Finishing, installation, and similar requirements may fall out of your range of capabilities. Even if you maintain screen printing as your sole core business, you're likely to hit seasons when the stream of orders coming in exceeds the capacity of your shop to produce them. You can partner with another screen printer who has the capacity. When you form a mutually beneficial business alliance with another screen printer or a related print or finishing-service provider, it's important to view the alliance as more than a subcontracting arrangement. The relationship must be a partnership for it to work long term.
Partners take joint ownership and re-sponsibility in solving problems and developing solutions.
Dedication to meeting the customer's requirements is the glue that binds the partners. Trust is the key element to any business relationship, but its especially critical in partnerships between screen-printing companies, particularly those who might otherwise be direct competitors. If you are interested in handling more print-related business than you have capacity for, don't just send artwork, a purchase order, and color samples to any other printer in town. Do your homework and make sure that the shop is dedicated to satisfying the customer's demands and meeting the standards the customer has grown to expect from your own business. But also remember that your first priority is to protect the relationship you have with your customer.