Relocation Gives In-plant New Life at Sonoma State

A brand new student center at Sonoma State University has given new life to the Rohnert Park, Calif., school’s in-plant. Along with the dining and retail operations that have relocated into the three-story, 130,000-square-foot student center, the in-plant has secured a 1,700-square-foot space where it is now conveniently located for passing students and facility.

Since opening for business in October, the new Campus Prints operation has seen “quite a bit more student business, because we were kind of hidden a little bit before,” remarks Doug Schiller, manager of General Services. “Hidden” is the right word for the in-plant’s old location in “the forgotten part of campus,” as Schiller describes it. It was not at all convenient for students, and few of them ever paid a visit.

Five years ago the in-plant opened a small copy shop in the student union, which was merged with the retail mailing and shipping operation two years ago. When the new student center opened in the fall, that copy shop, along with the “hidden” production operation, both moved into the new digs on the second floor, near the bookstore.

“It was a pretty quick move,” remarks Schiller. “We never really lost that much production time.”

Ricoh took care of moving the in-plant’s Pro C900 color printer and Pro 1106 and 1107 black-and-white printers. The shop’s other equipment—which includes a Xanté Iluminia envelope printer, an Epson Stylus Pro 9880 wide-format printer and a new Challenge Titan 200 cutter—was transported by the campus movers.

The new location features a self-service area and a retail counter, behind which the three full-time and four student employees are hard at work producing flyers, postcards, brochures, posters, course packs and other items. Schiller hopes to expand the types of wide-format products the in-plant produces, to include lawn signs and clings. The shop has also added private mailbox rentals for students and staff.

Another benefit of the new shop, Schiller says, is that his staff is no longer split between two locations.

“Being in one place, we have one presence on campus,” he notes. “People can come to us for anything from 10 black-and-white copies, to large-format, to their 3,000-piece mailers.”