Canon U.S.A.

After multiple delays, the 65 employees of Purdue University Printing Services have finally moved into their new home, a freshly built 29,000-square-foot structure about a mile south of their previous facility. Not only is it 7,000 square feet larger—with access to existing docks in an adjacent building and a garage for loading delivery vans—the new plant allows workflow advantages undreamed of in the old building. The previous facility, which had housed the in-plant for 36 years, was shaped like a long rectangle, so jobs often had to be moved long distances to reach the next stage in the process. Some employees who needed to communicate

The AIIM/On Demand Conference moved to Boston this year and IPG was there. The show reportedly brought together 25,000 print professionals, including a number of in-plants. IPG captured the event on video. Now, at long last, you can get a glimpse of what it was like. Our video highlights some of the key equipment that was introduced there. As you prepare for next month’s Graph Expo show, take a look at some of the equipment you’ll be seeing. Here’s a link to the video: http://www.ipgonline.com/video/video.bsp?sid=71623&var=video

THE DIGITAL printing industry has come a long way from the stand-alone copier-only functionality of a few years ago. Still, many users find themselves unable to take full advantage of the available technology. The key to implementing advanced document technologies is education at all levels of the organization. The in-plant manager plays an important role in educating others about improving document workflow efficiencies. This article will help in-plant managers make decisions regarding new digital copiers/multifunctional printers (MFPs), both for their own in-plants as well as for other locations within the organization. Key Vendor Questions Before inviting a vendor in to discuss new

Earlier this week, Canon U.S.A. held its Digital Solutions Forum in Chicago to show how customers and partners are putting Canon technology to use to solve business challenges. As part of the forum, which featured interactive product displays and seminars, Canon introduced the Color imageRUNNER C5185 Series, featuring advanced print engine technology, superior paper-handling and professional finishing options. It prints up to 51 pages per minute for both color and black-and-white letter-sized documents and has a 5,000-sheet paper capacity.  Its Single-Pass Duplexing Automatic Document Feeder scans both sides of originals simultaneously at up to 100 ipm at 300 dpi.  Canon says it intends to revolutionize digital

Macedonia Gospel Publications Int’l., of Braselton, Ga., the in-plant for Macedonia World Baptist Missions, just added a Canon imageRUNNER 3220 color printer. Richard Vance, prepress production supervisor, says it has “revolutionized the way the missionaries keep in contact with their supporting churches.” Missionaries can include color photos and graphics in their monthly or bimonthly updates to their supporting churches. LifeSprings, a Christian publisher, printer and multi-media developer in Franklin Springs, Ga., recently installed a Canon imageRUNNER 110 with a booklet maker, a Hamada A252P press, a DPX plate system and a Presstek Dimension 800 computer-to-plate system. The Archdiocese of Detroit has added a black-and-white digital Canon

One clear trend among the religion-based in-plants contacted by IPG is a move away from offset and toward digital printing. Three different in-plants have shut down their presses, while another started a digital in-plant from scratch. “Most of our runs are short run,” explains Lynn Baskerville, director of print operations for the Central Community Church in Wichita, Kan. The shop recently silenced its two-color Ryobi and is using a new Konica Minolta LD-5100 color printer to produce newsletters, letterhead and other products. “We get [the newsletter] out a day and a half quicker now,” remarks Baskerville. “Color’s consistent all the way through the run.” Turnaround time was

Meeting the printing needs of a 2,100-student liberal arts college is tough enough with just three employees. But when your main digital color printer can’t keep up with the growing volume of work—and you still have two years left on the lease—it’s time to take serious action. After shutting down its offset presses for good last June and putting its trust in its Canon CLC 4000, Allegheny College Printing Services, in Meadville, Pa., saw volume on the machine skyrocket. Clicks jumped from 19,000 to more than 40,000 a month. Unfortunately, the number of service calls grew as well. So Manager Mark Pritchard talked

The On Demand Conference & Expo completed its 2007 run last week at the Boston Convention & Exposition Center. Changing locations has been part of the story with this event since the move from its home in New York City to Philadelphia and now on to Boston through 2008. While the facility was striking, exhibitors were speculating that show floor traffic was lighter and more regional than last year (attendance figures have yet to be released). Weather woes on the East Coast and complications caused by the marathon on Monday may have dampened attendance. Close to 200 exhibitors participated in the On Demand section of

DIGITAL COLOR was introduced to the marketplace more than a decade ago. Indigo and Xeikon unveiled key new products in the mid-1990s, and early projections were that these technologies would take off. Initially, as with a number of new technologies, there were technical issues. Presses were unreliable; ink and toner didn’t stick to the paper; and the cost of consumables was too high to generate any substantial application transfer from offset technology. Today, Indigo has been taken over by Hewlett Packard. Xeikon faced bankruptcy before being acquired by Punch Technologies. Kodak bought out Heidelberg’s share of NexPress. Ink and toner are now sticking

WHILE DIGITAL color has been the hot topic in the printing industry for the past few years, digital black-and-white printing still accounts for the majority of the digital print volume. According to InfoTrends, black-and-white devices produced 874 billion impressions and generated $17.8 billion in retail value of print in 2005. Total equipment revenues (equipment, supplies and service) reached $7.41 billion. Equipment vendors have not lost sight of this opportunity and have continued to introduce new and improved devices to replace existing digital black-and-white equipment, as well as to open new market opportunities. Vendors realize that selling equipment has become about more than feeds and