Case Study: Deer Valley Unified School District — Print Services
Integrated resource center optimizes print services in-plant to see a 257% growth in revenue
About our customer
Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, Deer Valley Unified School District Print Services department supports 40 Pre-K-12 schools and over 33,000 students. Their Print Services department in-plant supported most of the communications and printing for the district and prides itself on serving staff, students and their communities.
“Transforming the District’s Print Services department into an Integrated Resource Center with Ricoh has turned out to be the best thing we’ve ever done. We took it from a poor state to a powerhouse source of revenue, making us the fourth largest K-12 print services department nationally.”
— Martin James
Manager, Print Services Department
Deer Valley Unified School District
Challenge
Unprofitable with high overhead and high offset press costs
Legacy equipment with excessive turnaround time for print jobs
Staffing challenges and a lack of internal and external trust
For years, the Print Services department was consistently in the red and struggled with high overhead, staff challenges, high offset press costs, excessive turnaround time for print jobs, legacy equipment, and a lack of internal and external trust. The District’s population was expanding and outgrowing its facility.
The District hired Martin James, Manager, Print Services Department, to help optimize print services and revitalize the print center. Martin was directed to turn the Print Services department into an asset in two years or it would be closed. That was 11 years ago. He turned to Ricoh to build a stronger partnership to help realign and streamline operations.
Solution
“The equipment and onsite maintenance itself proves to me that I couldn’t be doing what I'm doing right now without having Ricoh as a partner.”
— Martin James, Manager, Print Services Department, Deer Valley Unified School District
Created a profitable Integrated Resource Center
Integrated and automated software and equipment
Implemented easy access to ordering with timely project delivery, access to ordering
Reorganized and added staff
Built new revenue streams outside of school campuses
James spearheaded a plan to streamline copy production by creating accessibility to request orders proving to teachers that they could quickly deliver. With Ricoh’s help, the print department was remodeled, and new Ricoh printers were installed — with 99% uptime — restoring lost confidence.
New production equipment included 12 Ricoh high-speed B/W copiers, a Ricoh 9210 Graphic Art Edition color press, two roll-fed wide format printers, a Xante flat-bed UV printer, and bindery equipment. Best practices were implemented, and the team transformed the print center into a profitable Integrated Resource Center (IRC) with advanced technology and well-trained staff.
An e-commerce storefront provides a simple way for customers to order and is integrated with a secured Management Information System (MIS) that manages job workflows, materials, billing, and tracking.
“The equipment and onsite maintenance itself has proven to me that I couldn’t be doing what I'm doing right now without having Ricoh as a partner,” said James.
With a modern IRC, new opportunities were possible. The District decided to produce promotional items in-house. “We expanded our business and made $7,000 in revenue from promotional items our first year. Now, a few years later, we’re in six figures!” explained James. Producing items in-house saves customers about 50% on average compared to outside vendors.
Results
Fourth largest K-12 Print Services department nationally in total revenue and first in revenue per employee
257% revenue growth over six years and 23% YOY growth for the past fiscal year
1,252% growth in curriculum impressions over five years, surpassing 37M/annually
545% growth of external revenue from 95 external school district clients, totaling almost $800K last fiscal year
Automated workflows increased employee productivity and reduced overtime
50-60% savings on wide format signage printing vs. outside printers
50% savings for customers ordering promotional items vs outside vendors
The exponential growth and cost savings by optimizing print services were plentiful, making Deer Valley Unified School District nationally recognized in total revenue and revenue per employee. In fact, their latest school year revenue was record-breaking at $2.16M.
New revenue streams enabled expansion, including printing more curriculum subjects and adding external school districts as clients, renting marketing booths at three Arizona school associations, adding promotional items, and large-format signage. Ordering is easy and jobs can be tracked and monitored for faster delivery. The contemporary IRC saved customers 50% on average when they started the promotional items business, with overall savings in the last 6 years of over $362,000 by bringing it in-house.
“Just from the internal revenue growth we've had in wide format signage jobs, customer satisfaction is high. We are saving our internal and external customers about 50% by using our print services and can produce it more efficiently because our internal customers do not have to cut a requisition or wait for a purchase order to be created,” said James.
Additionally, the IRC has received praise from internal and external customers, awards from industry associations, and freed up time for teachers.
“Transforming the District’s Print Services department into an Integrated Resource Center with Ricoh turned out to be the best thing we’ve ever done,” stated James. “We took it from a poor state to a powerhouse source of revenue, making us the fourth largest K-12 print services department nationally.”
To learn how to optimize print services or transform your print department into an Integrated Resource Center, contact us today.