Ohio State UniPrint: Always A Team Player

The Ohio State University is big. It ranks among the country's largest colleges (and is sometimes tops) in terms of student enrollment. Its famed horseshoe-shaped football stadium holds and consistently draws more than 100,000 Buckeye fans and rivals to Columbus, Ohio.

The school's in-plant is also a heavyweight among its peers. In-Plant Graphics' December 2009 survey of the largest in-plants in North America lists Ohio State's UniPrint operation as the number-one revenue-producing ($18 million) university shop and as having the fourth-most employees (81).

Led by Director Debby Parks, Associate Director Don Roberts, and Assistant Director Jeff Dible, UniPrint works in unison with the university to ensure that bigger remains better.

The in-plant has been putting ink on paper for more than 75 years. In 2006, printing services merged with other units to form UniPrint, and now encompasses Document Management Services (DMS), the Cost Per Copy program, the Printer Cost Management (PCM) program, student printing labs, and even microscope repair.

"We felt that the best thing for us to do was consolidate all of our offerings under one roof," reports Roberts, who retired just last month, after 51 years with the in-plant. "And it has worked out very well."

Within a 44,000-square-foot facility, UniPrint offers offset printing and duplicating, digital printing, high-speed copying, wide-format printing, and finishing and binding, as well as addressing, warehousing and distribution services.

Working three shifts, the production department produces 18,000 to 20,000 jobs annually, including business cards and university stationery, brochures, admissions and recruiting materials, and plenty of work for Ohio State's athletic department and extension system.

"We print about 85 percent of the university's work," Roberts calculates.

Campus customers deal with UniPrint entirely by choice. The in-plant does not have the first right of refusal for jobs. So, UniPrint has to work for its work.

Sales Force Keeps Shop Busy

"Within the last two years, we've added a complete sales staff," Roberts reveals. Five salespeople "spend all day on campus" selling customers on UniPrint.

"The sales force has been really beneficial," he declares. "As certain types of work dry up, such as publications, we have to replace that work."

For example, when the Office of Human Resources and University Health Plan decided to make its Netwell publication a Web-only endeavor, UniPrint lost a $60,000 job.

"So, we turned around and began calling on a new prospect, University Development, and now we're doing almost all of their work," Roberts concludes.

The sales staff also strives to keep established customers out of the competition's clutches.

"When you don't have a sales force, you can lose current business," he adds. "Other printers are hungry and very active on campus trying to take our business."

UniPrint's efforts have inspired customer loyalty and satisfaction.

"In my 20-plus years with The Ohio State University, the working relationship I've had with UniPrint has been positive, mutually supportive, and successful," enthuses Beth Yaple McGuffey, senior assistant director, Undergraduate Admissions and First Year Experience. "They strive to serve the university community not only because it makes good business sense to keep the dollars on campus, but also because they're a part of the Buckeye family. Their children attend school here, they're cheering in Ohio Stadium on football Saturdays, and they believe in the mission of the university.

"UniPrint has made staying ahead of industry standards and changing technology a top priority in their business plans," she continues. "The customer service representatives approach me with new ideas and technologies to save money and/or save time. UniPrint stays competitive in pricing with outside vendors and provides solid customer service with value-added benefits, like inventory storage. And my dollars spent with UniPrint stay on campus and feed into scholarships for our students."

Offset and Digital Presses

To produce the university's printing, UniPrint relies on four Heidelberg presses, including a five-color, 28x40˝ press and a six-color, 20x29˝ press with aqueous coating. Runs average 5,000 to 10,000 impressions. The shop also houses duplicators and a Halm envelope Jet Press.

On the digital side, Uni–Print operates a Kodak NexPress 2100 and a Xerox 7000 for color work, along with two Xerox high-speed black-and-white printers.

Presently, the in-plant's print production is about half offset and half digital. About 75 percent of its jobs are color.

"We all know that the market is shrinking for offset, and that digital printing is more affordable for smaller runs," Roberts acknowledges. "However, we're still printing plenty of offset work for the admissions and professional departments, as well as for the extension system. We don't have a backlog in offset, but we're still busy."

Commencement programs are "a great example of why offset isn't dead," Roberts notes. The shop produces a very large quantity (37,500) of programs in a very short time frame.

Meanwhile, demand for digital continues to grow. Currently, UniPrint is running three shifts on the NexPress to produce short-run books, mailers, postcards, business cards and variable-data applications. In fact, Roberts discloses, the demand is so great that a "NexPress 3000 with Dimensional Clear Dry Ink has been purchased and is scheduled for delivery in late July."

Kodak's Dimensional Clear Dry Ink is designed to create a raised or 3-D printing effect.

"The Dimensional Clear application will enhance our printing of diplomas," explains Jeff Dible, assistant director. "We currently print all diplomas, and now they will have the thermography look and feel again."

Adding Value with VDP

UniPrint adds value to admissions, recruiting, development and fund raising via its variable-data capabilities.

"Through personalized URLs and variable data, Ohio State has been able to provide more relevant material to incoming freshman for orientation, and nightly letters for financial aid and admissions," Roberts relates.

The in-plant has developed its own system to offer document management services, including electronic storage, retrieval, and archival.

"We have eight to 10 major customers—each of which has many more internal customers—using these services," Roberts reports. "DMS converts paper workflow and files into electronic media. It is integrated into the university's mission-critical applications, such as Software Information Systems, Treasurer's Office, Peoplesoft and the Admissions application process."

In November 2009, UniPrint purchased an EFI Rastek wide-format printer.

"We print signs for the whole university," Roberts states. "We've even taken one of the doors off a building and [wrapped an image] right on to it." The move is proving to be a wise investment; Roberts estimates that first-year revenue will range between $150,000 and $200,000, and that the shop will enjoy return on investment (ROI) within 18 months.

Print Copier Management

UniPrint also instituted a Print Copier Management (PCM) program, which has been very fortuitous fiscally.

"A couple of years ago, we took over the maintenance of all the desktop printers, which number close to 4,000, throughout the university," Roberts explains. "As a result, we probably have saved the university in excess of a million dollars. In comparison to industry standards, our PCM controls the cost of maintaining printer and supply toner based on usage and a per-page price."

The in-plant manages itself with the Avanti shop management system for estimating, production planning, scheduling, billing, job tracking and more. And beyond the amazing hardware and software tools lie the operation's real MVPs.

"Our employees are true assets," Roberts stresses. "We have a lot of long-time staff members."

Overall, UniPrint has all the right stuff. "Being very concerned about our customers and giving a good product at good pricing has kept us operational," Roberts asserts. "We're not questioned [by Ohio State administration] as long as we're maintaining a healthy bottom line. People know that we save the university money, and we're very well thought of by administration and the university community."

That's never more clear than when it comes from the mouth of a customer. As Yaple McG¡uffey concludes, "With great customer service, competitive pricing, and a mutual sense of purpose and support of the goals of Ohio State, I'll continue to keep my business with UniPrint." IPG