Printer’s Down!

Marce Folk of DoIT sent us this funny vintage cartoon from The Flying McCoys yesterday –

A joke about printing equipment of the past. Enjoy!

Two Positions Open at DPPS!

Work with Bucky image

DPPS seeks a customer service representative with printing experience to work in our offset and digital print facility. In this role, you will use your expertise and customer service skills to help our great team serve the UW campus and beyond!

 

https://jobs.wisc.edu/jobs/printing-project-coordinator-madison-wisconsin-united-states

 

We’re also adding a digital printing operator to our production area, responsible for reviewing customer-supplied files for printing, and operating high-speed digital print presses. This person will work with the digital print team and customer service team to address and resolve production issues, move files to various output devices, and final product to proper production departments for finishing.

 

https://jobs.wisc.edu/jobs/digital-print-operator-madison-wisconsin-united-states

 

UW-Madison’s Digital Publishing and Printing Services (DPPS) is one of the largest in-house print production centers within the State of Wisconsin government. Our new state-of-the-art facility is on Madison’s east side (off campus) on Stoughton Road.

 

Employees in these roles can expect benefits such as generous vacation, holidays, and paid time off; competitive insurance and savings accounts; and retirement benefits.

Hope for an Endangered Art

Veronica Pham MFAx’24 preserves an ancient form of papermaking, with a twist. Most of us use paper products without thinking much about them. That is certainly true at DPPS, where we have pallets upon pallets of paper moving through the shop all the time.

But for UW student and artist Veronica Pham MFAx’24, every piece of paper tells a story. Read this recent OnWisconsin article on the lost art of papermaking.

Art Gallery Goes Large Format

Art Gallery ImagesWe recently installed an art gallery in our large format production room, to showcase the different types of material we can output to. These colorful images surround the new Colex CNC cutter and add some interest to this workspace. Prepress staff selected some of their favorite images from public-domain fine art sites, and we printed them on our EFI poster printer. Some were finished off in repurposed frames from thrift shops, and others were displayed using scroll hangers or bare-edged.

We decided that Kono Bairei’s “Sleeping Cat” won ‘best in show.’ Which one speaks to you?

See them in more detail at https://printing.wisc.edu/dpps-art-gallery-2109/

Sleeping Cat print
Kono Bairei’s “Sleeping Cat” print; part of the DPPS art gallery.

After the Storm

snow covers some oak leaves in Madison WI after a storm January 9, 2024.

The Madison area had a substantial amount of snow dumped upon us on January 9. As a reminder, the UW doesn’t close during weather events, so we were open as usual during that snowfall. You can ALWAYS access our website for 24/7 file submission of your projects as well, from the comfort of your home or office! Go to the ordering tab above in the menu.

Memories of prior equipment

Sakurai Plaque

Before we moved to our new location, we decided to sunset some older Sakurai 2-color press equipment instead of spending the money to move them to our new location. The work that was produced on these presses has since transitioned to our larger four-color press, or over to the Ricoh digital presses we added to our fleet in 2022 during the move.

We did salvage a few parts off the old presses before they were recycled and now have a small plaque to remember them by. These presses were workhorses and served us well for several years of production.

We purchased both Sakurais used from other printers, one in 2012 and the second in 2014. Below is a photo of the second press when it was being installed back in September 2014.

Sakurai Install Sept 2014

 

The Difference a Year Makes

Ricoh #3 DeliveryOne year ago today, we were accepting delivery on a third Ricoh 9210 high-speed printer for our digital production area. We had started with two of these amazing production devices when we moved here in March 2022, and quickly saw the benefits of adding another. Luckily, we had designed the space to allow for such growth.

What a difference a year makes! Since the installation of Ricoh #3, we’ve seen major growth in our output and abilities. This is just one of many areas where we’ve added innovations or process improvements in the shop.

Have you seen our new facility yet? Stop by during open hours to visit with staff and get a quick tour.

We’re looking forward to 2024 and even more innovative changes in our production methods!

 

QR Codes Explained

Quick-Response (QR) Code – invented in 1994 by a Japanese automotive company.

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Many Uses for QR Codes! You can direct people to a website, download a document or app, initiate an email or phone call, connect to wifi, and more with QR Codes. You can even have them make a payment or donation to your cause as a result of scanning a code!

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Simplify for Smaller Uses: QR Codes can get complex – for smaller sizes, simplicity is key.

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BOX and URL shorteners: Use these services to be more versatile in your QR Code use.

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We can help: Contact Rich Gassen at 608-516-7352 for more information and help with QR Codes on your next print project!

Holiday Hours

DPPS will be closed on Monday, 12/25 and Monday, 01/01. We are open regular hours Tuesday-Friday of those weeks.

Customer pickups at the DoIT Help Desk will be affected by their holiday hours too; 1210 West Dayton is closed from 12/23-01/01. Please plan ahead for your proof and product pickups during that time, to make alternate arrangements.

Thank you for your patronage throughout the year, and enjoy the holidays!