ACUP+ Conference Off to a Great Start

By Bob Neubauer

Since Sunday evening, higher-ed in-plant managers have been excitedly catching up with one another at the Association of College and University Printers (ACUP+) conference. More than 50 higher-ed and K-12 managers from the U.S. and Canada are in Lincoln, Nebraska, this week for the event, and the networking has been more enthusiastic than ever.

Sunday’s opening reception was abuzz with laughter and discussions, and the conversations have continued for the past two days – at the luncheons, in the vendor hall, and for long hours into the night.

Monday’s opening keynote speaker, Desi Payne, got attendees laughing with her talk on the incredible power of laughter and how it reduces stress.

IPI Editor Bob Neubauer gives the morning keynote presentation at the ACUP+ 2023 conference in Lincoln, Nebraska.

My Tuesday morning keynote was well received. I shared brand new IPI survey data showing equipment trends at higher-ed in-plants and highlighting new installations over the past year, many of which were of wide-format equipment.

The educational sessions and roundtable discussions on the first two days of ACUP+ have all been great. Canon’s Bob Barbera talked about retooling your in-plant for growth, and noted that color management features are being incorporated into today’s digital presses. Ian Reynolds from University of California, Davis, showed off innovative wide-format applications. Jeff Todd and Jennifer Hunt from Oregon State University talked about how stickers have become hugely popular and served a springboard for new business.

A hit last year at ACUP+ 2022, the folks from MacTac and Plasticade were back with a hands-on workshop that allowed attendees to apply window, wall and floor graphics themselves. Nathan Thole from Iowa State University talked about his in-plant’s journey into inkjet and detailed how he was able to justify a Canon iX inkjet press.

Today’s sessions will cover using variable data in presort mailings and wide-format substrates, followed by another round of roundtables. Then the group will travel to the University of Nebraska’s in-plant for a tour. For some it will be their first time seeing a six-color, 40˝ offset press in years. Tonight the conference will wrap up with an awards ceremony and a gala dinner.

The ACUP+ 2023 conference in Lincoln, Nebraska.

A roundtable discussion at the ACUP+ 2023 conference in Lincoln, Nebraska.

The ACUP+ 2023 conference in Lincoln, Nebraska.

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Bob Neubauer Author's page

Bob has served as editor of In-plant Impressions since October of 1994. Prior to that he served for three years as managing editor of Printing Impressions, a commercial printing publication. Mr. Neubauer is very active in the U.S. in-plant industry. He attends all the major in-plant conferences and has visited more than 180 in-plant operations around the world. He has given presentations to numerous in-plant groups in the U.S., Canada and Australia, including the Association of College and University Printers and the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association. He also coordinates the annual In-Print contest, co-sponsored by IPMA and In-plant Impressions.