Adopt Our System —Or Else!

WHILE ONLINE ordering introduces all kinds of efficiencies, some in-plants have trouble getting their customers to make the switch. That wasn’t the case at Allan Hancock College.

Gordon Rivera, coordinator of Campus Graphics at the Santa Maria, Calif.-based community college, saw another school make the transition, so he and his team of three full-time employees—two of whom are designers—ran beta tests using EDU Business Solutions Print Shop Pro WebDesk. Then, he says, “We just set a date of February 29th as the last day that we would accept paper work orders. From what I’ve seen, we have complete buy-in.”

Through Print Shop Pro, departments can get real-time reports on their printing expenses.

“It does everything, from online submission to billing,” lauds Rivera.

While paper work orders have vanished, Rivera says that roughly half of the faculty still use hard copy originals. The in-plant has started to offer scanning services to digitize the documents and help its customers take advantage of online ordering. The division between those who digitize and those who don’t is roughly based on age, although Rivera says he’s been surprised by people both old and young.

“You cannot stereotype the clientele,” he remarks.

The in-plant insources wide-format printing, lamination, color copying and offset printing from students and faculty, earning roughly $5,000 annually. This extra money helps.

“I’m able to increase my copy count and buy equipment and signage,” says Rivera. “We have a separate account for these funds, so I don’t have to have a budget augmentation. It’s just a cash source, and it’s getting larger as Web submissions have increased our ability to take orders.”

That said, Rivera doesn’t aggressively look for work to insource.

“If we marketed ourselves, there’s no way we could do it all,” he says.

Rivera also found funds by working with other college departments.

“I teamed up with a graphic communications instructor,” he says. They jointly purchased a Xerox DocuColor 250 with the intention of using the machine both for production and by the students.

“They’re not just saying ‘Command Print,’ but understanding how RIPs work, how color correction works, and so on,” he says. “This setup, and insourcing, are the two major ways that in-plants can generate income.”IPG

—By W. Eric Martin