Child 
Support

NESTLED NEXT to Omaha, Neb., the Village of Boys Town is small and self-contained, but the impact of the Boys Town organization headquartered there is far-flung and boundless.

Founded by Father Edward J. Flanagan in 1917 as a home for boys who needed one, Boys Town now describes itself as "one of the largest, publicly funded non-profit child-care agencies in the country, providing compassionate treatment for the behavioral, emotional and physical problems of children and families." The group reportedly aided nearly 370,000 children in 2009.

Helping the hugely successful non-profit organization fulfill its mission is Boys Town's seven-employee in-plant, led by Manager Doug Larsen. With an impressive collection of digital and offset printing equipment, the shop outputs nearly 9 million impressions annually.

"We're responsible for about 5,000 different projects, from a single poster to 20,000 multi-page memo pads," Larsen relates. The shop's output is approximately 80 percent digital and 20 percent offset.

Larsen says Boys Town is a strong supporter of his in-plant because it saves the non-profit organization both time and money—money that can be put to better use fulfilling Boys Town's mission.

"We do what we can to save money so that the organization can spend more money on the children," he emphasizes. "And we support the people who work directly with the kids. Instead of taking time away from the children to make copies, they let us make them. They can do their jobs and we can do ours. That works a whole lot better."

To serve the widespread Boys Town network, the in-plant needs to accommodate multiple layers of diverse customers, including youth care administration, foster family services, marketing, staff of various on-campus businesses and service providers, and other Boys Town locations.

Products include hospital forms, school tests, letterhead and business forms, donor packets, programs for sports banquets, posters, bumper stickers and postcards, among other items. The shop also prints some book galleys for the Boys Town Press, the agency's publishing division. Boys Town outsources book printing for the publishing arm, as well as specific jobs for other divisions—such as certain public-appeals campaigns, which require runs in the millions.

Many Changes Over the Years

During his 15-year tenure with Boys Town, Larsen has been a part of a shop relocation and expansion, three corporate logo redesigns, and numerous equipment additions and upgrades.

In 2007, the in-plant underwent a major equipment overhaul when it installed a two-color Heidelberg Quickmaster 46 press, a two-color Hamada H248CX press, a Mitsubishi DPX2 platesetter, a Xerox DocuColor 8000 and a Xerox 250.

More recently, the shop added a Xerox 252 and a Xerox Nuvera. And in the fall of 2010, the shop leased a Xerox 800 digital color press with an in-line Plockmatic Pro 30 bookletmaker.

"We looked at a few other machines, but chose the 800 after reading in In-plant Graphics that it handled production-level work well," Larsen explains.

The Xerox 800 has lived up to expectations.

"It's ideal for longer color runs, typically of 1,000 and up, and has even handled counts up to 40,000," he declares. "And it handles thicker-weight stock very well and very quickly."

The Boys Town facility was among the first in-plants in the country to install the digital press/bookletmaker configuration, and did have some issues with the booklet-making technology, initially.

"At times, the paper would jam in the transport module after about 25 to 30 booklets," he recalls. "Our regular Xerox service rep figured out that there was a setting that would stop the Plockmatic for unloading, but which also caused paper jams."

Once the setting was changed to allow uninterrupted operation for unlimited booklets, the jams were history.

"We can create as many as we need, dropping the booklets into a large box, versus waiting for the operator to unload 25 booklets," Larsen remarks.

During that brief getting-to-know-you stage, the in-plant also had a few color matching difficulties when using non-Xerox-branded paper on the 800. However, after the Xerox rep helped the staff find the "test-paper" button, operators achieved excellent paper calibration with all brands.

Digital Press Creating New Business

Now, after pushing all the right buttons, the shop is printing hundreds, even thousands, of booklets a day.

"Customers are liking [the 800] more and more," Larsen declares. "In fact, they're developing booklets just to use it. What used to be a stapled handout is now a saddle-stitched booklet."

The new digital color press is also equipped with a clear dry ink station, which prints a clear coating for a spot-varnish effect. The feature is becoming very popular. For example, when the shop produced a postcard advertising a Christmas tree lighting event, it used the clear coat for snowflake images on the cards.

"Initially, we printed a set of cards for our Washington, D.C., site," Larsen recounts. "The response was so positive there that we ended up reproducing the postcards for three more sites in New York, Louisiana and Central Florida."

In addition to relying on word of mouth, Larsen has hosted multiple educational seminars to promote the Xerox 800. Customers continue to want more.

Another in-demand digital technology is the in-plant's Epson Stylus Pro 9880 wide-format printer.

"We can take a 4x6˝ photo and turn it into a 24x36˝ poster print that looks as good as anyone can imagine," he declares. "And ROI is really quick for these machines."

Future Plans

In the future, Larsen is seeking to take greater advantage of the Xerox 800's XMPie variable-data software, which works with Adobe InDesign. He is also looking for a scoring/slitting/cutting solution for the 800 to facilitate creation of greeting cards and business cards.

"We get 700 to 800 business card orders a year," he calculates. "If we make production more efficient, we could pay off that machine in no time."

A four-color envelope printer and an ink-jet printer for outdoor art work round out Larsen's wish list, presently. He notes that the "powers-that-be have been very kind to us" in regard to funds allocation to the in-plant, which operates on a charge-back system.

Larsen is also appreciative of the in-plant's customers, characterizing them as very reasonable and intelligent.

"It's good to work with people who understand what they're asking for," he commends. "And even when someone comes in with a wacky request, we can discuss what's possible, suggest alternatives and negotiate with them."

Good customer relationships contribute to smooth production and turnaround. Larsen and his staff count on experience and common sense when it comes to job scheduling.

"For example, we know that the end of each month will be especially busy because customers are trying to complete their monthly checklists," Larsen explains. "So, we try to prepare for that by getting as much work that we know of done early, even if customers don't need those jobs right away."

Flexible Staff

The in-plant runs a single shift, but those eight-hour workdays are flexible.

"Some people start at 6:00 a.m. and others end at 6:00 p.m., which allows me to keep equipment running a little longer and to beat more deadlines," he remarks.

Larson lauds the longevity of his staff; some employees have been there more than 35 years. One of them, Robert Mitchell, has worked 42 years at the print shop and is a former Boys Town resident. (He was there when Father Flanagan was still the executive director.)

The in-plant has served as in a vo-tech capacity for teen residents. "We've had summer workers and after-school workers, and every one of them has been very willing and able to learn," Larsen states.

Even veteran staff members remain eager students, according to Larsen. "One of our guys [Henry Becerra] keeps saying that he's going to retire, but every time we get a new piece of equipment, he gets so interested in it that he decides to stay a little longer," he laughs.

Still, traditional technologies are utilized and valued within the in-plant. The operation still does a good amount of offset printing, such as for envelopes, letterhead and NCR forms.

"Offset is good for jobs that don't require much change within the same project," Larsen points out. In contrast, he adds, if the shop is doing six different sets within one 3,000-book job, the price of the plates alone would make the use of offset improvident.

Overall, the in-plant continues to make decisions and operate in a manner that explains why Boys Town chooses to keep the bulk of its printing in house.

Larsen relates a story of a Boys Town employee's son who asked the shop to make some color copies of photos. "We were busy and couldn't do it in the time that he needed them, so he took them to Kinko's," he recalls. "He made 10 color copies at $1.75 per copy; we would have charged 25 cents per copy.

"That's a $15 savings on 10 copies," he calculates. "When I explain that to customers, it makes them believers.

"And, by the way," he adds, "that guy said that he's willing to wait next time."