University of Missouri Ready for the Next Challenge

Jeff McNeeley (left), customer service supervisor, and Rick Wise, director of MU Printing Services, check a proof in front of the in-plant’s six-color, 40˝ Heidelberg press. McNeeley has been named interim director of Printing Services.

Back in the early 2000s, Rick Wise was a fixture at in-plant conferences. His friendly demeanor and astute advice earned him the respect of managers around the world.

When Wise, director of Printing Services at the University of Missouri-Columbia (MU), hosted the 2005 Association of College and University Printers (ACUP) conference, it was the event of the year for in-plants.

“Hosting that conference, which took a full year to plan … was literally the crown jewel of my career,” he reflects. “I was so proud of my peers, my organization, my coworkers. Everything went off without a hitch. I’d never experienced anything like that.”

But about eight years ago, things got scary in Columbia, Mo. The nose-diving economy inspired a virtual war on printing, as university officials asked the campus to significantly reduce four-color printing and encouraged departments to switch to the Internet to disseminate information. Wise was forced to downsize the in-plant over the next few years and made the decision to stop attending industry conferences and focus his full attention on keeping his shop alive.

“When we had to lay people off … it became real to me. It was the worst experience of my career,” he reveals. “I can’t justify 50 cents for travel if I have to lay people off.”

Fiercely loyal to his coworkers, Wise threw all his effort into keeping the in-plant in business so they could keep their jobs. He focused on cutting costs, consolidating positions, giving staff more responsibilities, improving customer service and convincing the university that print was vital to its mission. So far his efforts have paid off.

“The thing that I’m proudest of, particularly in the last eight years, is very simple: keeping the plant open,” says Wise.

It’s certainly a noble legacy. As he prepares to retire next month, after almost 17 years as director, Wise has every reason to be proud of a job well done.

“The only thing that has ever mattered to me, and ever will matter, is my coworkers,” he admits. “The thing that motivates me is providing a workplace for my friends and coworkers, and doing everything that I can so that they can come in and do their jobs and keep this place open.”

Customer service is crucial at MU Printing Services. The shop employs four customer service reps, one assistant, a communications associate and a supervisor. Seated, left to right: Joanne Rotert and Ramona Murray. Standing, left to right: Susan Washington, Carol Williams, Jeff McNeeley and Cindy Murray-Jones. (Missing: Robin Birkholz.)

82 Years of Service

Printing Services has a long history at MU. It was created in 1934 and grew tremendously over the years. When Wise started as manager of customer service in 1989, it had 122 employees. Two years later it moved into a 53,000 sq. ft. facility. The facility remains, but staff has shrunk to just 47 full timers. Revenue has dropped from $7.8 million in 2002 to $5.8 million last year. And though the in-plant once had 11 quick copy centers on campus, it now has just one, having consolidated them to cut down on overhead costs.

Still, MU Printing Services remains one of the largest university in-plants in the country, ranking fourth on IPG’s December list of the largest higher-ed in-plants by employees.

Debbie Melloway stands behind the in-plant’s Xerox iGen3 digital press. After a solid 11 years of performance, the iGen and the shop’s other digital equipment will soon be replaced by an arsenal of new digital systems.

Printing Services is one of the few in-plants with a six-color offset press, a 40˝ Heidelberg Speedmaster 102, purchased free and clear in 1998 with money the in-plant saved from its own profits. It is still as busy as ever, Wise reports, printing long runs of booklets, brochures, annual reports, magazines and more. Run lengths average 5,000, he says, but can range up to 30,000.

“It’s the revenue generator for our shop,” he remarks.

Sixty-five percent of the shop’s offset work is four-color, he says. The high-quality work produced on the press has won the in-plant three Best of Show awards in the In-Print contest over the years.

In a time when digital printing is making all the headlines, Wise is bullish about the value of producing offset work in-house.

