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The student population of York Univer-sity is 55,000, the same size as the cityof Grande Prairie, Alberta. Whether

or not all these students realize it, theireducation literally depends on materialsproduced by the university’s specializedPublishing and Printing Operations, asdo many of the activities of York’s 10,000faculty and staff. I spoke with the man-agement of the in-plant printing facilityserving this huge Toronto academic in-stitution, as well as the management oftwo other university in-plants in differentparts of the country, to learn what it takesto provide a foundation of print for post-secondary education in Canada.

York printing Steve Glassman is York Univer-sity’s Director of Bookstore,Printing and Mailing Services.Chris Panagopoulos managestwo of Glassman’s departments,Publishing and Printing Opera-tions, with a combined staff of14 whose main activity is pro-ducing course kits – spiral-Cer-lox-bound books, each onecontaining all the required read-ings for a particular course.

“When I first started in 2008,Printing Operations had just acquired four new toner-basedunits that bumped our produc-tion speed up from 110 to 640pages per minute. Back then wewere printing between 30- to 40-million impressions annually.The new equipment allowed usto increase efficiencies, decreaseovertime, and outsource less,when previously we had been outsourcing2-million impressions,” says Panagopoulos.

The Publishing department’s gargan-tuan task is to apply and arrange pay-ment for the reproduction rights fromeach publisher of each copyrighted itemin the course kits – up to 2,000 copyright-protected items a year. Instead of dealingwith each publisher and title individually,

some academic in-plants elect instead tohire Access Copyright, a Canadian copy-right licensing agency that charges high feesto obtain all their copyrights for them.

Besides course kits, other typical jobsfor Printing Operations include diplo-mas on preprinted shells; marketing col-lateral; large-format printing, posters,and banners; York’s branded stationeryand business cards (they are the onlyvendor of record and quality watchdogsfor York’s branded material); and print-on-demand books.

Security printing also forms part oftheir watch. When diploma forgery be-came a concern, Panagopoulos collabo-rated with their supplier of diploma

shells to devise a holo-gram as a security featureon the back of eachdiploma. They store thediplomas in locked areasfor which only a limitednumber of personnelhave keys. Exams can besubmitted digitally via asecure FTP site or pass-word-protected e-mail,but 75 percent arrive ashard copies. Both printeddiplomas and hard copiesof exams must be deliv-ered to and from the in-plant in tamper-evidentbags with numberedseals. The task of printingconfidential transcriptsof student grades, how-ever, takes place in theRegistrar’s Office.

The equipment arsenalin Printing Operations currently com-prises seven black-and-white toner-basedpresses, including: One Kodak 9110, threeCanons (two 5000s and one 8070) andthree Océs (a VP 6250 with punch, a VP6200 with booklet maker, and a VP 6160in-line perfect binder). Additionally, theyrun three toner-based colour presses, in-cluding two Konica Minoltas (one BHC

252 and one BHC 352), and one XeroxDC 700, plus an Epson Stylus Pro 9800 forlarge-format printing, a Graphic WizardUV coater, and full bindery.

They also have two two-colour offsetpresses, a Ryobi and an AB Dick. “But wedon’t use them,” says Glassman. “Our off-set operator retired a couple of monthsago. Now we simply outsource the smallvolume of two-colour offset that we weredoing in-house, because it didn’t add upto 2,000 impressions a month.”

Print-on-demand booksAmong Glassman’s proudest accomplish-ments are the print-on-demand books.Although for years the university’s bookstore has operated a small custompublishing service, in the last five years hehas initiated toner-based book printingthrough Printing Operations. He swearsby the Océ VP 6160 with in-line perfectbinder for book production, which theydo in runs from 10 to 2,000 copies.

“I have held the authors’ hands andworked with a graphic designer to pro-duce 67 books, many of which are ab-solutely gorgeous. One or two are nowselling online at Chapters Indigo. For ex-ample, a book called Creating Memory byJohn Warkentin, documents publicsculptures around Toronto. Frank Bar-rett, the author of another book with all-colour illustrations, Earnest Ibbetson,spent 20 years writing about a commer-cial postcard artist who drew militarypostcards. I really don’t think these au-thors would have got the help theyneeded elsewhere to put these books to-gether. Although many of them are notbig enough sellers to attract the attentionof mainstream publishers, they’re perfectfor print on demand.

“While some booksellers may be clos-ing, I believe there will always be a mar-ket for fine books made with creativityand craftsmanship. Booksellers will con-tinue to thrive if they specialize in pro-moting and selling these kinds ofproducts,” Glassman affirms.

