Eastman Kodak Co.

Most In-Plant Graphics readers can take just a cursory look down Fortune magazine's 500 list and quickly spot dozens of companies whose in-plants have been profiled by IPG. That's because so many of these successful companies know that having an in-plant to provide quick, confidential printing is critical to their success. It's rather telling that the number one company on the Fortune 500, Wal-Mart, also maintains one of the largest, busiest in-plants in the country. To find out just how important some of these Fortune 500 companies feel their in-plants are, IPG talked with eight of them, focusing on the insurance, retail,

In part two of our variable data printing coverage, Vic Barkin explains how your in-plant can move into this lucrative business. By Vic Nathan Barkin During the American Revolution, every rifle was what today we would refer to as a customized model. A master craftsman produced each lock, stock and barrel individually. No two were exactly alike. Finding the optimum load for each rifle meant that a rifleman had to test the accuracy of different powder volumes, patch thicknesses and ball size combinations to ensure, when the time came to hit his mark, he could trust his tool to do the job. Marketing

Installing CTP means rethinking your proofing methods. When the State of Washington Department of Printing decided to add a Creo Lotem 800 II Quantum platesetter last fall, the in-plant had to start thinking about proofing in a whole new way. Without film, its DuPont Waterproof system wouldn't be much use. So the in-plant added Creo's Iris4Print ink-jet proofer, with an eye toward upgrading to the new Creo Veris 1,500x1,500-dpi proofer this spring, according to Dan Maygra, interim prepress manager. The same thing happened at Arkansas State University Printing Services when it added a Heidelberg ProSetter 74 in September. The in-plant went with

Even though Drupa is just a month away, vendors still had plenty of new products to show at On Demand. By Bob Neubauer The biggest news at the recent AIIM On Demand Conference & Expo was certainly Eastman Kodak's announcement that it would purchase Heidelberg's digital printing business. That announcement, unleashed the morning of the show, slowly filtered through the crowd of 33,753 at New York's Javits Convention Center, engendering lots of speculation. The upshot: Kodak will buy Heidelberg's 50 percent interest in the pair's NexPress Solutions joint venture, as well as the equity of Heidelberg Digital, which makes the Digimaster black-and-white printer. This

After months of speculation, Eastman Kodak has agreed to acquire Heidelberg's digital division. This follows Heidelberg's November announcement that it would stop manufacturing digital printers as part of its realignment. "From now on, Heidelberg will strengthen its focus on the sheetfed offset business," says Bernhard Schreier, CEO of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG. Kodak will purchase Heidelberg's 50 percent interest in NexPress Solutions L.L.C., a joint venture of the two, and the equity of Heidelberg Digital L.L.C., which made digital black-and-white printing systems. Heidelberg and Kodak created Nexpress Solutions in 1997 to develop a digital color printing press. Heidelberg acquired Kodak's black-and-white digital printing

Here is one in-plant production manager's take on recent technology introductions and how they address trends in the in-plant market. By Heath Cajandig In this industry, vendors are continuously trying to gear up the hype machine to tout a new vision for the future. Over time, it is hard not to be skeptical of any claim. Every now and then, though, a product actually does come along that perfectly sums up the current and future state of the industry. This past January, one of these products arrived: The Xerox DocuTech 100 series copier/printer. For Xerox it helps solidify a digital future for the company; for

Maury Kane decided long ago to leave offset behind and model his in-plant after the retail operations on Temple University's campus. By Kristen E. Monte While many university in-plants focus on forms and letterhead, Temple University Duplicating Services is competing with the retail copy shops congregating on its North Philadelphia campus. The main reason the 10-employee in-plant is able to do this is because its director, Maury Kane, has spent the past 17 years revamping the in-plant, and turning it into a full service facility. Kane was born and raised in Philadelphia, and after graduating from Pennsylvania State University with a Bachelor of Humanities,

Variable Data Printing has become a buzz word. But how do you sell it to customers? What does it take to provide VDP? And how can your department profit from it? By Vic Nathan Barkin When taking aim with a rifle, the smaller the target you aim for, the more likely you are to hit that target. The very same concept can be applied to personalized variable data printing. The VDP process is much more than just printing with new technology, though; it's a fundamental change in how printing is perceived, utilized and produced. A musket in the time of the American Revolution

Here's what's been happening lately at the10 in-plants that top the list. By Bob Neubauer 1. This was a year of major change for the Government Printing Office. In January, Bruce James took over as Public Printer and set about reshaping the 142-year-old operation as an electronic information distribution organization. Under his direction, GPO reached a compact with the President's Office of Management and Budget, which had challenged GPO's right to handle executive branch printing and procurement. A test program with the Department of Labor allows that department to select printers outside the GPO procurement process. GPO also reduced its staff this year

More than 38,000 people attended this year's expo. Here's a glimpse of what they saw. By Bob Neubauer Integration was the big theme of this year's Graph Expo and Converting Expo. Individual manufacturers like Heidelberg and MAN Roland showcased computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) technologies connecting prepress, press and finishing. And vendor partnerships, both small and multi-faceted, foreshadowed future integration between multiple vendors' systems. Notably, at a large press conference touting the Networked Graphic Production initiative, 27 companies proclaimed their commitment to defining, developing, testing and delivering JDF-based integration between their systems. They plan to define a standardized set of interfaces to create plug-and-play solutions