LSU: Weathering the Storm

LOUISIANA STATE University Graphic Services has long been ranked as one of the top university in-plants. When IPG profiled the Baton Rouge operation back in March 1998, it boasted a $7.6 million budget and 98 employees. By 2004, sales had grown to $9.1 million.

But then Hurricane Katrina hit, and life hasn’t been the same since.

“It significantly cut state budgets mid-year,” recalls Tony Lombardo, who was recently appointed director of Auxiliary Services, which includes the in-plant. “It threw all of the departments into panic mode. You had to get real ‘creative’ in how you made it to the end of the year.”

That creativity included developing new marketing strategies using non-print digital and networking technologies. This cost the in-plant a lot of business. Its budget today is back at 1998 levels: $7.8 million. Staff is down to 71 full-timers, plus 15 students.

In the three years since Katrina, Lombardo says, customers have not been so quick to return to their old, print-focused ways.

“Some of that ‘creativity’ that was used kind of continued, so we’ve got to go back and rebuild what we lost on the offset side,” he says.

The new director has some definite ideas of how to go about it too. For example, he wants to expand and leverage the in-plant’s successful Design Services.

“We’ve seen it grow probably 20 percent in the last year, and I’d like to see it double in the next year to two years,” Lombardo says. “And I think that will directly parlay back into printing and bring those numbers up as well.”

The in-plant has some big presses in its arsenal, including a six-color, 20x28? Mitsubishi and a two-color, 26x40? manroland perfector. Graphic Services gets 55 percent of its revenue from offset, Lombardo says, and 45 percent from digital printing, much of which is produced on its two Kodak NexPress 2100s.

“But you look at the job quantities, and it’s like five times the job volume to do that 45 percent,” he adds.

The sheer number of small digital jobs is creating a paperwork bottleneck, Lombardo notes. He wants to alleviate this by adding more front-end automation, including online ordering. In the past year, he adds, the in-plant has upgraded its EPMS Enterprise 32 shop management software to the current version, which has improved job processing and scheduling.

Another way Lombardo hopes to increase business is by focusing the in-plant’s marketing efforts on deans and department directors, not just on the designers who are creating the jobs. Deans better understand the in-plant’s crucial role in supporting LSU, he points out, while designers tend to look at individual job costs without a full understanding of the soft administrative costs associated with doing business off campus.

“I want to get to the point where we take pricing off the table,” he says.

Comings and Goings

Ten years ago, previous director Mike Loyd oversaw the consolidation of three copy centers into a single campus copy and mail facility. Later christened Paw Prints, this two-floor copy center was a big deal for the in-plant and a main focus of our 1998 story. The center thrived for a while, but three years ago, its staff and key equipment were consolidated with the main plant as a cost-saving measure. Today, Graphic Services occupies only the ground floor of the Paw Prints building, where it houses Mailing Services, Copy Management and the Student Copy Center.

In 1998, the in-plant had just started taking in business from students. Today, that business brings in $26,000 a year, Lombardo says—with more on the way.

“That dynamic is going to change dramatically in the next couple of months,” he hints. LSU is refurbishing its student union, and the in-plant is looking into taking over the post office and opening a one-stop shop for copying, mailing and UPS shipping.

“It would give us a real presence on the campus,” he says. “And in that, some potential revenue streams, such as the post office box rentals.”

Insourcing, particularly from the state government, has always been a good source of business for Graphic Services, but it has dried up a bit in recent years. In 1998, 30 percent of the in-plant’s work came from outside LSU; today, it’s more like 5 percent, Lombardo says. But an improved commitment to meeting deadlines and delivery dates is helping to bring more large state government jobs back to LSU, he adds.

The in-plant’s copier management program remains successful. In 1998 it included seven vendors and 480 copiers; today, only one vendor (Ricoh) is used to supply 420 copiers. They all have scanners, and some departments are using this function to create PDFs and reduce the amount of paper they use. Lombardo sees some revenue possibilities here and is exploring digital archiving as a possible new service.

“We want to move heavily into the technology of managing our data,” he says.

Despite the in-plant’s achievements, the hurricanes just won’t leave it alone. Last month, Hurricane Gustav closed the campus and brought some roof damage and leaking to the in-plant’s facility. Its power was out for a week, so the shop moved its server onto campus to access jobs and contact customers. Dedication like this is just one more way Graphic Services hopes to show customers it cares and win back more of their business.