Staff staying motivatedPanagopoulos says one of the more satisfy-ing aspects of his job is hiring as many as40 to 60 students a year, especially duringcrunch times. “One who is now studyingfor his Masters degree worked with meduring all four years of his undergraduatestudies. When they are ready to move on,they use me as a reference and coach to pre-pare them for job interviews.”

The students provide clients with the exceptional service of delivering printingdoor-to-door around York’s main campus– where Printing Operations is located.They perform their deliveries on foot usingdolly carts. This method of transportationhas proven preferable to cars, partly be-cause the campus can be challenging fordrivers (especially with construction for thenew Pan American Games stadium now inprogress), and partly because delivery bydolly does not pollute the environment.Deliveries to the university’s second,smaller Toronto campus are handled by theuniversity’s internal bus system.

Panagopoulos explains: “In hiring in-terviews, I ask the students if they areprepared to do the same repetitive jobover and over, like working in an auto-mobile factory, because that’s what thejob requires. To relieve the monotony, Ilet them listen to music while they work –but they are only allowed to use one ear-phone, so they can hear instructions andwon’t hurt themselves.

“Sometimes we turn the task of insert-ing Cerlox coils by hand into a game tosee how many they can do in a minute,or have competitions between teams tosee who can produce more. Since Iadopted this playful approach, everyonewants to do hand coiling, rather thancarry 20 to 30 pounds of printing aroundthe campus on dollies.”

Distinguished careersPanagopoulos remembers people whoinvested in him when he was a student,so championing York students is his way

VICTORIA GAITSKELL

Inside University In-plants

JANUARY 2013 • PRINTACTION • 15

Continued on page 24

Steve Glassman

Chris Panagopoulos

24 • PRINTACTION • JANUARY 2013

LETTERPRESS & FINISHING

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of giving back. He graduated with aBTech degree in Graphic Communica-tions Business Management from Ryer-son University in 1995, ran a small designagency briefly, then spent five-and-a-halfyears as a Senior Project Manager at CottBeverages before joining York. Soon afterhis arrival, he achieved FSC certificationfor York, making it the first and onlyCanadian university in-plant with this designation. In November 2010,Panagopoulos was recognized as one ofIn-plant Graphics magazine’s Top 15Managers Under 40.

Glassman holds an MBA and becamea biologist before he eventually gravitatedto printing as a second career. He workedpreviously for a web offset company, thena sheetfed offset company specializing indirect mail.

His father, Alex Glassman, was a chem-ical engineer who began his career in thepaper industry in Trois-Rivières, Quebec,then worked in quality control for R.R.Donnelly in Chicago, where he promotedoffset printing at a time when it was con-sidered second-rate and helped papercompanies improve paper for offset print-ing. Later, Alex worked for paper compa-nies in New York and Toronto. In 1985, hewrote a book called Printing Fundamen-tals, published by TAPPI (Technical Asso-ciation of Pulp and Paper Industries)Press, to teach paper manufacturers allthey needed to know about printing. Foryears Alex edited the classic graphic artsproduction handbook Pocket Pal, untilMichael H. Bruno took over as editor.(The current editor of Pocket Pall is FrankRomano.) Alex passed away in 2010.

When Steve Glassman arrived at Yorkeight years ago, he was given charge ofPrinting Operations alone. Among hisfirst priorities was devoting two to threeyears to building a unique digital work-flow allowing information to be ex-changed seamlessly between Publishing,Printing Operations, and the university’saccounting department. He wanted notonly to facilitate billing and transfer pay-ments to and from other departmentsbut also to keep a sharp eye on finances:“Our job is to be profitable, and eventhough the operation was already good,we became more efficient and producedgreat returns that we contributed back tothe university to be used for buildingsand student projects. We have kept ourprices the same or lower to give our cus-tomers more value for their dollar.”

All-mportant customer relationsPanagopoulos explains: “We don’t havethe right of first refusal on the univer-sity’s jobs, and there are a lot of copyshops in the neighbourhood, so we haveto gain our business and prove our worthand knowledge to our customers. We alsowork hard to keep them happy with ahigh level of service.”

Glassman continues: “Our hands aretied, because it’s a small market limitedto one institution. I’ve tried to get posi-tive messages out there saying, ‘If therewas something you didn’t like 10 yearsago, we’ve changed now, so give us an-other try.’” He has circulated printedshowpieces to demonstrate his in-plant’s

GaitskellContinued from page 15

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capabilities and staged presentations atone of the campus’ prestigious venues onhow to make the best use of printingservices and save money. Like any sellingcommercial-business owner, he has alsotraveled from building to building,knocking on doors to promote his print-ing services.

