By Marcella Shandor —
In October of this year, U of L campus can look forward to a new Print and Mail Center in newly renovated SAC West wing. The exact date for the opening has not yet been determined as construction is still ongoing. The purpose of this facility is to replace mail services currently located in the Houchens building and well as the print center in MITC. These services are being outsourced to Canon who assumed operational responsibility in July.
Executive Director of Campus Business Services Bob Knaster said Canon won a bid to expand printing and mail services on campus.
“They have already replaced the Xerox devices located in libraries, computer labs and other public spaces and are in the process of replacing Xerox equipment used in offices,” Knaster said.
“In addition, they have responsibility for maintenance of university-owned printing equipment, production printing of marketing, research and instructional materials, outsourced printing and mail services.”
Knaster is optimistic about the new services. He said the university is already saving money thanks to the outsourcing.
“They will completely reinvent the way printing and mail are supplied by employing the most up to date equipment and modern techniques. Much of our equipment has been in use for decades and requires tremendous effort on the part of the operators, incoming mail is sorted manually requiring many hours of effort every morning and outgoing mail is also processed by hand or outsourced requiring an excessive expenditure of time and money,” Knaster said.
“Operational efficiency, automation and modernization will generate significant savings for the University with most of these savings enjoyed by the end user.”
Senior Danielle Tomes said she had trouble with the old print shop.
“I have only used print services once and I typically don’t like it,” Tomes said.
She said it was more time consuming than just printing from home.
“Serving students is a major focus of this center with letter and package pickup, delivery and a wide array of print services. For example, students will receive text and email notification when mail arrives and use a code supplied in the message to access the locker containing their package,” Knaster said.
Canon is the largest imaging company in the world, and Knaster said both U of L and Canon benefit from this venture.
“The University is implementing a program to reduce the expense and environmental impact of printing while improving information security, quality and speed of service,” Knaster said.
Photo Courtesy / Canon
