Harlequin set up an in-house digital paperback book printing line, staffed by seven people over two shifts, that enables the in-plant to print and finish more than 1,000 paperback books per hour. To print the books, Harlequin selected a high-volume Océ VarioStream continuous-feed printer, a toner-based solution that prints almost 10,000 books in an eight-hour shift.
Northern Oklahoma College recently installed not one but three Ricoh Pro digital printers. Customers have fallen in love with the quality color work the in-plant is now able to produce.
When the Admissions department at Rochester Institute of Technology—the biggest customer of RIT's Print and Postal Hub—turned to Director John Meyer for help with increasing enrollment, he gave the project his full attention. Admissions had set a goal to increase enrollment by 10 percent a year for the next 10 years.
Once their digital color presses are up and running, in-plants often discover a few things they wish they had known ahead of time. We asked four managers to tell us what they learned—and what they wish they had known ahead of time.
Through the use of data analytics and enhanced relevant marketing Rosemont College hoped to improve results for its Annual Fund drive. Rosemont’s service provider, Pacesetter Enterprises, developed a multi-phase, cross-channel campaign that exceeded expectations. Undergraduate alumni participation increased by 66%.
To make itself even more integral to the university's marketing strategy, Cedarville University Postal & Print Services installed a Ricoh Pro C901 Graphic Arts Edition digital color printer.
Since the purchase of a Konica Minolta bizhub C500 press five years ago, Jeff Davis, in-plant coordinator at Southwest Tennessee Community College, has been impressed with the quality of the machine. So when he decided to boost his in-plant's finishing capabilities, he went with two bizhub C6000 presses.
The addition of a new Konica Minolta bizhub PRESS C7000 last September has made all the difference to the in-plant at Iowa Bankers Association in Johnston, Iowa. As the in-plant's volume began to increase, Todd Palmer, printing coordinator, realized that sharing a four-color Canon imageRUNNER press with the rest of the staff at the company was no longer going to cut it.
Over the past couple of years, there has been a noticeable increase in envelope printing at in-plants. The trend has been enabled by the availability of small digital envelope presses from companies like Xanté, PSI Engineering, Intoprint Technologies and OKI Data Americas. All of the devices use the same OKI print engine but offer different feeding options. These devices hit the market just as many in-plants' old offset duplicators were breaking down and their operators started retiring.
Dozens of government and higher-ed printers met in Washington, D.C., for the INTERQUEST Digital Printing in Government and Higher Education Forum.
