Printing For Publishers
In-plants that work for publishing companies are a varied lot. Some print small community newspapers. Others print the books, magazines and newsletters that their parent companies sell. Still others only handle promotional and support materials. But publishing company in-plants do have one thing in common: tight deadlines.
"We're not the only people in the world that sell legal information," notes Ronald Orehowsky, vice president of LRP Publications. If his 34-employee Publishing Support Services division can't print LRP's legal publications quickly, he says, the Horsham, Pa., company will lose business.
Deadline pressure is strong even at in-plants that don't print the publications their companies sell.
"Nobody's got a mandate to deal with us," says Ed Evans of his customers at Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, in Blue Ridge Summit, Pa. "If we can't meet the deadlines, they just go somewhere else."
Evans manages the seven-employee Printing & Mailing Services department, printing the direct mail, flyers and catalogs that help sell the company's titles. With universities among the company's clients, Evans says work picks up in August and again in December before semesters begin.
The in-plant has been in existence for only six years, he says, and is always adding new equipment. It currently uses a two-color Komori Sprint press, sometimes printing up to 20,000 catalogs. The mail center sent more than 3 million pieces last year.
Out in Hampton, Iowa, the Hampton Publishing Company's in-plant does work of an entirely different sort. It prints the town's weekly newspaper, The Hampton Chronicle, along with papers from many surrounding communities, using its five-unit Goss web press. Production Manager Dave Booth says his 17-employee operation also uses sheetfed presses to print letterhead and envelopes for internal use.
The operation is currently installing an Agfa Avantra imagesetter to help it speed up turnaround times.
- By Bob Neubauer
