A Significant Move in Indiana

When a university realizes its in-plant is sitting on prime real estate, that news often leads to a few restless nights for the manager of that shop. That's what happened at Indiana University, when the city of Bloomington decided to develop a technology park on the west side of town, in an area where IU Document Services had been situated for 41 years.
"It was very valuable property," remarks Director Joe Goss. But did Goss worry that IU would shutter his operation rather than finance its relocation?

"There was never any discussion—ever—of not moving us," he says.

That's because Goss had been doing his homework over the years: reporting the in-plant's savings, and demonstrating the value it brings to IU. An evaluation a few years ago gave Document Services high marks. So when the decision was made to sell the old facility to the city, the conversation turned immediately to finding a new space for the 30-employee printing operation.

In the end, the university paid about $750,000 to renovate a warehouse on the other side of town, adding heating, air conditioning and humidity controls, as well as more electrical access. Then in June, over a two-and-a-half week period, the in-plant moved its equipment into the new plant, about two miles away.

"It was about as seamless a transition as you could imagine," observes Goss. Part of the reason it went so smoothly was that the in-plant elected to move equipment a little at a time.

"I wanted to stay in business throughout the move, so we moved part of the offset presses, and then we waited till they were up and running before we moved the rest," he notes. The shop did the same for its digital printing and bindery equipment.

Several different movers were used. Vendors like Kodak, Konica Minolta and Ricoh took charge of the equipment they service, and another company was hired to transport the larger equipment, like the shop's two-color, 28˝ Komori press. Office furniture was transported by yet another mover.

The Element of Surprise

Another reason it went so seamlessly?

"We did not notify our customers that we were moving," Goss reveals. "We thought that if we told them we were moving—made a big deal out of it—that sure enough it would cause a big deal." Customers would worry about their jobs being late, he says, and possibly send them to outside printers rather than take a risk.

As it was, the in-plant didn't miss a beat. No jobs were late, and customers commented—once the shop announced it had moved—that they hadn't noticed any disruptions in service.

The new facility is more open than the old one, with no walls separating the various areas, and high, 29-foot ceilings, featuring sound-absorbing insulation. There is one drawback, though: at 15,000 square feet, it's much smaller than the old 25,000-square-foot facility.

"We're a little crowded in areas," Goss acknowledges, but insists this has not been a major problem. "You just have to think about the use of your space a little better."

To cope, the shop has trimmed its paper inventory by half, relying now on next-day deliveries from its vendors in Indianapolis. It also unloaded some old equipment that was just taking up space.

"We sold 15 pieces of equipment in the six months leading up to the move," Goss says.

Workflow Improvements

Another way Document Services dealt with the plant size reduction was to create a more efficient job workflow, with equipment placed in a more logical manner. In the old facility, jobs would bounce from one side of the plant to the other and back again, as they moved from printing to binding to addressing. Now, offset and digital printing are side by side, with bindery next to them, followed by addressing, which is right by the back door.

"So it's a nice flow. Straight through," remarks Goss. "We were able to locate…equipment so that one operator can just stand in the middle of two machines and keep both of them running."

For example, the in-plant's new Oki digital envelope printer now sits next to its offset envelope press, an ABDick 9910, allowing one operator to run both.

"We can produce envelopes in far less time than before," he reports.

Another benefit to the new facility is that IU's 15-employee Mail Services operation, also overseen by Goss, is already located there.

"I was constantly running from one side of town to the other," laments Goss. "Well, now my office and mail are about 50 feet apart."

This proximity has also made it easier for print and mail to work together.

"In the past, if we addressed a big campus mailing, then we actually had to take it to the dock, load it in our truck, drive across campus to Campus Mail Services, and unload it so that they could distribute the mail," he says. Now it's just a matter of wheeling these jobs next door. "So that's been a huge savings," he says. This also enables the two departments to share employees in a pinch, he adds.

Overall, Goss is very pleased with the way things have turned out for his in-plant.

"I think it's just been phenomenally successful," he enthuses.

The move is perhaps the crowning achievement of Goss' 28-year career with Indiana University. With its successful completion, he is now planning to retire on March 31, his 65th birthday.