UV Flatbed Enhances Bucknell’s Promo Product Business

After starting out with dye-sublimation equipment in 2015 to produce personalized promo items, Bucknell University Publications, Print and Mail recently expanded that operation by adding a Roland VersaUV LEF-300 flatbed printer. With its four printheads, two UV LED lamps and the ability to print directly onto a range of materials, including three-dimensional items, the VersaUV LEF-300 has added efficiency and speed, while expanding the types of products the in-plant can produce.

“We try to be a one-stop shop for campus, so anything we can do we try to do it and keep it in house,” notes Associate Director Tom Lydon. “It’s nice to have a piece of equipment that can open some doors to some new things.”

Lydon believes the in-plant found a niche producing personalized promo items with dye-sublimation and he feels the new device will help the shop flourish in it.

“We kind of had this base of dye-sub products that campus was ordering from us and it was working out,” he says. “We just see the Roland as an extension of that, not totally replacing it, but a little higher quality. It’ll help make our processes more efficient.”

One of the big issues the in-plant faced with dye-sublimation was that the process was time consuming due to the inability to print directly onto materials. It involved printing onto paper and using a heat press to transfer the image onto items. The Roland allows the in-plant to print directly onto those items.

“Before, we would print 16 name tags onto a sheet of paper, kind of apply the name tags to it and put them in a heat press, so it took a little bit of time,” Lydon says. “Now, we are going to be printing right on name tags and they’re done.”

The flatbed printer allows the in-plant to produce more products at once. For example, with dye-sublimation the shop could only produce 16 to 20 name tags at once. With the Roland it will be able to produce 30 to 40.

Lydon believes that the increased efficiency, output and new capabilities that the Roland brings can open up new opportunities. The ability to add textures and print on a range of surfaces, including wood and Plexiglass, will give the department more creative freedom in its work.

“We’re hoping it opens up doors to trying new things,” Lydon says.

Though it was only installed in July, the Roland has produced some good early results. The in-plant created two acrylic awards for Bucknell’s Small Business Development Center soon after the Roland arrived. The machine made the job easier, as it printed directly onto the piece of acrylic to produce a high-quality product.

Bucknell Publications, Print and Mail intends to use the Roland VersaUV LEF-300 to improve name tag production, Lydon says. Aluminum name tags have become a large part of its business, and the new device’s ability to produce more name tags per sheet should allow the in-plant to take on a bigger workload.

“When we have an event and we need to deliver 200 name tags, it is really only going to be a few print runs for it to be done,” Lydon says. “It will be a much faster process than what we currently have.”