In-plant Profiles

CINDY HOHMAN is not one to back down from a challenge. The Marion, Ind., native, and future Office Services supervisor for American Electric Power (AEP), was the lone female graduate when she earned her Associate Architectural Engineering degree in 1985 from ITT Tech, in Fort Wayne. She ranked fourth in her class. When Hohman began her career in the construction industry, she was the only woman at her first two jobs—working for an architect that designed churches and for a builder specializing in new home construction. Given her drive, it’s not surprising that Hohman went on to head up an in-plant for one of

IT’S NOT every day an in-plant installs both a Kodak NexPress and a Presstek DI offset press. But the University of Maryland did just that and more a few months ago as part of a major equipment infusion that has revamped and fortified its 58-employee in-plant. The installation—which also included CTP, proofing and MIS systems—was part of a larger strategy, initiated three years ago, to build a modern, efficient Document Services division that combined five separate units into a cohesive team. Matt Raeder, assistant director of the Department of Business Services, was the man behind the merger. Manager of Copy Services at the time,

When the State of Delaware’s Legislative Print Shop, located in Dover, finally ditched its outdated offset duplicators a year ago and added two black-and-white Xerox DocuTech 6115 printers with Freeflow workflow, it made a world of difference for the shop. Now, having just finished its first full legislative session using the DocuTechs, the three-employee in-plant has taken the next step by moving into digital color. The shop just installed a new Xerox DocuColor 260. In the process it replaced two older color copiers and a black-and-white Xerox 275. The in-plant is using the 260 to print legislative wrap-up letters with color photos. It has also

The demand for short-run digital color printing has jumped so much at Pennsylvania State University’s Multimedia & Print Center (MPC) that the 75-employee in-plant’s Xerox 6060 just couldn’t cut it any more. “We were maxed out on the 6060,” remarks Director Abbas Badani. So in August the University Park, Pa.-based in-plant installed a new Xerox iGen3. In September, its first full month of operation, the digital press pumped out 200,000 impressions, about 25 percent of which had previously been printed on the shop’s offset presses. The goal, Badani says, is a quarter million impressions a month. Just back from the Southeastern University Printing and Digital Managers

Robert C. Tapella is now officially the nation’s 25th Public Printer. Five months after he was nominated in May, the U.S. Senate has confirmed Tapella as Public Printer, and President Bush has signed the commission. Tapella will lead more than 2,200 employees at the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO). He succeeds Bruce James in the role. Tapella has been involved in GPO’s transformation into a profitable 21st Century digital operation during the last five years, first as Deputy Chief of Staff and then as Chief of Staff. A 1991 graduate in graphic communications and printing management from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo,

WHEN ROBERT Gomez was hired as a press operator for the Texas Senate in 1974, the in-plant was housed in the basement of the state capitol building. It was staffed by a supervisor, a secretary and three production employees. Layout involved mat boards, wax machines and spray adhesives, and hand-developed film was stripped up on light tables. Thirty-three years later, Gomez—who was appointed director of senate publications and printing in 1985—oversees 20 staff members in a facility that occupies more than 20,000 square feet. The journey along his career path began when Gomez was just a kid growing up in Austin, Texas, where

IF YOU veer away from the Las Vegas Strip and drive about a mile east, until the Hard Rock Casino fades away in your rear view mirror, you’ll hit the campus of the University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV), an academic oasis on the fringes of the casino world. Celebrating 50 years in 2007, the university now hosts more than 28,000 students on its 350-acre campus. Providing UNLV’s printing for 38 of those 50 years has been the Reprographics/Design Services (R/DS) department, now operating out of a 7,200-square-foot facility in the center of campus, plus an adjoining 2,000-square-foot copy center. With 20 full-time and

PHYSICIANS MUTUAL relies on direct mail as one method of reaching prospects for its individual health and life insurance products. The ability to connect with potential customers has enabled the Omaha-based insurer to write more than one million policies. In 2006, Physicians Mutual’s 73 full-time print and mail shop employees were responsible for 71 million pieces of mail, including promotional and fulfillment mailings. About 60 percent of those pieces were printed on the Mail Processing Center’s Océ Pagestreams and Xerox color and black-and-white printers, which include a new Docu Color 8000. Though the operation

OUR IN-PLANT just made a big change in the way it does business: we sprang for “Big Color”—a digital color press. Over an eight-month period we considered the Canon C7000VP, the HP Indigo 3050, the IKON CPP 650, the Kodak NexPress 2100, the Konica Minolta bizhub PRO C6500, Océ’s CPS900 and CS650 Pro, and Xerox’s DocuColor 6060, 7000 and 260. Many of you are considering a similar acquisition, so I will share some aspects of our experience with you.

THE GIRLS and Boys Town Print Shop recently received a cornucopia of graphic arts delights that would make even the largest commercial printer envious.
The seven-employee in-plant, located just outside of Omaha, took ownership of a two-color Heidelberg Quickmaster 46 press, a two-color Hamada H248CX press, a Mitsubishi DPX2 platesetter, a Xerox DocuColor 8000 and a Xerox 250.