Justin Baker reveals how The Embroidered & Printed Clothing Company in Kent is using advanced technology to manage and scale its trade-only print and embroidery operations
Managing director Justin Baker sits in front of banks of screens in his office at The Embroidered & Printed Clothing Company (EPCC). On his desk, he is logged into Cloudtex, the digital platform that allows him and his team to monitor every step of workflow from orders and stock management through to delivery. On a large screen on the wall he can watch live camera feeds from the company’s two production sites in Ramsgate and Margate.
Advanced technology has been central to the success of the company which, after 28 years, now stretches across 50,000 square feet, with eight MHM screen presses, 48 Tajima embroidery heads, Kornit direct-to-garment (DTG) printers and an Adelco direct-to-film (DTF) printer. With a 50-strong workforce and shifts up to seven days a week, its production capacity now exceeds 20,000 decorated garments per day. “Over the years we have continuously reinvested in equipment, infrastructure and systems,” Justin says. In the last 18 months, it has been investing heavily, especially in screen printing, alongside advances in its proprietary Cloudtex platform.
Justin Baker talks about the company’s in-house Cloudtex shop management software
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To create more space for growth, EPCC expanded into a second site last year. Justin wanted a location close to the company’s base in Margate, but ended up taking on premises about 10 minutes’ drive away in Ramsgate. Screen printing operations were moved here, while Margate remains home to DTG and embroidery as well as fulfilment. “To get Ramsgate set up and to move in while still trying to keep the customers happy was quite a stressful period,” Justin admits. However, as he is the only person who needs to travel between the two sites, it is working well.
Investing in screen print
Thanks to this extra space, EPCC has been able to add two more automatic MHM presses of eight and 10 colours this summer, sourced – as usual – through distributor MHM Direct GB. They join a line-up of MHM S-Type Xtreme machines ranging from six to 10 colours as well as two RapidTag machines and four Tesoma Drylight gas conveyor dryers.
One of the biggest changes has been investment in laser screen-making technology with the addition of a Saati LTS direct laser diode computer-to-screen (CTS) imaging and exposure unit. One of the larger models, it allows imaging of two screens in two-and-a-half minutes. “The technology allows us to produce highly accurate stencil creation with exceptional edge definition and consistency across every screen,” Justin explains. “Traditional screen-making methods have served the industry well for decades, but laser imaging offers significant advantages in consistency, detail and repeatability. For customers, this means sharper prints, improved detail reproduction and greater consistency across repeat orders. For us, it means a more controlled process and reduced variability within production.”
The Saati sits alongside a custom-made wash-up unit and an existing Spyder CTS imaging system, which EPCC keeps for “back-up”. All of this equipment is housed within a pressurised screen room into which filtered air is pumped to ensure no dust enters. The higher pressure inside the screen room ensures that air naturally flows out rather than in.
Another significant investment is an automatic screen reclaiming machine, custom-built by a manufacturing partner. It can be loaded with up to 30 screens, which spend an hour passing through the machine before emerging fully reclaimed and ready for drying in a separate enclosed room, ensuring no dust can contaminate them before coating. “I’m quite fussy about stuff like that,” Justin explains. The machine brings environmental benefits, recycling both solvents and water, and requires fewer staff. “Instead of two or three people cleaning screens all day, you have only one person and they can go away and do something else and come back and the screens are done.”
The new Saati LTS imaging and exposure unit
EPCC’s custom-built auto screen wash and reclaim unit
AI QC
EPCC is also embracing AI to enhance quality control. Since the start of this year, the company has been testing a system on one of the smaller MHM machines. It takes a photo of the first print as a “target” and then takes a photo of each subsequent print to check that it matches. Every time the computer sees any difference from one picture to another, it flags it on the display screen and sounds an alarm, giving the operators a chance to reset and start again. “This allows us to create an additional layer of verification, helping identify defects, inconsistencies and production issues before products reach the customer,” Justin explains. “We’re training it at the moment: the more photos it takes, the more it learns, like any AI. It will just get better over time.”
Once testing is complete, the AI-assisted system will be rolled out to the other presses later this year. “Many decorators still rely on visual spot checks throughout production. While these remain important, we believe technology has a major role to play in improving consistency. As customer expectations continue to increase, we believe technology-assisted quality control will become a standard part of modern garment manufacturing.”
Automation technology is also enhancing quality through a custom-built Wilflex DM4 ink mixing system, installed earlier this year. Developed with the team behind ink brand Wilflex, it enables EPCC to achieve colour consistency and repeatability while significantly reducing waste and set-up times.
“The DM4 has transformed the way we manage ink,” Justin adds. “Rather than relying on manual mixing, recipes can be reproduced accurately time after time, ensuring customers receive the same result whether an order is printed today or six months from now.” It also saves on labour. “Now instead of someone spending all day weighing out bits of ink, they can press a button and go off and do something else while it’s being done.”
