How did you get started in this business?
It was more than 40 years ago that I started a print shop with my brother in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture, printing class T-shirts.
At that time, we were using handmade tools to make screens by emulsion screen-printing.
There was a time when we acted as a sort of intermediary between the print shop and the customer.
We moved to Setagaya and Ota wards in Tokyo, installed emulsion screen making equipment, and started wear printing in full scale.
How did you get to know the GOCCOPRO QS200?
I learned of the existence of the digital screen making machine through a equipment dealer when we were still printing with emulsion screen system.
At the time of introduction, we hardly used the digital screen making machine, and we kept using emulsion screen making system.
However, after realizing the advantages of the digital screen making machine, we started to use it a lot, and when we were looking for a replacement for our old screen making machine, we came across RISO’s GOCCOPRO.
Why did you start using GOCCOPRO as well as emulsion screen making?
Because of its superior low running cost and convenience.
As I say to RISO every time I meet with them, the digital screen maker is a “Revolution”.
I think it is a technology that really has an impact.
When we were doing emulsion screen making, we had to keep the screens we made.
We still keep screens for customers who know they will be printing the same design repeatedly, but at that time, even if they didn’t, we had to store tens of thousands of screens in consideration of the time and effort required to recreate emulsion screens. making.
There were so many that we had to hire someone to manage the screens, which would fill up the entire parking lot today.
Since GOCCOPRO can easily make screens, we decided to throw away almost all of the used screens.
As a result, we no longer need to hire a person to manage the screens, and our labor cost has been reduced from four people to one.
In addition, since we are now in the digital age, the ability to transfer designs from data on a PC is also very attractive.
How many prints can be made with one GOCCOPRO screen?
It depends on the artwork, but for a large scale job, we make about 2,000 prints.
Unlike when we only made emulsion screens, we have much fewer screens to store, but we still have screens in storage.
Some of these screens were made by GOCCOPRO, and we have been using the same ones for more than 10 years now.
We make 20 to 30 prints at a time, but we use them because the screens are stronger than we imagined.
Color changes are not as easy as with emulsion screens, but I can do it 5-6 times.
How do you use it differently from emulsion screen printing?
Emulsion screen system is utilized when making huge screens that are outside of GOCCOPRO’s specifications.
I think glitter printing and half tones are also often done in emulsion screen.
