How to Build a Print Shop Training System That Actually Works (Part 2)
In Part 1, we looked at why training new employees can become such a frustrating experience for growing print shops.
The same questions get asked over and over. Experienced employees become bottlenecks. Mistakes increase. And the owner somehow remains the person everyone depends on.
If you missed it, start with Why Print Shops Struggle to Train New Employees – Part 1.
But recognizing the problem is only the beginning.
How do you actually build a training system that makes your shop easier to run?
You don't need a giant employee manual or a complicated corporate training program.
You need a few practical things: documented procedures, consistent workflows, clear responsibilities, and one reliable place employees can find the information they need.
Here's how to start.
1. Get Important Knowledge Out of People's Heads
Think about the questions your employees ask most often.
"How do we handle a reorder?"
"Where do we put customer-supplied artwork?"
"Who approves a rush order?"
"What happens after the garments arrive?"
"How do I know this job is ready for production?"
If the answer is always, "Go ask someone who knows," you've found something that should probably be documented.
Your experienced employees are valuable. Their knowledge is valuable.
But that knowledge shouldn't disappear when they go on vacation.
Start by writing down the answers to the questions that come up repeatedly. You don't have to document every possible situation. Focus on the everyday processes that keep your shop moving.
Every repetitive question is an opportunity to improve your training system.
2. Create Your First 10 Standard Operating Procedures
A Standard Operating Procedure—usually called an SOP—is simply a documented way of doing something.
In plain English:
"This is how we do this here."
That's it.
You don't need a 300-page manual. Start with the processes employees perform most often.
For many print shops, the first ten SOPs worth documenting are:
Creating a new customer
Entering a new order
Receiving and organizing artwork
Preparing and sending an artwork proof
Recording customer approval
Ordering garments and supplies
Receiving purchased goods
Preparing an order for production
Completing production
Shipping or closing an order
Your shop may have different priorities, and that's fine. The important thing is to start with the processes that create the most questions or mistakes.
A useful SOP doesn't have to be long. In many cases, one page is enough.
3. Keep Procedures Simple Enough That People Will Actually Use Them
There's a difference between documenting a process and writing a novel about it.
Your employees need the first one.
For example, an artwork approval procedure might look like this:
Artwork Approval Procedure
Confirm the artwork is attached to the correct order.
Verify the garment color and decoration location.
Create the customer proof.
Send the proof for approval.
Record the approval.
Do not release the job to production until approval has been received.
Simple. Clear. Repeatable.
The employee knows what needs to happen, and the next person in the workflow knows what to expect.
This is especially important with approvals. As we discussed in Why Print Shops Lose Track of Customer Approvals, information scattered across emails, texts, and conversations can create confusion when production is ready to begin.
A documented procedure gives everyone the same process to follow.
4. Use Checklists for Tasks That Don't Need a Full SOP
Not every task needs detailed instructions.
Sometimes a checklist is better.
Think about preparing a screen printing order for production.
A simple checklist might include:
Artwork approved
Garments received
Quantities verified
Decoration locations confirmed
Production notes reviewed
Due date confirmed
Screens or production artwork ready
Job released to production
Now imagine a new employee has that checklist available every time they prepare a job.
Instead of asking, "Am I forgetting anything?" they check the list.
That's the goal.
You want employees relying less on memory and more on process.
5. Give Employees One Place to Find Job Information
This is where training and organization become closely connected.
Imagine you're training someone and you tell them:
Customer approvals are usually in email. Artwork is on the server. Production notes might be on the order. Purchasing has its own spreadsheet. Scheduling is on the whiteboard. If you can't find something, ask someone who knows.
Good luck.
The employee isn't learning how to do the job.
They're learning how to hunt for information.
Now compare that with:
Open the order. Everything associated with that job is there.
Artwork. Customer information. Order details. Production notes. Purchasing information. Scheduling. Approvals. Shipping information.
The fewer places employees have to search, the easier your workflow becomes to learn.
That's one of the reasons organizing your screen printing shop is so important. Organization isn't just about making today's work easier.
It makes every future employee easier to train.
6. Standardize How Information Is Entered
Centralizing information doesn't help much if everyone enters it differently.
One employee writes:
BLK SHIRT / LC / WHITE
Another writes:
Black shirt – left chest – white ink
Another writes:
See email.
That last one should make every production manager nervous.
Create standards for the information employees enter.
For example:
Decoration Location: Left Chest
Ink/Thread Color: White
Garment: Black
Special Instructions: Print 3.5" wide, centered over left chest
The exact format isn't important.
Consistency is.
When employees know what information they're looking for—and where it will appear—they become much less dependent on other people.
7. Train the Workflow, Not Just the Software
This is a big one.
When training a new employee, it's easy to teach:
Click here. Then click here. Enter this. Then click this button.
That's software training.
But employees also need to understand why they're doing those things.
Instead of simply teaching someone how to enter an order, explain the workflow:
Sales enters the order. Artwork creates the proof. The customer approves it. Purchasing confirms the garments. Then the job becomes ready for production.
Now the employee understands where their job fits into the larger process.
That matters.
When people understand what happens before and after their task, they make better decisions.
