In-plant Profiles

Most in-plants’ print jobs center around the core business of their parent companies. But, on any given day, Brian Kniceley’s shop on the shores of Lake Erie could be producing a range of items including window décor for a donut shop, props for a magic show, vehicle decals, or informational signage about the Tyrannosaurus Rex.

For many in-plants, short-run digital printing is the key to their future growth. Not so at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

Though just signed into law in December 2014, GPO's name change from Government Printing Office to Government Publishing Office has been "a long time coming," says John Crawford.

Improving and upgrading technology is nothing new for the eight-employee in-plant, which lies about an hour east of downtown Los Angeles, in the foothills of the scenic San Bernardino Mountains. But as services like shredding and wide-format printing have been added and expanded to better serve the needs of the university, Printing Services still values its offset capabilities.

IPG went Hollywood this week, venturing out to Los Angeles to visit two of the country's largest in-plants. Editor Bob Neubauer got the lowdown on how the city's 108-year-old in-plant expects to grow in the future, and was impressed by the efficiency of the in-plant operation at the Church of Scientology.

It may be hard to believe 3D printing has been around for three decades, but that is exactly what 3D printing expert John Biehler will discuss in his keynote address at the upcoming Xploration 15 conference.

David Pearson doesn't gamble, a seemingly odd admission from the director of Print and Mail Services at Station Casinos, one of Las Vegas' most popular casinos for locals. But for Pearson, his 16 years at Station have been more about bringing gaming opportunities to others through printing and mailing monthly rewards booklets and other direct mail pieces.

With a renewed customer focus and education as its top priority, the Auxiliary Services department for Salem-Keizer Public Schools rebounded from years of budget reductions.

With so many in-plants replacing their offset presses with toner devices, why has one in-plant bucked the trend and added a new five-color press?

When Sherri Broderick began as the supervisor of Print/Mail/Sign Services for the Frisco Independent School District in 2002, the district had just 19 schools for the two-employee in-plant to service. But a population boom in the area over the last decade has expanded the district to 61 schools, with four more to be added in the fall of 2015.