Grow Print Shop Revenue Webinar Recap and Tips

Growing your print shop revenue usually comes down to dialing in repeatable systems so you spend less time putting out everyday fires. When production gets backed up, working late into the night or bringing in extra hands on the press rarely solves the real holdup. During our Beyond the T-Shirt webinar  Ryonet founder Ryan Moor joined Lee Stuart from Rogue Lab and Stefenie Stinsman from ASI to share what actually helps shops stay profitable over the long haul. Whether you run a single manual press in a garage or manage multiple automatics, finding ways to protect your press capacity helps get more shirts out the door while keeping revenue steady.

Bringing in more revenue also does not require buying a brand-new press setup right away. Before adding another print head or hiring crew members, taking a look at your daily routine can make a world of difference. A profitable shop often starts with sorting out the little delays that quietly cut into press time and eat away at your margins. Here is a look at how to catch hidden shop waste, set up straightforward training routines, manage high-volume orders, and offer promotional items without adding extra overhead.

The Fifty Six Thousand Dollar Washout Booth Puddle

Slower production rarely announces itself with flashing red lights. More often, it slips by unnoticed as ordinary cleanup. Lee Stuart saw this firsthand whenever water splashed past the washout booth during screen reclamation.

Every time the crew reclaimed screens, water ended up across the concrete floor. His press assistant grabbed a mop twice a day, spending a few minutes cleaning up each time. On paper, six minutes of mopping looked like roughly a thousand dollars in yearly wages, but Lee looked at what it meant for open press capacity. While the assistant mopped, the press was idle. Nobody was loading tees, pulling squeegees, or sending garments down the belt.

Tallying up the job value of that press running standard jobs during those missed minutes added up to fifty-six thousand dollars in lost revenue over the year. Lee solved it with two simple silicone mats placed under the booth. No more daily mopping, no lost press time, and fifty-six thousand dollars in production capacity back on the schedule. Practical shop improvements like adding floor mats or pairing a dedicated washout booth with filtration units, help keep water contained, speed up reclamation, and keep production moving.

Track Your Production with a Stopwatch

Dialing in your shop revenue works best with real numbers rather than assumptions. It is tough to fix what you cannot see, and walking through your shop with a clipboard and a timer can quickly show where jobs tend to slow down.

Lee spent a day timing the routine tasks his team handled on repeat. He clocked how long it took printers to grab squeegees, find inks, track down tape, or ask quick setup questions. The timer showed that simple workflow hiccups caused more delays than the equipment itself.

To smooth out those pauses and keep production rolling, Lee placed quick references right where questions come up. He added clear labels to carts and placed QR codes around the shop linking directly to basic standard operating procedures. Scanning a code on a press base pulls up off-contact specs or squeegee angles in moments. That quick reference cut out back-and-forth questions and helped Lee's crew of six out-print shops with twice as many people.

Standardize Your Ink and Setup Workflows

Getting a job ready on press works a lot smoother as an organized routine instead of a search around the shop. High-volume manual and automatic shops protect their production time by prepping supplies before shirts ever touch the platens.

Keeping inks pre-mixed and ready to go saves a lot of time. When a printer has to pause mid-setup to blend colors or stir stiff ink by hand, valuable printing time slips away. Working with an easy-clearing formula from your staple plastisol inks gives you smooth viscosity straight from the container, helping reduce buildup and making cleanup quicker.

For shops regularly matching brand colors, reliable mixing systems like the FN-INK Ink Mixing System Starter Kit keep things consistent. Having tested recipe cards right at the station helps prevent shade mismatches and saves the hassle of re-burning screens. A little prep work at the mixing table keeps garments moving and helps avoid costly resets on press.

Plan for the Worst to Win the Biggest Jobs

Landing a massive contract is an exciting step for any print shop, though a sudden surge in volume can test your setup. Lee saw this firsthand when Rogue Lab took on an order equal to roughly half their annual shop revenue.

Taking on an order of that size comes down to trust and good contingency prep. Lee walked the client through Rogue Lab so they could see how the shop operated day to day. Seeing a tidy shop and an organized crew gave the client total peace of mind to hand over the job.

Once large runs begin, equipment gets put through its paces. Lee approaches high-volume jobs by thinking through small backups ahead of time. He looks at what could interrupt a run, like a nicked squeegee blade, a cooling flash element, or a dryer belt slowing down. Having spare parts nearby, staging backup supplies, and keeping everyone clear on their roles helps the team keep rolling smoothly when surprises pop up.

Whether you are running dependable Riley Hopkins presses or stepping up to high-speed ROQ automatic presses, a little prep work gives you the confidence to take on larger jobs.

Expand Beyond Apparel by Saying Yes

Your clients already count on you for their t-shirts. When they order shirts for an event or company run, they often need banners, drinkware, and lanyards too. Passing on those projects can send clients looking elsewhere when that work could stay with your shop.

Through our webinar partner ASI, decorators can source and deliver promotional items without needing specialized machinery or rows of inventory on hand. Lee shared how handling a simple lanyard order through ASI brought in five thousand dollars in profit on a single job. Saying yes allows your shop to serve as a complete resource for your accounts, helping you earn more per project while keeping relationships strong.

Combining a smooth workflow with reliable flash dryers and conveyor dryers gives your team the capacity to handle bigger accounts and grow your print shop revenue with less stress.