Riso A Hit at University of Memphis

After closing its offset operation and outsourcing letterhead and envelope printing, Tiger Copy & Graphics at the University of Memphis, saw its expenses climb. So Penni Istre, manager of Mail Services & Reprographics, started looking for an in-house solution.

Toner technology wouldn’t work, she knew, because when departments put their letterhead through a desktop printer, the fuser would pull off the original toner. She needed something without a fuser, but small enough to fit in her eight-employee shop.

A year and a half ago, Istre added a one-color Riso RN2235 duplicator and a two-color Riso V8000 duplicator, powered by Zykros technology, which allows the printing of two colors in one pass. The V8000 worked so well that the in-plant recently added a second one.

“It really offered me the flexibility of a printing press with the advantages of digital,” Istre says.

The fact that Riso was able to match the university’s two PMS colors made the choice even easier, she says. The RN2235 is used exclusively to print the school’s PMS blue, while the V8000’s two drums are changed frequently to print various combinations of colors. Not only is the shop printing stationery and business cards with the V8000, it is doing invitations, newsletters and a variety of other spot-color work.

“Any type of spot color you’re going to do, it’s great,” she declares. The V8000 prints on a range of paper stocks from 4x6” to 11x17”, though Istre notes it can’t run glossy paper.

After comparing the cost of outsourcing letterhead and envelopes to that of in-house production, Istre was pleasantly surprised.

“In the first year, we saved over $100,000, which is huge,” she notes.