Web-to-Print Cuts Turn Times Dramatically at Penn State

By Bob Neubauer

Abbas Badani, director of the Multimedia and Print Center at Penn State.

For years, Penn State's Multimedia and Print Center used a mix of third-party and in-house custom software solutions to manage all the print jobs in the in-plant. Maintaining all of those systems became difficult, though, so when Penn State announced a rebranding, the timing seemed perfect to change to a single system that could handle all of the 50-employee in-plant's needs.

“I researched quite a few potential solutions,” notes Director Abbas Badani, from his office in University Park, Pa. “I saw that WebCRD is a robust system and an established player that Penn State can count on for the long term. It was impressive how many customers were already using the solution.”

The requirements of the new system were clear. The in-plant needed a solution that provided simple, one-page ticketing; catalog ordering, accounting and chargebacks; security; and variable data templates to simplify brand management. WebCRD from Rochester Software Associates came through on every one.

The system went live at the in-plant on February 1, 2016 and has processed more than 8,000 orders in the first eight months — approximately $2.5 Million in work.

WebCRD has eliminated a lot of steps and touches for Penn State’s workflow. Ordering stationery is now done with one click by the users who can approve rendering and release for printing themselves. The print shop has taken substantial time and potential for errors out of their workflow by virtually eliminating prepress and moving approval upfront, not involving staff in most cases. Turnaround time is now 2-3 days, down from 7-10 days.

“By moving work though our shop faster, we keep our costs down and we can use our staff to add more value to our process and customer jobs,” says Badani. (Download the full case study here.)

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Bob Neubauer Author's page

Bob has served as editor of In-plant Impressions since October of 1994. Prior to that he served for three years as managing editor of Printing Impressions, a commercial printing publication. Mr. Neubauer is very active in the U.S. in-plant industry. He attends all the major in-plant conferences and has visited more than 180 in-plant operations around the world. He has given presentations to numerous in-plant groups in the U.S., Canada and Australia, including the Association of College and University Printers and the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association. He also coordinates the annual In-Print contest, co-sponsored by IPMA and In-plant Impressions.