New Folder Doubles 
In-plant’s Productivity

To get the word out about its new MBO buckle folder with a rollaway knife unit, the Document Solutions department at the University of Texas (UT) at Austin created a video showcasing the new folder's capabilities. The video, which the in-plant put on YouTube and on its Web site, focused on the shop's "Three E's"—experience, expertise and equipment.

"We want our Web page to be more active," explains Richard Beto, director of the 43-employee in-plant. "This was our first attempt to add video to our Web page." He likes that the video brought potential customers into the in-plant to see the shop's new bindery equipment, without having to leave their offices.

The new MBO folder, purchased from Texas Tech University's in-plant in July 2010, increases the shop's capabilities by allowing it to fold eight-page and 16-page signatures. It joins an existing Stahl folder, doubling UT-Austin's production capabilities in the bindery.

"There was an opportunity to buy this folder at a reasonable price," points out Nicolette Mallow, Document Solutions' marketing and communications coordinator. She notes that the MBO folder was coming from a single-shift operation and still had a lot of life left in it.

"Work was backing up and causing production delays because there was only one large folder," Mallow recalls. "In order to reduce production time and keep delivery promises, we purchased this machine. We can now get two times the work done with the two machines."

The new folder runs 8,000 sheets per hour, and the knife unit can be used to re-fold stitch jobs, Mallow says.

"This year we were able to run 500,000 saddle-stitched books of children's health records onto two folders in half the time it would have taken without the MBO buckle folder," Mallow boasts.

The MBO folder can handle larger sized jobs than the in-plant previously could produce in-house, up to a 38x25˝ sheet size, she notes. This includes booklets and brochures for different departments at the university and outside customers.

"We have made all kinds of booklets, pamphlets and the like for many organizations," Mallow says. "Specifically, programs like TEA [Texas Education Agency] or UIL [University Interscholastic League]. In regards to state school UIL programs at the high school level, we've made programs for football, one-act plays, speech and debate teams, and much more. Focus Magazine is something else we've printed for the College of Natural Sciences at [the University of Texas]."

The in-plant plans to post more videos on YouTube, featuring customer testimonials and machinery and product information, Mallow concludes. She also intends to use social media Web sites to get information to the in-plant's customers by creating Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter accounts.