McMaster University Adds iGen3 and More

When McMaster University Media Production Services installed its Xerox 2060 back in 2001, print on demand took off—particularly the “demand” part. Customers quickly began to expect color jobs almost immediately.

“Their expectation is, ‘I want sun, moon and stars and I need it yesterday,’ ” quips Sue Moorcroft, senior manager at the Hamilton, Ontario-based in-plant.

So if the 2060 needed service, all of that print on demand work came to a halt.

“We were getting held accountable for that on campus,” she says.

To build in some redundancy, the 20-employee in-plant recently replaced that 2060 with not one but three Xerox digital color printers:

• An iGen3-90

• A DocuColor 5000

• A DocuColor 252

“From a print-on-demand perspective, if something happens with the iGen, we can still be reactive to our user base,” says Moorcroft.

Quality was also a factor in the decision to upgrade to an iGen3.

“They were demanding offset quality and giving us a day to get it done,” she says. “It’s night and day different from the 2060 to the iGen. The quality and the consistency...is much better.”

In deciding which digital printers to get, the availability of service and support was certainly an issue for this in-plant, located about 45 miles southwest of Toronto. Its existing relationship with Xerox, along with the all-inclusive cost-per-copy plan it negotiated, were both factors in the final decision.

“We’ve been able to bring a lot more of the work back in-house that we were sending outside,” she says, “so we can...have a lot more control.”

Despite the success of the new digital equipment, Moorcroft still intends to keep her shop’s two-color Heidelberg Quickmasters and other offset gear in operation. In fact, the next investment will be a new computer-to-plate system, she says.