Screen Printing in Kodaghalli

On July 11, the interns and I wanted to help the women get off to a good start on the day’s production. On Monday, there was an issue with the screen-printing. After a particular number of uses, the screens start to wear down and they will let through small splotches or dots of ink. Our supervisors told us that quality control in the workspace was an issue to look out for. A few of the bags that were printed had these splotches. Some of the letters were also distorted. Although it was easy for us to point out, the women, who do not read or speak much English would have a hard time recognizing a slightly distorted ‘e’ or ‘f.’ In order to remedy this problem, we encouraged them to check every bag that was printed with the ‘sample’ bags that were hanging on the wall.

On the following Wednesday, the women started off strong, testing the screens with some scraps of fabric, figuring out where the splotches and imperfections were, and fixing these things simply with some clear tape. They also paid a lot more attention to the quality of the prints and there were designated ‘checkers’ and ‘printers’ for the day’s work. When the interns returned at the end of the day, the bags, which had gone through an additional printing on the other side looked great.