Screen printing expert Tony Palmer takes an unexpected step into the world of digital printing with the Kornit Apollo – and is seriously impressed with what he finds. From perfect pallet-placement to speedy prints via a wide colour gamut and no lengthy set-ups, he shares his highlights of the mass production powerhouse

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As an analogue screen printing professional with more than 35 years’ experience decorating garments using standard commercial methods, I was more than a little curious and excited to be invited by Kornit to run the Apollo, its new flagship direct-to-garment (DTG) system, at Fespa in Berlin earlier this year.

My exposure to DTG has been both limited and varied, from the first desktop units in the early 2000s that were high street machines converted to print onto T-shirts, to the large professional units we see today. When I travel the globe visiting print shops to help them in their pursuit of better and more efficient prints, I always walk past a couple of these units quietly producing print-on-demand (POD) orders in a climate-controlled department, so my interest in the new Apollo system was piqued.

Automation that makes sense

During the last couple of years, our industry has been investing heavily in automation, and the idea of increased use of mechanical assistance to print shirts has captivated my imagination. Apollo takes a unique approach to this issue: it takes the shirt from you and loads it automatically.

Placing a shirt on the pallet might look like the easiest part of the job, but trust me, it’s not. After years of training what I like to call ‘squishy things’  – ie people – I’ve seen how tricky it is to keep up with the pace of 400 shirts an hour. Each one needs to be perfectly positioned, crease-free, and not twisted (because no one wants a pocket print under their armpit). Even when someone gets it right on Monday, by Friday, they either can’t repeat the task or no longer have the will to do so!

The Apollo system solves this issue through the clever use of a semi-automatic system that takes the shirt from you. I almost imagine it saying: “Let me do that for you – I’m better at it!” The grippers take the presented shirt and position it perfectly on the pallet, in the perfect drop position.

And the pallets themselves are a technological breakthrough: when the print size changes, the system adjusts the pallet size automatically. Large or small, the switch happens seamlessly, without any need for manual intervention.

The power of integrated technology

Apollo incorporates Kornit’s Atlas Max technology, but it takes things further. With inline pretreatment and flattening, the white base layer is laid down in the traditional method – but now with increased brighteners and fixation.

Colours follow in the next station, with increased colour gamut offering additional red and green to achieve great colour matching. From there, the shirt then drops down onto the conveyor beneath the machine and appears at the automatic unload station. Robotic arms now remove the shirt from the perfectly sized pallet and place the printed garment onto the dryer belt.

The dryer, powered by smart technology, adjusts energy levels precisely to cure each garment with optimal efficiency. All this happens seamlessly with one operator.

The pallet size changes automatically for each differently sized garment

The results speak volumes

I approached the Apollo system with an open mind. After just six minutes of training on Apollo, I was producing a shirt every nine seconds, regardless of design or shirt size.

Could I achieve the same results with screen printing?

Yes, but I would require two or three more staff and would need more time to set up. I would need to hand the task to an experienced screen print operator, but I could get the same print.

Will this replace screen print? No, but it will complement it greatly. In a time when demand leans towards smaller runs with higher colour counts, this system delivers flexibility. When one inexperienced operator can produce 100 shirts with six-colour prints alone in 15 minutes — with no downtime — we must explore the potential of this tool. When the same six-colour job turns into a 2,000 run, we can still assign the task to a single operator with confidence. Even an unskilled team of one can deliver consistent, quality prints.

Garment decoration is a craft, and we are skilled decorators. Choosing the right method means using our printing knowledge to assess the product, substrate, and print quantity, and ensuring the customer gets the decorated garment they’re looking for.

Is the print quality the same as screen printing? I won’t be engaging in that particular debate. Digital has its strengths, just as analogue does, and where one shines, the other may fall short. Ultimately, our expertise decides the best method of decoration for each job, and Apollo is a fully automated printing factory in a box.

For more information or to view videos on Kornit Digital’s Apollo system, visit: imagesmag.uk/kornit_palmprint.

www.kornit.com