The print and mail operation for California’s Contra Costa County is making it easier for county employees to order their printing. The 23-employee in-plant recently acquired Presstek’s PathWay Web-to-print solution. Though still officially in pilot mode, the system is already available to more than 1,000 county employees.
IT HAD been a test of perseverance, and Otis Johnson had finally won. Three years ago, the manager of Printing and Graphic Services at the University of Texas Medical Branch put in a proposal for a direct imaging offset press. He had analyzed the amount of short-run, four-color work his in-plant was producing on two-color Heidelbergs and decided a DI press would be the perfect solution. But before his proposal could be approved, the university president retired. The interim administration would not act on it, so Johnson waited patiently. When the new president came on board, Johnson tried again. This time he got
LIKE MANY states, Georgia has been experiencing a budget crunch in recent years. To cope, the state mandated a 6 percent budget cut and banned all equipment purchases. So how, then, in a penny-pinching environment like this, was Columbus State University Printing Services able to install a four-color Presstek 34DI digital offset press in July? “We were able to justify the DI press...because it could pay for itself,” explains Manager Randall Bramlett. “More than a third of our print volume was going outside at commercial rates, and bringing it back in-house stood to quickly pay for the press and then save the university
RESTON, VA—10/17/08—The three factors that reportedly most influence the purchase decision of an offset press are speed, price and quality—which isn’t altogether surprising, considering that printers become subject to those same considerations when it comes to trying to win print jobs. “The only way a printer can survive today is to have control over the cost of the printed product,” says Don Bence, vice president of Sakurai USA Inc., “Unfortunately, commercial printing is being treated as a commodity today, with extreme price pressures in the market.” Bence suggests one way to lower costs is to take advantage of press automation features, thereby reducing labor
The green movement isn’t just good for the environment; it can help your in-plant justify the equipment it needs. At the San Diego County Office of Education, the 18-employee in-plant had been getting by for quite some time with its aging imagesetter, vacuum frame and plate processor. But the chemicals involved in making plates were proving to be a nuisance, especially in an eco-minded state like California. So to wipe out the need for those chemicals and dodge the necessity of replacing that old equipment, the in-plant installed a Presstek TX-52 computer-to-plate system running chemistry-free Freedom plates. Not only has the shop saved
As director of the Bureau of Publications for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Department of General Services, Audrey Marrocco is both a devoted public servant and a dynamic publishing master. In her 22-year tenure with the Keystone State, Marrocco developed one of the government’s first Intranet sites, as well as its first Web-to-print application. She is currently seeking to centralize the majority of its printing and publishing services within a newly upgraded in-plant. Marrocco grew up near Harrisburg, the state capital. After high school, with no opportunity to attend college, she began her career in 1986 as an entry-level clerk typist for the Commonwealth. She
Presstek has added Spicers Paper to the list of companies it is suing for patent infringement. The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has ordered that Spicers Paper be added to a pending action before the ITC as a result of Spicers’ distribution of printing plates sold by Israeli printing plate manufacturer VIM Technologies. VIM and its manufacturing partner, Hanita Coatings RCA, were sued in the ITC action earlier this year by Presstek for infringement of Presstek’s patent and trademark rights. “Our intellectual property is a valuable corporate asset and we will protect it,” declares James R. Van Horn, general counsel and secretary for Presstek.
DIGITAL PRINTING technology had its strongest showing yet at Drupa 2008, the world’s largest graphic arts trade show. The two-week event, which took place in Düsseldorf, Germany, last month, lived up to its billing as “The Ink-jet Drupa,” with “green printing” being the only challenger as a show theme, since virtually every exhibitor touched on it. About 391,000 visitors prowled the 19 halls of Drupa this year, (see sidebar about in-plants that attended), checking out the 1,971 exhibitors from 52 countries. Most of the attention, though, centered on the new digital printing devices, particularly those in the ink-jet category—though with prices ranging from $1
Drupa will begin in less than two weeks. IPG Editor Bob Neubauer will be there, in Düsseldorf, Germany, checking out all the latest technologies. To give you a peek at what’s ahead, here are just a couple of the latest pre-Drupa announcements: • ECRM will feature three new platesetters: MAKO 2x, a 2-page platesetter offering a full resolution range of 1200 to 3556 dpi; MAKO 4x, using next-generation optical technology that, with ECRM e-circuitry, delivers high quality imaging; MAKO 8x, an 8-page device that covers all formats for 2, 4, 6 and 8-page signatures with resolutions from 1800 dpi to 3556 dpi. ECRM
ONE OF THE smartest things an in-plant can do to reduce production time and environmental impact is to go computer-to-plate (CTP), eliminating the entire film imaging and developing stage and all of the toxic waste issues involved. The quality, speed and efficiency improvements of CTP make it an excellent business decision for almost any shop. Many have already done just that, and are now ready for the next step up: low-process/chemistry-free or no-process plates. Going green has been a big story in the print business for the past decade, and chemistry-free plates are the next wave. “Non-process plate technology will improve to meet