Alongside the two new MHM presses, the latest addition this summer has been the four-head Adelco DTF system with a 600mm print width, automatic recirculating powder shaker and inline drying/cooling units. “We’ve been thinking about DTF for a long time so, when we moved into Ramsgate, we thought that, with the amount of transfers we were ordering in, it made a lot more sense for us to be doing them ourselves,” Justin says. “We got to the point where we were paying about £30,000 a year on buying in transfers so we’ll save on that but we’ll also be much more reactive: we’ll be able to print transfers and press them for sending out the same day. We heard good reports about the Adelco in the industry which counts for a lot.” He expects DTF to fit into the mix for smaller runs with multi-coloured designs that would be cheaper than doing it on DTG.
EPCC moved into DTG about 10 years ago, initially with Brother machines and then, eight years ago, switching to Kornit. It now has two high-volume Kornit Avalanche machines. After initially sourcing machines from a UK distributor, EPCC now deals direct with Kornit. “We continue to invest in Kornit DTG technology, providing a flexible solution for short runs, sampling and on-demand production,” Justin adds. However, he says that its MHM presses remain the core of its production capabilities. “Screen printing is still the quickest, cheapest way of getting large volumes like 10,000 done.”
Printing on a Kornit DTG printer
EPCC operates 48 Tajima embroidery heads
The Cloudtex advantage
As one of the UK’s largest industrial-scale garment decoration facilities, the backbone of the operation has been its business platform, Cloudtex, designed specifically for the garment decoration and fulfilment industry. The system has been created fully in-house, now backed by two dedicated developers. What began as an internal production management system has evolved into a powerful customer-facing platform that gives clients real-time access to their orders, stock and fulfilment operations. Through the Cloudtex portal, customers can monitor order progress, check stock levels, view artwork, place repeat orders and track deliveries in real time, all from a single platform.
Every design that EPCC produces is photographed and stored within the system, creating a visual record of previous work. Customers can log into the portal and view images of garments, embroidery and print designs that have been produced for them in the past. “This makes repeat ordering quicker, reduces the risk of errors and ensures complete consistency across future production runs,” Justin explains.
The system also supports stock holding, fulfilment and drop-shipping programmes, allowing customers to hold products at EPCC and dispatch them as required. This particularly suits organisations operating multiple locations, franchise networks, uniform programmes and ecommerce stores but also appeals to agencies and other companies involved in promotions and events.
The print floor at EPCC’s Ramsgate facility
Trade only
EPCC operates exclusively as a trade supplier, manufacturing on behalf of distributors, promotional merchandise companies, garment decorators, agencies and other trade partners, who in turn supply the end user. With Cloudtex, orders can be set up to look like they have come direct from EPCC’s customer, with delivery notes to third parties customised so only the trade client’s name and logo appears. Justin says customers are reassured by the transparency of being able to track orders throughout. “It’s a daunting thing to trust another company to do your work. They like to have that window to be able to see exactly what’s going on with their order and any stock we’re holding. We’re trying to make it as seamless as possible, making it like an extension of their software and they look on us as a partner rather than a supplier.”
EPCC supplies band tours and other events, and is set up for quick top-ups and deliveries. “We do a lot of ridiculously quick turnaround jobs,” Justin adds. “It has changed so much over the past three or four years. They can phone on a Monday and say they need another 2,000 T-shirts printed for Wednesday. Customer expectations increasingly mirror the Amazon experience, with clients expecting complete visibility and increasingly rapid turnaround times.”
For bands, EPCC is producing work not just for the UK but the rest of Europe. “We are in a good location for Europe as we’re just down the road from Dover so we can deliver very quickly.” Agencies and bands keep coming back because of the team’s expertise as well as its technological capabilities. “A lot of the people here know the venues as they used to play in bands or they worked in events so they can foresee the kind of problems that might come up.” EPCC can hold other merchandise such as keyrings or travel mugs and consolidate it for despatch when needed – with stock levels visible to customers via the portal.
The new Wilflex ink mixing station ensures accurate and consistent colours across jobs
Heat pressing at The Embroidered & Printed Clothing Company
Removing complexity
Justin says that all this would not be possible on such a scale without its Cloudtex system. “We wouldn’t be able to set things up so quickly if we were doing it manually. By combining decoration, warehousing, fulfilment and software under one roof, we are able to provide a level of control and transparency that is rarely found within the garment decoration industry. The development of Cloudtex reflects our wider philosophy as a business. We do not simply want to produce garments; we want to remove complexity for our customers and provide the tools they need to manage their programmes more efficiently.”
Justin and the team continue to enhance Cloudtex. “When the client portal first went live, it could do probably 20% of what it does now. We thought that was good but we keep on developing it. Sometimes clients will come to us and ask us if we can do this and we do it. Every day I’m coming up with ideas. I’ll be walking past and think, ‘It’ll be really good if we could do that’, and I can go see the developers and within a couple of hours they’re doing it and it’s moved on and we’ve become a little bit more efficient. It’s all about lots and lots of tiny steps that add up to a big journey over time.”
After a period of investment and relocation, Justin says the plan over the next 18 months is consolidation. “We are focusing on building the systems and improving the software, building up the client base and becoming more well-known in the industry for trade work. We will continue to invest in production equipment, software development, automation and quality control systems to ensure we remain at the forefront of the industry.”
