Xerox Brings In-plants to Rochester

IPG Editor Bob Neubauer gave the keynote address last week to two dozen in-plant managers at a Xerox Thought Leadership Workshop in Rochester, N.Y. He spoke about trends in the in-plant market, using data IPG collected in a major industry survey.

The workshop was part of an effort by Xerox to better understand the in-plant market, which the company recognizes as one of its most important customer groups. In-plant attendees, who hailed from Alaska, South Carolina, Missouri, California, Nebraska and many other places, got plenty of time to network with one another. They spent a full day at the Gil Hatch Center for Customer Innovation, where they learned about trends in corporate marketing and variable data printing from Xerox executives and got a tour of the production floor.

In one exercise, managers were split into small groups and asked to list the top issues they face. Among them were setting up chargeback systems, justifying new equipment to upper management, educating customers and dealing with declining print volumes.

Greg Cooper, print shop manager for the City of Baltimore, made a presentation about how he has moved his in-plant from offset to digital printing and assumed responsibility for IT printing. His in-plant now prints the city’s bills, which has made it somewhat indispensable to the city.