iGen4 in the Sky

IT MAY not be enough for the record books, but Temple University Duplicating Services has installed what may be the highest Xerox iGen4 in the city of Philadelphia—and possibly the region.

In February the 11-employee in-plant fired up its new digital color press on the 10th floor of Temple's Wachman Hall, in a newly refurbished area that was designed to accommodate the machine's footprint.

"It's a good facility for us, because everything was reconstructed from scratch," remarks Director Maury Kane. The floor below the iGen4 was reinforced, and all wiring was routed underneath the floor, so it's not exposed. A long exhaust vent stretches up from the machine into the ceiling, some 20 feet above.

The new location is a far cry from the basement facilities most in-plants occupy. The window behind the iGen4 offers terrific views of the Philadelphia skyline. (As for whether Temple's iGen4 is indeed the loftiest, Xerox couldn't confirm it, but no one we asked knew of any iGens installed on a higher floor.)

Getting the digital press up 10 floors did not come easy, Kane admits. Despite extensive planning and measuring, when the main body of the iGen4 was wheeled through the building's lobby and over to the freight elevator, movers discovered that the machine wouldn't quite fit. They hadn't accounted for the dolly they were using to wheel it, he says. It took them several hours to shoehorn it into the elevator.

Once all the pieces had made the trip upstairs, it took about three days to build the machine, Kane says.

"So we were operating within a week," he adds.

Better Quality and Productivity

So far the iGen4 has been performing wonderfully, printing high-quality items like brochures, booklets, flyers and newsletters.

"I love it. It runs really well," reports Ken Daskus, network document production coordinator.