In-plant Events

Almost 80 in-plant representatives attended the 38th annual Big Ten Printing and Copyright Conference. This article was based on summaries provided by Sandy Komasinski and Don Roberts. Photos were taken by Bill LaBounty. In-plants curious about the differences between Xerox, Kodak NexPress and HP Indigo high-speed color printers, got an insider's point of view at the recent Big Ten Printing and Copyright Conference, hosted by Ohio State University and organized by Don Roberts, assistant director of University Retail Services. In-plant users of each technology related their experiences in a candid session that was the highlight of this year's conference. The panel featured: • Jeff

Despite losing its original hotel to Hurricane Katrina, the National State Publishing Association rebounded, holding a successful 29th annual conference in Tunica, Miss. By Bob Neubauer Joe Tucker said it all in his opening statement as he addressed the crowd at last month's National State Publishing Association conference. "I can't tell you how happy I am to see today come, after all that's happened," said Tucker, NSPA president and State of Ohio Printing Administrator. "All that's happened" includes Hurricane Katrina, which wiped out Biloxi, Miss., the intended location for the 29th annual meeting of government printers. The Casino Magic Biloxi—the conference's original venue and

About 55 attendees travelled to Auckland for the recent New Zealand Print Managers conference and exhibition. By Jean-Luc Devis and Martin Booth Sitting on the rim of an extinct, 12,000-year-old volcano overlooking a natural saltwater lagoon, the Waipuna Hotel & Conference Center was the dramatic setting for the recent New Zealand Print Managers conference and exhibition. About 55 attendees travelled to Auckland for the in-plant conference, which featured U.S. presenters Jean-Luc Devis, director of Printing and Mailing Services at Oregon State University, and Ken Macro, assistant professor of graphic communication at California Polytechnic State University. Wayne Riggall, of the University of Waikato,

A year after Drupa, what new surprises do graphic arts vendors have in store for in-plants? Here's an advanced look. In-plant managers eager to see the latest graphic arts technologies can't do much better than Print 05 & Converting 05. Held in Chicago once every four years, this is the printing industry's main event. Larger than last year's Graph Expo show, Print 05 will feature nearly 800 exhibits covering more than 725,000 square feet of floor space. To help in-plants prepare, many of the industry's key vendors offered a peak at the products they plan to display in Chicago. Offset Boasting

Technology mingled with history as the AIIM On Demand Conference and Exposition brought the latest digital printing technologies to Philadelphia. By Bob Neubauer Prior to this year's AIIM On Demand Conference and Exposition, vendors had wondered whether attendees would follow the show from New York, where it took place for the past decade, to Philadelphia. But after watching more than 21,000 visitors flood the show's two floors' worth of exhibits in May, few left disappointed. True, last year's showing of 25,903 attendees topped this year's crowd. But as locations go, the Pennsylvania Convention Center, smack in the heart of downtown Philadelphia, beat New

From college and university in-plants all over Canada, managers traveled to a resort in Ontario for the 38th annual CUPMAC conference. By Bob Neubauer For 37 years members of the College and University Print Management Association of Canada (CUPMAC) have been getting together at locations around Canada to discuss their mutual concerns. Last month, for the first time, IPG joined them. Twenty-five members of the group met for four days at a lakeside resort in Ontario, about two hours northeast of Toronto. Despite some uncharacteristically hot and humid weather—especially jarring for those coming down from chilly Newfoundland—the group managed to have a good time

Providing low-cost printing is no longer enough. At IPMA 2005, in-plants learned they must improve their customer relations skills and integrate themselves into their organizations' core businesses to survive. By Bob Neubauer More than 100 in-plant managers gathered in suburban Chicago last month for IPMA 2005, the annual International Publishing Management Association conference. Appropriately dubbed "Winds of Change," the conference focused on the need for in-plants to transform from printing operations into providers of financial and strategic value to their parent organizations. The conference took place at the elegant Oak Brook Hills Resort, in the midst of a Midwest heat wave that kept

More than 100 in-plant managers met in Columbia, Missouri, for the recent Association of College and University Printers conference. By Bob Neubauer These days, in-plant customers want more than just printing. Reorganizing your operation to meet their needs was one of the major themes at the recent Association of College and University Printers conference. Hosted by the University of Missouri-Columbia, ACUP 2005 brought 109 in-plant managers to central Missouri to listen to ideas on how to revamp their operations for the future. At the same time, attendees got a chance to mingle with managers from around the country and as far away as

The National Association of College Auxiliary Services took a close look at campus print and mail operations at its recent meeting. By Ray and Catherine Chambers Managers eager to learn more about running print and mail operations got a real education at the recent National Association of College Auxiliary Services (NACAS) meeting, held at Indiana University Purdue University-Indianapolis. A two-day workshop for auxiliary directors, business managers and others responsible for print and mail operations drew more than 45 participants. Entitled "Understanding Campus Print and Mail Operations: Tools for Effective Management," the workshop covered organizational issues for print and mail, financial planning, marketing, the

When the doors of Chicago's McCormick Place swing open to about 40,000 Graph Expo attendees on October 10, a large number of in-plant managers will be among them. Coming five months after the Drupa printing exposition in Germany, Graph Expo may not hold a lot of surprises, but that will hardly dampen the enthusiam that always accompanies this show. The one trend that stuck out at Drupa, according to Bill Lamparter, president of PrintCom Consulting Group in Charlotte, N.C., was the revitalization of the sheetfed offset press. Lamparter notes that most manufacturers unveiled "significant developments" to the sheetfed press, with Heidelberg practically rolling