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VERY YEAR, the City of Los Angeles Publishing Services holds an open house to show off its capabilities and meet its customers. This year’s event had a very special twist: it celebrated the in-plant’s 100th year of existence. Established in 1907 with two police officers working part time, the city’s in-plant has flourished over the past century to become a 47-employee operation incorporating some of the latest digital technologies. Only a handful of in-plants can boast 100 years of operation, and Publishing Services made the most of this accomplishment at its recent open house. The event celebrated the rich history of the shop

In recent months Kodak has announced acquisitions and restructured in a bid to grab a bigger chunk of the graphic arts business. But how will this benefit in-plants? By Bob Neubauer Eastman Kodak is optimistic. The 124-year-old company is betting that in-plants and printing companies are looking for a single vendor to satisfy all of their graphic arts needs—and it has been investing rather heavily lately to make sure it becomes this vendor. Since 2002, the Rochester, N.Y.-based firm has been acquiring companies and buying out joint venture partners as part of a strategy to dominate the graphic arts business. But is this strategy

Color jobs have been on the rise for years. To meet the demand, in-plant managers are increasingly turning to color copiers. by Mike Llewellyn Battelle is a Columbus, Ohio-based research and development firm that relies heavily on its in-plant's color copying services. Brian Soppelsa, manager of Publications Management and Production, says his shop had been using a Xerox DocuColor 30 for five years, and has had a Canon CLC 1150 for just over one year now. "They're busy machines," he observes. "We run almost everything off of them—a lot of proposals, reports, presentations and in-house distribution pieces." "Busy" is how most managers describe their

More features. Better finishing options. Lower cost. Manufacturers of black-and-white copiers see these trends and more. by Mike Llewellyn Last year, Drew Bilotta, director of Lockheed Martin Management and Data Systems, oversaw the installation of 150 black-and-white Konica copiers, mostly 7020s and 7030s. "At the end of the day, everything comes down to cost, and that's where they [Konica] had a significant advantage," says Bilotta. He explains that he was able to use a company-wide contract with Konica to leverage the best price. But while keeping costs down is certainly important to copier manufacturers, this is not their only strategy. Their black-and-white copiers

With cutbacks everywhere, government in-plants must operate more efficiently. Managers met recently to share their ideas. by Bob Neubauer Government in-plants are travelling a rough road these days. At the recent National State Publishing Association conference, words like "financially strapped" and "hiring freeze" spilled frequently from the mouths of attendees. Yet just as often, discussions centered on solutions to these difficulties, ways to bring in more revenue with new services, and ideas for doing more with fewer employees. This positive outlook and eagerness to overcome obstacles is one of the defining characteristics of the NSPA, and a key reason the association is still going

After moving from offset to digital printing, this in-plant slashed turnaround time and increased business. by Dan Pothier A few years ago, Portsmouth City Public Schools, in Virginia, decided it was time to transform the existing offset print shop into a digital, on-demand print center. Skipper Duck, assistant superintendent, and Dan Pendarvis, purchasing agent, hired me to run the center based on my experience as digital production supervisor at the U.S. Government's Defense Automated Printing Service (DAPS). My first act was to transform the shop from being all offset to producing 80 percent of all jobs digitally. Since then, turnaround time has

Despite the economic downturn, many printers made the trip to New York to see the latest in on-demand printing technologies. by Bob Neubauer With print sales predicted to be relatively flat in 2002, it was encouraging to see the exhibit floors of the ninth annual On Demand Conference fairly busy with attendees. According to conference organizers, nearly 19,000 "industry professionals from around the world" were in attendance. Though the number of exhibitors (150+) was down from last year (200), the event still drew a number of in-plants to New York's Jacob Javits Center, to do some serious looking—and even purchasing. Still, all was

By merging or working closely with their data centers, in-plants are expanding their operations, saving money and ensuring their survival. by SCOTT BURY Across America, businesses and institutions are merging their in-plants into their Information Technology departments' print output organizations. It makes sense. After all, both operations use much of the same equipment: copiers, high-speed laser printers, powerful computer workstations and robust networks. We've taken a look at how three organizations have made such mergers work using different approaches. Georgia Tech: Rethinking Leads To Reorganizing "Contrary to what we in the printing business want to believe, printing is going away," contends Paul

Four Blocks From Terror Jeffrey Allen was hard at work in the New York Stock Exchange's fifth-floor in-plant when terror struck from the skies. Just four blocks away, two hijacked airplanes slammed into the World Trade Center, filling the blue September sky with smoke, fire and fear. "We heard the explosions," Allen recalls. But that was only the beginning. Told to stay in the building, he and his coworkers experienced the double horror of watching the towers collapse on television and feeling the earth shake beneath their feet. "All the dust and the smoke came over here and we couldn't even see

Louisiana offered government printers a warm welcome as they gathered for the 25th year to trade tips and ideas. by Bob Neubauer Despite coming less than three weeks after the September 11 terrorist attacks, the National State Publishing Association's 25th annual conference went on without a hitch last month. Held in Baton Rouge, La., the conference drew 54 government attendees from 33 states. United States Public Printer Michael DiMario was also in attendance. With American flags at every table, a color guard leading the Pledge of Allegiance, and renditions of the "National Anthem" and "God Bless America" to kick things off, the