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Almost 80 in-plant representatives attended the 38th annual Big Ten Printing and Copyright Conference. This article was based on summaries provided by Sandy Komasinski and Don Roberts. Photos were taken by Bill LaBounty. In-plants curious about the differences between Xerox, Kodak NexPress and HP Indigo high-speed color printers, got an insider's point of view at the recent Big Ten Printing and Copyright Conference, hosted by Ohio State University and organized by Don Roberts, assistant director of University Retail Services. In-plant users of each technology related their experiences in a candid session that was the highlight of this year's conference. The panel featured: • Jeff

Before buying any printing device, calculate the total cost of ownership. You may be surprised at what you find. By Dennis Walthers If you are considering the purchase of a new printer, take a few minutes and research the total cost of ownership. The TCO varies by printer technology. While technologies like ink-jet have a low initial cost and are well suited for day-to-day correspondence, they are not intended for the business that needs to print 10,000 color pages per month. Printer technology has changed rapidly in the past 20 years and even more so just in the last 10 years. Affordable color printing

Technology mingled with history as the AIIM On Demand Conference and Exposition brought the latest digital printing technologies to Philadelphia. By Bob Neubauer Prior to this year's AIIM On Demand Conference and Exposition, vendors had wondered whether attendees would follow the show from New York, where it took place for the past decade, to Philadelphia. But after watching more than 21,000 visitors flood the show's two floors' worth of exhibits in May, few left disappointed. True, last year's showing of 25,903 attendees topped this year's crowd. But as locations go, the Pennsylvania Convention Center, smack in the heart of downtown Philadelphia, beat New

In-plants that have installed wide-format ink-jet printers are finding many unique and unexpected uses for the devices. By Carol Brzozowski It was an odd request. A young man walked into the printing department at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and asked the shop to print a life-size picture of himself, mount it on foam board and cut it out so it would stand by itself. Why? He planned to give it to his girlfriend as a summer break gift. "It was more of a reminder of him as much as it was a deterrent to any other boys, but it was funny,"

In Australia and Canada, in-plant associations are hard at work educating their members and giving them the tools they need to thrive. By Bob Neubauer In-plants are certainly not just a U.S. phenomenon. Though the International Publishing Management Association (meeting this month in suburban Chicago) and the Association of College and University Printers (story on page 14) are probably the world's most successful in-plant groups, other country's in-plants have also formed associations. Two of these groups are NIPPA, (the National In-plant Print & Publishing Association), which draws members from Australia and New Zealand, and CUPMAC (the College and University Print Management Association of

Users of monochrome devices say speed, quality and service are among their chief considerations when looking for equipment. By Gretchen A. Peck While many in-plants cite color printing as an emerging opportunity, black-and-white output is still their bread and butter. Many, if not the majority, of their digital jobs are monochromatic. And since the speed of the printer largely determines how much work the in-plant can produce, this has become a very important criterion; it's typically the first specification a prospective buyer wants to know. At Greenville, Texas-based L-3 Communications Integrated Systems, the in-plant uses an assortment of Konica-Minolta black-and-white systems

Don Landwehr begin his printing career by peering into a print shop window. After 40 years, he has opened many windows for many print shops. By Kristen E. Monte THE GRACIOUS nature of Don Landwehr is one good reason he has been able to grow several print shops over his lifelong career. It is also the secret to Landwehr's success as a manager: He surrounds himself with good people and keeps challenging them. "It's important to keep 90 percent of the criticism and to only pass on 10 percent of it; to pass on 90 percent of the recognition and keep only

The latest color copiers offer higher speeds and resolutions, along with other enticing options, to boost your in-plant's productivity. By Kristen E. Monte In-plants clearly love color copiers. According to In-Plant Graphics' 2004 Market Statistics report, more in-plants (71 percent) use copiers to output color than any other device. This appreciation of color copiers isn't lost on those who sell this equipment. "The in-plant market is very important to the color copier vendor, especially those vendors offering speeds of 30 ppm or greater," says Steve Rhorer, director of product marketing for Toshiba America Business Solutions. "Most of the recent color product introductions offer

Digital color printing is on the rise at in-plants. To help, equipment vendors are making their devices more user-friendly than ever. By Vince De Franco When it comes to digital color printing, in-plants are among the leaders. Some 30 percent of color devices in the 24- to 59-ppm category reside at in-plants, according to an InfoTrends/CAP Ventures research study. Not only that, 20 percent of all production color devices in excess of 60 ppm are at in-plants. This has made suppliers of digital color printing equipment take note. They have responded by making this equipment more user-friendly than ever. Vendors have broadened the choice

How to form a good relationship with your office equipment service technician. By Eric Engel Do you want a technician who will do only what is required? Or do you want who will go the extra mile, doing everything in his power to keep your machine running as well as it can? Technicians may not have complete control over your hourly rate, but most techs have the freedom to turn an extra seven minutes into a full hour—or not. Techs also usually control when they will arrive at a call (and thus whether you will have more or less down time) and sometimes