Lamb Screen Printing has been quietly perfecting the art of custom apparel for more than 30 years in Southern California. The family-owned shop has established a reputation for producing premium prints, offering personalized service, and fostering long-term relationships with local organizations, including churches, schools, contractors, and sports teams.
That commitment to quality and continuous improvement inspired the company to refine its production process through equipment and workflow overhauls, all powered by Printavo running in the background.
Lamb Screen Printing’s dedication to both community and innovation also earned them the Inktavo Excellence Award, recognizing shops that embrace innovation, technology, and smart, intentional growth.
From Small Scale to Contract Printing
Lamb Screen Printing’s history traces back to a Los Angeles garage, where Operations Manager Ryan Lamb’s father and uncle printed novelty shirts. The business was profitable, and eventually, the focus shifted to contract printing for major brands, including Reebok and Nike.
Roughly 25 years ago, Ryan’s father purchased the business and rebranded it as Lamb Screen Printing. Ryan joined the team five years later, bringing his skill set in computer science and web development.
For the next two decades, the shop operated primarily as a contract shop, filling high-volume, low-margin orders under tight deadlines for large brand names.
Over time, Ryan says, there was a growing desire to reconnect with the local community.
“Contract printing was an overwhelming level of stress,” he explains. “We’ve always been kind of a small family shop, so doing that kind of printing never really fit our model.”
Around 2015, Ryan says the business pivoted away from contract work and readjusted its commitment to local and regional customers. Nurturing these relationships meant the shop was working more closely with individuals who valued print quality, clear communication, and long-term relationships. Making customers happy mattered more than racing through anonymous, high-volume orders, Ryan notes.
Merging Old-School with Modern Tech
Even after shifting their business model, Lamb was still running on outdated production methods.
Eventually, Ryan began to notice gaps in their production process that required improvement.
A few places he decided to improve included:
- Bottlenecks in art approvals
- Inefficient scheduling
- Slower production than competitors
- More room for human error and misprints
Following a visit to PRINTING United a couple of years ago, Ryan says he gained a better understanding of how to refine the shop’s workflow.
“I toured a shop while I was in town and was awestruck at how they operated,” he explains. “They had automated reclaimers, automated rinsers, and automated washers, among other things.”
After returning, Ryan and his team decided Lamb Screen Printing would reinvent its production environment.
The team invested in:
- A laser-to-screen system
- A dual auto coater
- An auto reclaimer
The business saw results almost instantly:
- Reduced staff from 10-12 to about 5–6, thanks to automating several repetitive tasks.
- Simplified training with automated technology. As Ryan puts it, “you can get a quick class on how to hit the buttons, and then you’re an expert.”
- Decreased downtime now that the shop was running on newer machinery instead of older, used equipment that was prone to breaking or in need of patchwork repairs.
Overall, Lamb Screen Printing’s automation became an effective tool in combating the rising labor and operational expenses prevalent in California.
A New Location and a Clean-Slate Workflow
After nearly three decades in the same location, Lamb Screen Printing made a significant move in July 2025.
Ryan says the old neighborhood had become less welcoming, parking was more limited, and the building itself had outgrown the company’s current goals.
The business relocated to a 3,500 sq. ft. shop, downsizing from approximately 6,000 sq. ft. Despite the downsizing, the new space allowed Ryan and his team to design their ideal workflow from scratch.
“I spent 25 years daydreaming about how I could have laid my old shop out,” he explains, noting that because the old shop was already laid out, moving equipment around would’ve been a major project. “Coming into this new spot, we were able to plan, logistically and efficiently, lay everything out with a better flow.”
Additionally, Ryan notes that starting with a blank slate allowed him to discuss the layout with employees and gather input from everyone, ensuring it was beneficial for all parties involved.
That refined layout included:
- A logical, linear production flow from receiving to shipping
- A hard separation between “dirty” areas (ink, reclaim, washout) and “clean” areas (blank apparel, finished goods) to avoid contamination
- Machine placement that minimized backtracking and excessive movement
Printavo as the Business’s Backbone
Before the automation overhaul and relocation, Ryan had already begun modernizing the business’s administrative side with Printavo tools.
When he first set up the software, employees wrote orders on carbon copy slips and paper order forms. From there, they transitioned to Excel and then to FreshBooks, an accounting software, but the company still required customization to meet its business needs.
Ryan says once they started shopping for industry-specific solutions, they chose Printavo because it helped them with key areas of operations:
- Pricing print and garment variables
- Visual mockups tied directly to orders
- A simple way to track statuses, proofs, and approvals
“We’ve been longtime Printavo users, using it very seriously within the first year of its launch, and we’ve been on the highest tier since,” says Ryan.
Today, Printavo helps Ryan and his team thanks to these results:
- Every job moves through clearly defined statuses.
- Quotes, mockups, approvals, and invoices live in one place.
- Tasks and production steps are mapped directly to how the shop runs.
Automations That Save Hours and Headspace
Lamb Screen Printing heavily relies on Printavo automations, especially for customer communication and order completion.
When a job is boxed and ready, a status change in Printavo automatically sends an email or text to the customer.
“No one has to remember to write the message, attach order details, or double-check contact info,” adds Ryan.
Each automation saves around 20 minutes a day, and with many of them running in parallel, it results in a compounding time savings that pays off across the team.
Winning the Inktavo Excellence Award
More recently, Lamb Screen Printing took home the award for Excellence in the first annual Inktavo Awards.
“Winning was a big boost for us as a shop, as a company, and as a family,” says Ryan.
Before automating, he was hesitant to nominate the company, but since then, he has felt that they are ready to take the next step forward.
Plus, seeing countless customers vote for the shop felt validating, as it showed that people outside the business noticed their upgraded efficiencies and processes, Ryan adds.
“They took time out of their time out of their day to vote for us, which shows they appreciate us for more than just a business transaction,” he adds.
Striving for Accuracy and Experience
With their significant investments in a new space and workflow, Lamb’s current focus is refinement—especially order accuracy.
“The art of my process is to make our stuff as foolproof as possible, which involves limiting or reducing job error entirely,” he notes, pointing to the trickle-down effect misprints often have across all departments.
That refinement, Ryan says, also nurtures customers who are happy and eager to come back.
For other shops, Lamb Screen Printing is a perfect example of how scaling down can be the best move for a growing business, especially if you have the right tools to support the strong team you already have.
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