Encompass Health Increases Up-time and Capacity Thanks to Equipment Refresh

In a perfect world, all equipment would last forever, but unfortunately that’s not the world we live in.

That’s why when Encompass Health Print Services’ Xerox Iridesse and Duplo collator/stitcher were both getting up there in age, Danny Kirkland, national director of Print Services for the Vestavia Hills, Alabama, in-plant, sought out new equipment at last year’s PRINTING United Expo in Orlando, Florida.

Though Kirkland shopped around, he ultimately ended up getting a newer model of the Xerox Iridesse along with two Duplo DSC10/60i collating towers and DBM-700 bookletmakers with square spine capabilities.

“Really, the decision to look at those applications as well as others at PRINTING United was mainly, honestly, just to be able to see if anything was different out there or that I may like better,” Kirkland says. “And also, to just look at those applications in their newest state to see if they were equal to or better than what I currently had, as well.”

The new equipment was installed between late November and early December 2025.

“It was pretty much just taking the old one out and putting the other one in, and we were up and running again,” Kirkland says.

The new devices are already speaking for themselves. Kirkland explains that when the previous 12-year-old Duplo would jam, operators would have to clear out the whole machine before starting it up again.

“We're probably saving about a couple hours a week just not having to wait on that jam to clear out,” he says. “Two hours a week … that's valuable for us.”

Valuable because Encompass Health builds six to eight new hospitals a year, each of which brings in hundreds of new orders per week for Kirkland and his team of 14.

“I am always trying to gain capacity with a limited amount of space,” Kirkland says. “That's the reason why I'm always looking at keeping machines up to date and getting the fastest one that we can get, so that we don’t have to have another building. Because, first of all, nobody wants to move, but it also is tough as an in-plant to try to justify that. So that really is where we're looking for that capacity, and that extra speed is how we get those kinds of things.”

Kirkland was able to justify the new equipment in part because of the time savings from eliminating jams and service calls.

“In a healthcare environment [justifying equipment] is a very difficult thing because no piece of printing equipment is going to directly get a patient better. So, it's always a challenge,” Kirkland says. “But on the Dupo especially, I had enough service calls and parts and just downtime that I was able to put a good ROI on what that was. So, it was pretty simple on that part. But all those things were part of it, the cost of how much we had spent … and then the downtime that we were experiencing as well.”

And while many in-plants are leaving toner devices in the past and turning to digital inkjet technology, Kirkland contends his inkjet press (a Xerox Baltoro) and his Iridesse serve him equally well.

“The Baltoro is a great machine, and it fits one area of my quality need. But it's not a one-shop-fits-all kind of thing,” he says. “We're doing what I call ‘pleasing color’ and then we're doing a really more managed quality control color – and currently today the HP Indigo and the Iridesse are the two machines that we use to monitor and keep those things really looking the best that they can look.”

As for why his in-plant decided to stick with Xerox, Kirkland boils it down to the fact that nothing is more valuable than a manufacturer that understands your needs.

“I think it just comes down to knowing those couple of people knowing your business,” he says. “It really does make a big difference when somebody already understands what you're doing.”