Glassman still feels that he needs tomarket even more proactively, especiallyto attract more direct-mail jobs fromuniversity departments that historicallyhave tended to hoard their databases oroutsource. At present Printing Opera-tions performs only a limited number ofdirect-mail jobs, including mailings forfaculty research, welcome letters for stu-dents, and parking statements. “I want tocreate a business case that fills the facilitybetter and teach staff to handle directmail better. It’s frustrating to see potentialclients developing wonderful relationswith outside printers and ad agencies,when some of that work could be doneproficiently in-house.”

Resources from CUPMACAcademic in-plants in Canada varygreatly in size and complexity, saysHeather Hersemeyer, President of theCollege and University Print Manage-ment Association of Canada (CUPMAC,established 1968), to which Glassmanand Panagopoulos both belong. CUP-MAC’s current membership comprises39 schools and 88 individuals from mostprovinces of Canada. The association’smain services include a three-and-a-half-day annual managers conference and alist serve to facilitate networking duringthe rest of the year.

Since 2001, Hersemeyer has beenManager, Technology and Printing Serv-ices at Nipissing University in North Bay,Ontario (population 5,000 students). Shesays one shop in northern British Colum-bia consists of a single operator and a sin-gle black-and-white press. Others inlarger institutions may consist of as manyas 20 staff; offset, toner-based, and large-format presses; full-service binderies; andfleets of thousands of copiers scatteredaround their campus. Her own operationhas four staff, two main toner-basedpresses, and under 10 fleet copiers.

Peter Klit, Secretary/Treasurer of CUP-MAC, spent 25 years working his way upfrom the bottom to become Manager,Printing Services at the University of Vic-toria, British Columbia in 2004. His oper-ation serves a student population of19,000 with 11 staff, four-colour and two-colour offset presses, and colour and largeblack-and-white toner-based presses.

Common characteristics of in-plantsThe busiest times for academic in-plants,determined by the demands of new termsstarting and exams, include August and September, followed by December,March, and April.

One thing that distinguishes academicin-plants from most other printers is thatthey all have unionized shops, althoughtheir management is not unionized. BothHersemeyer and Klit say they receiveplenty of outside orders from local unionsand union-friendly political candidateswho prefer to deal with unionized shops.

Another common characteristic of ac-ademic in-plants is their constant fearthat facility-management companies willtake over their operations. For this rea-son, facility-management companies areno longer eligible for CUPMAC mem-bership. “We’re always in a positionwhere we feel we need to prove ourworth,” says Klit.

Academic in-plants also find them-selves in a unique financial situationcompared to other printers. Klit explains:“We don’t follow the same economic pat-tern as the rest of the world, since ourfunding is established by the governmenta few years in advance. When our insti-tution is struggling with budget cuts, itbecomes difficult for us to get new equip-ment or staff.”

Klit continues: “Private printing com-panies can make their own purchasingselections, but because we are public in-stitutions, a lot of our purchases are dic-tated by strict university policies. Forexample, we often have to request threequotes and choose the vendor with thelowest price or participate in a masteragreement for paper supplies. These dayswhen accepting bids, all universities ex-pect vendors to throw in a value-addedoffer, such as funding for certain parts ofthe university or a scholarship.”

He and Hersemeyer agree these re-quirements can squelch their criticalbusiness relationships with vendors whomay not provide the cheapest products orlargest corporate donations but offermore consultative, more dependable orfaster service. During crunch periods,they can hardly afford to have a pressdown for even half a day.

Future academic in-plantsThe increasing popularity of e-readersand iPads has resulted in more course kitsbeing posted online now instead of as aprinted reproduction. “As course kitswent digital, we have been reinventingourselves and have expanded into othervalue-added products, including wide-format printing, banners, signage, calen-dars, and books,” reports Hersemeyer.She is in the process of implementingBraille printing to make her institutionmore physically accessible and reportsthat the introduction of wide-formatprinting has re-energized her operation’simage in the eyes of both staff and cus-tomers.

“Our print shops may become smallerbut they are still relevant. In the future alot of what we print, what we print on,and the purposes we serve are going to bemore complex than just putting blackdots on a white piece of paper,” predictsHersemeyer.

“We have to ensure our offerings stayrelevant to faculty, staff, and students,whether it’s printing from a mobile de-vice or using QR codes,” agrees Klit. “ButI don’t believe printing on paper will everdie. In spite of alternative technologies,there will always be a need for printedbooks, essays, maps, and exams – thingspeople have to sit down with and figureout. Facility-management companieswouldn’t be so interested in taking usover if they didn’t see a future in our op-erations.”

Victoria Gaitskell is keen to exchange ideaswith readers at victoria@printaction.com

GaitskellContinued from page 24

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