One clear trend among religion-based in-plants is a move away from offset and toward digital printing.

By Bob Neubauer

One clear trend among the religion-based in-plants contacted by IPG is a move away from offset and toward digital printing. Three different in-plants have shut down their presses, while another started a digital in-plant from scratch.

“Most of our runs are short run,” explains Lynn Baskerville, director of print operations for the Central Community Church in Wichita, Kan. The shop recently silenced its two-color Ryobi and is using a new Konica Minolta LD-5100 color printer to produce newsletters, letterhead and other products.

“We get [the newsletter] out a day and a half quicker now,” remarks Baskerville. “Color’s consistent all the way through the run.”

Turnaround time was also the issue at Grace Baptist Church, in Santa Clarita, Calif. Trout Davis says switching from A.B.Dick presses to Standard digital duplicators cut his turnaround time in half. He also uses Kyocera Mita and Riso equipment to print about 1 million copies a year of bulletins, classroom materials, flyers, cards and other items. As an added bonus, the digital equipment is easier to operate, allowing others to help Davis in the print shop.

“We found that offset printing was just not worth it to us,” says J.D. “Kip” Borisky, of the South Palm Beach (Fla.) City Jewish Federation. His three-employee shop now uses Xerox equipment to print the lesson manuals, invitations, brochures and other materials needed by the federation.

In Lubbock, Texas, 20-year veteran Larry Willis says everyone wants color in the bulletins, brochures and letterhead he produces for First United Methodist Church, so his A.B.Dicks are getting less use and his Xerox color copiers are staying busy.

In La Grange, Ill., the Sisters of St. Joseph never had offset at all in their in-plant. They started a shop in 2004 with an HP Indigo 1000, then upgraded to a 5000. It prints greeting cards, posters, newsletters, handbooks, flyers and more.

“It’s less physical labor for me,” remarks Sr. Judy Sikorski, operations manager.

Still, some faith-based in-plants are happy with offset. The Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s shop just added an A.B.Dick/Presstek press. And the Marians of the Immaculate Conception, in Stockbridge, Mass., installed a five-color MAN Roland 305 double perfector a few years ago. A new Kodak platesetter has further solidified offset’s place in that shop.

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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.

Religion Going Digital