Epson America

CTP has revamped the prepress department at brokerage firm A.G. Edwards. By Bob Neubauer WHEN A.G. Edwards' print shop fired up its new Presstek Dimension 400 and Mitsubishi Silver DigiPlate computer-to-plate systems in the spring of 2004, it was a monumental change for the St. Louis-based operation. Up until then, the 35-employee shop had been using its camera to shoot film. "We knew from an efficiency standpoint that [CTP] was where we needed to be," says Sue Weiss, vice president of General Services. This was never more apparent than when the in-plant tackled one of its most cumbersome jobs, a directory of company

WITH GLOBAL prescription sales now topping $550 billion, it's clear that pharmaceutical products play an important role in many of our lives. One of the top firms in this industry is Merck, maker of drugs such as Zocor, Maxalt and Fosamax. The Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based company was ranked fifth in the world by Pharmaceutical Executive magazine in its May 2005 ranking. Though Merck's downsizing plans may have made recent headlines, its $21.493 billion in global pharmaceutical sales are certainly nothing to sneeze at. Neither is this: Merck is a huge supporter of in-plants, maintaining not one but four in-plants to serve its

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

A year after Drupa, what new surprises do graphic arts vendors have in store for in-plants? Here's an advanced look. In-plant managers eager to see the latest graphic arts technologies can't do much better than Print 05 & Converting 05. Held in Chicago once every four years, this is the printing industry's main event. Larger than last year's Graph Expo show, Print 05 will feature nearly 800 exhibits covering more than 725,000 square feet of floor space. To help in-plants prepare, many of the industry's key vendors offered a peak at the products they plan to display in Chicago. Offset Boasting

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,"

One of the largest in-plants in the country, the Gospel Publishing House is crucial to its parent organization's existence. By Erik Cagle The Gospel Publishing House is arguably one of the most important and influential printing facilities in the in-plant world. How can that be, you ask? What makes the Gospel Publishing House—the printing arm of the General Council of the Assemblies of God—the dean of in-plants? Sure, it ranked a respectable number 22 on the IPG Top 50. But certainly, there are bigger facilities than the 93-employee operation, based in Springfield, Mo., site of the General Council's worldwide headquarters. And though

Whether it's for the environmental benefits or the cost and time savings, an increasing number of in-plants are installing computer-to-plate systems. By Carol Brzozowski With a year of computer-to-plate (CTP) experience under its belt, Arkansas State University's in-plant has no desire to ever go back to film. "It's probably one of the best investments we've ever made here," says Director David Maloch of his shop's Heidelberg Prosetter 74. That's what an increasing number of in-plants are discovering. According to an In-Plant Graphics survey, 34.7 percent of in-plants have installed CTP—and the number is growing. The environmental benefit is one of the prime reasons.

A look at some of the latest workflow solutions. By Mark Smith The digital revolution was already on its way to making "workflow" a catch-all term in prepress, when the rise of computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) extended its use to the entire print production process. As a result, an ever-wider array of products can now be called "digital workflow solutions." For our purposes, the definition is being limited to the evolution of what used to be called prepress systems. Vendors have responded to this trend with a shift toward marketing workflow solution brands as much as specific products. Modularity and flexibility are at

Top 50 in-plants say one of the keys to their success is modernizing their offset and digital printing capabilities. By Eric Martin You're probably sitting at a desk, not winded or breathing hard—but in all likelihood, at this very moment, you're racing against competitors to get work printed. This competition is even more apparent at the in-plants on the IPG Top 50. They operate in a "get it done yesterday" mind-set, and that goal has pushed these successful operations to update their printing equipment with an eye solely on speed. In 2003, for example, John A. Sarantakos, administrator of University of Oklahoma Printing

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