UTHealth Brings Envelope Printing In-house

For decades, the idea of printing four-color envelopes was just a dream for Donna Horbelt.

Ray McKinney, senior digital equipment operator at UTHealth, runs the new Xanté Impressia digital printing system.

“For the last 30 years, we would print envelopes offset on a two-color duplicating press. I would not attempt to print four-color process envelopes on this press due to quality issues,” explains Horbelt, director of Auxiliary Enterprises, Printing and Media Services, at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth).

As the demand for four-color envelopes increased from customers at both UTHeath and MD Anderson Cancer Center, and the in-plant continued to outsource that work, Horbelt thought it was time to weigh her options. She looked into various digital envelope printers but ultimately decided that the Xanté Impressia had everything she was looking for. So in January the in-plant installed it and began printing four-color envelopes at last.

“The Xanté Impressia stood out among other devices because of its ease of use,” Horbelt reports. “Most of the other digital envelope units required a separate server for the color management. A server is a major task at my university, and all servers must be approved by our IT department.”

Horbelt was able to justify the purchase of the Xanté Impressia to management due to the additional projects it would bring in. It was also fairly inexpensive for the value it brought. Horbelt estimates a return on investment time of 12 to 18 months.

Donna Horbelt

The Xanté Impressia came equipped with an envelope feeder and the Xanté iQueue X workflow software, two features that Horbelt praises.

“The envelope feeder is great because we can load and leave the job running. It requires minimum oversight. We also have less jamming and it is easy to set to size,” notes Horbelt. “The iQueue software is also very user friendly and easy to use. We have built our own custom colors in the system and use them with most jobs.”

Since adding the Xanté Impressia into her 22,000-sq.-ft. shop, which employs 20 full-time and two part-time workers, UTHealth has been able to bring work back in-house.

“Bringing the production back into our shop provides better quality control,” she notes. “Our brand standards are very specific, and we don’t always get accurate color from other vendors.

“The Xanté Impressia has allowed us to be much more creative in our design department,” she continues. “It has also allowed us to do small-run variable envelopes.”

So far, Horbelt and her team have spread the word about what is possible with the new Xanté Impressia by contacting and marketing it to the in-plant’s design customers. In addition to envelopes, Horbelt says that the in-plant uses the Xanté for letterhead.

“In August, we are producing a promotional piece with four-color envelopes that are variable to a much wider audience,” she says.