“Offset is still very much alive and well,” Wise says. “You cannot beat the cost. The more you print, the lower the unit cost goes. If somebody wants a 16-page, four-color piece, saddle stitched, we can get it to them cheap.”

Brand Identity Control

But beyond the cost savings for the university, Wise stresses another reason it’s so critical to produce the school’s materials in-house rather than sending them to a commercial vendor: controlling brand identity.

“You want to promote your university with a very specified, uniform brand,” he notes. “An in-plant can assure administration that we will adhere to every rule, protocol, procedure and specified PMS number.

Angel Conners fills a box with booklets in the in-plant’s busy bindery.

“We’re part of the team. We’re part of the organization,” he emphasizes. “What we offer our administration is stringent control of the brand.”

Despite its offset strength, the in-plant is no slouch in the digital department. Its Xerox iGen3 pumps out posters, flyers, cards and brochures non-stop.

“That iGen runs all the time, every day,” Wise comments. “That’s a critical part of our operation.

But after 11 years of service, it’s also about to be replaced, along with the shop’s other digital color and monochrome devices. Though Wise couldn’t provide the details, he said the overhaul would come “very soon.” He expects a 25% productivity improvement on the digital color equipment.

The deal he negotiated with the vendor is essentially an equipment exchange that will cost the in-plant only a click charge. With dwindling dollars in the shop’s equipment replacement fund, this was the only way it could go.

The in-plant also has a thriving wide-format printing business using two Epson inkjet printers.

“Wide-format is powerful here,” Wise remarks.

Posters for students and faculty make up the majority of the work. Mounting and laminating is handled by a retired part-time worker. Bringing in retirees and temporary workers is one way Wise has handled staff reductions. It allows the shop to get through busy periods while minimizing salary and benefits expenses.

Though the in-plant also handles the sale of promotional items like mugs, pens and key chains (a $300,000-per-year business), it is still a predominantly print-focused operation. Digital services like cross-media marketing, Wise notes, are difficult to make money with, so he has kept the shop focused on what it does best: printing and binding.

“Print is still very viable,” he maintains.

A Web-to-Print Pioneer

Almost all job files are sent to the in-plant through its “Digiprint Digital Storefront." Digiprint automatically creates PDFs from Microsoft Word files and other formats used by customers. Once customers log in, input job information and send files, they receive a PDF for on-screen approval. The system is kept up to date by Rick Reed, one of its creators.

After submitting their offset jobs online, customers are contacted by one of the in-plant’s customer service representatives, who keep in touch to make sure they get the job exactly the way they want it. Customer service is one of Printing Services’ strong points. The shop employs four customer service reps, one assistant, a strategic communications associate and a supervisor.

“Customer service is still paramount,” emphasizes Wise. “It’s the thing that will keep you in business. It’s the difference between professionalism and non­professionalism.”

It’s also one of the main reasons his in-plant is still in business, he says. Because customers have such good experiences with the in-plant and feel taken care of, they have been its biggest proponents whenever the administration wants to send work to outside vendors.

“If the front door isn’t a warm greeting and a caring person ... you’re dead in the water,” maintains Wise, who served as manager of customer service for the in-plant for 10 years. What’s more, after he retires, his position will be filled by the current customer service supervisor, Jeff McNeeley.

Also in the in-plant’s favor is its longevity. With 82 years of serving the university, Printing Services has a deep institutional knowledge and knows its customers’ needs intimately. The staff remembers which paper certain customers prefer, for example, or which type of binding. This prevents costly mistakes if customers neglect to indicate these things in their orders.

“That consistency of service, that institutional knowledge is important and saves the university a lot of time and trouble,” Wise points out. “We’re part of the university. We look for ways to save money.”

Though he misses seeing his in-plant friends from other universities at conferences, Wise is confident he made the right choice to focus on his in-plant’s survival. He feels the upcoming digital upgrade will leave the in-plant in good shape to continue thriving after his retirement next month.

“That equipment will allow us to continue to provide excellent digital turnaround on quality work for the university,” he says.