Screen Printing Press Operator
Position: Screen Printing Press Operator
Department: Production
Reports to: Shop Manager
Employment Type: Full-time
Schedule: 8am-4pm Monday - Friday
Compensation: $19-25 per hour (depending on experience) + Production Bonus (12 month Historical average $550 per month), Health/Dental packages available.
Position Summary
We are seeking an experienced, detail-oriented Screen Printing Press Operator to join our production team. This position is responsible for setting up, operating, and maintaining automatic screen-printing presses while producing consistent, high-quality printed garments and textiles.
The ideal candidate understands the full workflow of a traditional screen-printing shop, including screen preparation, burning and washing out images, ink mixing, press setup, registration, test printing, production, curing, quality control, reclaiming, and routine equipment maintenance.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
- Set up and operate automatic screen-printing presses.
- Read and follow work orders, production schedules, artwork separations, and garment specifications.
- Select the correct screens, mesh counts, squeegees, pallets, inks, and additives for each job.
- Coat screens evenly with the appropriate emulsion and prepare them for exposure.
- Burn images onto screens using film positives and LED Exposure tables.
- Wash out exposed screens to produce clean, accurate stencils while maintaining fine details, halftones, and registration marks.
- Inspect burned screens for proper exposure, image clarity, pinholes, stencil breakdown, and other defects before production.
- Dry, tape, block out, label, and prepare completed screens for press setup.
- Load screens and achieve accurate registration for single-color and multicolor designs.
- Adjust off-contact, screen angle, squeegee pressure, speed, flood-bar pressure, and print stroke as needed.
- Perform test prints and obtain approval before beginning production.
- Mix, reduce, modify, and color-match plastisol, water-based, discharge, and specialty inks as applicable.
- Print on T-shirts, sweatshirts, tote bags, workwear, and other textile products.
- Monitor ink deposits, opacity, registration, print placement, garment alignment, and overall image quality throughout each production run.
- Operate flash units, conveyor dryers, heat presses, and other curing equipment.
- Verify proper ink curing through temperature checks, stretch tests, wash tests, or other shop procedures.
- Identify and correct common printing problems, including screen breakdown, ink buildup, fibrillation, dye migration, pinholes, ghosting, poor opacity, and registration issues.
- Maintain expected production speeds while minimizing misprints, ink waste, and garment spoilage.
- Count, inspect, organize, and accurately document completed goods.
- Clean screens, squeegees, flood bars, ink tools, pallets, and work areas after each job.
- Perform screen coating, exposure, washout, taping, blockout, reclaiming, degreasing, and screen-room organization.
- Perform routine press and screen-room equipment maintenance and report mechanical or production problems promptly.
- Follow all safety procedures for inks, emulsions, chemicals, cleaning products, heat equipment, and machinery.
- Maintain a clean, organized, and efficient traditional print-shop environment.
- Assist with receiving, inventory, folding, packing, and shipping when production needs require it.
Required Skills and Qualifications
- Previous experience operating an automatic screen-printing press.
- Strong understanding of traditional textile screen-printing methods and shop workflow.
- Demonstrated ability to coat, burn, expose, and wash out images for screen-printing screens.
- Knowledge of exposure times, emulsions, mesh counts, film positives, registration marks, and stencil preparation.
- Ability to evaluate screen exposure and identify underexposure, overexposure, pinholes, loss of detail, and incomplete washout.
- Ability to preserve fine lines, halftones, and small details during the screen-exposure and washout process.
- Ability to set up and register multicolor print jobs accurately.
- Knowledge of screen mesh, emulsions, squeegee durometers, ink systems, curing requirements, and garment types.
- Ability to mix inks and make press adjustments based on artwork, fabric, and production conditions.
- Experience troubleshooting common screen-printing, screen-preparation, and curing problems.
- Strong attention to detail, color, print placement, and quality.
- Ability to follow work orders and reproduce approved samples consistently.
- Basic mechanical aptitude and confidence making routine press adjustments.
- Good time-management, organization, and communication skills.
- Ability to work independently and as part of a production team.
- Dependable attendance and the ability to meet daily production deadlines.
- Willingness to maintain a clean shop and assist in other production areas.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with any model Automatic Screen Printing presses.
- Knowledge of simulated-process, four-color-process, halftone, and spot-color printing.
- Experience with plastisol, water-based, discharge, puff, metallic, high-density, and other specialty inks.
- Familiarity with Pantone color matching.
- Experience with screen reclaiming, degreasing, haze removal, darkroom procedures, and exposure-unit maintenance.
Physical Requirements
- Ability to stand for extended periods.
- Ability to perform repetitive hand, wrist, arm, and shoulder movements.
- Ability to bend, reach, lift, and move throughout the production area.
- Ability to lift and carry up to 20-40 pounds.
- Ability to work safely around moving machinery, inks, emulsions, cleaning chemicals, heat presses, flash units, exposure equipment, washout stations, and conveyor dryers.
- Ability to distinguish colors and identify small print or stencil defects.
Performance Expectations
Success in this position is measured by:
- Clean, properly exposed screens with accurate image detail.
- Accurate registration and print placement.
- Consistent print quality throughout each production run.
- Proper curing and adhesion.
- Efficient screen preparation, press setup, and job changeover times.
- Achievement of production targets.
- Low screen-remake, spoilage, and reprint rates.
- Proper equipment care and maintenance.
- Cleanliness, safety, teamwork, and dependable attendance.
Veteran-owned custom apparel and promotional company delivering high-quality, mission-driven products with speed, precision, and accountability.