Frogs Get New Pad

Texas Christian University's in-plant has opened a new copy center after years of studies, surveys and cost-justification reports.

by CHRIS BAUER

STUDENTS ARRIVING for the fall semester at Texas Christian University, home of the Horned Frogs, found a new facility in the lower level of the Student Center. A much needed 800-square-foot copy center, dubbed Frog Prints, was added over the summer hiatus—just down the hall from the newly remodeled, 3,500-square-foot print shop.

"TCU did not have a retail copy center where students or staff could get copying services," reports Glen Bradford, manager of Printing Services in Fort Worth, Texas. "With Frog Prints, the university is providing convenient, lower-cost products and services, which meet or exceed the expectations of the students and the TCU community."

Getting approval for the new copy center was no easy task. The space for the center required some remodeling to get it designed properly—not to mention the expense the university would incur in equipping the new facility. But Bradford persevered, planning and mapping out expenses over a three-year period.

"When the concept was first presented there was some resistance from the administration in terms of the expense factors, whether or not the copy center would cost recover the investment in the equipment, the expense of the build-out, and so forth," Bradford recalls.

Studies and surveys conducted by the in-plant showed the university the tremendous demand for a copy center. This, along with a tedious two years of interviews, research, cost justification reports, lobbying and discussions, all led to the approval by administration.

"I likened our project to a birthing process," Bradford explains. "At various stages of the process we were elated, sick to our stomachs, experienced the pain of rejection, and finally joy as we saw the 'baby' come into the world. Our task now is to guide that new baby into full, healthy maturity."

A father figure, of sorts, was then chosen to help with the maturation process and to oversee the daily operations of the copy center—including operating the equipment and supervising a part-time student staff. Robert Goode, who has over 10 years of experience in a commercial retail copy center environment, was brought in to fill the supervisor position, bringing the number of in-plant employees to six full-time and 15 part-time.

Brand New Equipment

All the equipment filling the copy center was bought new. In the on-demand production area the copier/printer/scanners are digital, networked Ricohs—one 650 and one 550—which are connected to allow 120 cpm output on a single job or 65 cpm and 55 cpm on separate jobs. The color copier is a Ricoh 3006, and offers full-bleed 11x17˝ copies.

Two Ricoh 4522s act as walk-up, self-service copiers. These are coin-operated or I.D. card activated. The card usage allows the student to be charged for any copy work on a monthly bill that goes to his or her home.

In addition to the copier equipment, students have access to a PC and a Macintosh G3, on which they can download files, search their own files and send jobs to the production printers. Later, Bradford expects he will expand the in-plants services to include remote job submissions via the network.

Frog Prints also has a range of bindery equipment including:

• A 20˝ Standard PC-45 power cutter

• A Challenge JF drill

• A Nagle M2 bookletmaker

• A Martin Yale 959 friction-feed folder

• A Powis-Parker FastBack 11 Tape Binder

• A Rhino-Tuff OD 4000 Binding System

• A 25˝ USI pouch laminator

"In addition to meeting the annual operating budget, through our proposal we have shown that the university will have a revenue stream, which will enable us to upgrade equipment as needed in both the retail copy center and printing services," Bradford notes. "As a result, with newer, faster, state-of-the art equipment, the whole campus community benefits in enhanced quality, service and products."

Though it still may only be a tadpole, Frog Prints is already getting rave reviews from its campus clients. Bradford feels the copy center has helped enhance the in-plant's credibility, visibility and reputation.