Taking Oklahoma by Storm

JOHN SARANTAKOS is not shy about revealing his intentions.

“I want to print everything,” declares Sarantakos, administrator of Printing & Mailing Services at the University of Oklahoma (OU). “Obviously that’s not feasible, but that’s always been the goal.”

To bring his award-winning in-plant closer to this lofty ambition, he and his staff recently made a move virtually unheard of in the in-plant sector. They installed an eight-color sheetfed offset press in their Norman, Okla., facility.

Adding the rebuilt 28x40? Heidelberg Speedmaster 102 perfector had become something of a necessity, Sarantakos contends, “because of the vast amount of four-color work we’re doing—and it’s almost all four-over-four.” This includes magazines, brochures, posters and about half of the printing needed by OU’s thriving athletics program, such as press guides for its seven-time national champion Sooner football team.

Though the in-plant already had two five-color presses, the demand for four-color work became overwhelming.

“We’ve been so backlogged for the last couple years, we’ve literally had anywhere between 500 to 1,000 hours of press time backlogged,” Sarantakos says. “That’s one of the things that drove the decision to purchase this press.”

The new press will cut costs, he says, increase throughput and allow the in-plant to compete for additional types of work.

“This is just going to open up new markets,” Sarantakos says. And though he acknowledges that printing “everything” will always be an elusive goal, his in-plant is certainly well positioned to handle nearly any type of job.

A Model Print Shop

With 75 employees working three shifts, Printing & Mailing Services offers everything from design to mail. It has packed plenty of offset, prepress and bindery equipment into its main 45,000-square-foot plant, which the in-plant moved into just three years ago. (Watch a short video of this in-plant.) Most of its digital printing gear is located in a second facility on campus, which also houses Central Mail Services and the Document Production Group. Two satellite copy centers are situated in the Oklahoma Memorial Union building and in the Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City.

The in-plant has won numerous awards, including more than 100 In-Print awards. Last year it earned two prominent honors from the In-Plant Printing and Mailing Association (IPMA): Mail Center of the Year and a Promotional Excellence award. On IPG’s recent listing of large in-plants, OU ranked 16th according to annual sales—third among university in-plants.

Not only is it one of the largest in-plants, it’s one of the most time-honored. OU’s in-plant is celebrating 100 years of service to the university this month with a large birthday bash featuring food, tours and door prizes.

A Big Move

The son of another in-plant manager—the late J.T. Sarantakos of Central Missouri State University—John Sarantakos came to OU in 1997 from Indiana University.

“I inherited a great staff,” he proclaims.

He also inherited a 1940s-era plant in the middle of campus that was far too small. When the university decided to raze the building, it was a blessing for the in-plant, which found a new facility five miles north of campus.

“We had to do a lot of remodeling,” says Sarantakos. Floors were reinforced for the heavy presses; walls were torn down. It was an expensive move, he says, but he has no regrets.

“I’d do it all again in a second,” he declares.

Last June, he proudly showed off the facility to about 100 IPMA members during their conference in Oklahoma City. (See a video of the tour at IPGonline.com .) The spacious plant is the envy of many a manager.

The move, along with the equipment acquisitions made over the years, reflects Sarantakos’ belief in the necessity of constant progress.

“We’ve really tried to stay as up to date with technology as we possibly could,” he explains. “I believe in purchasing the best equipment and providing the tools my staff needs to do their jobs as efficiently and at the highest quality possible.”

That was the principle behind the recent eight-color press purchase. Previously, operators had been forced to run some jobs through the presses multiple times.

“Running it through and back is time consuming,” Sarantakos observes. This made it hard for the in-plant to compete on certain jobs. That’s all changed now.

“Being able to run it through once and be done with it is wonderful,” he enthuses. This has dropped the shop’s hourly rate below some of the city’s other printers, allowing it to compete for new work.

“We’re basically going to be able to get any job we want,” he says. Even magazines in the 40,000-run range that might normally go to a web press can be cost effectively printed on the new press, he contends.

“It’s exciting,” he admits.

Getting the green light for such a large piece of iron required approval from OU’s Board of Regents. Sarantakos showed them the savings the press would bring and estimated a five-year return on investment.

Because it was a previously owned press, it cost less than $1 million. It was completely rebuilt and boasts automated features like auto plate loading and blanket washing.

“Even though it’s got a few miles on it, it’s in top-notch shape,” Sarantakos insists. “We’ve got a good piece of equipment here. It’s going to run a long time. I’m very pleased.”

Installing such a large press took a lot of preparation. A pad had to be dug and poured, and electrical service had to be reworked to bring in more power. The press was delivered in late February. Three weeks later it was ready to go live.

At about the same time, the in-plant added a new Kodak Magnus 800 eight-page computer-to-plate system, along with Kodak’s Prinergy workflow.

“We really like the Prinergy workflow,” Sarantakos reports. “It’s much more streamlined than what we had before in terms of how much human interaction we have to have. It’s more automated. It’s more intuitive.”

