FAYETTEVILLE -- The closing of an offset print operation at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville will shrink away four positions after 12 others had been lost in the nearly two years since UA first announced the move.
The four jobs will end June 30. The Print-Mail-Copy Solutions unit had 39 positions in July 2014 when the university announced plans to end what it described as a money-losing operation on July 1, 2016.
Offset printing involves ink transfer from a plate to a rubber cylinder and then onto paper. The process offers an alternative to digital printing. Common jobs include brochures, newsletters and postcards.
After June 30, UA will have 25 employees in its Print-Mail-Copy Solutions unit, said UA spokesman Steve Voorhies, including 15 mail services workers not affected by the loss of offset printing. Ten employees will continue after June 30 at UA's print building on West Mitchell Street.
By state law, UA's future offset print jobs will go either to a printing operation at another state entity or involve a formal bid process, according to Voorhies. The university announced to employees earlier this month that Arkansas State University in Jonesboro will be an option for future jobs.
"The offset printing operation has been operating at a deficit for the past several years and the other PMC positive revenue streams were covering this shortfall," Voorhies said in an email. "PMC will continue to operate as a self-funded auxiliary. With the closure of the offset press, the university will realize savings in the overall PMC operations that will be invested to expand the digital printing services capabilities."
Pradeep Mishra, director of printing services for Arkansas State University, said print jobs now often involve lesser quantities than in the past.
For a particular job, "the new trend is like, something we used to print 20,000 of five years back, we are printing probably 10,000 now," Mishra said.
The quantity of a job influences the economics of deciding whether to choose offset or digital printing.
"For shorter runs, digital is more economical and offset is more expensive," Mishra said.
Mark Rushing, assistant vice chancellor for university relations, wrote in an email that employees were given approximately two years "to make an orderly transition to other employment or plan for retirement." The university also provided a chance to apply for other campus jobs and information about training for other positions, Rushing wrote.
Rushing wrote that UA did not have a current estimate on cost savings anticipated with the move. In 2014, a UA official, David Martinson, who retired later that year, said in a statement that he expected savings of several hundred thousand dollars per year. Martinson was an associate vice chancellor for business affairs.
Equipment used for offset printing will be sold with "proceeds reinvested in digital printing/bindery equipment to meet the increasing needs of the campus," according to an email from Voorhies.
Metro on 05/20/2016