Hewlett-Packard

Sometimes, when you add a digital press, work just walks in off the street. Like the 2,700 newsletters the geology department sent to Imaging Services one day at the University of Colorado at Boulder. “They heard we got some new color press, and they just said, ‘Oh, we’ve been sending this out. Would you try to do it?’” says Al Goranson, operations manager. That color press is an HP Indigo 3050, which arrived at the shop in June. Since then it’s opened a few doors for the in-plant. “There’s just no way we could have even touched that [job] with two-color offset or with our digital

WHEN BRIGGS & Stratton Graphic Services moved into its new 26,505-square-foot facility in June, life got a whole lot better for the shop’s 34 employees. Workflow improved, shipping and receiving became a snap and the shop’s image soared thanks to an inviting reception area. But perhaps most marvelous—the dream of in-plants everywhere—is this: the new shop has windows. “Some of the pressmen have even commented to me how nice it is to have the windows,” remarks Debbie Pavletich, manager of the Milwaukee-based in-plant. All of the offices and parts of the shop floor have them, and the natural sunlight has made a difference in

AT ONE time, the idea that an in-plant could take a document from start to finish on one machine was akin to science fiction. The advent of the multifunctional device (MFD), though, has enabled in-plants to provide more comprehensive service at greater cost savings. An MFD typically consolidates printing, faxing, scanning and copying into one device. Today’s MFDs offer even more features, such as finishing, variable data printing, scanning software that routes documents to various destinations, systems that track paper and toner usage, job status indicators, workflow features and customizing capabilities. Inline bindery features open more possibilities; perfect binding, saddle stitching, stacking,

THE DEMAND for high-quality color graphics in larger sizes has risen dramatically as the availability of larger ink-jet printers has increased. How do you decide what kind of ink-jet printer you should purchase? As with any business decision, you weigh your demand for the product against the cost of the equipment, materials and labor involved. If your customers are only interested in the capability of printing 13x19˝, then purchasing a 60˝ wide-format printer may not be a good choice. However, you should try to purchase above your current expectations so you can handle future growth or expand the services you currently offer.

JOHN HURT spoke quite candidly when he addressed the crowd at April’s IPMA conference. The International Publishing Management Association has gone through some hard times, he said. Membership and conference attendance has declined, and a lack of clear business and recruitment policies have hindered growth. All that is changing now, continued Hurt, IPMA’s international president. Not only did this year’s IPMA conference in Las Vegas draw an increase in attendees over last year, it generated a profit for the first time in years. The association’s cash flow has been positive for more than six months, he added, its sponsorships are increasing, it has enacted

SOFTWARE E-ticketing with Hardcopy Jobs Rochester Software Associates has introduced QDirect.SCAN Connector for eCopy Share­Scan OP. QDirect.SCAN enables electronic job ticketing with hardcopy submission directly from multi-function printers (MFPs). Users log in for accounting purposes and specify options such as duplex, stapling and paper stock. Those choices, along with the scanned documents, are transmitted to QDirect, which generates a confirmation receipt that is printed at the requestor’s MFP. An electronic job ticket is automatically created from the user entry. The resulting print-ready file can be sent to any printer in the in-plant. Software Delivers Jobs ‘To Spec’ Quickcut has introduced QuickPrint 5, the

Xplor joined up with Graphics of the Americas last month to bolster its conference. Did it work? By Bob Neubauer AFTER WATCHING attendance at its conference dwindle since the booming days of the '90s, Xplor International teamed up with the successful Graphics of the Americas (GOA) conference this year, putting on a joint event last month in Miami Beach that drew about 24,500 attendees, according to organizers. The partnership seems to have been a wise move, as it freed Xplor from the task of organizing a trade show, allowing it to concentrate on its educational mission. GOA, in turn, got a host of

Steven Rigby expected folks at Washington State University to be pleased when they saw what his in-plant’s new HP Indigo 3050 digital press could do. He just didn’t anticipate the all-out exuberant response to the press and the nearly immediate jump in business that it brought. “Everybody’s delighted,” remarks Rigby, director of Printing and Web Services. “Since our open house, we’ve doubled our printing orders going to that press.” The 3050 was added in November, he says, and by February it started turning a profit. Rigby says 80 percent of the work going to the press is work the shop never did, or previously brokered

University of Kansas may have closed one in-plant, but it relocated and expanded another, to the delight of its customers. By Bob Neubauer TWO THINGS happened at the University of Kansas last year: The school closed the in-plant on its main campus in Lawrence, and it moved and expanded the in-plant at the University of Kansas Medical Center an hour away in Kansas City. Why would a university close one shop and expand another? Matt Doughty thinks he knows the answer: Service. Doughty, director of Publishing and Postal Services at KU's Medical Center, feels his 20-employee operation collaborates so closely with its customers, and

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