Using Digital Technology to Improve the World

REDUCING GLOBAL poverty is an ambitious goal, but the World Bank has made great progress since it was created in 1944 by providing financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world. To support its activities, the World Bank maintains one of the largest, most advanced in-plants in the country. With 70 employees, the Bank’s Washington, D.C.-based Printing, Graphics and Map Design unit not only utilizes the latest digital presses—including two Kodak NexPresses, an Océ ColorStream 10000 and a Presstek 52 DI press—it has begun using JDF data to preset its equipment. Plus, it recently upgraded its Avanti shop management system to add Web ordering.

Managing the operation for the last 12 years has been Jane Bloodworth, who feels that the in-plant’s location in the World Bank’s headquarters is both a convenience to customers and an opportunity for the in-plant to become more familiar with its customers’ requirements.

“We understand the clients’ needs and the Bank’s business processes,” she explains.

By analyzing those needs and making changes over the years, Bloodworth has saved the Bank a lot of money by bringing print jobs in-house and handling them more cost effectively.

For example, the Bank used to send its book covers to an outside printer, while the text printing and the binding were done by the in-plant.

“As we looked at that volume and the pricing, it was apparent that we could save the Bank a considerable amount of money if we had short-run digital color capability in-house,” she says.

That was back in 2001, when Heidelberg was just starting to beta test something called the NexPress 2100. Bloodworth heard about it and called Heidelberg…but the company wasn’t initially enthusiastic.

“I really had to sell Heidelberg on the idea of us bringing it in here,” she recalls. “But I finally convinced them that an in-plant was a good beta site, and they finally put one in.”

Because the book covers included large areas of solid color, the in-plant worked with the Office of the Publisher to redesign them in a more digitally friendly way.

“Within about two months of the NexPress being in place, we had brought probably 90 percent of the cover work back in-house at a savings of about 40 percent,” she says. “Once we had short-run digital color, that just opened up a whole new avenue for people who hadn’t been able to do much short-run color before.”

A Well Equipped In-plant

The in-plant produces a variety of products for the World Bank, including operational documents, books, brochures, newsletters, conference materials, CDs, maps, posters and signage. It has both digital and offset presses, and is one of only a handful of in-plants with a large web press. Its Harris web mostly runs text for operational documents for the Bank’s board. Documents that require higher quality are done on an Océ ColorStream 10000—the newest addition to the shop’s lineup of digital presses—inline with Hunkeler pre- and post-equipment and a Standard Horizon AFC-744AKT folder. (Bloodworth says this is the only Océ 9000/10000 installation where a long sheet is cut and folded into 81/2 x11? 16-page signatures.)

In addition to the print operation, Bloodworth oversees seven copy/digital print centers, dispersed around World Bank’s facilities. Though the Bank owns the equipment, it is staffed by 33 Pitney Bowes employees.

Aside from providing printing, the in-plant also handles services like photography (mostly for passports, visas and photographing loan signings and Bank functions), the production of CDs, wide-format poster printing, and mail addressing/inserting. The in-plant also makes self-service photo printing kiosks available for Bank staff.

A Digital Evolution

When Bloodworth arrived in 1996, the in-plant was much more offset-focused, producing mostly black-and-white operational documents and spot-color maps. Though the in-plant had survived an attempt to outsource it prior to her arrival, Bloodworth felt that its continued survival would depend on increasing the quality and type of work the shop could do.

With that in mind, she began a series of improvements. Upgrades were made to existing black-and-white presses, and a Xerox DocuColor 40 was added. The Covalent shop management system was replaced by Avanti, and an Agfa Apogee workflow was implemented. Since the bindery was not geared toward digitally printed work, the shop acquired Standard Horizon perfect binders and a Stitchliner to supplement existing capabilities. CD-ROM/DVD replicating and labeling capabilities, and large-format poster making was added along the way.

After the NexPress was installed in 2002, Bloodworth says, the Bank began to see growth in the use of color for marketing and other collateral materials. The surge in demand for color printing, coupled with the need to replace an aging Shinohara two-color press, prompted the in-plant to make some major pressroom acquisitions in 2006-2007.

First it installed a roll-fed Océ VarioStream 9220 black-and-white/spot-color printer to produce book text and newsletters. Then the in-plant added a second NexPress, this one a 2500, with five-color capabilities and a NexGlosser unit. Finally, it became the second U.S. print shop to own a Presstek 52 DI press.

DI Press: A Common Sense Decision

Adding a direct imaging press, Bloodworth says, was really a matter of common sense. Had the in-plant installed a conventional four-color press, it would have also had to purchase a computer-to-plate device, and since its remaining black-and-white offset presses will likely be replaced with high-speed digital webs before long, why add CTP for just one press?

“It didn’t make sense to us to keep a plate-making operation in place,” she says. “The fact that we didn’t have to hang plates and that they could get to registration and color faster was also an important thing. Also, since our operators were new to four-color offset printing, the press automation helped us get our pressmen up to speed very quickly.”

The DI press produces good quality work, she adds, and gave the in-plant a high-end color option it had not had in the past.

The shop continued to expand its digital web color capabilities by upgrading the Océ 9220 to a three-over-three 9230. This past fall the in-plant completed the transition to full four-color capability by replacing the 9230 with a new Océ CS10000 print engine. Pressroom capabilities will be expanded even further in January, she notes, with the addition of Kodak Dimensional Toner to the NexPress 2500.

“Dimensional Toner will replicate the look and feel of thermography, allowing us to bring our business card printing in-house,” explains Bloodworth.

Last January the in-plant implemented Avanti’s Web ordering module.

“We’ve gotten more jobs coming in that way, which frees up some of our CSRs’ time,” Bloodworth remarks.

Pre-set job templates are used so job entry data is more standardized and accurate. This helps prevent oversights, as when a CSR might forget to include cutting, or some other task.

Staff Size Beginning to Grow

Recently the in-plant hired three new employees in cartographic production, customer service and management positions from outside the institution. This is significant because, for the past nine years, the in-plant has absorbed the work of departing staff members or has filled vacancies internally.

Because the World Bank strives to create a diverse work force, most of the in-plant’s staff hails from outside the U.S.

“Most of them did not have printing experience when they came here,” Bloodworth says. “For the most part, their skills have been acquired since they came to the Bank.” Many have enhanced their skills by taking graphic arts classes, she adds. And all of them are dedicated to the Bank and its mission, she lauds.

As the World Bank closes in on its 65th anniversary next year, its in-plant will continue to seek new types of work that it can produce, to help save money for the Bank—money that can be better used to help improve the living standards of those less fortunate around the world. IPG