From the Editor: Out and About in NYC
Here's something you probably didn't know: there is an in-plant in the Empire State Building. It's not in the basement either; it's way up on the 34th floor, where the view of lower Manhattan is spectacular.
I had a chance to visit this in-plant last month while in New York for the Digital Book Printing Conference, an event produced by my company. While in the Big Apple, I toured a couple of in-plants to learn more about their operations. One of them was at Human Rights Watch, a research and advocacy organization devoted to defending the rights of people worldwide. It has its New York headquarters inside the iconic 103-story skyscraper, so I was honored to be able to scoot past the lines of tourists and ride one of the business elevators to HRW's offices.
HRW investigates and reports on rights abuses, and those reports take the form of perfect-bound color books. The two-person team of Fitz Hepkins and Jose Martinez is responsible for printing and binding these books using Konica Minolta color and monochrome printers. They receive and process orders using Konica Minolta's Printgroove workflow solution, which splits the jobs between printers.
HRW believes strongly in the power of these printed reports, which are filled with color photos, to influence people and get them to take action in a way that online reports would not. Fitz told me the in-plant produces tens of thousands of books per year in several languages.
That same day, I took the subway down to the Wall Street area to visit with Oscar Rivera at the United Federation of Teachers. He oversees the union's printing and mailing operations, plus several other departments. A busy man (evidenced by the numerous times people tried to call him during our meeting) he nonetheless made time to tell me all about his offset and digital printing operation. Oscar is clearly proud of his shop and the upgrades he's been able to bring to it over the years. By meeting with UFT designers years ago, he got them to design for his in-plant's equipment, allowing him to bring more work in-house, which led to the shop's expansion.
With the occasional rumble of passing subway trains emanating from the other side of the shop's walls, he showed me his in-plant's impressive array of equipment, which includes a Ryobi direct imaging press, a Didde web press, three wide-format printers, assorted digital color printers, and full bindery and mailing departments.
Despite his suit and tie, Oscar is a roll-up-the-sleeves-and-pitch-in kind of manager, leading by example. The Thanksgiving and Christmas lunches he hosts for his staff help keep spirits high and preserve the good relationships he has built.
"I really enjoy what I do for a living," he told me. And after seeing him in action, I'm convinced that's no exaggeration.
- Companies:
- Konica Minolta Business Solutions
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.
