Start-Up

                 Here is your chance to get off to a great start with everything you must have to be
                 successful.
 

Budget to Get Started:

  1. Training and Technical Program ... and unlimited support to learn the best methods and work with the best materials available today.  Free !  for our customers who buy any press, dryer and basic supply package from R Jennings Mfg.  No other company makes this offer.  We start you out with a free comprehensive Training Manual and follow up with hands-on training.

         Expand the business with 32 attachments to increase revenue. Be confident of your decision,  because as the original owner you can always trade in Jennings-made equipment for a 75% credit of what you paid for the equipment.

         Your decision on which press you will select will be based on two factors:  (1) How much money you can afford or want to spend.  (2) The business model you select for your business.  We will discuss options in business models you can select.  You might be surprised to learn, for example, that you can make more money with a one color press than a 6 color press, or that you can make more money when you receive orders without meeting customers or having a retail location.  We will discuss the significance of each option.  If you just open the door and let all business come in, typically 80% of that business loses money.  Defining a business model is important, and will dictate what press you buy and total investment you make in your business.

  4.  Dryer- budget $594  Minimally you will need a flash dryer.  Even water based inks that air dry need to be heat set to be durable.  Plastisol inks never dry.  They must be cured.  Cured means the ink has to be raised in temperature to the melting point.  The PVC (plastic) in the ink binds the pigment to the garment so the image will survive harsh treatment. 

          The flash dryer will be either a floor or table model.  Both work the same.  The floor model (D-630) can be used with both table model and floor model presses whereas the table model flash dryer (D-615) works only with table model presses.  Both come with temperature control which is absolutely essential.  Many other companies sell flash dryers without temperature control, because they do not understand why this feature is essential, or because they want to hook you on low price.  You will notice also that our flash dryers, particularly the floor model, are made with your safety in mind.  No other company has a flash dryer as safe as ours.

           A flash cure is typically 6-8 seconds just to gel the ink so the ink does not pick up on your finger.  The ink at this point is not fully cured, and would wash out, if the garment was washed.  However, a flashed ink allows, for example, printing another ink on top of the first ink.  You definitely will want and need this capability.

           You can use a flash dryer to full cure.  A full cure is typically 60 seconds.  You should never full cure over a platen, because you will warp or burn the platen.  You will also get the platen so hot that you can expect to cure the ink in the screen when the screen comes into contact with a garment thus making the screen not usable.  If you are printing one color on a shirt, for example, the typical screen printer prints 100-120 shirts per hour.  You should expect to cure fully under a flash dryer no more than 30 shirts per hour.  So a flash dryer will bind production when you have sizeable orders.  In the beginning when orders are say 25 and 50 pieces, the slower curing will be a minor inconvenience.  At some point, you will want a conveyor dryer, but you probably will not have to get a conveyor when you first start your business.  Your ability to spend the extra money when you start the business will probably be the deciding factor.

              Even the smallest conveyor we offer will cure 120 shirts per hour for the typical order.  A conveyor offers consistent curing so that all garments are cured the same.  A flash dryer is much more labor intensive achieving the same cure on all garments.

  5.  Supplies - $400     The best vendors and products have been carefully selected to make training easy and fun.  We have been printing for 25 years and used all the options to find the best.  Only what you need is included, and best of all, we will show you ways to use these products that even the manufacturers of these products do not know, and we will show you how not to spend money.  We also provide you with a list of items to collect to help your business get started without spending money on these essentials.

                     Pick What is Right for You

     Press                               Dryer            Supplies           Total     Monthly Finance*

   * Monthly Finance charges are by a leasing company, and not R Jennings.   The monthly charge depends on how the leasing company scores you, the lessee, as a credit.  People who pay their bills on time, have never been bankrupt, etc., are charged lower interest rates than our friends who have had problems paying their bills.   The number of years of the lease also affects the monthly payment amount.    

** Available at 220 volts.  220 volts draws less current and will save you money on your power bill!                                        
                                                        

       * We will customize a package for you. 

Cap Press

           * Packages save you money !  You can also avoid buying a cap press by simply adding a cap attachment to a shirt press above.

                  Frequently Asked Questions

How much $money$ can I make?
First, let's talk about the price of t-shirts. What will people pay for a t-shirt? $10? $15? $20? Let's be conservative and say $8. As a business owner you can purchase wholesale t-shirts for under $3!! That amounts to nearly $5 profit for every t-shirt you sell after the price of supplies is factored in!

