A Virginia Turnaround Tale

Sometimes, even the most experienced and well-run business needs a shot of new energy and fresh ideas to get it back on track.

As early as 1923, The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in Blacksburg, Va., recognized the benefit of having an in-house printing facility. However, several years ago, the shop found itself in a financial hole.

So in 2009, Catherine Chambers arrived on campus from the State College (Pa.) Area School District's in-plant with a vision and a plan to turn around the ailing shop.

"I have always been involved with higher education, and I have always managed in-plants," explains Chambers, who serves as Printing Services manager. "When I was brought in, I was brought in as a change agent."

Over the past four years, Chambers says, the 17-employee in-plant has worked hard to improve its processes, upgrade equipment, streamline production methods, automate functions, add new services and "just generally pay attention to measuring what we manage so we can see why we were in the hole."

Through the in-plant's transformation, it has decreased turnaround times, improved customer satisfaction and has been turned into an auxiliary unit by the university. As an auxiliary, Printing Services pays all of its own expenses including employee wages, rent and utilities, and makes a financial contribution back to the university.

"Last year we paid all of our bills, we finished in the black, and we were able to contribute even more back to the university than we had planned," Chambers proudly reports. The shop was also able to put money away in a maintenance reserve, she notes.

Impressive Capabilities

Printing Services is located in a leased space within a mile of campus, in the town's old Kmart building.

"We pretty much are a Heidelberg shop," Chambers notes, pointing out that the in-plant is home to a five-color Heidelberg Speedmaster 74 with coater and a two-color, 36˝ Heidelberg press, as well as a two-color Hamada E47, a Hamada 600 and a two-color Komori Lithrone 36.

Recently, Virginia Tech Printing Services installed a Heidelberg Suprasetter 105 chemistry-free computer-to-plate system, moving up from its previous Heidelberg Prosetter violet platemaking system.

"Our sweet spot, or specialty market, and one of the things we do really well, is high-quality color work," Chambers says. "So the Speedmaster is important to our success. And while we could have experimented with other platemaking manufacturers, I really didn't want to lose the quality and new reputation for quality work on campus by going off and buying something less expensive and changing the Heidelberg workflow."

Chambers also notes that Heidelberg came in with a competitive price for the new machine.

"We are a state institution and we do have to get prices for something that expensive," she says. "Having just dug ourselves out of the hole—out of the red—I was really paying attention to the cost of everything."

Digital Printing Power

Printing Services has also been staying up to date on the digital printing side. Last summer, the in-plant added a Konica Minolta bizhub C6000 digital color press in one of its two production centers. It is configured with an EFI Fiery 9.0 RIP and a Fiery Command Workstation. The shop also utilizes three Konica Minolta 950s and a pair of Konica Minolta 920s.

"If you build it they will come," Chambers contends. "So our short-run color volume on specialty papers has increased drastically. And now we are considering adding an [Konica Minolta] 8000 to our portfolio."

Virginia Tech's copier management program, which Chambers also oversees, consists of an impressive 726 Konica Minolta machines. The in-plant also has an Intoprint Technology DP100GA envelope printer, which it uses to print not only envelopes but business cards and short-run color postcards.

Production Management

For the past two years, the in-plant has been depending on EFI's PrintSmith product for production management. By this coming summer, Chambers hopes to also be using PrintSmith for customer billing. All jobs are currently logged into the PrintSmith system.

"I believe in baby steps," Chambers says. "We have had it for two years and now everybody is up and running on the production side. From my desk I can see where each job is."

The Virginia Tech campus community uses an electronic purchase order system called HokieMart. If someone on campus wants to buy anything, including products from Printing Services, they have to create a purchase order through HokieMart.

Chambers notes that HokieMart is getting ready to roll out for the in-plant its own purchase order form in the university's purchasing system. This will be the first step towards online ordering.

"We also plan on putting into place a Web-based business card form within the next year," Chambers says.

Insourcing Helps

The in-plant currently does some insourcing from local universities and non-profit agencies, and will also produce personal work for Virginia Tech facility members, staff and students.

"If you have a personal connection with Virginia Tech, we will print for you," Chambers says, although she is careful not to unfairly compete with local printers.

Chambers recently earned the Certified Auxiliary Services Professional designation from the National Association of College Auxiliary Services (NACAS), the largest auxiliary services support organization serving higher education. She also serves on the board of directors for the Association of College and University Printers (ACUP). Chambers holds a master's degree in higher education administration and recently defended her dissertation proposal as a doctoral student at Penn State University.

Chambers contends that it hasn't been difficult to get approval from the university to upgrade the in-plant's equipment. "But, then again, I don't ask for things that I cannot justify," she quips. "We are always looking for new markets and to provide new services."

Chambers is currently looking to upgrade the shop's paper-handling equipment, including adding scissor lifts to make working at the in-plant more safe and efficient. There are also some upgrades being considered for the bulk mailing services area.

"As the Post Office requires us to do more of their work for them, and in terms of how they have changed bulk mailing requirements for large mail, we are also looking at adding some shrink-wrapping equipment," she says.

Award-winning In-plant

Virginia Tech Printing Services is an award-winning shop, having secured honors from the Printing Industries of Virginia while competing against much larger commercial printers. Several staff members have won awards from the university for teamwork and customer service, and one in-plant employee, Rocky Price, has even won the President's Award for Excellence, Chambers says.

"The staff here is so well trained and they have been in the industry forever," Chambers says. "To work with a group of employees who really know what they are doing has truly been a wonderful experience."

Many of the in-plant's workers have been university employees since high school, she adds.

"The only reason that I have been able to do the things that I have been able to do and make the changes that I have been able to make is because of the experience and the willingness of the staff members who are here," Chambers concludes.