Ricoh Corp.

On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, dozens of West Coast in-plant managers got together for the first two of six regional meetings organized by the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association.

Autumn should prove to be an exciting season at the Wisconsin Department of Administration’s Bureau of Publishing and Distribution. The all-digital, 60-employee shop, located in the state capital of Madison, is moving into a new facility this month. And, as temperatures outside begin to drop and leaves start to fall, the in-plant will be busy enhancing its new digs with fresh equipment and other improvements to help customers fulfill their printing and mailing needs.

With traditional offset exhibitors like Heidelberg giving the Chicago trade show a pass, the digital print vendors were the new kings. Xerox, Canon, Konica Minolta and Fujifilm led the pack in booth size, and each of them had new inkjet production presses to proclaim.

In-plant managers looking for an opportunity to meet face to face with other managers will have a chance to do so starting next week, as the IPMA kicks off its fall regional meetings. Open to all in-plants, not just IPMA members, the meetings will take place in six locations around the country, starting on Tuesday.

The best of the best technology winners were selected at this year's biggest print industry event in North America, PRINT 13. From among the record number of companies and entries to the PRINT 13 Must See 'Ems competition, the judges combed through the submissions and selected 49 entries for the Must See 'Ems honor.

There is no sugar coating the challenging economic climate that exists in the printing industry, and Marcel Kiessling is well aware of it. Kiessling, a member of the management board of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG who also heads up the sales and service segments, doesn't think that is cause for taking a negative outlook, however, and it's not a case of pollyanna hopefulness.

The Principal Financial Group’s Print to Mail operation is serious about digital color printing. Just six years ago, the 64-employee in-plant had 10 Kodak NexPress digital presses running in its Urbandale, Iowa, operation—making it the largest single-site NexPress user in the world.

A popular choice by in-plants seeking print management information systems (MIS), Toronto-based Avanti Computer Systems has long stood out as one of the few remaining print MIS vendors not acquired by EFI. With EFI’s May acquisition of privately held printLEADER, the company now controls about 70 percent of the Print MIS market, according to EFI’s own data.

Here's a look at some of the new printing and binding equipment and software that will be shown at PRINT 13, taking place in Chicago, September 8-12.

To service its customers in the industrial and manufacturing sector, Allied Reliability Group depends on its in-plant to provide hundreds of thousands of training manuals, training certificates, course catalogs, brochures, posters and other materials each year. The company's network of 200+ employees turns to Production Specialist Cindy Ley, the in-plant's sole employee, for these products, and she, in turn, relies on her shop's Ricoh Pro C901 digital color press.