveyor dryers before entering the finishing department.
Automated folding machines fold garments from Small to 3XL, feeding directly into automatic poly-baggers equipped with heat sealers. A dedicated packaging team applies UPC labels, verifies packing slip counts, and conducts final quality control checks before sealing boxes staged on shipping pallets. Upgrading to automatic press equipment and automated packaging machinery gives high-volume shops the capacity to handle large-scale retail accounts without production bottlenecks.
Running an efficient high-volume screen printing shop comes down to strong prepress discipline, clear inter-department communication, and standardized shop routines. When your darkroom is dialed and your ink room is organized, your press room stays running and profitable.
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