Case Study

 

OCAD University is Canada’s largest and oldest educational institution for art and design. The school’s studio-based education means students always have a project in progress. Their courses range from architecture and industrial design to graphic design and marketing. To meet the students’ needs, the school’s print shop relied heavily on one wide format inkjet printer. They eventually realized that wasn’t the ideal setup.

 

“We purchased the ColorWave 500 to answer a very specific question: How do we produce product for a really short life span in a very short amount of time?” says Pat Navarro, the manager of copy and print services at OCAD University. Price was a primary concern for many of their clients. “We all needed a solution that dropped that price point just a little bit and still allowed us to produce quality wide format.”

 

Cost savings

The print shop’s clients may be future visual arts professionals—illustrators, graphic designers, artists, etc.—but for now they’re budget-minded students. With the inkjet printer, the shop charged up to $8/square foot on standard 40 lb bond stock. With the ColorWave 500, they charge $1.50/square foot. “That’s a massive decrease in cost for the students,” says Navarro. In the past, students often shopped around when they needed to print. Now, says Navarro, they know they don’t have to go off-campus to find the print quality and price point that meets their wide format needs.

 

Versatility

In addition to the wide format inkjet printer, the print shop occasionally turned to a monochrome engineering photocopier. However, printing graphic applications on the device shortened its life span. The ColorWave 500 prints both colour and black and white, one of the biggest selling factors for OCAD University.

 

“We saw a bunch of engineer photocopiers before,” says Navarro. “We were looking for colour, and the ColorWave was pretty much exactly what we were looking for in regards to adding that colour capability and quality as well.”

 

The machine also holds up to four rolls of media. The print shop currently uses a standard 20 lb draft bond, an 18 lb translucent bond, a 40 lb premium bond and a 5-mil semi-gloss photo paper. “Changing rolls is time consuming, so [the ColorWave 500] helps with productivity,” says Navarro. Having multiple media rolls online allows the students to select the appropriate media for their assignments without staff having to constantly change the roll on the printer. This feature reduces bottlenecks and minimizes the turnaround time students need for their last-minute print requests. The ColorWave 500 has the ability to print on many different substrates, including uncoated papers, uncoated Tyvek®, self-adhesive papers, self-adhesive coated vinyl’s, blue back papers, polypropylene films, polyester films, light blocks films, soft banner, instant dry photo paper and backlit paper.

 

Ease of use

The print shop staffs many part-timers, who aren’t as comprehensively trained as Navarro is on the machine. However, he says, operation has been straightforward, as has changing out rolls. “It’s helped us out in terms of productivity and efficiency for sure.” The ClearConnect touchscreen works like a tablet so there is little to no learning curve. The simple layout, intuitive design and detailed preview functions help users get their prints faster, without errors, even when they are stored in the cloud or have just arrived in an email on their mobile phone.

 

Productivity

Volume demands fluctuate depending on when assignments are due. “End of term we see up to 300 students a week,” says Navarro. “They’ll literally be a tidal wave of human bodies coming in.” The last thing students need is a stress-inducing lineup for their printouts. “[The ColorWave 500] is definitely faster than the inkjet printer,” says Navarro. “There’s little wait time once the machine warms up. Our timing and turnaround from the students’ perspective has been positive.”

 

 

Support

With the high-volume demands on the machine, regular servicing ensures it continues to earn top marks. Navarro appreciates how helpful and upfront technicians have been with him and his team. They even use the opportunities to be students themselves. “We always try to stay ahead of the curve in terms of how it’s working and what it’s actually doing inside,” says Navarro. “We’re receptive to that, and [the technicians| have been accommodating for it. We’ll ask, ‘How did this thing work? We’d like to know.’ We’re just very curious; if we can help maintain it without having to make service calls that’d be great. They take the time to explain things if you’re open to learning.” Canon’s service technicians are among the most rigorously trained in the industry. They receive factory-certified classroom instruction and hands-on training at our state-of-the-art Technical Education Centres.

 

They’ve also taken advantage of the technical resources available to them. Canon’s software consultants helped OCAD University tackle even the most challenging of environments and make their printing operation more efficient and effective. Being a smaller, niche operation, some of their questions come out of left field, says Navarro. “We had a couple of rocky moments where we were trying to pin down media profiling, and [the Canon software consultant] worked closely with my clerk who was the key operator for the device.” Canon’s service team has extensive hands-on experience with a wide range of applications and media. They provide customers with training and support on setting up and processing files, creating media profiles, colour matching and more.

 

Sustainability

OCAD University prioritized price and production on this purchase; it understands, though, its expectation as a school to be environmentally responsible. “It’s on our radar; we always keep the data in mind,” says Navarro. The ColorWave 500 is ENERGY STAR® qualified and has boosted the school’s green grade. The equipment’s CrystalPoint™ technology uses TonerPearls™; there are no ozone emissions, odour or system contamination, there’s minimal waste disposal, and the waste is completely non-toxic and safe. Furthermore, the system is constructed of durable and solid parts, and designed to be recycled and reused.