Leaving A Digital Legacy at the University of Tennessee

Offset Color Growing
In existence since 1948, Graphic Arts Service generates about $7 million in annual sales. It handles prepress, printing, convenience copiers, bindery and mail. The shop has five offset presses, plus an envelope press, and Williford says 65 percent of the offset work is four-color. Many of the black-and-white jobs, he says, have migrated to the Internet, while an increasing amount of spot-color work has changed to four-color work.
The in-plant uses Printable's online ordering system for business cards, letterhead and envelopes. A year ago it upgraded its MIS system to Hagen OA, which has enhanced its ability to pull up job specs, check job status, create estimates and bill electronically.
Graphic Arts Service has the right of first refusal for all university print jobs. What the in-plant can't print, it bids out for customers.
The in-plant has three satellite centers in addition to its main 17,000-square-foot campus facility. That facility is about to get even larger once mail is moved into an adjoining 12,000-square-foot space.
Print/Mail Merger A Success
Williford initiated the in-plant's merger with the mailing department two years ago, suggesting it to management as a "natural fit" and a way to cut costs.
"Now we have more utilization of labor because we can cross train employees," he says. "We can be more efficient and more timely."
The mailing department now evaluates print jobs earlier in the process, catching potential mail problems before pieces are printed. Having print and mail in the same facility allows printed jobs to flow right into the mail stream, and customers have to make only one stop to check on jobs.