The UH Printing and Postal Services Department is celebrating its 60th year of operation this November.
The department has a long history of serving the University since 1949, despite a fire in 1960 that destroyed the department’s printing plant. The PPSD was rebuilt after the fire and continued to evolve with the development of the printing industry, PPSD Director Sally J. Rowland-Ketley said.
The department has changed from using letterpresses to offset presses, stripping film to computer-to-plate, and has completely upgraded its bindery area. The department has become a one-stop shop that can serve all of its clients’ needs, from design to mailing.
The department staff has been training to become experts at operating multiple kinds of equipment and technology. Some jobs in the industry have become automated, but others, such as the manual processes in the bindery area, still require supervision, Rowland-Ketley said.
With the advancement of technology since the ’40s, digital printers now make reproductions that were once printed by presses.
‘Digital is not the answer for all printing projects,’ Rowland-Ketley said.
While the department works on many jobs using both types of printing, traditional printing methods will not soon be phased out.
‘When deciding on how we want to run jobs, we take into account the customer, paper stock, ink coverage (and) colors, quantity, quality, timeframe and cost,’ print manager Nalan Giannukos said. ‘The largest piece you can print digitally is 12 (inches) by 18 (inches), so anything larger will have to be done on the offset press.’
An offset press uses a printing plate instead of digital data.’
During this time of the year, the department is busy preparing to mail UH magazines and holiday cards for many other departments.
The PPSD was created to serve the campus community’s postal and print-related needs. It is committed to staying current with the trends and rules of printing, and is dedicated to providing services at reasonable cost.
The department is familiar with campus needs and ensures that projects are done in a high-quality manner while trying to meet project deadlines, Rowland-Ketley said.
‘I know that (PPSD) will continue to provide excellent customer service to the campus community. That has not changed since the actual inception of these departments,’ Rowland-Ketley said. ‘Meeting the goals and deadlines for our customer has always (been), and will continue to be, our top priority.’
