Rochester Software Associates

ANY TIME in-plant managers get together, the conversation and camaraderie never end. This was particularly true at the recent Southeastern University Printing and Digital Managers Conference (SUPDMC). About 30 in-plant managers from universities all over the southern U.S. and as far away as the state of Washington got together in Nashville, Tenn., to exchange information and listen to presentations to help them tune up their operations.

Two years ago, things were looking up for M.I.T. Copy Technology Centers, the in-plant at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in Cambridge. After a long search, the 21-employee operation had finally made the decision to acquire a Xerox iGen3 and was preparing to enter the world of high-quality color printing.

In-plants interested in getting into multi-channel offerings should take part in a special Webinar on July 27, beginning at 1 p.m. EST. Sponsored by Rochester Software Associates and IPMA, the Webinar will feature Phil Larson, AVP Business Development of American Fidelity Insurance.

It may have looked and felt just like a traditional ACUP conference, but when the Association of College and University Printers met in Dallas in April, it was really a new beginning. This was the association's first meeting as a dues-paying, non-profit organization.

For Years, the in-plant at Steelcase Inc. received jobs in a variety of disjoined ways: e-mail, FTP and even physical drop-offs. Back in 2006, only about 40 percent of jobs were submitted electronically to the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based in-plant, mostly via e-mail. This had begun to take its toll on the productivity of the five-employee shop.

Now in its 18th year, the On Demand Conference and Exposition tried something new this time when it moved south of the Mason-Dixon line to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. Not everyone was happy with the results. Though some exhibits were packed at intervals, others were not so busy. Perhaps the absence of key companies like Xerox, Kodak, Presstek and Standard caused some potential attendees to skip this year's event. Or maybe D.C. was too far for the Northeast day trippers who attended previous years' shows in Philadelphia, Boston and New York.

In this digital age, not everyone views the subject of printing in an optimistic light. But Catherine Ciardi feels she has the perfect surfboard underneath her to navigate and tame the wave of the future.

A series of articles from Rochester Software Associates looks at some major trends that in-plants need to address to be successful. These include the need for marketing, print center convergence into a single corporate print center, making the in-plant easier to work with than local suppliers, and continually improving workflow to meet demands for shorter print runs and faster turnaround.

After a thorough review of its document output devices, Fox Valley Technical College replaced all of its Xerox equipment with Ricoh and Kodak devices, including a new NexPress SE2500.

More than 40 people traveled to Niagara Falls for the College and University Print Management Association of Canada (CUPMAC) conference in June.