Ready for Action at Texas Tech

AS RANDY Smith sees it, the only way his in-plant can ensure a quick response to its customers’ needs is by doing the work in-house—and that means having the necessary equipment on hand, ready for action. “I try so hard to do as much as I can under this one roof,” says Smith, director of University Printing Services at Texas Tech University.

In pursuit of that goal, the 35-employee in-plant has added an impressive array of equipment over the last few months. At the top of the list is a new HP Indigo 5500. Installed in late July, it is the in-plant’s first digital color press. Also new at Printing Services are:

• An Epic Products CT-660 UV coater

• A Heidelberg SBB die-cutting press

• A B&R Moll tab folder/gluer

• An MBO B26 folder with a pile feeder

• A Hyphen ImpoProof digital imposition proofer utilizing two Canon iPF 8000S print heads

• An Epson 9880 wide-format printer

• Primera BravoPro CD/DVD recording and label printing equipment

“We can be more responsive to our customers’ delivery demands with better, faster, more efficient equipment—and more of it,” remarks Smith. “It just allows us to get more work done during an eight-hour shift.”

Work Volumes on the Rise

Work has been growing steadily in recent years, Smith says, as customers have taken notice of the in-plant’s increasing capabilities and impressive service.

“Suddenly people that were going elsewhere for their printing have come to see that we can take care of their needs,” he says. “We just try to be smarter, faster, better, higher quality, friendlier...all of those things that add value, we try to be, and it has paid off for us.”

Based in Lubbock, Texas—a city of more than 212,000, sitting just south of the Texas Panhandle—the in-plant is perhaps most well known on campus for its six-color printing capabilities. Its 29? MAN Roland perfector prints a multitude of high-visibility jobs for Texas Tech, the city’s largest employer. These include annual reports, athletic media guides, view books, recruitment brochures and magazines. The shop also has a trio of two-color presses ranging in size from 18? to 40?, plus a Halm envelope press.

Until last summer, though, the shop’s only digital color printer was a Xerox DocuColor 240. Smith knew the in-plant needed a more robust digital press, but he wanted to make sure the shop could afford it before plunging in. What’s more, he needed to ensure there was enough work for a digital press so it wouldn’t drain jobs from the six-color press.

Then there was the difficult decision of which press to buy. Smith knew in-plants with HP Indigos, Kodak NexPresses and Xerox iGen3s. All gave high marks to their machines.

“What it really tells you, I think, is that each one would work,” he says. After much anguishing, he settled on the HP Indigo.

“It just blended more in an offset environment,” he explains.

Once the 5500 was installed, it was an instant hit.

“We found a lot of work for it right away,” says Smith. “It didn’t at all diminish what we were doing on offset, and it, in fact, opened some...opportunities for business that we were not seeing.”

VDP Takes Off

This included variable data print (VDP) jobs. Where many of his peers warned him not to buy a digital press with expectations of doing VDP right out of the chute, his experiences were different.

“The variable data is actually a little bit of a pleasant surprise to me in that it has contributed more to our early use of this machine than I thought it might,” he reveals. “I have gotten some really nice variable data jobs that would have gone somewhere else if I were not here with my Indigo.”

It has also complemented the offset presses by allowing the shop to print a few hundred additional copies of an offset job after the customer realized more were needed.

“That was just great to be able to say ‘No problem. Throw that on the Indigo and make them that [extra] 200,’ ” he says.

It’s also nice to be able to address postcards as they’re being printed instead of sending them to the bulk mail area for ink-jetting, he says.

Smith looks forward to showing off the new digital press, and all the other additions, at an open house next month.

UV Coating Ups the Quality

Concerns about the durability of digital pieces once they hit the mail stream prompted Smith to start looking into UV coaters. While touring the in-plant at the University of North Texas to see its HP Indigo 5500, Smith noticed the shop’s Epic CT-660 coater. He ended up ordering one for his own shop.

Able to handle a 20x26? sheet, the CT-660 can coat output from both the shop’s digital and offset presses. Sheets are fed through automatically at 4,000 per hour and emerge dry and ready to go. Though his plan is to market UV coating as a way to protect mail pieces, Smith says, it also does an amazing job of improving the quality of a printed piece.

“It makes the colors pop so nicely, and makes them so radiant,” raves Smith. “It just knocks your socks off.”

He also hopes to be able to stop sending certain publications out for film laminating and UV coat them in-house instead.

In-house Die-cutting

This desire to bring outsourced work back in-house is strong with Smith. He does not like to keep his customers waiting for an outside service provider. This was part of the reason Printing Services decided to bring die-cutting in-house and start making its own pocket folders.

“We were sending out all of our die-cutting and I found out that I could pay for my own machine in about three years,” he says.

Along with the new Heidelberg SBB die-cutting press, the in-plant added a tab folder/gluer from B&R Moll, which is used to fold and glue the pocket folders.

“I am able to be more responsive to my customers’ needs because it’s in-house now,” he says. It’s also less expensive for clients. The die-cutter has allowed the in-plant to do new types of work, like door hangers and specialty die-cut effects on brochures.

Also new on the finishing front is an MBO B26 folder with a pile feeder, the shop’s second MBO B26.

“We just found it to be very dependable equipment,” he explains.

As the shop has gotten busier, he adds, the need for a second folder became obvious. Often both are working full steam at the same time.

“It’s allowed us to meet tighter deadlines,” Smith observes.

Better Imposition Proofs

The in-plant has also made some additions on the front end, such as an ImpoProof imposition printer. In the past, the shop glued together two one-sided color proofs to give customers an idea of what their job would look like.

“We learned right away that folks were troubled by that,” he says. It confused them to get such a thick proof. With the ImpoProof, the shop can show customers a low-res, two-sided proof so they can check positioning. Later, the shop prints a contract proof on its Epson 10600.

In addition to proofs, the in-plant prints a fair number of posters on its 44? Epson 10600 and 24? Epson 7600, laminating them with its 44? Seal laminator. Because of the demand for wide-format printing, Printing Services will soon add a 44? Epson 9880.

“It gives us the opportunity to maybe be running a poster on one machine and RIPing and doing contract proofs on a second machine,” Smith explains.

CD recording is another new service the in-plant is offering. Its new Primera BravoPro not only records data onto the CD but ink-jets a label on the disc, giving it a personalized, professional appearance.

“What it is, is one of those small things you can do to make yourself a little bit more valuable to your customers or just put up a little more professional front,” Smith observes.

Another Press?

Despite all this new firepower, the in-plant is actually contemplating adding a second six-color MAN Roland. There’s enough work to justify it, Smith says. Adding a second shift on the current press would be the ideal option, he admits, but unfortunately there aren’t enough skilled press operators in the Lubbock area. So a second press makes the most sense, he says.

But will the in-plant be able to afford it in these tough economic times? Smith thinks so. University administrators have been very supportive of the in-plant’s acquisitions—all paid for out of the shop’s own profits.

“We’re totally self-supporting,” he confirms.

Rather than letting the faltering economy discourage technology investments, Smith strongly feels that the long-term survival of any printer relies on it being well equipped to handle increasingly sophisticated customers.

“I feel that everybody that’s going to be a success in graphic arts ... is going to have to really stay in front of the curve on technology,” he declares.

You can do all the marketing in the world, he adds, but if you can’t provide the services customers need, you’ll lose them.

“We really listen to our customers and try to understand what they need, and then have a service that fills their needs—rather than just being a ‘printer,’ ” he says.

“We have done well here, and we’ve done well because people work really hard,” he concludes. “We try to jump through burning hoops when people need something.”

The in-plant’s new equipment, he believes, will keep it from being burned while meeting those needs.