Association of College and University Printers begins in Minneapolis, bringing 80 in-plants together for 4 days of education and networking

By Bob Neubauer

After a long, cold winter, Minneapolis greeted college and university in-plant managers with warm temperatures and cloudy skies on the first day of ACUP. About 80 managers from 25 states and the U.K. are gathered in the “Land of 10,000 Lakes” right now for the 48th annual Association of College and University Printers (ACUP) conference.

The conversations at Sunday night's opening reception brimmed with enthusiasm, as managers got to know one another and quickly began sharing news about their in-plants, while a jazz band (courtesy of the University of St. Thomas) played in the background.

At Monday's opening session, host Doug Fenske, a long-time ACUP attendee from Minnesota State University-Mankato, greeted the crowd of old friends and newcomers, welcoming them to his state. Then Tom de Ranitz, founder of Forte Consulting, took to the podium with his keynote titled “If Printers Ruled the World.” He stressed the importance of setting up timelines instead of deadlines for projects, which give you breathing room and let you manage both space and pace, leading to better outcomes.

Then, after managers had a chance to browse the exhibits on the busy vendor floor, they headed for breakout sessions. Richard Griffin covered customer service and the need to show enthusiasm, while in an adjoining room a group of attendees had a spirited discussion on mailing issues, including the USPS Every Door Direct Mail program.

After a pleasant walk down Minneapolis’ Nicollet Mall to lunch at The Newsroom, attendees filed into afternoon session. Ray Chambers, CEO of the Chambers Management Group, and his wife Cathy Chambers, of Virginia Tech's in-plant, led an in-depth workshop about strategic print management, covering hands-on decision making, recognizing and addressing management problems, and evaluating results. The two-day workshop will continue on Tuesday.

Elsewhere, Richard Tussey of Eastern Kentucky University gave a spirited presentation on his efforts to implement a copier fleet management program at his school, and ACUP President Lisa Hoover, of Bucknell University, moderated an active roundtable discussion on Web-to-print software.

The packed vendor area at ACUP featured numerous pieces of printing and bindery equipment, including a Konica Minolta bizhub C754 and a bizhug Press C7000; a Riso ComColor 7050; a Xerox WorkCentre 7855; a Xanté Impressia; a Mutoh ValueJet VJ-1624 (recently purchased by Gustavus Adolphus University); a Spiel Sterling Digibinder; an MBM Aerocut G2; a James Burn DocuPunch MK2; and a Printware iJet Press. Anajet's mPower MP10 garment printer was drawing lots of attention.

The day ended with a dinner boat cruise on the Mississippi River, which gave attendees a great opportunity to network and compare notes.

Be sure to visit IPG's Facebook page for more photos of ACUP 2013.

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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.

ACUP Off to a Great Start in Minneapolis