IPG Visits Six PA In-plants

For three days this week, IPG Editor Bob Neubauer traveled around Central Pennsylvania, visiting in-plants and talking with managers about their future plans. He provided daily updates of his travels on IPG’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/inplant) along with photos of the shops he visited. These included:

• Pennsylvania Department of General Services, Harrisburg
• Penn State University, State College
• Penn College, Williamsport
• Bucknell University, Lewisburg
• Bloomsburg University, Bloomsburg
• Lehigh University, Bethlehem

At the PA General Services Department, Neubauer met with Commonwealth Print Administrator Audrey Marrocco and learned how she has successfully centralized 20 percent of the commonwealth’s printing operations in the past year and a half, with a projected savings of more than $1 million. Neubauer toured the impressive new 40,000-square-foot facility, complete with offset and digital capabilities, including a Xerox iGen3.

At Penn State, Director Abbas Badani showed off his in-plant’s new Pitney Bowes FlowMaster insterting system, and noted that having oversight of both mail and print has strengthened his operation. His department recently negotiated a new campus MFD agreement, which will save PSU some $750,000.

At Penn College, Joe Geffre, director of Mail and Document Services, just received authority to oversee contracts for all school printers, which he expects will save big money. Neubauer toured this well-equipped in-plant, which includes a Kodak NexPress and numerous offset presses, and learned how the in-plant must balance production with student lab time on the equipment. To further help the school’s educational mission, the in-plant produces textbooks and other class materials, which are sold to students at very low prices.

The centerpiece of Bucknell University’s in-plant was its new Xerox Color 800 digital press, an 80-page-per-minute, 2,400x2,400-dpi printer. (Watch for a story in our November issue.) Operators at the shop seem thrilled with the new machine, and print samples look great. Neubauer also toured the offset and mail departments with Director Lisa Hoover.

On the last day of his road trip, Neubauer visited Bloomsburg University’s compact but very neat Printing Services operation and met with Manager Tom Patacconi. The shop has several Lanier digital machines, including a Lanier 720s Pro with an inline Plockmatic bookletmaker. Nearby were two identical two-color Ryobi presses. The shop uses a home-grown job ordering system and an A.B.Dick DPM 2340 platesetter.

The final in-plant on the tour was Lehigh University, where Director Glenn Strause told Neubauer about several innovative services he has initiated, including document scanning, digital photo printing/delivery (in partnership with a local photo shop) and customized Blue Book printing. He plans to start offering document shredding soon, as well. The in-plant boasts both offset and digital equipment, including a new Ricoh Pro C900 digital color press.

Watch for more complete coverage of these in-plant visits in In-Plant Graphics, and a video of this in-plant road trip at InPlantGraphics.com.