Digital Printing in Government

ABOUT 100 document professionals participated in the recent Digital Printing in Government Forum. Organized by INTERQUEST, a market and technology research and consulting firm, the third annual forum took place in Washington, D.C., on November 5. During the “Leading Vendors Strategies Panel,” which kicked off the event, Elaine Wilde, vice president of sales for Kodak’s Graphic Communications Group, spoke about some leading-edge public sector in-plants that have been using Kodak’s technology:

• The University of California-Riverside surpassed enrollment rates by 26 percent by producing a customized admission packet for 19,000 students using its NexPress.

• The University of Mississippi used Kodak’s new Dimensional technology (which creates special tactile effects) to produce invitations for one of the presidential debates.

• The State of Washington’s Department of Printing has embraced the Integrated Suite of Kodak Solutions (i.e. Prinergy, computer-to-plate and NexPress) to show its customers how new technology—particularly variable data—can help them better reach their audiences.

INTERQUEST analysts presented preliminary findings from a new Digital Printing in Government study. David Davis, director at INTERQUEST, said that 60 percent of the federal in-plant managers interviewed for this year’s study have seen print volumes decline in the past two years due to the impact of electronic media, while 33 percent have seen no impact. He reported that only 9 percent of respondents expect their monochrome digital printing to increase over the next three years, while the majority sees their volume staying flat.

Three Government In-plants

The morning portion of the seminar concluded with case studies from government users. Gregory Cooper, print shop manager for the City of Baltimore, explained that his department took over data center printing from IT two years ago. His shop uses conventional printing equipment along with a fleet of Xerox black-and-white, highlight- and full-color systems. Digital printing work includes bills, phone directories and curriculum guides. HP and Epson large-format equipment is used to print banners and color posters.

“Scanning is where I am starting to make a lot of money,” noted Cooper. “We are also producing variable data jobs for the police and fire departments, and they are now seeing a higher response rate from some of their personalized recruitment campaigns.”

Audrey Marrocco, commonwealth print administrator at Pennsylvania’s Department of General Services, said that four years ago a study was conducted to look into outsourcing her department, the Bureau of Publications. Instead, it was upgraded.

“One of the things we have done over the past few years is position the organization,” she said. “We got away from just being a print operation. We moved into a new facility, upgraded the digital equipment to add highlight color, we have added a small color printer to our satellite operation and we are in the process of adding an iGen3. One of our biggest transformations that has really helped us grow into a premier document provider, is taking in variable data printing and mailing applications.”

Ray Wajbel, Printing and Publications Manager for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) then spoke about his in-plant, which uses new Océ cut-sheet monochrome and color digital equipment.

“Within CMS, we are currently responsible for over a billion pieces of outreach notices being distributed through the year,” said Wajbel. These are outsourced through GPO and other partners. The internal facility was a copy center, but is now turning into a print and mail facility, he said. Volume has been increasing while budgets have not changed, which is a major challenge.

“Getting upper management involved is important to get the understanding of what is required to run the center,” added Wajbel.

Full Color on the Rise

Following lunch, the afternoon session focused on digital color printing. Toby Cobrin, director at INTERQUEST, said that full color now accounts for about 13 percent of the total digital print volume produced by federal government in-plants compared with 8 percent two years ago.

The event concluded with a panel of leading government users, print buyers and providers who discussed their color digital printing activity. Among them was David Zwang, a consultant working with the Department of State, which has Océ and Kodak digital printing capabilities in Washington, D.C., and Manila. They distribute and print around the world, using a standard color profile on all of their devices.

“When we do color campaigns, no matter where it is, whether it is offset or digital or where it is produced, it is to the same color target. So that when the pieces are produced they look like they were designed to be together in one campaign,” Zwang noted.

Jane Bloodworth, manager of the World Bank’s in-plant (see cover story), gave an update on the evolution of her organization, which has both offset and digital equipment. Black-and-white work is declining, she said, while color is growing.

“This is our opportunity to leverage the infrastructure and bring more work in from outside,” she said. “Many more in-plants are outsourcing. We are actually insourcing.”

Bloodworth also talked about the need to print responsibly and explained that she is building an environmental procurement policy with her procurement people so they will take a look at how the paper is produced. IPG