Texas Tech to Add Another Large Offset Press

When University Printing Services at Texas Tech University made the decision to step beyond two-color production and into high-quality offset printing a few years ago, the Lubbock-based in-plant chose a six-color ROLAND 300 perfector press with aqueous coating, from manroland.

As word spread, more work flowed in and the in-plant pushed that press to its limits. Now, nearly six years and 48 million impressions later, Printing Services is preparing to add a second ROLAND 300.

“We compete for business every day we come to work,” declares Director Randy Smith. “We do a substantial share of Texas Tech’s printing, but there’s a lot more potential for us. We’re further developing our service capabilities as a provider of ‘solutions for creative questions’ throughout the university community.”

Smith said bringing in a second ROLAND 300 press will enable his operation to deliver additional quality output with a single-shift operation.

“We are actively pursuing another ROLAND 300 just like the one we have now, in a very short time frame,” Smith adds. “We hope that it will be up and running before the end of the first quarter.”

All of this didn’t happen overnight, of course. Smith’s predecessors put into motion the process that led to the purchase of the first ROLAND 300 in 2004.

“This was a two-color shop, and it hadn’t invested in new technology for awhile,” Smith says. “There was a lot of business going elsewhere, the kind of work that required a multi-unit press.”

In-plant staff reviewed and compared several offset presses, but they were most impressed with the overall quality output of the ROLAND 300. Smith moved into his director’s position shortly before the ROLAND 300 arrived. Since its installation, progress has been rapid and University Printing Services’ annual revenue now exceeds $3 million.

“We have to make our money in order to come back next year,” Smith explains. “Here, we operate as an auxiliary enterprise with the university, as if we were a for-profit shop. From that profit come the funds to invest in equipment and people.”

As the in-plant’s reputation grew with the production of athletic department media guides, annual reports, magazines, recruitment brochures and other materials, Smith and his team moved into Phase 2 of his plan. This required shifting attention to a multitude of opportunities presented by large-format, shorter-run and variable data projects.

In 2008, the shop greatly expanded its digital capabilities, purchasing an HP Indigo 5500 press and an Epson 9880 wide-format printer along with several other machines. Among the additions was an Epic Products CT-660 UV coater, which also performs off-line UV coating duties for ROLAND 300 output.

“Unlike the commercial sector, where you can find a niche and specialize, we remain generalists here,” says Smith. “The lion’s share of what we do is on white coated paper with lots of color for brochures, booklets [and] magazines. The majority—probably 90 percent—is four-, five- or six-color work. Texas Tech’s school colors are red and black, so when we do print two-color, we’re looking for nice black solids. This press really does the job.”

Typical run lengths range from 5,000 to 10,000, but as 2009 came to a close Smith said the operation had just completed a 70,000 run. Because of the diversity of print projects and their timing, few multiple-up jobs are run. Although the in-line aqueous coater on the ROLAND 300 gets plenty of use, most customers don’t ask for much specialty production. Finishing, folding and mailing services are all performed under one roof in the operation’s 30,000-square- foot campus facility.

The 34-person University Printing Services group (32 full-time and two part-time) includes four operators trained on the ROLAND 300. Smith says they accomplish four or five complete makereadies in a typical day, smoothly and quickly, because of the automated systems on the press.

“We have all the bells and whistles on this press with automated plate loading, blanket and impression cylinder washing,” he says. “The format settings and manroland’s ColorPilot color control system also further shorten our makeready time, while ensuring output accuracy and reducing waste.”

This is especially important because of the in-plant’s location in a remote part of western Texas. More skilled press people will be needed to expand the operation beyond a single shift.

“From 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday—we have to put it out during that time,” Smith proclaims.

Of course, Texas Tech’s own cadre of press operators knows the ropes—with the aid of manroland’s training team and TelePresence remote service capability.

“The initial training done by manroland went very well,” Smith says. “Their trainer was on the floor with us for the better part of a week. When needed, we also receive good help over the phone with our TelePresence package. We call them for service when we need it, and manroland’s people are very easy to work with.”

A key aspect of University Printing Services’ growth doesn’t directly involve presses at all.

“We are continually broadening our services, offering more graphic design and other kind of help that many of our customers need,” Smith says. “Frequently a department will call us, say they have a conference and need a booklet, but they don’t know how to design it. So we help them from start to finish.

“If we do the design, we’ll probably also do the printing. If we do the design, we get to prepare the job to our specifications. This saves time because we know the specs are right going into production. If you’re in on a project from the beginning, you can head off some problems.”

As a new decade begins, Smith believes his in-plant is poised for growth and more success.

“We are very pleased with our manroland equipment or we wouldn’t be looking for another,” he notes. “Having two of the same presses provides a lot of synergy in parts and plates, and our people are already trained. In another few years as we continue to grow, we may be looking at a ROLAND 700. But right now, we’re really excited about putting another ROLAND 300 on our floor.”