Six Colors, No Debts
These days, who can afford a new six-color press? At University of Missouri-Columbia Printing Services, it was just a matter of saving up.
How can you buy a brand new six-color press without going into debt—or begging your management for money?
Wayne Merritt knows.
His in-plant at the University of Missouri-Columbia has just installed a new six-color, 40˝ Heidelberg Speedmaster 102 perfecting press.
And he doesn't owe anyone a cent.
"In the last four years we have managed to save enough money to buy it outright," reveals Merritt, director of Printing Services. The shop's savings, he added, were about $2 million.
It helps that Printing Services is not budgeted by the University but must support itself on its own profits. Last year, Merritt says, the 103-employee shop brought in $8.5 million in printing and copying sales. The new press will allow the in-plant to handle that business much more efficiently, he says, chiefly because of its speed and automation.
"It's the old business of, 'you can't do it fast enough,' " Merritt explains. "Speed seems to be the big thing nowadays."
The Heidelberg, he says, runs 13,000 sheets an hour in perfecting mode, compared to just half that with the shop's previous capabilities. It has cut makeready time down from one hour to 10 minutes due to its advanced automation features, like auto plate insertion, auto register and auto blanket wash.
"The pre-inking allows you to be up to color almost instantly," Merritt adds.
With the increased speed and automation, he says, the shop can work faster without raising its rates. This efficiency, Merritt adds, more than the desire to increase business, was behind the press purchase.
Second Six-color Press
This is not the in-plant's first six-color press. It has been running a six-color, 40˝ MAN Miller for years, as well as a two-color MAN Miller and a two-color Heidelberg. The old six-color isn't going anywhere, either, making this one of the only in-plants operating two six-color presses. Merritt says that the old press has more value as a back-up press than it would as a trade-in. And with a 50,000-square-foot facility, he's got the space to keep both of them.
That facility was built in the early '90s, about two miles from campus. Merritt says that so much emphasis was placed on the new facility at the time, that other areas of the operation were neglected, like the front end. As a result, many of the university's high-quality jobs were being sent to outside printers who could provide both front-end and printing services.
When Merritt came on board four years ago, he was faced with the task of revitalizing the prepress and composition departments. New equipment, including a scanner and imagesetter, was brought in, and gradually some of the outsourced prepress and print work came back inside, as well.
"We're actually producing 35 percent more work than we were four years ago, with two fewer employees," he attests. That work includes lots of promotional and fund-raising material for the University.
"Universities are in a business, and that business requires advertising," he notes. "It also requires solicitations [for] donations from alumni. So we do some pretty premier-type pieces to try to get their attention."
That's where six-color capabilities come in. Printing Services can print four colors plus two PMS colors, or varnishes, resulting in some very glamorous marketing materials.
Another source of business for the in-plant is state government departments. The state printer does not have multi-color capabilities, so a lot of its work is sent to Printing Services. This extra business helped the shop justify the new six-color press, and will help keep the machine running at near full capacity.
Merritt plans to run two shifts on the new Heidelberg and one shift on the Miller six-color. Merritt is hopeful that the new press will bring in new business.
"Some of the jobs that we were bidding on that we might have lost to the outside—that might have gone to a web—we would be in a lot better position to win those bids now," he says. "It adds some tremendous firepower for us."
Bob Neubauer can be contacted at:
bneubauer@napco.com
