New In-plant a Hit With Customers

To support school districts in a four-county area in southwestern New York State, the Cattaraugus-Allegany-Erie-Wyoming Board of Cooperative Educational Services (CABOCES) had outsourced its printing for years. This arrangement, though, came at a cost.

The newsletters, brochures, postcards, posters and other pieces were output on an offset press at a BOCES in another county, and then shipped back, which added to the cost. Mike Graf, director of Communications and Print Services for CABOCES knew there had to be a better way.

“I attended a two-day conference at the Xerox Gil Hatch Center for Customer Innovation and learned a lot—including how far digital had come in regards to quality,” Graf says. He analyzed his actual printing costs over the past two years, then compared them to what the estimated costs would be if he had a Xerox iGen3 Digital Production Press in-house.

It became clear to Graf that the iGen3 could deliver the return on investment he needed, while opening the door to expanded opportunities. So in August, the six-employee department installed one in its Olean, N.Y., facility and never looked back.

“The superintendents feel that printing provides a valuable service, as evidenced by their growing participation,” says Graf.

Thanks to the iGen3, along with an offline Duplo booklet maker and a Challenge cutter, the in-plant has cut costs, achieved faster turnarounds and improved quality for CABOCES.

“We once got a call at 2 p.m. asking if we could produce a homecoming pamphlet for the game that night,” Graf recalls. “We were able to knock it out quickly, and with a quality level that helped the booster club turn this piece into a profitable fund-raiser.”

Lower costs mean customers can now do more for the same amount of money.

“With the iGen3, we can set our pricing so customers get four-color output for what they had been paying for black and white or two colors in the past,” Graf says.

Keeping everything local not only saves shipping costs ($20,000 a year, Graf says) but also gives the department better control over projects.

“Our designers are in the same building as our press, so if there’s a last-minute change we can handle it quickly and easily,” he explains.

The department is now looking into expanding its services even further by offering applications such as photo yearbooks and personalized student agendas.

“You have to walk before you can run,” Graf says, “but what I’ve been able to do with this iGen3 so far has really given me some great ideas for the future.”