Administrative support and open communications help University of Cincinnati Communications Services thrive.

By Bob Neubauer

The Latex Advantage

Wide-format printing is an exciting area of growth for the University of Cincinnati’s Communications Services operation. Since adding an HP Designjet L26500 latex printer, Director John Wesseling has been dazzled by the possibilities.

“They’re coming up with so many different types of materials to print on that it gives you so many solutions,” he enthuses.

Wesseling cites the Street Wrap material from MACtac that his in-plant used to print large musical notes and stick them to the street when the World Choir Games were in town. “Two weeks later you go back and peel it right up, and there’s no adhesive on the ground,” he remarks.

The in-plant got the latex printer because it uses no solvents and produces none of the fumes that the shop’s former wide-format printer emitted. The in-plant soon found that the quality of the output had vastly improved as well, and that it could print outdoor materials that would stand up to the elements. Last year the shop printed a 5x10-foot banner that stayed outside, through wind and rain, for 12 months. When staff took down the banner to replace it with a new one, Wesseling says they couldn’t tell the different between the two.

“I’m really impressed with the latex,” he says.

The in-plant has printed floor graphics, fatheads, back-lit signage and oversized checks, in addition to posters and presentation materials. To print the scientific posters needed by faculty and grad students, the in-plant switched from paper to vinyl cloth.

“They can just fold it up and throw it in their briefcase,” Wesseling says—no more poster tubes. The quality produced by the latex printer is also better than what the previous wide-format printer produced, he says, since the ink lays on top of the substrate and doesn’t get absorbed.

Overall, Wesseling observes, wide-format printing has been a worthwhile investment that has generated a lot of revenue for operation.

Winter was just settling in at the University of Cincinnati's campus back in January of 2012 when the sneak attack came. Agents from the facilities management (FM) arm of a popular print equipment vendor set up a meeting with the university's financial committee. With no one from the in-plant present, they began dishing out promises of cost savings if the university allowed the FM to handle its printing.

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Bob Neubauer Author's page

Bob has served as editor of In-plant Impressions since October of 1994. Prior to that he served for three years as managing editor of Printing Impressions, a commercial printing publication. Mr. Neubauer is very active in the U.S. in-plant industry. He attends all the major in-plant conferences and has visited more than 180 in-plant operations around the world. He has given presentations to numerous in-plant groups in the U.S., Canada and Australia, including the Association of College and University Printers and the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association. He also coordinates the annual In-Print contest, co-sponsored by IPMA and In-plant Impressions.

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