Slow Recovery from Fast Flood

Like most of the East Coast, Jim Lyons braced for Hurricane Irene last August. Unlike most Easterners, though, his in-plant is only now recovering from the resulting catastrophe.

As the storm bore down on New Paltz, N.Y., which lies about 85 miles north of New York City, flood waters collected outside the loading dock doors of the Haggerty Administration Building at the State University of New York (SUNY) at New Paltz. As the water climbed halfway up the dock doors, maintenance workers used boxes of paper from the in-plant in an attempt to barricade them. But it wasn’t enough.

The doors burst open, and two feet of water flooded into the in-plant, destroying its equipment in seconds.

“I was devastated,” recalls Lyons, Print & Mail Services manager. “It was sad. We lost everything.”

Gone were the in-plant’s Canon image-RUNNER 110, Xerox 700, Presstek Digital PlateMaster 2340, Duplo 2000 bookletmaker, Morgana creaser and a 42˝ cutter, along with mailroom computers and furniture. The in-plant’s Heidelberg Quickmaster 46 press sustained $18,000 worth of damage to its electronics. Only the shop’s Xanté Ilumina envelope press, perched on its three-foot-high stand, stayed above the floodwaters.

But just as Lyons finished processing this loss, he was faced with another deluge of anxiety. Would the university decide to cut its losses and outsource printing rather than rebuild his shop? He recalled a 2008 challenge by a previous president who wanted to close the in-plant, and his subsequent efforts to gather off-campus pricing data to prove the in-plant was saving money. He had prevailed then. But would he this time?

As the weeks stretched on, and SUNY departments were forced to send jobs to local printers, discontent began to build. Service and quality were not nearly as good as what they were used to from the in-plant.

“We’ve worked hard to get a good reputation here,” remarks Lyons. “Everybody realized what a convenience they have right her in this building.”

Complaints reached the ear of the president. At the same time, the vice president that Lyons reports to explained to the president the value and cost savings that the in-plant provides the university. He listened.

Once again the in-plant prevailed. Its facility now dried out and repainted, it recently took delivery of a Ricoh 1107EX with a spiral punch, to replace the Canon; a new Xerox 700; a Presstek DPM Pro 400; a Duplo 2000 bookletmaker; a Duplo creaser; and a Baum 26.4˝ cutter. Replacement money came from a federal hurricane fund, Lyons says.

He notes that, in the aftermath of the storm, when he was at his most desperate, he asked some of his vendors if they could donate a temporary replacement machine. Only Ikon came through with an offer.

“They said, ‘When do you need it?’” Lyons recalls. Though he didn’t end up taking them up on the offer, he was touched by the gesture. “The fact that they were willing to go that extra mile for us really made me ask them, ‘What do you have to replace the 110?’” Thus the shop ended up with the Ricoh 1107 from Ikon.

In December, the in-plant hosted a thank-you party for those who worked diligently to help the in-plant recover. Lyons is thankful there were so many of them.

“People know they can count on us,” he says. And knowing that his vice president and president understand this too has made him feel even more fortunate.