Moving From Offset To Digital

Digital printing has not replaced offset yet. But in-plants that have added digital gear say they can do certain jobs much more efficiently this way.

We spoke with four in-plant managers about their digital printing capabilities.

Becton Dickinson and Co. Printing Services

Franklin Lakes, N.J.

Office Services Manager: Michael Bekker (Michael_Bekker@bd.com)

In-plant employees: 10

Annual operating budget: $1.55 million

Main digital printing equipment: Xerox DocuTech 6180, Canon 2400.

Jobs printed digitally: Price lists, training manuals, workbooks, correspondence, product catalogs, telephone directories.

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University of North Carolina-Greensboro Graphics and Printing

Greensboro, N.C.

Director: Angela W. Schrock (angela_schrock@uncg.edu)

In-plant employees: Four full-time, one part-time, four students

Annual operating budget: $500,000

Main digital printing equipment: T/R Systems Micropress connected to three Minolta Di620s

Jobs printed digitally: Brochures, booklets, flyers, postcards, forms, newsletters.

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Arizona State University-East Document Production Services

Mesa, Ariz.

Assistant Director Document Production Services: Robert Lane (IBURXL@asu.edu)

In-plant employees: 15

Operating budget: $1,850,000

Main digital printing equipment: AGFA Chromapress, Xeikon DCP/50D, Indigo Turbostream 46-4, Heidelberg Quickmaster DI.

Jobs printed digitally: Business cards, letterhead, ID cards, posters, Web cards, book jackets, brochures, variable data, folders, postcards, binder covers, spines, sport cards, announcements, invitations, banners.

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American Electric Power Printing Services

Tulsa, Okla.

Print Coordinator: Cathy Koloff (mckoloff@aep.com)

In-plant employees: 7

Annual operating budget: $1.2 million

Main digital printing equipment: Xerox DocuTech 135 with stapler and tape-bind finisher, Xerox DocuPrint 9600, Xerox DocuColor 40 with staple finisher, Canon CLC 1000 with staple finisher/sorter.

Jobs printed digitally: Booklets, training manuals, flyers, forms, newsletters, billing inserts, letters.

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by Bob Neubauer

What factors made you decide to print certain jobs digitally instead of offset?

Michael Bekker: For the most part, productivity. We normally will spend a great deal of time scanning in work that our associates already have in an electronic or digital format. There's no reason for our customer to print out a hard copy on his/her desktop printer at costs of five to six cents each, and then walk or send it down to the copy center for our operator to scan the documents and print. If the document is available digitally, we want to use it to save time and expenses.

Angela W. Schrock: University Graphics and Printing offers both offset printing, as well as digital copying to the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. Our pressroom and copy room supervisors discuss the best option for the customer with cost and quality in mind.

Robert Lane: Turnaround time, cost and low quantities. Ability to database digital files that are press ready.

Cathy Koloff: Customer needs dictate a quality product with a fast turnaround, plus handling distribution requirements, so our ability to output digitally gives us options that offer a variety of solutions. Depending on job flow and press time requirements, we can funnel black-and-white work through the DocuTech and keep the presses open for jobs that specifically require offset.

What advantages has digital printing brought to your in-plant?

Bekker: As I said above, it is definitely the more productive way to go. I think the main hurdle is that some customers don't feel comfortable not having the document in their hands before they give it to their printer. It's as if they lose a part of the control process; they don't know what their final document is going to look like. We normally take a customer through the digital printing process once or twice and after that, they are hooked.

Schrock: Digital copying has allowed UGP to offer a higher-quality product to our customers. By having customers provide a disk copy we can output their job straight from the T/R Systems Micropress. This saves a generation in copy quality and provides the customer a better product.

Lane: Our university strives for a consistent look, and our graphic standards have to be maintained. Our department's main goal and standard is "Whatever it Takes," which revolves around efficiency, savings and in a timely manner. It is better for the university and clients on campus for us to grow with the constant changes in printing today. This is also a great use of taxpayer's monies, while also teaching intern graphic/printing students in a print production setting.

Koloff: Online collating and bindery options save time for our production personnel, as well as the ability to generate documents on demand that we have archived.

What opportunities did digital printing open up?

Bekker: I think my favorite was our first major digital project. In the old days, an annual price list was produced using traditional offset methods. At the end of the year, a new price list was created and the old price lists were obsolete. In some cases, this was about eight skids of printed material right in the recycle bin. About five years ago, we began to produce the project on demand, which reduced warehouse space and drastically reduced production costs. Initial savings for this project was just under $90,000. Needless to say, we have been producing it digitally ever since.

Schrock: We are in the process of implementing an online service to our customers. They can send us their copy job via e-mail without leaving their office.

Lane: Using state-of-the-art digital printing presses, Arizona State University has opened up a new facility on our East campus, which produced university business systems for all of ASU campuses. Furthermore, the Graphic Information Technology Facility (GITF) provides Arizona State University with production, contextual education for students who are majoring in the printing/graphics field, and industrial training for different manufacturers' digital equipment. In this new facility, University production and education work side by side.

Koloff: Customers like knowing that they just need to send us their electronic files through e-mail, without having to assemble volumes and ship them to us for hard copy scanning. Since we do work for a geographically diverse area, we can print training manuals for a number of locations and ship according to customer distribution requirements. Since our staff is well-versed in a variety of different software packages, we can accept client files in many different formats and deliver a quality product reliably.

What steps did you take to switch from offset-only to doing some digital printing?

Bekker: In the beginning, I was concerned that most of our one-color black work was moving away from the offset area and moving to the Xerox printer. Fortunately, we were able to take on more offset color work to fill in this void. We frequently communicate the benefits and cost reductions when you print digital to our associates. Each day we get another customer that tries the digital process, and for the most part they are happy with the results.

Lane: Trial and error has been the best example. Arizona State University was fortunate to be the first university in the United States to purchase an AGFA Chromapress back in 1997. Through experiences on graphic design jobs we found what jobs were good for digital printing and what jobs were not, and we passed this insight to designers on campus, how to set up files for digital printing. Also, we discovered what papers were best suited for our press. Now, with five new completely different presses, almost all production is possible depending on budget and quality expected.

Koloff: This transition has been gradual over the last five or six years. The first step was getting customers used to the idea of submitting electronic files. Empowering these customers with information on how to maximize the capabilities of their software has helped immensely. As they get better at composing their files, we get better at manipulating them for output. Employee training is an ongoing process, as software upgrades become available, and as technological capabilities shift ever upward.

What is the estimated savings to your organization due to digital printing?

Schrock: We have yet to experience a savings in the cost of production. However, we are now providing our customers a better quality and more convenient service.

Lane: We can run at cost, which can be as much as 25 to 50 percent below market forces.

Koloff: We are currently conducting benchmarking research for services that we offer compared with similar services available from outside vendors. Research to date points toward significant savings to our customers that utilize our in-plant facility. Yes, a quick copy shop can sell their black-and-white copies cheap, but we have found that we can offer the related services of prepress, color copy work and bindery for much less than is available in the retail market.