New Four-color Press Keeping University of Iowa In-plant Busy
Two years ago, University of Iowa Printing and Mailing Services jumped into short-run digital color with a new HP Indigo 5000. Now the 44-employee in-plant is moving into four-color offset as well.
The Iowa City-based shop just installed a four-color Komori Spica 29P perfector press. Since it went in, the press has been busy printing brochures, posters, newsletters and lots of perfecting work, says Steve Wilson, printing manager.
“I’ve jobbed out four-color work for a long time,” he remarks. “It’s nice to now start recuperating some of that volume.”
Not only is the new press bringing work back in-house, it’s making four-color printing more accessible to long-time customers.
“Some of the people that have had two-color newsletters are now switching to four-color newsletters,” Wilson says.
The Komori replaces a pair of two-color 23x35? Heidelberg SORDZ presses. With a maximum print area of 20x29? the new press boasts automated features like auto blanket wash and ink cleaning, perfector changeover, as well as tool-free plate clamping. Ink keys can be preset from the console, and total registration can be accomplished while running. The Komorimatic dampening system enables environmentally friendly, non-alcohol printing.
“We’re extremely happy with the quality on the press,” observes Wilson. Customers are too, he says.
“It will pay for itself in a very short time,” he adds—within three to five years.
Along with the new press, the in-plant added a Fuji Dart 4300 computer-to-plate system, eliminating film production once and for all.
In August the in-plant got its first taste of variable data printing on its HP Indigo 5000 when it took over printing of sports tickets from an outside vendor. The shop produced 500,000 bar-coded football tickets in August, then went on to print basketball and wrestling tickets without a single glitch.
Bob has served as editor of In-plant Impressions since October of 1994. Prior to that he served for three years as managing editor of Printing Impressions, a commercial printing publication. Mr. Neubauer is very active in the U.S. in-plant industry. He attends all the major in-plant conferences and has visited more than 180 in-plant operations around the world. He has given presentations to numerous in-plant groups in the U.S., Canada and Australia, including the Association of College and University Printers and the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association. He also coordinates the annual In-Print contest, co-sponsored by IPMA and In-plant Impressions.
