T-Formation Invents a Green Playbook

This photo shows T-Formation’s impressive production floor, packed with nine automatic M&R presses and four dryers.

Pretty gosh-darn green — not only because it's the right thing to do, but green practices save significant money, says Marshall Atkinson, vice president of operations at T-Formation, Tallahassee, Fla. Founded in 1987 by current President Alan Gentry and three private partners, T-Formation has grown from a small, college-town printer to a nationally known, go-to shop for hot market jobs such as the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, NCAA championships, Super Bowls and the World Series.

Even in the midst of our current recession, T-Formation is still running two, and sometimes three, print shifts. Top-line sales for 2009 are in line with 2008 results, and that includes a record-setting month — April — during which T-Formation logged 1 million impressions.
How can an operation of this scale adapt processes to adopt a green philosophy?

Atkinson, who joined T-Formation in 1993 as an art director, says eco-consciousness is making itself felt not only with regard to the products and equipment the company uses on a daily basis, but even in its most mundane business practices.

One major move has been joining the Sustainable Green Partnership (SGP), a collaborative effort among several print industry organizations, both textile and offset, including the SGIA, to designate sustainable green printing facilities nationwide. T-Formation is in pre-certification.

“There are a lot of certification programs out there,” Atkinson says. “One of the reasons I liked SGP is because it wasn’t some draconian policy where they say, ‘This is the only way you can run your business.’ They were like, ‘OK, what we want you to do is improve the way your business currently runs; invent projects to improve your company.’”

Atkinson is doing just that, looking for even the smallest ways in which T-Formation can improve its green profile.

The company is saving paper by printing reports on both sides of the page and e-mailing invoices to clients. Misprinted shirts are now serving as shop towels.

“Little stuff like that really adds up,” Atkinson says. “You have to start from scratch, and that’s what we’re doing.”

For instance, T-Formation replaced its old vending machines with new Energy Star-rated (highly efficient) machines designed to keep contents at 38°F for three days, with or without electricity. The company also installed a motion detector in the break room that powers the machines down when it fails to sense activity for 15 minutes.

On the shop floor, one of T-Formation’s new practices has been shifting its ordering patterns and stocking about two months of ink from its supplier, Nazdar, and getting a better deal in the process. “We’re ordering the same amount of ink, we’ve just changed the process a little to make it more efficient for everybody,” Atkinson says.

Also, the company has shifted to producing digital samples instead of printed garments.

But the most effective move thus far, Atkinson says, was purchasing a Kiwo I-Jet computer-to-screen system, which images screens directly from digital files. Sure, the initial outlay of $75,000 was steep, and certainly something not every shop could afford. But the return on investment (ROI) has been phenomenally fast, Atkinson says.

“That’s one thing I can point to that had a really positive effect,” he says. “We were spending $40,000 a year in film. Now we’re spending $10,000 to $12,000 a year in wax, so we’re saving $30,000. The machine was $75,000, so just on that alone, our ROI is a year and a half or two years. If you look at the time your artists are saving doing the separations, the time that your screen room people aren’t filing separations, and what your labor costs are, then your ROI is a lot better.”

Another equipment purchase that has paid off is a Brother GT-541 direct-to-garment printer. Atkinson says he uses the machine “defensively,” matching it with only the most ideal jobs — small runs of the Grandma’s birthday and family reunion variety. “It has to be just the right job because you can’t really match a Pantone color with it. But it’s been a good deal for us — we’re able to lower our minimum order to one.”

The rest of T-Formation’s output is handled by nine M&R automatics ranging from four-color to 18-color models, a couple of manuals and several SWF multihead embroidery machines. Atkinson says he plans to use a newly purchased appliqué cutter to offer clients multimedia options combing screen printing, embroidery and appliqué.

In addition to decorating processes, T-Formation’s 45,000-square-foot facility offers post-production services such as re-labeling, poly-bagging, hang-tagging, bulk folding, and maintaining and shipping inventory for clients.

Ultimately, though, T-Formation’s most valuable resource isn’t a process, and it isn’t a machine. “I think in the end, one of the big reasons why T-Formation is successful is because of the people that work here,” Atkinson says. “That’s a huge competitive advantage for us.”

Shannon Wilder is a freelance writer and editor living in Atlanta. She has an extensive background in business and nonprofit publications. For more information or to comment on this article, e-mail Shannon at shannonwilder@comcast.net