The new Magnus 800, which can process up to 40 plates an hour, uses Kodak’s Thermal Direct non-process plates—a much greener solution than the previous platesetter, which required chemicals for processing. Sarantakos loves the auto plate-loading feature.

“I don’t have anybody standing back there anymore, feeding plates in and offloading them,” he remarks. “It’s very automated.”

Digital Printing Prowess

Despite its focus on high-quality offset printing, the in-plant has a thriving digital printing facility that produces between 1.5 and 2 million copies a month using an array of Canon equipment. Not only does it produce course packs (though only original material, as the in-plant does not handle copyright clearance), it prints post-season guides for athletic events, recruitment pieces and other short-run items, to the tune of more than $1 million a year. The shop uses Objectif Lune variable data software to create personalized pieces like donor letters, grade reports and housing assignment letters.

With a Canon CLC 5100 as its highest speed device, Sarantakos knows it’s only a matter of time before the in-plant makes a move toward a heartier digital press.

“There’s certainly a market here for it,” he acknowledges. But first he wants to generate some revenue with the new Heidelberg press.

The in-plant also has a busy wide-format printing department. It consolidated two Epson 8500 printers plus laminating and foam core mounting equipment into a room in its main plant. Together they churn out posters, trade show displays, charts for presentations and similar projects. Sarantakos is looking into a device that images directly onto a foam core.

Printing & Mailing Services is also in charge of OU’s convenience copier program, which university administration has now made mandatory. With 800+ devices in the program, it generates some $2.4 million in revenue, Sarantakos says. All supplies and maintenance are covered by the two vendors, with a guaranteed two-hour service time.

Promotional Efforts

Though the in-plant has what he terms a “loosely enforced right of first refusal” policy, it still has to promote its services due to outside competition. Last year the in-plant won an IPMA Promotional Excellence Award for its efforts, which include distributing note pads, thank you cards, pens, stickers, fliers and more.

Sherri Isbell, customer service manager, organized a successful “holiday campaign.” Customers received a Thanksgiving card thanking them for their business, followed by a letter, a calendar and then a cookie basket. The in-plant also runs a class for print users, to give them useful pointers.

Customer service reps market to outside entities too, such as state agencies and other Oklahoma schools. This insourcing work brings in almost $3 million annually.

Award-winning Quality

The University of Oklahoma is a familiar name in the annals of In-Print contest history. It has amassed more than 100 awards so far, and for several years now, the in-plant has won more awards than any other shop in the country (11 this year; nine in 2007; 12 in 2006).

“The trick to it is getting the samples,” explains Sarantakos, “and if you don’t have people on the floor looking for things that are unique, then you just don’t have anything to pick from.”

Getting the staff to recognize how crucial these awards are to the in-plant’s reputation is the first step.

“We talk to the staff a lot about the importance of that and the marketing mileage that we get from it when we do win,” he says.

The shop has duplicate plaques made for each of its awards. It presents these to the departments whose jobs won, gaining their good will, as well as favorable campus news coverage.

Certainly the in-plant’s competitive pricing helps seal the deal for some of this work, but its reputation for quality also plays a big part. This dedication is appreciated by both customers and the administration.

“They like us because we understand our mission clearly and provide only the highest quality products and services,” Sarantakos says.

And thanks to its new eight-color press, the in-plant will be able to continue providing those high-quality products for many years to come.

.

Sidebar: In-plant Snapshot
University of Oklahoma Printing & Mailing Services
Norman, Okla.
Employees: 75
Annual Budget: $13 million
Facilities:
• 45,000-square-foot main plant
• 10,000-square-foot copy/mail center
• Two satellite operations
Notable Jobs:
• The University of Oklahoma’s yearbook
Awards:
• 100+ In-Print Awards
• IPMA Mail Center of the Year (2007)
• IPMA Promotional Excellence Award (2007)

Key Equipment
• Kodak Magnus 800 eight-page platesetter
• Canon ImpoProof dual-sided proofer
• Eight-color 28x40? Heidelberg Speedmaster 102 perfector
• Five-color 23x29? MAN Roland 305 double perfector
• Five-color 28x40? Miller perfector
• Two-color 25x38? Miller perfector
• Three two-color A.B. Dick 9800s
• Canon imageRUNNER 150
• Canon imageRUNNER 105
• Canon CLC 5100
• Canon CLC 3900
• Four Epson 8500 wide-format ink-jet printers
• Wide-format laminator
• Diamond two-color envelope press
• Polar EMC 115 cutter
• Challenge 45? cutter
• Two 26x40? continuous feed MBO and Baum folders with 16- and 32-page roll-away units
• Two 20x26? MBO pile feed folders with right angle units
• Eight-pocket Muller Martini saddle stitcher with cover feeder
• Graphic Wizard numbering machine
• Tobias and X-Rite densitometers
• GBC DigiCoil Binder
• Toppy Skid Turner
• Pitney Bowes W770 and DA750 ink-jet address printers
• Two Pitney Bowes DM1000 mailing systems and one DM550
• Pitney Bowes DI950 inserting system
• Secap Jet 1 Tabber
• Objectif Lune software
• EFI Digital StoreFront