How the Print and Mail Service of the University of Leeds offers great value for students and university members by offering new products with a desktop label and a direct-to-food printer
The following text is a shortened version. Read the complete case study (PDF file) here.
When you think about an established and historic university like the University of Leeds you don’t necessarily think of all the things that happen in the background. The Print and Mail Service is one of those important cogwheels that supports students and university staff likewise. It is more than just a simply campus print shop. “We offer a full range of printing services to our current and future students and all staff across the whole university,” introduces Oliver Renshaw, Business and Systems Manager of the department, its core business. Staff as well as students can order anything from staff IDs, postcards, posters, dissertation and thesis printing to signage and labels through the department’s online store.
To offer all those products the department is equipped with a heavy load of different professional printing hardware and software. One of the recent additions to their print portfolio is the LX610e Color Label Printer. This full-colour, desktop label printer/plotter combines colour inkjet label printing with a built-in digital die-cutting mechanism, producing any shape and customised labels in seconds. The LX610e uses labels on rolls, which is much easier and allows for an on-demand production. As the LX610e not only prints but also cuts any shape or size it allows for a more productive workflow and also reduces the operator intervention considerably. Renshaw adds: “It also opens up new markets for stickers and shorter run labels due to its flexibility of substrates and ease of use.”
Since they purchased the LX610e in late 2022 through Labelling Solutions, an authorised partner of DTM Print in the UK, the Print and Mail Service produces several thousand labels at peak times, allowing them to provide more impressive colour labels of any shape than before. Order quantities can be anything from just one label to a few hundred at a time. “We only print what we need,” Renshaw points out one of the many advantages that comes with this desktop inkjet colour label printer. Others are ease of use, the small footprint, low running costs and the great print quality. It’s used daily as their main customer for labels at the moment is the university’s own catering department for food labelling. The label printer is already showing great returns as the department could add new products and services. They also shifted some jobs from other devices to the LX610e allowing for greater profitability. Renshaw elaborates: “Not only were we able to diversify our product range, we also expect a full return on investment in the first year.”
Together with the LX610e they also bought Eddie, the edible ink printer that prints logos, photos and text directly onto biscuits, sweets, marshmallows, white chocolate and a wide range of baked goods. As Eddie prints directly onto the surface of food, there is no need for using icing sheets; no aftertaste and no added texture which would decrease the quality of the food.
Personalisation is the main reason Leeds University uses Eddie. “Eddie is more of a self-promotion tool to highlight we are not just a department that prints on paper,” explains Renshaw their decision to invest in a direct-to-food printer. “The printer makes a great talking point as people love to see it work. That said, we have plans for doing something a bit special with the Eddie around graduation times - just to enhance the experience.”