Oct 2, 2007
‘V.E.R.’ is key to success for UConn Print Center
Versatility, Ease, and Reliability of printers Boosts efficiency, yields savings for University
By George Linkletter
Self-sufficiency is a critical goal for support functions at the University of Connecticut. Self-sufficiency means keeping costs low, quality high and resources or capacity in close sync with demand.
This careful mix enables the university to deploy more resources away from support functions and toward its primary mission of educating students, which helps the Storrs, CT-based institution maintain its enviable ranking as the top public university in New England, according to U.S. News & World Report.
At the university’s Document Production Center, which produces more than one million images per month under tight deadlines for faculty, staff and students, self-sufficiency depends to a large extent on printing resources that are versatile, easy to learn and operate, and extremely reliable to assure maximum uptime.
Lori Nye, the unit’s manager and a veteran reprographics specialist with nearly 30 years of experience, is unyielding when it comes to securing the best possible production value for the University and her customers. Her print vendors of choice are IKON Office Solutions for service and support and the Canon ImageRUNNER 110 for sustained or production volume printing. It wasn’t always so.
Keeping Pace
“Our applications are constantly evolving and growing,” says Nye, and “our equipment must keep pace with our changing needs as well as the advancing expectations of our customers. Just because print performance was OK last year doesn’t mean it will be OK this year, particularly if our customers can choose from other service providers.”
In Nye’s case, the previous print vendor was slow to adapt to the changing environment. When it came time to upgrade, their recommended device was just too costly. And while service had been great for several years, the retirement of a superb service technician left a gap the firm had been unable to adequately fill.
Nye decided to give IKON Office Systems and the Canon ImageRUNNER 110 a chance, principally because the sales representative, Jeff Snyder, offered to install the ImageRUNNER and let it run along side the existing device. “Jeff was so confident of the performance and value that he was sure we’d be won over,” says Nye. And she was.
The lower operating cost of the ImageRUNNER was important to the decision to switch to Canon, according to Nye, as was the superior image quality. But just as critical was the versatility, ease of operation, and the reliability of the new Canon equipment.
Responsive Service
“We produce a wide range of printed materials, such as academic course packages, brochures, flyers, posters, invitations and announcements,” says Nye. “To stay productive, we must be able to quickly switch among the various applications and that requires a minimum of time for set-up and adjustments to paper trays.”
“We also operate a single shift Monday to Friday with just nine employees,” she continues, “and we rely a good deal on employees with a minimum of technical training. It is very important that our equipment be easy to learn, easy to operate, and trouble-free,” she says.
As for training, Nye couldn’t be more pleased. She started operating the equipment immediately after it was installed, and without any formal training. And once she was trained, she found the operating procedures were so simple she in turn could train her own operators, saving time and money.
Nye is also pleased with the ImageRUNNER’s inline finishing capabilities, which she says are varied and help boost productivity, and with the effort IKON made in locating suitable devices. “The printer is engineered to be compatible with a wide array of finishing functionality, such as 3-hole punches and GBC and wire binding,” she says. “I don’t have the time or background to search out and evaluate all the options that are available from finishing vendors. IKON handled that aspect for me and it made the process almost like one-stop shopping.”
Automated Processing
As for faster turnaround, just one recurring application shows an example of the improved productivity. The application involves the assembly of complex monthly meeting agendas for the University’s Board of Trustees. Nye says the new inline assembly capability saves as much as a day over the older, non-automated process, and eliminates errors as well.
Other productivity-boosting features cited by Nye include the capability to print on six different types of paper, and pull paper from three trays holding pre-printed stock. This post-processing inserting capability enables Nye’s team to utilize pre-collated sets of documents and fully complete a job in-line.
The University’s Document Production Center now operates three of the Canon ImageRUNNER 110 devices. Each printer handles about 400,000 images a month, with fewer operators than before, and with virtually no errors or unscheduled downtime. Nye adds she expects this level of performance to improve even more once she opens a satellite copy center to serve students and their modest printing requirements.
“Students represent about ten percent of the applications, but their volume is relatively low,” says Nye. Once the ‘1sies and 2sies’ from the students are shifted to the more convenient satellite center for students, the ImageRUNNERS in the Document Production Center will have “fewer applications, but they will be lengthier, and will result in even higher device productivity.”
Nye also points out that the new satellite center will be equipped with an ImageRUNNER 5000, which she says is ideally suited to the modest print needs of students. The device prints black ink on one or both sides, staples in the upper left corner or twice on the left side, and can select from two types of paper for the same job.
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Comments? Contact georgelinkletter@charter.net.