Purdue Printing Services Suffers Cutbacks

With a looming deficit estimate of about $700,000 by the end of the fiscal year, Purdue University Printing Services needed to make some changes. In February, news surfaced that it was assessing its efficiency in search of possible cost-savings. Sadly, the solution the university decided upon was to cut staff by nearly 70 percent. A staff memo sent late last week announced that 33 of the 48 members of the Printing Services department were given notice that their last working day will be May 3.

According to a story on WishTV.com, the university attributed the in-plant's deficit to decreased demand for high-end printed materials and increased use of e-messaging and Web projects over print. Yet some who are close to the operation point out it received almost no upper administration support. In particular, University President Mitch Daniels, our sources note, has a history of outsourcing from his days as governor of Indiana.

"Mitch has never seen an outsourcing opportunity that he hasn’t liked," quipped one source.

Regardless, after May 3, only 15 employees will remain on staff. The BoilerCopyMaker Center in Purdue Memorial Union will remain open, according to WishTV.com, but its three satellite printing centers in academic buildings will close. (Read the full story here.)

In 2007, Purdue University Printing Services moved into a new 29,000-square-foot facility that was 7,000 square feet larger than its previous plant, where it had been for 36 years. In IPG's 2011 listing of the largest in-plants by annual sales, Purdue was ranked the eighth largest university in-plant, reporting $7,500,000 in sales that year.