Case studies

Artistic Imprints – Cutting Manual Work, Increasing Production: A PrimeCenter Success Story

September 01, 2026

Workflow Automation | Prepress | Direct-to-Film Printing | Wide-Format Printing 

Being responsive to customers requires more than production capacity. It also requires artwork that moves efficiently from design to production without delays, corrections, or unnecessary operator intervention. 

Artistic Imprints operates across retail, e-commerce, and contract work, providing decorated apparel, promotional products, screen printing, embroidery, heat transfer, engraving, direct-to-film printing, and wide-format applications. Its objective is to give businesses a single point of contact for consistent branded materials, from uniforms and flyers to signage and trade show merchandise. 

As its production activities expanded, the company needed to improve communication between design and production. Files frequently required corrections because of missing bleed, incorrect cut paths, sizing problems, or overlooked technical requirements. These issues interrupted production and required operators to spend time repairing artwork rather than producing finished work. 

By implementing PrimeCenter, Artistic Imprints automated key artwork-preparation tasks, improved its DTF workflow, reduced manual cutting, and enabled production employees to concentrate on higher-value activities. The company identifies labor efficiency and the opportunity to redirect employee time toward revenue-generating production as the most significant sources of value. 

Customer Benefits 

Why PrimeCenter? 

Artistic Imprints did not need to replace the RIP solutions already aligned with its equipment and operator expertise. Its primary challenge was the preparation of artwork and the transfer of accurate production information between teams. 

PrimeCenter provided an automation layer that addressed this problem by: 

This allowed the company to preserve its specialized production environment while addressing inefficiencies upstream of printing.  

The Client 

Artistic Imprints is a branding and production company active in retail, e-commerce, and contract work. Its services include decorated apparel, promotional products, screen printing, embroidery, heat transfer, engraving, DTF production, and wide-format printing for signs, banners, and variable-data applications.  

The company positions itself as a single point of contact for customers seeking to create or maintain consistent branding across materials such as uniforms, flyers, signage, and trade show merchandise. At the time of the interview, it employed approximately 62 people.  

The Challenges 

Artistic Imprints operates a diverse production environment with several RIP solutions selected according to the output technology: 

Using multiple RIPs was not considered the central problem. The company has specialized teams and low employee turnover, so changing the established production tools could have disrupted experienced operators. 

The real bottleneck occurred between artwork creation and production. Files regularly reached operators with: 

This generated continuous back-and-forth between designers and production employees. Operators sometimes had to stop printing to repair artwork themselves, resulting in delays and an inefficient use of skilled production time. 

The DTF workflow also involved manual operations. Employees had to sort transfers, match them with orders, and spend hours cutting transfers manually

The Solution 

To address these workflow bottlenecks, Artistic Imprints implemented PrimeCenter as its primary artwork-preparation solution while retaining the RIP platforms used for its different production technologies. 

Instead of depending on designers or operators to remember and apply every production requirement manually, files can be fed into PrimeCenter, which applies the appropriate settings automatically. According to Nathan Eppeley, this eliminated a substantial amount of manual work and guesswork. 

Automated artwork preparation 

PrimeCenter helped bridge the gap between the design and production teams by automating preparation processes that had previously generated corrections and interruptions.  

The workflow addressed recurring issues involving: 

  • Bleed settings 
  • Cut paths 
  • File dimensions 
  • Technical production requirements 

Optimized DTF workflow 

The company achieved some of its most important improvements in DTF production. Its PrimeCenter workflow incorporates: 

Metadata makes it easier to sort transfers and associate them with the correct orders. A process that previously depended on manual sorting became faster and more accurate. 

Automated cutting 

The company also automated transfer cutting. Employees had previously spent hours cutting transfers manually. With cutting automated, operators can focus on higher-value production activities, including garment pressing. 

The Process

1. Identify the production bottleneck 

The company determined that the principal obstacle was not its use of multiple RIP platforms. The recurring problem involved artwork preparation and communication between design and production.  

2. Automate recurring file-preparation requirements 

PrimeCenter was used to apply the appropriate production settings automatically, reducing the manual work and uncertainty associated with file preparation. 

3. Extend automation into DTF production 

The workflow was expanded to support DTF file preparation, nesting, cutter integration, metadata extraction, and transfer sorting. 

4. Redirect labor toward productive operations 

By automating cutting and other repetitive tasks, the company enabled employees to spend more time on production work that directly contributes to output and revenue. 

5. Continue developing production standardization 

As Artistic Imprints expands its corporate branding work, it is also investing in color-management training, swatch books, and X-Rite i1 tools. The company’s objective is to move from manual color matching toward a more standardized process for customers with strict brand guidelines.  

Key Challenges Solved 

Connecting design requirements with production execution 

Challenge: Designers did not always include the bleed, cut paths, dimensions, spot colors, or other technical elements required in production files. 

Solution: PrimeCenter automated the application of required production settings, reducing repeated exchanges and manual corrections. 

Now, we can simply feed files into PrimeCenter, and it applies the correct settings automatically. It’s eliminated a huge amount of manual work and guesswork.

The Results 

Following the implementation of PrimeCenter, Artistic Imprints transformed several key production processes by automating artwork preparation, improving DTF workflow efficiency, and reducing manual intervention across departments. 

Reduced Artwork Preparation Time 

Previously, production operators frequently stopped production to correct files containing missing bleed, incorrect cut paths, sizing errors, or missing production specifications. PrimeCenter now automatically applies the required settings, significantly reducing file-preparation work and eliminating much of the manual guesswork. 

Estimated Results 

Increased DTF Production Efficiency 

One of the most significant gains was in the Direct-to-Film workflow, where PrimeCenter automated file preparation, nesting, metadata extraction, and integration with downstream cutting processes. 

Operational Improvements 

Automation Replaced Hours of Manual Labor 

Before implementing workflow automation, employees spent hours manually cutting transfers. Today, cutting operations run automatically, allowing staff to focus on higher-value production activities such as garment decoration and finishing. 

Estimated Labor Impact 

Improved Capacity Without Additional Design Resources 

Despite continued growth in production volume, Artistic Imprints has not needed to expand its design team, which currently consists of approximately six designers supporting a production staff of roughly thirty employees. Workflow automation has enabled the business to handle greater output without adding prepress resources. 

Business Impact 

Better Utilization of Skilled Employees 

According to Nathan Eppeley, the most significant return on investment comes not from media savings but from labor efficiency and opportunity cost. Instead of spending time on repetitive tasks such as sorting, preparing files, or cutting transfers, employees can focus on activities that directly generate revenue. 

Key Outcome 

Now, we can simply feed files into PrimeCenter, and it applies the correct settings automatically. It’s eliminated a huge amount of manual work and guesswork.

Summary of Results 

✓ Automated artwork preparation across multiple production workflows  
✓ Reduced manual file corrections and production interruptions  
✓ Streamlined DTF production through automation and metadata-driven workflows  
✓ Eliminated hours of manual transfer cutting  
✓ Increased capacity without expanding design resources  
✓ Redirected labor toward revenue-generating production activities 

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