They also catch mistakes.
An employee who understands the workflow might notice:
"This job is scheduled for tomorrow, but the artwork hasn't been approved."
That's much more valuable than an employee who simply knows which buttons to click.
It's also why production scheduling works best when it's connected to the rest of the order workflow instead of operating as an isolated calendar.
8. Make Job Status Obvious
One of the most common questions in any busy shop is:
"Where is this job?"
Has artwork finished it?
Are we waiting for approval?
Have the garments been ordered?
Did purchasing receive everything?
Is it scheduled?
Has production started?
Is it finished?
Has it shipped?
If employees have to walk around the building asking those questions, you're wasting an enormous amount of time.
A clearly defined workflow gives every job a recognizable status.
That's exactly why better order status visibility can make such a difference. When employees can quickly determine where an order stands, they're able to answer their own questions instead of interrupting someone else.
And that's exactly what we're trying to accomplish with better training.
9. Don't Teach New Employees Everything at Once
This is another common mistake.
Day one:
Here's estimating.
Here's order entry.
Here's artwork.
Here's purchasing.
Here's scheduling.
Here's production.
Here's shipping.
Here's accounting.
Here's the coffee machine.
Good luck!
There's simply too much information.
Instead, train employees in stages.
Stage 1: Understand the Workflow
Teach them how an order moves through the shop.
They don't need to know every detail yet.
They need the big picture.
Stage 2: Learn Their Responsibilities
Focus on the tasks they'll perform most frequently.
Let them become comfortable and confident with those processes.
Stage 3: Introduce Exceptions
Rush orders.
Customer-supplied goods.
Reorders.
Partial shipments.
Special purchasing situations.
Teach exceptions after they've learned the normal process.
Stage 4: Expand Their Responsibilities
Once the basics become automatic, introduce additional parts of the business.
This approach builds confidence instead of overwhelming people.
10. Turn Mistakes Into Training Improvements
Mistakes will happen.
The important question is:
What happens after the mistake?
Suppose a job goes to production without customer approval.
You could simply tell the employee:
"Don't do that again."
Or you could ask:
"Why was it possible for this to happen?"
Maybe the approval wasn't recorded.
Maybe the employee didn't know where to check.
Maybe there isn't a standard pre-production checklist.
Maybe your process relies entirely on someone remembering to tell production.
That's valuable information.
Fix the process—not just the person.
Every mistake should make your system slightly better.
This also creates better accountability. When the process is clearly defined, employees know what they're responsible for and managers can identify where a workflow broke down. We explored that idea in Signs Your Shop Has an Accountability Problem.
Over time, better processes create an environment where fewer mistakes are possible in the first place.
Review Your Procedures as Your Shop Changes
Your training system isn't something you create once and forget.
Shops change.
Employees change.
Equipment changes.
Software changes.
Customers change.
Workflows improve.
Every few months, review your most important procedures.
Ask your employees:
"What questions do new people keep asking?"
That question alone can tell you exactly what needs improvement.
Your employees will probably identify things you never considered because they've learned to work around them.
The Goal Isn't to Eliminate Questions
You don't want employees who are afraid to ask questions.
Questions are good.
Especially when someone is learning.
The goal is to eliminate unnecessary repetitive questions.
There's a huge difference between:
"This customer wants something unusual. How should we handle it?"
and:
"Where's the artwork?"
The first question requires experience and judgment.
The second should be answered by your system.
That's the standard to aim for.
Better Systems Create Stronger Employees
The best employees aren't the people who memorize everything.
They're the people who understand the workflow and know how to use the systems around them.
When information is organized, procedures are documented, responsibilities are clear, and everyone follows the same workflow, something interesting happens.
New employees become productive faster.
Experienced employees get interrupted less.
Mistakes decrease.
Managers spend less time answering routine questions.
And owners can finally stop being the person everyone depends on to keep the shop moving.
That doesn't happen overnight.
But you don't need to rebuild your entire business tomorrow.
Start with one process.
Write it down.
Make it repeatable.
Then do another.
And another.
Six months from now, you may discover that you've quietly built something incredibly valuable:
A business that doesn't depend on any one person knowing everything.
That's when training stops being a bottleneck and starts becoming part of how your shop grows.
Ready to Build a More Organized Print Shop?
PriceIt helps screen printing, embroidery, DTG, DTF, and promotional products businesses bring estimates, orders, artwork, purchasing, scheduling, production, customer communication, and more into one connected system.
Instead of teaching employees where to hunt for information, give them one place to find it.
Schedule a Personalized Demo and see how PriceIt can help make your shop easier to manage—and easier to train for.
About PriceIt Software
For more than 25 years, PriceIt Software has helped screen printing, embroidery, DTG, DTF, and promotional products distributors become more organized, efficient, and profitable.
Backed by more than 35 years of hands-on experience in the decorated apparel industry, PriceIt was built to solve the everyday challenges print shops face—from managing artwork and customer approvals to production scheduling, purchasing, inventory, and customer communication.
The insights shared in this article are based on decades of real-world industry experience and a commitment to helping print shops streamline operations, reduce costly mistakes, and build more efficient, profitable businesses.
