Satellite Center Boosts Business
Ron Campbell wanted to serve even more students and faculty, but his in-plant was on the edge of campus. So he started a satellite copy center.
Tucked away in a corner of the Australian Defense Force Academy down in Canberra, Australia, the nation's capital, is the Academy's Document Production Center.
Managed by Ron Campbell, the center prints an exhaustive range of documents, including administration forms, certificates, faculty stationery, minutes, agendas, various academy publications, books and lecture material.
Campbell saw an opportunity to be on hand for staff and students' printing needs, but being located on the edge of the campus, he was away from the center of campus activity. So he decided to start the Central Copy Center, a satellite copy center in the library.
"We had to be in a more convenient location," explains Campbell. "We put out a questionnaire asking whether our clients would use our services if we were more centrally located and what services would be used. The response convinced us that we should set up a satellite copy center.
"We simply went to where our biggest customer base was located. We had to make the move because customers could seek out an easier alternative, so we brought our facility to that zone. We simply must offer a comprehensive service and explore all options.
"Even though we are in a campus situation, removed from the outside world, we still keep in contact with our customers all the time. We let them know we are here and are always looking for ways to improve our service," he says.
Campbell set up strategically within the campus. The new copy center is central and has thus made it difficult for any potential competitors to move in on the campus.
"By establishing ourselves where we did we are training our customers...to use us. We are also adding a service to the Document Production Center and utilizing existing staff. The satellite center was established within the existing operating budget.
"Today every student has a PC, the teaching process is changing and the Internet is firmly entrenched. All these factors potentially reduce the demand for printing, so we had to offer an alternative," says Campbell.
The academy is a tri-service university for 1,200 students/cadets who leave with degrees in Bachelor of Arts and Science. Graduates will become officers in one of the armed forces.
Units in the Arts degree include economics, management, history, politics, mathematics, and computer science. The Science stream includes mechanical and aerospace engineering, civil engineering, geography and oceanography, chemistry and physics.
The Central Copy Center also binds and provides spines on books. Only one person is required to operate the equipment, and when jobs are too big they come back to the main print facility.
The Central Copy Center can accept files digitally and has facilities to fill out job requests via the intranet. All customers have access to this facility.
Campbell pays no rent for the space in the library. Instead Campbell's staff maintains the library's copiers and supplies the technical know-how. There is no competition with the library, either. The library services small copy quantities, while the Central Copy Center meets large volume needs.
Campbell recently spoke at a meeting of the International Publishing Management Association's Chicago Chapter where he outlined the satellite concept. He received very positive feedback from members.
Get Work From Other Institutions
Campbell also suggests that in-plant operations offer their services to other institutions.
"Canberra is a closely knit printing community for the in-plant and commercial operators, and everyone shuffles paper from department to department, and we all help each other out," he says. Campbell's Central Copy Center uses an Océ 3165 digital copier and a Xerox Vivace 675, while his Document Production Center has a Hamada C252 two-color offset press.
"The students and staff operate in a pressurized environment on campus, so our measure of efficiency is how quickly we can deliver and get the job back to the customer. Our turnaround time is reducing every day due to the shift in technologies.
"Our customers are amazed at our turnaround times, and these are due to the on-demand technologies that are available today. We're keeping up with industry trends," says Campbell.
And perhaps initiating a few, as well.
by AMOS LANG
You can contact Amos Lang at: ondemandmag@optusnet.com.au
