In-plant Events

At the inaugural Inkjet Summit in April, Charlie Pesko, founder of InfoTrends, stressed that production inkjet technology was poised to transfigure the printing business. "I sincerely believe that inkjet is the next big game changer in the printing industry," he said.

The Association of College and University Printers will make its first venture into the “Land of 10,000 Lakes” next month when its 48th annual conference takes place in Minneapolis, May 19-23. Hosted by Minnesota State University, Mankato and Gustavus Adolphus College, ACUP will feature a full agenda of educational sessions, as well as a vendor exhibit area and plenty of time to network with fellow higher-ed in-plant managers. The group will also tour the Print & Mail Operations of Minnesota State University, Mankato. Two keynote speakers will offer some interesting perspectives:

Just two months away, Graph Expo is shaping up to be an in-plant manager’s dream. The country’s largest graphic arts trade show is putting a lot of emphasis on the in-plant market this year, with sessions, users’ groups and networking opportunities focused exclusively on in-plants.

The Central Pennsylvania Chapter continues to attract new members to its meetings. “It seems if I keep them centralized in the Harrisburg area, most of the members that are within the local region are able to make it,” says Chapter President George Kaufman. He also adds that members are very dedicated to the chapter and enjoy each others’ company.

ANY TIME in-plant managers get together, the conversation and camaraderie never end. This was particularly true at the recent Southeastern University Printing and Digital Managers Conference (SUPDMC). About 30 in-plant managers from universities all over the southern U.S. and as far away as the state of Washington got together in Nashville, Tenn., to exchange information and listen to presentations to help them tune up their operations.

SUPDMC was not the only event for in-plants last month. Just a week later, the 2011 SGIA Expo came to New Orleans, followed by the Texas Association of College and University Printers (TACUP) conference the following week in Fort Worth. SGIA brought 16,000 people to the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center to view the latest wide-format, screen and digital printing technologies.

For years, Southern in-plant managers have been inviting me to the Southeastern University Printing and Digital Managers Conference (SUPDMC). As the name implies, this is a group of in-plant managers who hail mostly from Southern states.

The strong turnout of in-plants at Graph Expo took me by surprise. With all the travel cutbacks of recent years, I thought we'd have trouble filling seats at the roundtable luncheon we hosted; we ended up with a packed room. I could hardly turn a corner at the show without bumping into an in-plant manager.

With excellent sessions and networking opportunities, plus a tour of an award-winning in-plant, ACUP 2011 had everything that college and university in-plant managers could have asked for.

The U.K.-based University Print Managers Group met recently in County Durham, bringing dozens of higher-ed in-plant managers together. One of the speakers was U.S. in-plant manager Catherine Chambers, from Virginia Tech, who gave a session called “Sustaining Operations in Turbulent Times” in which she described her use of metrics to track performance while turning around her in-plant.