Impressions - June/July 2013 - (Page 42)

Shop SPOTLIGHT ITA Printing AOP the ITA Way Here’s how one Pennsylvania screen printer plays — and wins — with the big boys. By Michael J. Pallerino, Contributing Writer Located in Butler, Pa., a stone’s throw from the three rivers that ﬂow in and around Pittsburgh, ITA Printing, a division of IbisTek LLC, continues to increase its production and ﬁnished goods capacity while consistently innovating ways to design and produce garments. s aying that the names on its client list is impressive is a massive understatement: Dick’s Sporting Goods, The Sports Authority, Target, Kmart, Sam’s Club, Kohl’s, McDonald’s, Wendy’s and H.J. Heinz. Oh, and let’s not forget about the NFL, NHL, NBA and NCAA. And did we mention the U.S. Military? If you’re looking for a screen printing business that can successfully play with the big boys, it’s safe to say ITA Printing is it. Located in Butler, Pa., a stone’s throw from the three rivers that ﬂow in and around Pittsburgh, the company continues to increase its production and ﬁnished goods capacity (try more than 20% or so annually over the past few years) while consistently innovating ways to design and produce garments. Since opening its doors in 2004, ITA Printing, a division of IbisTek LLC, has delivered thousands of products (process prints, high-density gels, glitters and foils) 42 Impressions | June/July 2013 to retail shops throughout the United States and abroad. The ITA Printing machine is driven by its allover printing (AOP) capabilities, which is powered, in part, by a customized, 18-color, 20-station M&R Alpha 8 (80/110) automatic screen printing press. This particular press, whose specs the ITA Printing team helped customize, is behind the garments the company designs and produces. “We spent over a year with several different prototypes that we developed until we got the right design,” says Mark Suhadolnik, production manager for IbisTek Apparel. “Our pallets allow us to print up to 16 colors all over with perfect print registration, something that has never been done in this industry before.” Even more impressive is that ITA Printing has been doing it for more than a year and a half. The ITA way is accomplished at a very high production rate without double indexing. The company prints with two ITA Printing At A Glance Company Name: ITA Printing Address: 496 Pittsburgh Road Butler, Pa. 16002 Founded: 2004 Executive Team: Tom Buckner (president), Rachel Berglund (vice president) Decorating Methods Offered: Standard screen printing, allover printing (AOP) Company Website: itaprinting.com 12-color M&R Sportsman E presses and three 8-color machines, which complement the Alpha 8. “Our [printing] over the seams, collars and hems is unmatched in the industry, all because of the time we invested into engineering the proper printing technique,” Suhadolnik says. For example, he says it took ITA Printing more than ﬁve months to perfect the way it achieves the consistent printing capability. Today, the ITA team can produce about 3,000 AOP shirts a day, which Suhadolnik says is a good number considering the production speed executing big prints of this type. “Of course, the press is the only Alpha 8 machine that can do this type of work,” he says. “We worked hand-in-hand with M&R to modify the press to do this type of printing. Our machine has upgraded safety features, screen and squeegee holders, as well as adjustments to the servo motors to handle the size of the pallets and screens.” impressionsmag.com http://www.itaprinting.com http://www.impressionsmag.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Impressions - June/July 2013

Impressions - June/July 2013
Contents
First Impressions
From the Show Director
FYI
Product Gallery
ISS Conferences
Outfitting Tots & Teens
Is the Price Right?
Heat Printing for Friday Nights
Shop Spotlight
Embroidery Design & Digitizing
Online Directory
Embroidery Production
Screen Printing Production
Screen Printing Technique
Tech Tips
Classifieds
Ad Index

Impressions - June/July 2013