A Gold Medal in Printing

During the Winter Olympics in February, Simon Fraser University Document Solutions, in Burnaby, British Columbia, successfully produced a daily 12-page color newsletter detailing the progress of the German Olympics team. The 15-employee in-plant used its Xerox iGen3 to produce 1,600 newsletters a day for 16 days, binding them on its C.P. Bourg BME booklet maker. Digital files were sent from Germany using the in-plant’s WebCRD job submission system, from Rochester Software Associates.

“It is a privilege to do this work,” says Raj Nadrajan, director of SFU Auxiliary Services. “Germany knows quality printing, but with traditional presses there was not enough time to create and print these newsletters in the tight daily timeline.”

The newsletter, called “Olympische Momente” (Olympic Moments), contained articles and photos showcasing the accomplishments of the German Olympics team (which, incidentally, did quite well, earning 30 medals—right behind the U.S., which won 37). Reporters sent materials to Germany each evening for final assembly and approval by medienfabrik, the German corporate publishing agency that handled German Olympics coverage. At about 1 a.m., the resulting digital pages were submitted to SFU Document Solutions using WebCRD. Files were reviewed and then produced by two SFU in-plant employees.

On the night the first issue was produced, Nadrajan says a representative from medienfabrik was on hand to supervise.

“He was blown away by how clean it was,” Nadrajan says.

At 6 a.m., the newsletters were packaged and delivered by staff to German House at Harbour Centre in downtown Vancouver, a center for visiting German dignitaries, media and athletes. A courier delivered copies to Whistler.

medienfabrik decided to entrust the in-plant with this project after seeing Nadrajan and his staff demonstrate the WebCRD software. After testing files, they were quickly sold on the system’s ease of use.

Producing this newsletter isn’t the only groundbreaking thing SFU Document Solutions has been doing lately. It recently started producing photo books, using its iGen3 and a Powis Parker Fastback binder.

“We’re looking at ways we can increase our business,” Nadrajan says.

The shop also started providing document scanning using a Kodak i620 scanner and an Océ wide-format scanner.

“We have skid loads of these documents coming to us,” he says.

Another new service is printing banners directly to foam core and cardboard using an HP hybrid printer.

“We have seen significant growth,” says Nadrajan.