Offset Printing - Sheet-Fed

AFTER STARTING up an extensive digital in-plant almost three years ago, the Church of Scientology has decided to replicate this success with an even more ambitious in-house printing operation. Just a few months from now the church plans to open a new offset printing plant in Commerce, Calif., 15 minutes from downtown Los Angeles.

WHEN ZENYATTA shot from the back of the pack to the lead in the final stretch to claim her 13th straight win in last month's Lady's Secret Stakes, the thousands of fans in the stands at Santa Anita Park, in Arcadia, Calif., weren't the only ones cheering. Underneath the grandstand, with the sound of a Goss Community web press churning away behind them, the crew of Santa Anita's in-plant was crowded around a TV monitor, watching the $300,000, nail-biter of a race unfold.

TO BE FAIR, the sorry state of the economy made it almost impossible for PRINT 09 to be a rousing success. Show floor traffic was so slow on the opening day (Friday), it was speculated that someone forgot to flip the sign in the front window at McCormick Place from "closed" to "open for business." And one had to question the logic of conducting a long, weekend-wraparound show on the first week of pro football season, when no one (it was presumed) would be coming to Chicago, let alone spending.

Though attendance was noticeably down on the first three days of Print 09, by Monday morning it was starting to look like a trade show again. Booths were packed with attendees, and vendors were busy giving demos, trying to capitalize of the sudden resurgence of interest after a lackluster weekend. IPG spent four days at the show, and the first three...let's just say we never had any problem finding someone to talk with at vendors' booths. Perhaps the beautiful Chicago weekend weather lured many to delay their arrival. (Or maybe it was the questionable wisdom of starting a trade show on a Friday.) Whatever the reason, though, by Monday morning, attendees arrived with a vengeance, including scores of in-plants managers.

An inactive press is an unproductive press. Unfortunately, the University of North Carolina-Wilmington’s in-plant learned that costly lesson with its two-color Shinohara. The university’s Printing Services department had an imagesetter to make poly plates for its ABDick presses, but got away from metal platemaking several years ago, recalls Production Manager Steven Barrett. In order to use the Shinohara press, the shop had to rely on an outside vendor to secure metal plates, which Barrett didn’t find to be a dependable option.

Visitors trying to find their way around New York’s vast Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) usually end up consulting one of the floor plans available at the admission desks. Unfortunately for the MET’s in-plant, tucked away behind the gift shop, that job had long been out of reach. “We just could not do the job economically on our two-color Komori,” says Richard Peterson, manager of Office Services for the 139-year-old museum. That all changed recently when the 11-employee Printing Services department added a new four-color Ryobi 784 EP perfecting press. Now able to print two-over-two on a larger sheet size, the in-plant has brought those floor plans in-house and is slowly adding other work that previously had to be outsourced.

Who won Best of Show in In-Print 2009? Watch as the judges narrow it down and pick the winner.

Despite the sour economy, xpedx is investing. That was the message the company wanted to send when it showed off its new Cincinnati-area print technology center to graphic arts journalists last month. It is reportedly the only U.S. center demonstrating equipment from a variety of manufacturers.

According to IPG data, almost 22 percent of in-plants have an imagesetter. Until last month, one of them was the University of Mississippi, which has been churning out film with a Screen Katana for years. The main reason the shop stuck with it? “It was paid for,” laughs Tony Seaman, director of Printing and Graphic Services at the Oxford, Miss., shop. 

Before installing a Glunz & Jensen PlateWriter 2000 in April, Gordon Rivera admits he didn’t know much about Glunz & Jensen. Then the coordinator of Campus Graphics at Allan Hancock College picked up his favorite graphic arts magazine, and everything changed. “I saw the Glunz & Jensen ad in your magazine,” he says, referring to IPG, “so I gave them a call...and I ended up buying it.”