New Bookletmaker at Blue Valley Automates Workflow, Shortens Delivery Time

Standing with the new Duplo DBM-700 bookletmaker at Blue Valley School District are (from left) Angela Harris, Production Specialist, Greg Olerich, Production Services Supervisor, Erik LaLonde, Digital Print & Bindery Specialist, and Bruce LaLonde, Printing and Logistics Services Coordinator. | Credit: Blue Valley School District

Nothing great lasts forever. And after 18 years of use, the Duplo System 5000 booklet maker at Blue Valley School District was ready for retirement.

“We just wore the thing out,” laughs Bruce La Londe, Printing and Logistics Services coordinator. “I have no idea how many millions of books went through that thing, but it was done. When we got it, it had state-of-the-art collating towers and a square-back finisher on it.”

La Londe says the Overland Park, Kansas, in-plant knew it needed to make a change once employees had to start hand feeding the machine. It also required constant repairs and “tinkering” to keep it running.

So, as La Londe says, the in-plant put the Duplo 5000 “out of its misery” in April of 2024 and replaced it with a Duplo DBM-700 bookletmaker.

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When it came to choosing the right machine, La Londe says the in-plant did its due diligence and researched booklet makers on the market.

“Because we're a public school district we had to have an open bid,” he says. “So, we drew up a specification of what we wanted, and we had just two different options presented to us, the Duplo and a Horizon machine. We then went and did site visits to the places that already had the machines up and running, and talked to them about how they're using it, what they're doing with it, issues they've had, stumbling blocks, things like that.”

At both site visits, La Londe says he and his team brought some of their jobs and took the equipment for a sort of joyride. They ultimately ended up deciding on the Duplo.

Made for a Digital Workflow

Erik LaLonde and Bruce LaLonde run the new Duplo DBM-700 bookletmaker at Blue Valley School District. | Credit: Blue Valley School District

A major advantage of the DBM-700, La Londe explains, is the fact that it’s more conducive to a digital workflow.

“We've switched over to an all-digital workflow here, and that generation of Duplo [the 5000] was built for stuff coming off offset presses as well as digital presses,” he notes. “So, we took the opportunity at this point also to change the configuration of our Duplo [so it’s] set up for digital workflow.

“We can bring over an entire stack of collated books, put the covers in the cover feeder, and it will build the book for us, rather than having to hand sort that stuff,” he continues, “or what we were doing on the collating towers, which was running page one, then page three, then page five and page seven, and having to collate everything at that point. So, this is much faster from a production point of view.”

For an in-plant that handles everything from homework and handouts to curriculums and sports rosters, faster production is always a positive – especially since the in-plant receives upwards of 40,000 orders within the first six to eight weeks of the school year.

“In that startup time period, we did an additional 1.7 million impressions more than we did last year,” La Londe says.  “With the addition of this machine and the change of a couple of workflows, we were able to take a week off of our delivery time all the way across the board.”

Automating Workflows

Inside the new 55,000-sq.-ft. Logistics Center at Blue Valley School District.

Not only is the new machine allowing more impressions, it’s also helping to automate workflows. Previously, in-plant employees were hand-coiling about 140,000 books a year, La Londe says.

“Just in that first August to September timeframe, we moved about 10,000 of those books over to the Duplo,” he says. “That's the whole idea for getting this machine: we want to use every ounce of its ability to do things that help keep us moving.”

La Londe is hopeful that two to five years down the line the new Duplo will be able to take on most of the in-plant’s coil-bound booklets.

Ultimately, La Londe says he’s not sure what his next point of purchase is, but thanks to the DBM-700, he says there’s some wiggle room.

“The Duplo gives us a bunch of redundancy, if you will,” he says. “Meaning that if we don't buy certain types of finishing on a machine or whatever the case may be, that were covered with this machine.”

Two years ago, the in-plant moved into a new Logistics Center and was able to consolidate its three different production areas into a single facility.