Lean Printing: Cutting Setup Time in Half Without cutting Corners
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If you’ve ever watched a seasoned pit crew work, you know exactly what lean printing looks like — smooth, fast, and almost weirdly calm, even though a ton of things are happening at once. The truth is, most of us don’t need fancy software or some massive capital investment to get faster. We just need consistency, clarity, and a little discipline on the press.
Let’s break down a few simple habits that can legitimately cut your setup time in half without sacrificing print quality.
Start Every Job From Zero
In a lot of shops, setups take longer than they should simply because every press operator has their own “secret sauce” settings. That’s great for personal comfort, but not so great for efficiency.
Creating a “zero position” on your press is a game changer. This means putting every head back to a standard baseline before you start a setup:
Off-contact
Squeegee speed
Squeegee pressure
Squeegee angle
When everything starts from the same known point, dialing in a new print becomes way easier. Instead of hunting for the magic combo, you’re just making simple, predictable adjustments up or down from the baseline. Less guessing, less backtracking, less wasted time.
Standardize Your Staging Area
If setup is taking too long, there’s a good chance the press crew is spending half their time looking for stuff. Screens, blades, floodbars, setup notes, inks — it all matters, and it all needs a home.
A clean, standardized staging area means:
The next job’s screens are ready
Squeegees and floodbars are clean
Setup notes are printed or pulled up
The right inks are pre-mixed and waiting
When operators don’t have to wander around the shop hunting for tools or materials, setups suddenly shrink dramatically. Staging is one of those quiet, unsexy tasks that ends up saving entire hours by the end of the week.
Tear Down Like It Matters (Because It Does)
Everyone loves a fast setup. Not everyone remembers that teardown plays just as big of a role.
If you blow through one job and let the mess stack up, guess what: your next setup just got way slower. A tight teardown routine means the next print can hit the press with zero friction. Clean screens go where they belong, tools get reset, your “zeroed out” press is ready to roll again.
Teardown is basically the beginning of your next setup, whether you treat it that way or not.
Adopt a Pit Crew Mentality
One of the easiest ways to speed up setups is to treat them like a coordinated pit stop. Everyone should know their role, when to jump in, and when to stay out of the way — and even more importantly, those roles should remain consistent. When tasks are assigned to specific people and stay assigned, the team builds rhythm, trust, and speed.
Think:
Who’s inking screens?
Who’s loading squeegees and floodbars?
Who’s confirming art, notes, and sequencing?
Who’s staging the next job behind them?
When each task belongs to someone — and consistently belongs to that same person — you cut out confusion, hesitation, and pileups around the press.
Clear communication is the glue holding all of this together. Quick callouts like “Clear?”, “Coming through!”, “Heads up!”, or “Ready?” keep everyone aligned and safe. These tiny verbal cues prevent accidents, smooth out transitions, and let the next person know exactly when to step in.
A crew that knows their job and communicates loudly and clearly moves like a single unit. It’s fast, safe, and surprisingly calm — just like a real pit crew.
Standardization + Clear Communication = Speed
There’s nothing fancy about lean printing. It’s just the discipline of doing the simple things the same way every time. A shared baseline on press settings. A staging area that’s always ready. A teardown routine that resets the shop for success. A team that works in sync instead of chaos.
Dial these in, and you’ll see setups move quicker than you thought possible — without cutting a single corner on quality.
Kyle Caldwell
MADE Lab in Fort Worth, TX
