Ricoh Corp.

With high-speed, black-and-white printers designed to bear the brunt of an in-plant's workload, managers want to see how fast the machines cut costs. By Mike Llewellyn JIM ALLEN, the newly appointed manager of Printing Services at New York City's Fashion Institute of Technology, runs a pair of Océ 2600s to handle flyers, instructional packets for professors and countless other nuts-and-bolts projects that come into the in-plant every day. With black-and-white printing accounting for 85 percent of the in-plant's workload, the 2600s have become the backbone of the FIT shop. "They're definitely workhorses," says Allen. "They do almost all of the work." That's how many

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,

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

At in-plants across the country, the digital revolution is in full swing. More than ever, managers are realizing the benefits of being able to print variable data and digital color, and many find themselves teaching their customers just how valuable this technology can be. According to IPG research, the number of in-plants using digital printing technology has risen to over 80 percent from around 60 percent in 1999, with 34 percent more work now printed digitally than four years ago. To help you wade through the wealth of digital products launched over the past year, IPG has assembled a directory of the

Color jobs have been on the rise for years. To meet the demand, in-plant managers are increasingly turning to color copiers. by Mike Llewellyn Battelle is a Columbus, Ohio-based research and development firm that relies heavily on its in-plant's color copying services. Brian Soppelsa, manager of Publications Management and Production, says his shop had been using a Xerox DocuColor 30 for five years, and has had a Canon CLC 1150 for just over one year now. "They're busy machines," he observes. "We run almost everything off of them—a lot of proposals, reports, presentations and in-house distribution pieces." "Busy" is how most managers describe their

Forget what you knew about digital duplicators. The models of yesteryear have been replaced by fast, high-quality machines. by John Reiling There's no longer much debate about the value of digital technology in printing and imaging applications. That said, it's puzzling that so many in-plants have yet to adopt digital systems in a serious way. What's Your Application? Some applications for digital duplicators

More features. Better finishing options. Lower cost. Manufacturers of black-and-white copiers see these trends and more. by Mike Llewellyn Last year, Drew Bilotta, director of Lockheed Martin Management and Data Systems, oversaw the installation of 150 black-and-white Konica copiers, mostly 7020s and 7030s. "At the end of the day, everything comes down to cost, and that's where they [Konica] had a significant advantage," says Bilotta. He explains that he was able to use a company-wide contract with Konica to leverage the best price. But while keeping costs down is certainly important to copier manufacturers, this is not their only strategy. Their black-and-white copiers

With cutbacks everywhere, government in-plants must operate more efficiently. Managers met recently to share their ideas. by Bob Neubauer Government in-plants are travelling a rough road these days. At the recent National State Publishing Association conference, words like "financially strapped" and "hiring freeze" spilled frequently from the mouths of attendees. Yet just as often, discussions centered on solutions to these difficulties, ways to bring in more revenue with new services, and ideas for doing more with fewer employees. This positive outlook and eagerness to overcome obstacles is one of the defining characteristics of the NSPA, and a key reason the association is still going

Controlling the input, management and distribution of documents could bring in-plants more business. New systems are the key. by Bob Neubauer These days, printing is only part of the picture for an in-plant. It's becoming increasingly necessary to get involved in other areas of a document's life, particularly the creation, management and distribution stages. Otherwise, in-plants will miss out on a valuable source of new business—something sorely needed as e-mail and the Internet replace traditional distribution methods. Knowing this, vendors are developing imaging systems that give in-plants control over digital storage and distribution, in addition to printing. Two such devices were recently

Despite the economic downturn, many printers made the trip to New York to see the latest in on-demand printing technologies. by Bob Neubauer With print sales predicted to be relatively flat in 2002, it was encouraging to see the exhibit floors of the ninth annual On Demand Conference fairly busy with attendees. According to conference organizers, nearly 19,000 "industry professionals from around the world" were in attendance. Though the number of exhibitors (150+) was down from last year (200), the event still drew a number of in-plants to New York's Jacob Javits Center, to do some serious looking—and even purchasing. Still, all was