Colter & Peterson PRISM paper cutter answers the call for St. Camillus Printing & Graphics

Jeff Prasser is the Operations Manager for the printing services division of St. Camillus, the patron saint of the sick, hospitals, nurses and physicians. It began in 1984 as a way to print forms for nursing staff of what is now one of the Milwaukee area’s largest senior care facilities. Thirty five years later, it now serves as an important revenue provider by printing work for regional customers.

When Prasser’s old Challenge paper cutter indicated its days of reliable cutting were on the wane, he turned to Eric Hoffmann with dealer Guaranteed Service & Supplies in nearby West Bend. Prasser purchased a new Colter & Peterson PRISM® 80 paper cutter with Microcut® computer controls. Installed last January, he doesn’t know what he would do without it.

“I have a long relationship with Eric and he recommended it. We talked about its benefits and I trusted his opinion,” said Prasser, who joined St. Camillus 27 years ago. He’s worked on the management side for the last 20.

“The PRISM is a solid piece of equipment. I love the automation and the ease of operation. It’s more product-based and I’m not worried about decreasing the lifespan of this machine. We kept the Challenge as a back-up. It’s a basic model that’s 25 years old, with no air table and limited programmability. But we’re using the PRISM to cut everything.”

Serving the community with a purpose

St. Camillus Printing & Graphics recently moved to a 5,500 square-foot space on the campus that occupies several square blocks of real estate in Wauwatosa, a near western suburb of Milwaukee. 

The campus employs 560 people and currently houses 279 independent living apartments, 198 assisted living apartments, and 67 skilled nursing beds. In April 2018, the city approved plans to build a 15-story living tower for more residents.

Prasser and his staff of four run a normal shift five days a week, handling print jobs for a regional base of clients that includes commercial businesses, Fortune 500 companies, healthcare facilities and non-profits.

“Our digital printing has increased to 50 percent. Offset has declined to 30 percent, and large format has grown to 20 percent,” says Prasser. “At one time we may have been considered an in-plant. But I think we’re more of a hybrid, doing the outside work as well as printing for St. Camillus. Our mission is to support and raise outside revenue for the campus.”

They do high quality, quick turnaround work, and all of the digital and offset jobs are run through the 31-inch PRISM.

“Virtually every job is cut in one shape and form,” he said. “We cut full size sheets and do everything from letterhead, business cards and envelopes, to brochures, annual reports, postcards and other work,” he said. Having Microcut paper cutter controls on the PRISM has made a huge difference in turning around jobs.

“We married it with our digital presses,”continued Prasser while talking about his Ricoh 7100X color and 8120 black and white machines, in addition to a Xerox 700 color unit. “By having the templates matched to output and setting up the programs, we have greatly increased our efficiency. For example, we printed 52,000 postcards and when using the Challenge to trim parent 13-by-19 inch sheets, it took us 1-1/2 days. Doing the same job with the PRISM required only half the amount of time.”

Acknowledging that doesn’t happen with every job, Prasser did say having Microcut to store job information for recall at a later time is a luxury he did not have with the Challenge. “We’re still getting used to all the bells and whistles but I like it. We’ve had to change the blade only once on the PRISM and it was easy to do, very straightforward and no challenge at all, pardon the pun.”

All in all, he knows that if he needs any help or has questions, he knows where to turn.

“I’ve had great support from Guaranteed Service & Supplies. Sean Solomon at Colter & Peterson has visited and he’s there for us. If I have any questions, I can reach out to them. I feel comfortable that we made the right decision with this machine.”