Moving a Massive In-plant

Discussing a job next to the five-color Komori press in UT Austin Document Solutions’ new facility are (from left) Paul Jones, Mark Canepa and Eddy Rundell.

When a university makes plans to expand, and its in-plant is in the way, things can go very badly for the in-plant. Some have even been closed over such a space grab.

That’s not what happened at The University of Texas at Austin, though. When the university’s new medical building required the land holding the UT tennis courts, the school decided to raze Document Solutions’ building and rebuild the courts and an athletic facility in that spot. Because of the in-plant’s reputation for excellent customer service and strong support of the university’s mission, there was never a discussion about closing the award-winning print and mail operation.

“As far as I know, once the decision was made to take our space, they found another location for us,” remarks Director Richard Beto.

That location was the first floor of a five-story building, about eight miles from the shop’s old campus location. Beto learned the news last March, along with the shocking timeline: the in-plant had just three months to pack up and get out.

“We just went back and said, ‘It can’t be done in three months,’” he says. The ceiling in the new building had to be raised to accommodate equipment, new pads had to be cut for the large presses and lots of electrical preparations were needed. So the deadline was extended until December.

The next nine months were a whirlwind of planning, disruption and major changes for the 52-employee in-plant, the sixth largest university in-plant in the country. For one thing, the in-plant was moving from 50,000 square feet of space to just 36,000 square feet—a 28 percent reduction. Realizing that the mail operation could no longer share the facility, Beto moved it in October to a different campus location.

The Breakdown Begins

In mid-November, Komori technicians began dismantling the new five-color, 24×29˝ Komori Lithrone SX29 press, installed just a year ago. The Fuji Luxel Vx-9600 computer-to-plate system was moved first, along with two small presses, an AB Dick 9985 and a Halm Jet envelope press. Heidelberg techs took down the 40˝ Heidelberg press. Xerox moved the Color 1000.

“We had a lot of trucks here, fighting for dock space,” says Beto.

It was a very coordinated move, orchestrated so electricians had the power ready for each piece of incoming equipment.

“The level of detail in a move like this is fascinating to me,” he says.

Getting jobs finished during the move was a special challenge.

“When the Komori went down, we had to outsource that four-color work to commercial vendors,” Beto says. Plates were outsourced while the CTP system was being moved. The shop moved one black-and-white digital printer at a time so there would always be one working.

“Surprisingly our sales were good during…November and December,” he reveals. “We had one of our better Novembers.”

Though the reduced facility size is disappointing, Beto looks on the bright side.

“Because our work area has been reduced, we have to get rid of things. We don’t have the space and the luxury to let junk accumulate,” he notes. “We have to become as efficient as possible because we just don’t have the space that we had any more.”

To that end, the in-plant has been trying to use up leftover stock by printing course packs on it.

With the mail operation now eight miles away, the in-plant can no longer share labor between the departments. Also, the smaller plant size has left the in-plant without some of the nice features of its old facility.

“We don’t have a reception area, and we don’t have a conference room,” Beto laments. It’s a tough pill to swallow for an in-plant known for its customer service focus. What’s more, the only entrance into the shop right now is through the back door, where visitors come face to face with the Komori press. Beto is hopeful he will eventually be able to create a reception area. As for a conference room, “My office has become the conference area,” he says.

Juggling garbage, recycling and pallet pickup with limited dock space is also a challenge of coordination, he says. But there are positives to the move as well.

“The building’s new,” he points out. “Everything’s freshly painted. The work environment, honestly, is pretty nice in here.”

Customer service and accounting are in a nice, carpeted section of the building. There’s a barbecue area outside for summer grilling. And the view of the Austin skyline is great.

Though he and his staff are still dealing with repercussions from the move, like occasional power shutdowns, the in-plant is back in full operation. A run of 41,000 copies of Texas Scientist Magazine was just going on the Komori when IPG spoke with Beto.

As for the cost of the move, the in-plant will be paying that for quite some time. Despite the university picking up half the bill, the in-plant had to take out a $2.1 million loan, Beto says, to be paid back over the next 20 years.