PULLMAN, Wash. – University Communications today announced a major infrastructure upgrade in support of WSU’s strategic marketing, recruiting and fundraising efforts. With the acquisition of a Hewlett Packard Indigo 10000, WSU is the first higher education institution in the U.S. to equip itself with the cutting-edge capabilities of this digital printing technology.
Housed in the Cooper Publications Building, the new press expands University Communications’ ability to offer variable data design and printing.
“The data crunching capacity of the Indigo 10000 allows us to swap out elements such as text, graphics and photos, so that each individual piece is customized for the recipient,” said Ed Sala, assistant executive director of University Communications. “This capability was simply not possible with traditional offset equipment. So not only does the 10000 open up new possibilities for variable data printing, it operates at speeds much faster than traditional offset.”
“One of the cardinal rules of marketing is to segment the audience in order to deliver highly targeted messages,” said Brian Clark, associate executive director of University Communications. “The Indigo10000 takes that thought to the highest level because we can now deliver individualized messages to potential students and their families, alumni, donors, and so on.”
“University Communications has long worked in the digital printing realm,” said Sala, “and WSU’s in-house printing plant has long been regarded as a leader in the adoption of new technologies.”
What is new with the Indigo 10000 is an increased paper size, meaning both long and short run print jobs can be produced more efficiently and economically. The new press is also more economical—and environmentally friendly—because it eliminates much of the labor-intensive set-up work that also involved the use of expensive equipment and disposable materials and chemicals.
“We’ve decommissioned all of our large format offset presses, including a press that, over the years, has pumped out over 100 million impressions,” Sala said.
“But while we’ve changed our production methods, we’ve kept our staff trained in terms of the new skills needed to operate these digital presses, so no jobs have been lost,” Sala added.
“One of the most exciting things to us is the educational door this opens for University Communications,” Clark said. “With the Indigo10000, we now have the capacity to teach variable data design. While there are fledgling programs in training designers to work with huge data sets, we don’t think there is another institution that has all the pieces in place: the faculty, the staff and, now, the equipment.
“We look forward to working with the WSU community to create an educational facility that will train the next generation of designers, press operators, and data managers in the art and science of variable data design and printing.”
Kathy Barnard, executive director of University Communications, said, “We were very thoughtful about making this investment. After considering our geographical location, our commitment to being the best partner with every unit at WSU, and our charge to provide state-of-the-art printing and mailing services at reasonable prices to the university community statewide, the decision was clear: invest in a technology that will serve the faculty, staff and students of WSU for many years to come.”
Contact:
Ed Sala, Assist. Executive Director, WSU UComm, 509-335-3518, sala@wsu.edu