Consulting

Mike Guevara boasts over 20 years printing experience and is available for consulting.

This is his story (according to himself)…

It all started in 1997 while working at Hobby Lobby in San Antonio, Tx. We sold a Speedball DIY screen printing kit that I bought so some friends and I could try and print “merch” for our band and the rest is history.

After graduating high school in ‘98, I left Hobby Lobby to work at a commercial screen shop where I learned the trade. It wasn’t long after starting, I realized I loved the print process and knew I’d have my own shop one day. In ‘99, I bought my first press with a $550 loan from a family member. It was a 4 color 1 station M&R Blue Max 2 with a 15x15 Antec flash unit. I “dumpster dove” for ink at a shop that had shut down, built a exposure unit and started printing out of my bedroom in my parents home. A few years later, now married, I bought a conveyor dryer and setup shop in our garage. At that point, I was delivering beer for a beverage company, running a route by day and printing at night/ weekends. Business was growing quickly and got to where I had to make a decision- pursue management at my day job or fully commit to my print shop…….I chose printing!

I opened Ace Screen Graphics in the fall of 2004 in a 1,500 sqft shop in the NW side of San Antonio. When the doors opened I was a one man operation. We started as a manual shop with a 6/4 M&R Chameleon, a 4/1 M&R Blue Max 2 and an 8ft Harco electric dryer. Within the first year I bought my first, very used automatic press, a 1994 TUFF javelin which was rough real rough and beat up! We used it for a few months fixed it up some and sold it. In 2006, we upgraded to a newer 6 color Javelin. We slowly grew the business every year, being careful not to lose sight of our commitment to quality and met deadlines. Within our first 5 years my wife came on full time, we added a full time press operator and a part timer. Years 5-10 we grew to have 2 full time employees and a part time artist. In 2013 we were busting at the seams and needed to speed up production and get more efficient. We brought in the Workhorse Sabre 8/10 with 2 flashbacks. The efficiency of that press took us to another level and I quickly realized I should have bought the 10 color, so I did. A year later we took over our full building giving us about 5,000sq ft and brought in our 2nd auto. We now feel we’re at our most efficient level running 2 autos, one manual, a gas dryer and some of the best pre/post press toys we could ask for, along with an awesome group of 7 employees.

About 4 years ago I developed Rapid Reg. It was developed in house as a source for training employees. After finding great success with the templates at our shop, we shared them with a few fellow shop owners who also found them extremely efficient and told me I needed to start offering the templates for sale. We now sell them around the world and have over 200 users!

Over all these years of running and growing ASG, I have perfected our print processes for efficiency and profitability from film output to cured garment. One of the ways I achieved this was by learning and truly understanding every aspect of the print shop including quoting/selling, art creation, color seps, film making, pre-press, on press, post press as well as marketing, social media and everything in between. I have used many ink systems, screen systems, reg systems, art programs, film printers, press brands, auto and manual. I’ve printed for local companies and national brands, orders as low as 6pcs to orders over 24,000pcs.

I love print, I love talking shop, andI love sharing knowledge! I have a true passion for this industry and those making a living in it. If you have a print shop and are looking to get more efficient with any of the processes involved with apparel printing I’m available to help you and your team.

Send me a message through our contact page. Let me know about your shop and what you are looking to achieve. I will assess the info provided and let you know if I would be a good fit to coach you and your team.

Happy Printing!!!!