That's good, but how many 1 color shirts can I print an hour?
With the R Jennings training package and a little practice, you should be cranking out an average of 100 1 color shirts per hour! Your profit could be $500 per production hour!

How many 4-color shirts can I print per hour?
You should print 50 shirts per hour, and charge a higher price to cover the cost of the additional work.  A $13 selling price will earn $500 per production hour.

Will R Jennings show me how I can make money like this?
Yes, here are some of the considerations:

Will you be a wholesaler, a retailer or both?

• Wholesale
  In this scenario, let's say you approached a local retail store with a great sales presentation and they ordered 500 shirts from you. Obviously you can't sell the retail store the shirts for $15, because they wouldn't make any money on them. Therefore, you'd sell them for half the retail price, $7.50, or less if you sold to a sales representative who sold to the retail store.  With a cost of $3, your profit is $4.50, or less when sold to a sales representative.

• Retail
  The consumer expects to pay the price in the retail store, and you sell directly to the consumer at the $15 price.  With a cost of $3, your profit is $12 per shirt.  If sales agents are employed at a cost of 10-20%, the profit is $10.50-9.00 per shirt.

• Answer
  You want to direct your efforts at the highest and best use of your time and resources.  Retail pays better than wholesale, and more money is made on longer print runs.

Age of customer, or "demographics"

• Young people (school age) are known to pay more than their parents.  Young people are the most fashion conscious.  They frequently are spending money provided by their parents rather than money they had to earn.  Parents, by contrast,  are cost conscious.  So a youngster in school is likely to pay $12 to $20 for a cap, whereas their parents-- age 30 to 55-- are more likely to pay about $10.   The grandparents live on limited Social Security and retirement income, and with less disposable income likely will spend  $4 to $6 for a cap.

Location, location, location

• Prices vary depending on the supply of money.  Well-to-do areas, college communities, high priced cities, and upscale social gatherings (such as tennis or golf tournaments) traditionally command higher prices.

Production per hour           

• When you produce more per hour, you make more money per hour.  So how can I produce more per hour  - without working harder?

• Production is higher on smaller machines, because the distance you have to push  screens is less.  This saves time, shirt after shirt, and those savings add up.  A bench model machine with a 3' diameter avoids pushing screens an extra 15.7' per shirt when using a floor model machine with an 8' diameter.  That is a 1570' savings, or a 62% work reduction, when printing only 100 shirts.  (Distance you push = diameter of machine x 3.14)

• It's imperative that you buy equipment for your most frequent printing requirements (which, as a new printer, will likely be 1 to 3 color designs), not the maximum number of colors you might need some day.  Bench models with 2-4 colors have the same diameter, and therefore involve the same amount of work.  If you get a 6-color order, printing will be faster that a bench model press when flash curing is required.

• Most people starting a business are dazzled by sales people who say you must have at least a 6-color floor model to be successful.  Everyone wants to be successful.  So a lot of people buy bad advice.  Actually the salesman represents only himself during a sales transaction, and his interest is to be paid a big commission - out of your pocket.

• Won't I have 5-6 color jobs?  Yes, someday.  People do not typically start out printing 5-6 colors.   The highest and best use of your resources will be 1-2 color jobs.  A 6-color print @ 30/hour will require a selling price of $19.67 to make $500 per production hour.

• Job set up and printing are faster when the mesh in the screen is very tight.  Tight screens not only reduce production costs, but they also produce better quality.  Cost is not just purchase price, but also the cost of your time (are you looking for $500 per hour?) and overhead to handle a product.  Unfortunately, people who are not guided by our free training program buy the lowest purchase cost without knowing if this is the lowest total cost.  Often the lowest purchase cost creates the highest total cost robbing you of profits you could be earning.

• A shop that is laid out to reduce walking, bending, reaching and other movement will  have a higher production rate per hour - which earns more money for you and your company.

There are many other factors that determine production per hour, like how ink is prepared, how screens are prepared, printing techniques, and so forth.  You must have our free training program to unlock the secrets to making money, lots of money, as a screen printer.  A good screen printer will not tell you the secrets.    No other company offers a training program like the R Jennings Mfg. Co. when you buy new equipment.  People who bought used equipment will probably get no training, or will get training from someone who performed poorly in the business.  People making lots of money don't sell their business.  Your option is R Jennings Mfg.   You can't ask for anything better than professional help that is free.

For additional information, visit Equipment FAQ.