Printing service gets the job done
Victor Castellanos
Issue date: 11/20/07 Section: Feature
Beneath the bowels of Mt. SAC is a roaring lion, tamed by six brave employees. It is a ferocious animal that if handled improperly with cooperation, attention and speed, will run loose and wreak havoc on faculty and staff.
That lion is the Mt. SAC Printing Services, and it roars loudly from 6:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., five days a week.
Tamed by six employees, printing services is a well-run operation, offering services ranging from full page color prints to printing envelope letterheads.
The printing services are a vital organ in the body of Mt. SAC, taken care of by Lead of Printing Operations Jim Carl, who has worked underneath the school campus for 27 years.
Speaking loudly and concisely is a necessity here, because of the constant rumble of the printers and because of the importance to detail involved.
Carl is no exception.
He has a deep, tired voice that rises above the loud hum of the machines, and it is understandable when he opens his office door at 5:30 am.
"We're a team," he said. "Not one person is stuck at one job. Everyone is cross trained. There's six people, and six people is not very much. If one person is missing, there's the domino effect. People are standing outside at 6:30 in the morning."
The printing services, on Mt. SAC and other campuses, is serious business. From around the world, printers congregate at the annual Conference of the Association of College and University Printers.
"You pick up a lot of knowledge there, at the shops," Carl said, mentioning printers coming from England, Scotland and Notre Dame. "It's pretty fun and informative."
Behind him are the new machines, three weeks old, and for the inexperienced, the automatic shifting drawers, self-moving decks and sleek black computer screens look intimidating as they growl and clatter.
Sometimes it looks as if the machines are alive, doing all the work themselves. During a busy day, it can look like someone dumped reams of paper all around the room sabotaging the operation.
That lion is the Mt. SAC Printing Services, and it roars loudly from 6:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., five days a week.
Tamed by six employees, printing services is a well-run operation, offering services ranging from full page color prints to printing envelope letterheads.
The printing services are a vital organ in the body of Mt. SAC, taken care of by Lead of Printing Operations Jim Carl, who has worked underneath the school campus for 27 years.
Speaking loudly and concisely is a necessity here, because of the constant rumble of the printers and because of the importance to detail involved.
Carl is no exception.
He has a deep, tired voice that rises above the loud hum of the machines, and it is understandable when he opens his office door at 5:30 am.
"We're a team," he said. "Not one person is stuck at one job. Everyone is cross trained. There's six people, and six people is not very much. If one person is missing, there's the domino effect. People are standing outside at 6:30 in the morning."
The printing services, on Mt. SAC and other campuses, is serious business. From around the world, printers congregate at the annual Conference of the Association of College and University Printers.
"You pick up a lot of knowledge there, at the shops," Carl said, mentioning printers coming from England, Scotland and Notre Dame. "It's pretty fun and informative."
Behind him are the new machines, three weeks old, and for the inexperienced, the automatic shifting drawers, self-moving decks and sleek black computer screens look intimidating as they growl and clatter.
Sometimes it looks as if the machines are alive, doing all the work themselves. During a busy day, it can look like someone dumped reams of paper all around the room sabotaging the operation.
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