The Challenge Machinery Co.

With equipment specs, pictures and video all available online, why should an in-plant manager bother going to Graph Expo any more? Those who made the trip to Chicago last month have lots of good reasons.

These products for the in-plant market will be on display at Graph Expo.

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.

Vanderbilt University Printing Services continues to thrive by combining a well-established, bustling offset operation with burgeoning business opportunities and digital solutions to meet and exceed customer demand.

Mark McCarty, Printing Services Manager at Missouri State University, needed more automation and reliability in his in-plant's bindery. The Springfield, Mo., shop had gone through some cuts, reducing the staff from five full-time employees to just two full-timers.

At Tyson Foods, Inc., all management personnel, including CEO Donnie Smith, are birds of a uniform feather. "We all wear khaki to show that we are working managers and not afraid to get our hands dirty," reports Russell Gayer, manager of Tyson Printing Services (TPS).

Equipped with an arsenal of digital printing and high-tech inserting gear, the 42-employee print and mail operation at Physicians Mutual processes between 30 and 35 million mail pieces a year for the health and life insurance company.

A year and a half ago, Shana Farrell, Printing Services and Distance Learning Manager at Fox Valley Technical College in Appleton, Wis., organized a recognition event for her staff of six. She invited not only her boss but the college president. There, each employee received individual recognition for his or her hard work and dedication. Afterward, Farrell says, she noticed everyone was working harder and enjoying their jobs more.

Missouri's State Printing Center has relocated, along with the state's mailing operation, into a 250,000-square-foot building about seven miles from the State Capitol. "Because so much of what we print gets mailed anyway, it's really nice to have us all here together," says State Printer Rodney Vessell.

Cutting printed jobs with a 20-year-old cutter was making life difficult for the in-plant employees at George Mason University, in Fairfax, Va.