Omaha Public Schools’ Printing & Publications leverages technology like Web-to-print and variable data printing to support the educational mission of the district.

By Chris Bauer

At Omaha Public Schools, Lead Artist Shelly Dutiel (foreground) runs a banner on the Mutoh VJ1638 printer, while Plant Specialist Janet Hula, Manager Steve Priesman and IT Technician Jeff Wild look on.

The beginning of the school year is traditionally a hectic time for an in-plant serving an educational institution. Teachers need classroom materials, principals require forms to be sent out to parents and instructors place orders for course packets.

One way that Steve Priesman, manager of Printing & Publications for Omaha Public Schools, keeps orders flowing efficiently through his shop is by leveraging the latest technology.

Changes in printing technology are nothing new for Priesman, a 26-year veteran of Omaha Public Schools’ in-plant. He grew up around printing; his grandfather and father owned a commercial printing and typesetting business. The family shuttered the shop in the late 1980s, as desktop publishing put an end to traditional typesetting, sending Priesman into the in-plant world.

“I am not an educator, but my job is to support and help the educators,” explains Priesman, who oversees 18 full-time and two part-time employees at the Omaha, Neb., facility. “Whether that educator is the classroom teacher or the principal at the school, it is our job to give them the materials they need in a cost-effective and timely manner.”

In the mail room, Kelly Martin sorts interoffice mail.

Last year, the busy school district in-plant received more than 32,000 individual requests for service — an average of 129 job requests per day. The shop churned out a whopping 46 million impressions for its customers.

“Our heaviest time is June through October,” Priesman points out. “It is a combination of preparing for the next school year by printing student handbooks and other beginning-of-the-year materials. Classroom teachers submit orders before they leave for the summer break or when then come back in August.”

Common jobs at the shop vary from basic classroom materials to complex mathematic worksheets. These are usually low-volume jobs, individually ordered by the teachers and produced digitally. More involved jobs include school newsletters which are printed and mailed or distributed in school.

Press Operator John Rodenbarger runs the Ryobi 3200 PCX offset press.

“The older the student gets, the less chance it gets out of the backpack and into the parents’ hands,” Priesman says with a laugh. “And that is just the reality of things. That is why many of our principals have chosen to send things through the U.S. mail.”

Priesman explains that a shift in the way the in-plant receives jobs has helped decrease turnaround times and stamped out labor-intensive order entry steps.

“We had been pushing electronic ordering for years, but last August 1, I bit the bullet and told our customers that we are no longer accepting paper-based request forms,” Priesman says. “They had to do it electronically.”

The in-plant had an online ordering system for years, which was developed internally by a staff member. That employee retired, and the remaining staff lacked a way to easily make modifications to the system — a common dilemma at in-plants with aging, home-grown online ordering systems.

Joyce Hoeft, copier operator, runs the Xerox Nuvera 144 EA printer.

“It was a home-made product that worked beautifully, but he was the only one that could deal with it,” Priesman recalls. “So we started looking for a solution, and we chose EFI’s Digital StoreFront. We have now used that product for two and a half years.”

To help illustrate the benefits of online ordering, Priesman posted a video on the shop’s website to show customers the data-heavy order entry process. It showed all the steps that in-plant employees had to do just to enter jobs into the system. And then the video showed the same steps being done via electronic ordering.

“We can do five-to-six times as many jobs in an hour if they are submitted electronically,” Priesman proclaims. “Also, the quality of an electronically submitted PDF file is much better than dealing with hard copy originals.”

After several software swaps, the shop now utilizes EFI Digital StoreFront 8 linked to its Pace MIS system. And Priesman proudly reports that his customers now prefer the online ordering process.

No More Chemistry

Another transition at the shop came last summer, when a pair of chemistry-free Mitsubishi Thermal DigiPlate computer-to-plate (CTP) systems were installed, sending a Mitsubishi ECO and Mitsubishi DPX into retirement.

“We got rid of a lot of chemistry, and my staff loves it,” Priesman says of the new CTP devices. “We have naturally made significant reductions in hazardous chemistry. We have none of that anymore. And we cut down on a lot of maintenance.”

Priesman points out that the in-plant also provides economical wide-format products for the school district. This includes jobs surrounding the district’s annual “theme” for the school year. The in-plant produces 90-100 large-format banners featuring the annual theme that will appear in every school in the district.

Mutoh wide-format printer.

“Wide-format jobs are fun to do, and my artists just love doing them because they can be as creative as you want,” Priesman says. “We are adding value for the district and saving them money because we can produce wide-format jobs much cheaper in-house.”

Priesman is also stepping into the digital envelope printing arena with the recent purchase of a Xanté Impressia digital print system. The shop previously printed envelopes on a Heidelberg Quickmaster 46-2. But the offset envelope printing process was becoming too time consuming for press operators, who had other work to tend to.

“All of the research I have seen is that digital printing of envelopes is the way to go,” Priesman contends, noting that he hopes to keep the positive momentum for the shop going by cutting down on turnaround times and removing inefficient practices.

“I think we have proven that we are an efficient operation,” Priesman concludes. “Our budget is tight just like everybody else’s. But I have the funds to do what needs to be done, and our department is self-supporting.”