Screen Printing - December 2019/January 2020 - 18

DAN BACHMAN
Plant/Press Manager | Decorative Container
decorativecontainer.com | Chicago | Age: 35
WHAT LED YOU TO ENTER THE SCREEN
PRINTING INDUSTRY?
Not to be cheesy, but fate. My grandfather started this screen printing business in his basement back in 1945. His
oldest son learned all mechanical
"tricks of the trade" from him, from
making screens to setting up one-color
presses to automated presses using up
to eight stations.  
I started at age 19, not thinking
I'd stay long. It was supposed to be a
summer job. Here I am years later. The
allure of what has motivated me to
stay and learn all I could learn over
the years is the science behind this
very unique trade. Putting complex
machines together and creating tooling to fit a variety of projects was
beyond intriguing, and succeeding
in times I was sure I had failed was
a feeling like no other. It just felt
like this was a natural calling. Not to
mention the satisfaction I've gained
over the last five years surpassing
my grandfather's oldest son's level of
knowledge (now the president) - flipping the script altogether by becoming
his teacher and the company's expert
adviser for all print and label jobs.  
I determine job feasibility and am
in charge of creatively finding ways to
make jobs we probably shouldn't have
taken (due to the combination of print
complexity caused by tight artwork
registration, non-cylindrical containers
requiring multi-color decoration, and/
or high likelihood of substrate plus ink
producing poor adhesion results.)  

18

SCREENPRINTING

WORDS FROM HIS NOMINATOR, TRACY
MANGINO, PROJECT MANAGER,
DECORATIVE CONTAINER:
Dan is able to manufacture components that tie into our screen printing
equipment that allow us to decorate
very complex jobs that most other
screen printers in the area would turn
down. He works hard to learn how to
make our machines produce top-quality
products and designs. Never satisfied
with the status quo, he is one of the
main reasons our top customers have
been with us for many years and refer
us to other companies in the industry
who need designs printed onto rigid
packaging. His thirst for knowledge
and taking on greater responsibility over time has allowed Decorative
to acquire new screen printing and
labeling equipment no one had the
technical acumen to run. Dan's ability
to learn quickly and willingness to
stay late hours until he worked out all
the kinks allowed Decorative to take
on a multi-million dollar business we
otherwise would not have acquired.
Dan's 15 years of knowledge studying
under now the president of Decorative has produced a talented man well
beyond what any certification program
can produce. He truly is an inspiration
to how someone with little to no college can, with the right mentor, excel
and make a small family business a
profitable and formidable competitor
in today's marketplace - where screen
printers are a dying breed, especially
here in Chicago.
http://www.decorativecontainer.com
Screen Printing - December 2019/January 2020

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