Heidelberg

Saddle stitcher manufacturers say time is of the essence in their business, and they're looking to save it on makeready, training, production and, of course, ROI. by Mike Llewellyn "IN-PLANTS, LIKE every business, are being challenged to do more with less," says Mark Hunt, director of marketing for Standard Finishing Systems. But unlike other businesses, Hunt believes, in-plants have a more reliable stream of internal work feeding them. To vendors of finishing equipment, this makes in-plants the ideal customers in slow economic times. "In-plants are extremely important," Hunt continues. "In-plants have always been important, but especially in difficult times because they have their own

What's all this about digital? To a lot of managers, offset is still the biggest wave of the future. by Mike Llewellyn IT SEEMS like all anyone can talk about lately is variable data printing. Equipment manufacturers, conference speakers and even in-plant managers have been loudly praising its virtues. But does that mean the sound of cranking offset presses is soon to fade into memory? Not if you ask Tom Neckvatal, manager of Minnesota Life Insurance Printing Services. His operation is proof that when the going gets tough, the tough run offset. The print runs streaming out of the 54-employee in-plant's offset press area

With U.S. forces still deployed in Iraq, the CIA's intelligence data is more crucial to national security than ever. The agency relies on its in-plant to publish this top-secret information. by Bob Neubauer Long before the first U.S. troops began their march toward Baghdad, President Bush turned to the CIA for the latest intelligence information on Iraq. The Central Intelligence Agency, in turn, relied on its office of Imaging & Publishing Support (IPS) to print this classified information quickly and accurately. In the same vein, when the country was preparing to enter Afghanistan in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, IPS

An unexpected Spring snowstorm and a down economy couldn't keep attendees from crowding the 10th annual On Demand show. By Bob Neubauer and Mike Llewellyn Despite a surprise spring snowfall that blanketed New York City and weakened first-day attendance, the 10th annual On Demand Digital Printing & Publishing Conference went on as usual early last month. The exhibit hall at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center seemed much larger this year, due in part to On Demand's co-location with the AIIM Conference & Exposition. As a result, there were 438 exhibitors, compared with 150+ at last year's show. By the event's second day,

A strong focus on customers, along with expertise in process color printing and online ordering, have built University of Missouri-Columbia Printing Services into an in-plant powerhouse. by Bob Neubauer Not many in-plants can lay claim to a six-color press—let alone two of them. But when you're the largest printing operation in a city of 84,500, the big jobs have a way of finding you. With 105 full- and part-time employees, University of Missouri-Columbia Printing Services is not only a local printing giant, but one of the top in-plants in the country. It ranked 27th on the recent IPG Top 50, and boasted sales of

Early last month, In-Plant Graphics hosted its first educational conference and exposition, in conjunction with our company's successful BookTech conference, now in its seventh year. I traveled to New York for the event and moderated several panel discussions. I enjoyed the opportunity to sit and talk with so many in-plant managers, both from the New York area and from out of state. Two in-plant representatives even flew in from the University of California-Davis. One of them, Alan Bump, told me his in-plant has added several Heidelberg 9110s and some bindery gear in the past year. On the first day of the conference, I had

Personalized marketing materials can strengthen your organization's customer base. Here are the steps your in-plant can take to make it happen. by Danny Kita Organizations have taken great pains to collect information about their customers. But beyond an on-screen customer relationship management review prior to making a call, this information is being vastly underutilized. Why not put it to good use developing customized marketing campaigns? Such campaigns garner high interest, generate significant response rates, lower the cost per lead and pave the way to greater customer retention. A digital press is the tool, and variable data printing is the enabler. Variable data

Competition among the major digital color printing vendors is tougher than ever. In-plants, as luck would have it, are caught in the crossfire. by Mike Llewellyn FOR ANY large organization, if they're saying 'I need this job now,' they're going to want to send it to an in-plant," declares Abby Abhyankar, vice president for integrated marketing at Xerox. "In-plants represent short runs with fast response times and no compromises on quality." That's not news to in-plant managers, whose job it is to make sure their shops offer the highest speed at the lowest price. But it is making headlines at companies like

If your in-plant has only a handful of employees, don't feel too bad. You have lots of companionship. But if you're using your size as an excuse for not expanding, then pay attention to what these small in-plants have been doing. Despite having between one and seven employees, they have been thinking big, accomplishing goals that even Top 50-sized in-plants would envy—such as adding a Heidelberg NexPress 2100 digital color press, and printing four-color marketing material. They have found ways to generate new income and added capabilities that make them essential to their organizations. And it was all possible because they dared

No in-plant manager has a better rapport with his staff than Director Rich Finner. The six full-time employees running Riverside Community College's Production Printing department are engaged in steering the shop every step of the way. And they've got a reason to be interested—not only do they mentor part-time student employees, they have a hand in how the shop's money gets spent. Here's how it works: Twenty-five percent of the revenue coming into the southern California shop is a result of unsolicited insourcing. "We don't drum up that business. They come to us," explains Finner. The money is deposited in what