Production Support Specialist

Part-time · 5 days/week · Flexible schedule · $19–$21 per hour

Position Summary

The Production Support Specialist keeps production materials moving so decorators, press operators, and packers never stop working to go find something. The role is modeled on the "water spider" (mizusumashi) of lean manufacturing, which separates "material handling" from "value-added production." The Production Support Specialist does the fetching, staging, and organizing so the production team's hands stay on product.

At T-Shirts by Design, this is the connective tissue between receiving, decoration, and shipping. When the Production Support Specialist is doing the job well, no press operator is ever waiting on a blank, no DTF transfer is missing when a job hits the press, and nothing sits un-staged the morning it's due. This is not a support role in name only. It is one of the highest-leverage positions in the shop, because a single missed kit or un-staged order can stall an entire day's production schedule.

Schedule

Part-time, 5 days per week. Start time is flexible, within one constraint: the shift must fall either

• Early window: starting at or after 6:00 AM, or
• Late window: starting at or after 3:00 PM and running into the evening

The employee sets their own hours within these windows, provided that all staging, kitting, and prep work for the next production day is complete before that day's shift begins. In practice, an early-window schedule suits someone staging the current day's floor before decorators arrive; a late-window schedule suits someone prepping and kitting the next one or two days of transfers and inventory after the day shift clears out.

Critical: regardless of which window is worked, all staging and prep for the following production day must be complete by 8:30 AM at the latest, with no exceptions.

Core Daily Responsibilities

Receiving & kitting

• Receive and sort all incoming inventory into kitted product ready to go to manufacturing
• Kit DTF transfers with the corresponding inventory as required for each job
• Stage next day's inventory in the proper, designated locations

DTF transfer production

• Organize, print, and cut all DTF-related transfers for the next day or two of production, working ahead of the press schedule so decorators are never waiting on a transfer

Vendor returns

• Process returns to vendors on a weekly basis

Packing & shipping

• Count, fold, and package finished garments to order specifications
• Ship completed orders out to customers

Shop floor upkeep

• Empty and dispose of all trash daily
• Vacuum all production areas daily
• Return all tools to their shadow boards at the end of use

Order & schedule accuracy

• Mark customer orders as complete once all required inventory has been received
• Red-tag any order that lacks a production schedule date but is due within the next 4 days, flagging it for scheduling before it becomes a missed deadline

Additional Responsibilities

These round out the role to standard practice for material handling in an apparel decoration shop.

Inventory accuracy

• Perform daily spot counts and a full weekly cycle count of blank garment inventory; report discrepancies immediately rather than at month-end
• Maintain min/max par levels on core blanks and flag purchasing when a SKU drops to its reorder point, rather than waiting to be asked
• Rotate stock first-in, first-out (FIFO); this matters more than in most warehouses because garment dye lots can shift shade between production runs, and mixing lots within one order creates a visible color mismatch on delivery

Quality screening at the point of kitting

• Visually inspect blanks for defects (holes, stains, mislabeled sizes, wrong color) before they're kitted, and pull/quarantine defective goods rather than let them reach the press. Catching a bad blank here is far cheaper than catching it mid-run or after decoration
• Confirm each kit's garment count, sizes, and colors match the work order before staging

Consumables & changeover support

• Track and replenish DTF film, adhesive powder, ink, and other decoration consumables so a station never runs dry mid-shift
• Stage the correct platens, screens, or pressing hardware for the next job ahead of a changeover to keep changeover time short
• Keep packaging and shipping supplies (poly bags, boxes, labels, tape) stocked so the packing station doesn't stall either

Job traceability

• Ensure every kitted job carries an accurate work order / traveler with it from kitting through the press, so status is visible at a glance without asking
• Log return-to-vendor issues (damaged, wrong item, short-shipped) with notes and photos to support vendor credit requests, not just box them up

Shop organization (5S)

• Maintain labeled, defined storage locations for blanks, transfers, and consumables: a place for everything, and everything in its place
• Keep walkways, staging zones, and shadow boards to standard between shifts, not just at day's end

Communication

• Flag material shortages, late vendor shipments, or unclear orders to production leadership the moment they're discovered. Don't let a job quietly stall for lack of a part
• Leave clear handoff notes at the end of each shift: what's staged, what's short, and what's most urgent for the next person on the floor

Qualifications & Skills

• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail; this role is the reason nothing gets lost
• Able to read and follow work orders and a production schedule without hand-holding
• Comfortable learning and using our shop operations software for inventory and job tracking
• Self-directed; proactively identifies and solves problems (a short blank count, a mismatched dye lot, a missing transfer) rather than waiting to be told
• Basic counting and inventory math accuracy
• Prior experience in apparel decoration, warehousing, or manufacturing material handling preferred, not required
• Comfortable using box cutters and cutting equipment safely

Physical Requirements & Work Environment

• Regularly lift and carry boxes of blank apparel and supplies, up to 40–50 lbs
• Frequent standing, walking, bending, and reaching across the production floor for the full shift
• Works around production equipment, including heat presses and film-cutting equipment; some exposure to adhesive powder, ink, and dust from cutting operations
• Uses basic hand tools and cutting equipment safely and consistently

How Success Is Measured

• Zero production stoppages caused by missing or un-kitted inventory
• Next-day materials staged and ready before the following shift starts, every day
• Cycle count accuracy on blank inventory
• Red-tagged orders caught with enough lead time to hit their due date
• Shadow boards, staging areas, and production floor consistently meet 5S standard
• Vendor returns processed and documented weekly, with no backlog

Pay: $19.00 - $21.00 per hour

Expected hours: 25.0 – 35.0 per week

Benefits:

• Flexible schedule

Work Location: In person