Judy Peace, Manager of the University of Regina Printing Services shop, wanted to improve productivity and better serve customers by providing an expanded range of services. Peace recognized that this would mean replacing the shop's existing digital equipment with a more versatile printing press, one that would not only accommodate larger projects, but also improve the print quality.

The Printing Services shop, located in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, is a separate ancillary unit on campus that provides on-site printing services to faculty, students and outside business clients. The shop prints brochures, postcards, and marketing materials on a daily basis, but was limited in its ability to handle larger print jobs such as posters bigger than 12 x 18 inches.

"With the KODAK NEXPRESS, we can now handle our own larger print jobs, which will improve our productivity because of the increased flexibility of our operations," Peace said. "We are now able to do jobs that we couldn't do in the past, and that means we have a lot more control over our workflow, for the ultimate benefit of our customers."

When Peace caught a glimpse of the KODAK NEXPRESS Digital Color Platform in action, she knew that was exactly what the university needed to perform more services in-house with offset quality.

In August, the University of Regina Printing Services shop installed its first KODAK NEXPRESS SE2500 Digital Production Color Press. Peace is now in the process of upgrading to the KODAK NEXPRESS SX Digital Production Color Platform.

"I saw a KODAK NEXPRESS Press in Regina and I was very impressed by two big factors: one, the offset-like print quality that could be achieved using digital print, and two, the perfection you could accomplish with each print job. We print a lot of tri-fold brochures, and if those panels don't line up front to back then it's a real issue. We can make sure jobs print properly with outstanding image quality," explained Peace.

Using Kodak's Print Genius quality control tools, printers like Peace can maintain peak quality throughout the production run for improved efficiency. The suite includes hardware and software innovations that optimize print quality and consistency from the first sheet to the last.

"We just did an anniversary book for the university. It was a short run of about 200 books, but 64 full-color pages. We were able to print this in-house using the KODAK NEXPRESS SE2500 Platform and we achieved offset-print quality, digitally. It also saved the university a lot of money-the outside quote was about $3,000 more than it cost us. It was perfect," said Peace.

Peace says that the shop has also started utilizing the KODAK NEXPRESS Fifth Imaging Unit Solution, making it possible to offer spot color, Kodak's unique in-line dimensional printing, high-quality gloss, in-line watermarking, or coating in a single pass.



Unique in the industry for in-line digital cut-sheet presses, dimensional printing is achieved by adding KODAK NEXPRESS Dimensional Clear Dry Ink to the Fifth Imaging Unit of a KODAK NEXPRESS Press. With dimensional printing, printers can create collateral materials, direct mail, business cards, invitations and other applications that truly stand out with 3D tactile photo surfaces, dimensional or raised print, and distinctive textures.

Through the use of KODAK PERFECT TOUCH Gloss technology, using KODAK NEXPRESS Clear Dry Ink in conjunction with the near-line KODAK NEXPRESS Glossing Unit, the shop has been able to expand their printing services to meet customer demands. "We just did some posters for a customer who wanted the gloss and we've had several business card orders that wanted the dimensional coating," said Peace.

Peace is thrilled with the printing results she's received using the KODAK NEXPRESS Platform. "We are now able to tell our clients 'we did this here,' and that says a lot. We're even bringing in some current clients just to show them the equipment and explain all that we can do now," said Peace. With the upgrade to the next-generation KODAK NEXPRESS Press, Peace adds, "The NEXPRESS SX Platform offers smaller-particle ink, giving photo printing even better quality; it will make our press even more desirable than an offset press."

Printing on over 700 standard offset substrates, the KODAK NEXPRESS SX Platform offers exceptional quality and productivity. In an independent photo quality study completed by SpencerLab, the KODAK NEXPRESS SX Digital Press achieved an overall highest rating in print quality, demonstrating the best all-round performance across the majority of attributes evaluated. The KODAK NEXPRESS SX Platform features speeds up to 131 ppm and the new KODAK NEXPRESS HD Dry Ink.

Detailed product information can be found at www.kodak.com/go/nexpress, and a video on the NEXPRESS SX Platform can be viewed at http://bit.ly/NexPressSXPlatform.

Kodak is a global advisor and provider of integrated services to help companies transform and optimize their businesses. Through a network of service professionals in 120+ countries, Kodak provides technical, professional, consulting and managed services to enable customers to focus on growing their businesses, maximize productivity, and more effectively manage risks. All KODAK Products and Software are backed by KODAK Service and Support. To learn more, visit www.graphics.kodak.com.