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Kansas Division of Printing Topeka The Division of Printing for the State of Kansas is already a large operation—$7.3 million in sales, 83 full-time employees, three satellite locations—but Director Richard Gonzales would love to see it expand. "We've consolidated [work from in-plants in] the Departments of Health, Revenue and Human Resources, and have assumed a large portion of the work from the Department of Transportation," says Gonzales. "We visited the print shops, researched their jobs and showed them in black and white what it was actually costing them." Those hard figures helped convince the departments to pool their workloads. For example, the division's newest

Are your blade's a little worn? The newest cutters on the market will bring some sharp features into your bindery. (The online version of this story features information not included in the print version.) by MARK SMITH Cut. Knife. Blade. Guillotine. The terminology alone shows why safety is a must when it comes to paper cutters. Two-handed cut activation, non-repeat knife cycles and auto-stop infrared light curtains are just some of the safety features that have been mandated by law and market demand. Because manufacturers are not willing to compromise much in this area, all the latest cutters are endowed with

Print 01 featured numerous innovations in prepress, offset and bindery technologies. Find out all about them in part two of our show report. &002;by Bob Neubauer Walking the show floor at Print 01 was a printer's dream. Presses were churning out color posters, software was being demonstrated on large screens for small crowds, books were being folded, stitched and trimmed—wherever you looked, something was happening. Though the September 11 attacks brought the show to a halt, show management said about 66,300 people attended overall. Vendors reported a number of sales. Heidelberg's NexPress subsidiary sold more than 70 NexPress 2100 presses, part of

Today's folding equipment must do more than simply fold paper. In-plants want additional features to help them keep pace. by ERIK CAGLE ACCESSORIES ARE to folding machines what cherries are to cheesecake—sweet. Printers still want folders that are easy to operate, with short setup times, but auxiliary equipment for scoring, slitting, perforating, gluing and plow folding can greatly augment the humble folder. The aforementioned features are among the most requested by customers, according to Wayne Pagel, president and owner of KEPES. He believes a vacuum table that allows product sampling, and plow folds with gluing to close the product are also sought after.

The chocolate king's in-plant has done away with its DocuTechs in favor of clustered printers—and added a new folder and wide-format printer to boot. Hershey Foods Corp. is always moving forward. Whether increasing the size of its Kit Kat bar or expanding its visitors' center, Hershey's Chocolate World, the 118-year-old company never stops looking ahead. Its in-plant shares this philosophy. In recent years the 10-employee shop has acquired a five-color Shinohara press and an Encad wide-format printer, to name just a few additions. Now the Hershey, Pa.-based in-plant is at it again. The operation recently installed a new T/R Systems Micropress cluster printing system,

To compete in the future, you must start providing customers with non-paper-based services today. LAST YEAR at the On Demand Digital Printing & Publishing conference, the unofficial theme of the show was dotcom fever. Now that the fever has broken, the big bang buzz is all about paperless communication. But this isn't your father's "paperless office of the future," mind you. This is different. In the past, when the term "paperless office" was first being bandied about like a baby at a bridal shower, the term reflected the hazy euphoria associated with early computing. This time around, having had the benefit of a

Best Buy Minneapolis, Minn. When a business is able to grow from $160,000 in sales to over $7 million in less than a decade some people might attribute the success to a midnight deal with the devil—or at the very least a trade for some magic beans. But for Rick Fiebiger, director of Best Buy's 83-employee Print Solutions Group, all it took was focus and attention. "You really need to run your operation like you would if you were a commercial printer," declares Fiebiger. "You've got to earn the business, you have to provide top-notch service and you have to measure your contributions

In part two of our Graph Expo report, we detail the latest advances in prepress, e-commerce, bindery and consumables. The recent Graph Expo show in Chicago drew more than 45,000 industry professionals to McCormick Place. Last month IPG took you there as we detailed many of the technologies on display, including direct imaging and digital printing innovations. But with nearly 575 exhibitors at the four-day event, we couldn't cover it all in one issue. So this month we're presenting even more Graph Expo highlights. Prepress Group Logic exhibited MassTransit, version 3.6, its high-speed digital file transfer and remote proofing software. MassTransit

Penn State University State College, Pa. Penn State Document Services faces a problem common to in-plants that lack the right of first refusal. If a department or professor needs a print job and they expect it to cost less than $5,000, they don't need to get bids on it. "They can just go to the print shop down the street because it's on the way home or their cousin's best friend works there, or whatever," laments Michael Pierick, director of Document Services. "We have to compete for every job, so we need to be concerned that every product and service line we provide

Despite the "glamorous" work going on in sound stages right down the hall, the real excitement for Paramount's director of graphic services lies in the print shop. There was a time when the sight of a Klingon chowing down in the company cafeteria would have made Hector Amaya's jaw drop in amazement. But these days the executive director of Graphic Services at Paramount Pictures would hardly give such alien tablemates a second glance. It's all part of life at the giant Hollywood, Calif., studio, where dozens of TV shows like Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Frasier and Wings are shot