IMAGEMAGIC has been a major player in the digital garment print industry since its founding in 1995. Since then, the company has opened the first B2C e-commerce facility for on-demand digital printed garments in 1997 and built Japan’s largest inkjet garment factory in 2014. IMAGEMAGIC was the first to take delivery of the innovative Brother DL oval production line system. By 2021, the company had moved from service provider to vendor with the introduction of its own TransJet brand of direct-to-film (DTF) devices and is now one of the largest suppliers of DTF hardware in Japan.
All these activities and events led to a successful IPO in 2022.
  |
I recently had the opportunity to visit IMAGEMAGIC’s state-of-the-art digital garment production factory in Tajimi City, near Nagoya. Opened in 2020, the Gifu Print Center (GPC) can produce up to approximately 5,000 digitally decorated garments per day. Orders come in exclusively from e-commerce, with 50% originating from its own site (On Demand Print Solutions) and the other 50% coming via major blue-chip e-commence B2C sites. One of the big challenges with an operation of this type is the sheer volume of unique orders that need processing. Mr. Mitsuhiro Shinmachi, Manager at IMAGEMAGIC advised us that the average order value is only two garments—once you do the maths, you will realize that that is a lot of orders each and every day.
 |
| IMAGEMAGIC’s e-commerce site takes buyers through every step with ease. |
The company’s e-commerce platform takes users through a simple process that allows for garment type, garment positioning to be selected. Images can be uploaded and a soft proof is provided, too. The system displays various pricing options determined by delivery deadline and shipping type. Behind the scenes, IMAGEMAGIC’s e-commerce platform checks available factory bandwidth before offering up achievable delivery timelines. Third-party e-commerce sites also interact with the factory’s backend systems in real time to ensure that product is not overpromised and underdelivered.
With many steps to the e-commerce process, it is not surprising that the whole thing is driven by QR codes to take human error out of the equation. The code travels throughout the process, helping to drive efficiency. Jobs are first brought up on large screens to let users pick the correct blank and then attach the QR code sticker. Next, the garments are passed through to the order processing department, where the QR code is scanned for the initial time to identify the delivery date commitment. Through a complex series of conveyor belts (designed by IMAGEMAGIC), each garment is transported to pallet boxes to ensure it is processed in priority order.
Garments are printed using Brother direct-to-garment (DTG) devices, routing jobs to one of 50 Brother GTX ProB DTG devices or the company’s impressive Brother DL Line. The giant oval production line contains 33 platens, which pass over automated stations that carry out pre-treat’; flash dry using Firefly ovens; and print (via four Brother GTX 600s) and curing (with more FireFly ovens), with just one human carrying out the manual loading and unloading of garments. Mr. Shinmachi advised that the DL line can operate at up to 180 white t-shirts/hour (120 colour t-shirts/hour)—the line operates at maximum capacity most of the time, while the QR code ensures that the correct ticket is applied to every blank. And the QR code’s job is not done yet as it also holds the shipping information, and pallet boxes of printed garments are sent to order fulfilment for packaging and shipping.
 |
| One operator managing four Brother GTX Pro devices. |
 |
|
One operator managing the entire |
IMAGEMAGIC has developed a separate fulfilment line just for single t-shirt orders. A finished t-shirt is automatically folded and vacuum-packed to minimize package size, after which a delivery label is attached and the package is auto-sorted (once again, thanks to IMAGEMAGIC’s intelligence conveyor belt system) into the correct Japan Post region shipping containers. This workflow allows the company to ship individual orders using Japan Post and land directly onto your doormat at much lower shipping costs compared to using traditional courier service options.
Multiple garment orders, and larger garments such as hoodies, go to a different fulfilment line. Here you will see workers sorting orders using pigeon-hole racks with LED light panels. When the QR code is scanned, the pigeon-hole LED that corresponds to the order stack lights up blue. And when the final garment in an order is completed and the pigeon-hole LED lights up blue again, the garments are placed in a box and the shipping label is attached.
It is not surprising given IMAGEMAGIC’s leading position in the DTF market that it is looking to utilize this growing technology in its own factories. In 2022, they took on extra factory space and now have a production line of eight TransJet DTF devices. The DTF orders are split between those being fulfilled as films for shipping finishing at garment providers. The remaining orders are processed onsite, with QR codes again playing an important role.
 |
| DTF production workflow is powered by IMAGEMAGIC TransJet devices. |
Presently, the DTF production process is still very “human-heavy” as the cutting, pressing, peeling, and curing are all done manually. The clever guys in the R&D division at the factory, however, are looking to reduce this by using automated cutters and robotics. We were treated to a demonstration of a work-in-progress robotic workflow system that IMAGEMAGIC is developing. In this concept four-station carousel, blanks are loaded and films are placed by human hands in the first station; the carousel moves to the automatic press station image transfer; and the platen then moves to the third station, where a robot arm removes the film. The final station involves another robot that unloads the finished t-shirt and places it into a pallet box for fulfilment processing.
 |
The last digital workflow process on display at this fascinating factory involved a Roland TexArt dye sublimation wide format printer and two Graphtec cutters—together, they were creating custom-made mugs. The process is still largely driven by human interaction, but I am sure this will also be more automated in due time.
 |
| Keypoint Intelligence personnel with Mr. Yamakawa, CEO of IMAGEMAGIC. |
Keypoint Intelligence Opinion
The story is already impressive—but is only half-told, as there are many areas of opportunity to further improve efficiency and fuel automation across all areas of IMAGEMAGIC’s operation. I, for one, look forward to making a repeat visit to this innovative location to see how fast the other changes get conceptualized, designed, perfected, and implemented.
Browse through our Industry Reports Page (latest reports only). Log in to the InfoCenter to view research, reports, and studies on DTF and DTG through our Textile & Apparel Printing Advisory Service. If you’re not a subscriber, contact us for more info by clicking here.
