From the Editor: The Canadian Connection
Poutine: Every bit as wonderful as it looks.
I learned some very important things in Canada while attending last month’s College and University Print Management Association of Canada (CUPMAC) conference. For instance, I was shocked to discover there is such a thing as poutine: french fries and cheese curds topped with gravy. It’s on every menu in Canada. Why didn’t we think of that in the U.S.? I had it four times! (I also went running a lot, to give myself the illusion of healthy behavior.)
Culinary delights aside, I also came away from the Ottawa conference with the feeling that Canadian in-plants have pretty much the same goals and concerns as their U.S. counterparts. Managers gave presentations detailing how they have generated new revenue by partnering with outside organizations to handle their printing; how they upgraded their equipment to keep more work in-house and save money; how they implemented MFD fleets and software to let students print from mobile devices. Fleet management, in fact, was a big topic, as it is in the U.S. Several sessions focused on the ins and outs of providing managed print services.
CUPMAC attendees at one of the sessions.
This was my third time attending CUPMAC, though it’s been a decade since my last appearance, so most of the attendees were new to me. It was a close-knit, friendly group whose members were easy to talk to. This year was CUPMAC’s 50th anniversary, though they didn’t celebrate this fact as much as the Association of College and University Printers (ACUP+) did when it hit the half century mark two years ago.
CUPMAC attendees Philip Poelmans (McMaster University), Heather Hersemeyer (Nipissing University) and Hanif Kassam (Simon Fraser Univeristy) chat in between sessions.
I enjoyed tours of the in-plants at Algonquin College and Carleton University, both of which rely on multiple Konica Minolta printers. Carleton also runs several offset presses, including a four-color Heidelberg, which it uses to print some great quality work. (I actually had to break away from the group while at Carleton to moderate a webinar on Web-to-print from assistant director Kathleen Kelly’s office.)
Overall it was a great event, and I enjoyed getting to know the managers who attended. I got several good story ideas from our conversations.
IPG Editor Bob Neubauer accepts the IPMA Outstanding Partner Award.
I flew to Ottawa on the heels of a much larger in-plant event: the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association (IPMA) conference, which I’ve described in great detail in the July issue. One thing I’d like to add, though, was how honored I was to be recognized by IPMA with its Outstanding Partner Award during the conference. I appreciated all of the kind compliments from managers after the ceremony as well.
As I said on stage when I accepted the award, in-plants don’t often get the respect they deserve from their parent organizations nor from their peers in this industry. So I’ve made it my mission to make them look good by publishing positive stories that celebrate their victories and highlight their accomplishments. And that’s what I plan to keep on doing.
CUPMAC 2017 attendees
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.
