Xerox Corp.

Interesting hot products for in-plants.

The world of color inks can be a daunting one for those printers whose experience in this area is scant, which can be especially true for transactional printers. Much of their experience is traced to continuous-feed, black-and-white toner machines. It can be an education for these printers to capitalize on the operational opportunities offered by inkjet color, notes Elizabeth Gooding, president of Gooding Communications Group.

Robert C. Ross Jr., CEO and founder of Xanté, will be the keynote speaker for The Tiara Group Toners 2014 Conference in Santa Barbara, Calif., from June 2-4. In his keynote address, Ross will also represent Memjet.

Xerox practically took over Wall Street this week with a two-day conference that drew more than 800 customers and thought leaders to New York City. In-plants were a prime focus of the event, which included an entire in-plant track.

The snowstorm that shut down the University of West Georgia (UWG) and much of nearby Atlanta in January was nothing compared to the gale that nearly blew away UWG's in-plant a few years ago. Back in 2009, UWG administration floated a plan to shutter the school's Department of Publications and Printing and reallocate funding. The idea was to begin contracting for printing services with outside vendors.

For many years, Integrys Energy Group relied on two printing operations: a 10-employee in-plant in Green Bay, Wis., (Printing Services) with a Ryobi 524, a Didde 700 web press and Canon digital printers; and a bill printing and insertion operation in downtown Chicago, run by the IT department.

As David Weber sees it, one of the most useful services he provides as print supervisor for Pima County, Arizona, is guiding customers back to reality when they come to his in-plant with plans for extravagant printed pieces. He helps them figure out how much color or metallic ink coverage they really need, scaling their projects back to something more affordable—even if that means less revenue for his chargeback-supported shop.

When Regional Health Printing Services moved into its new facility on the eastern edge of Rapid City, S.D., in October, the in-plant got more than just larger quarters; it gained a much smoother workflow, which has been paying dividends in increased productivity.

The winds of change have blown through the bindery at Gannon University Press in recent years, bringing a variety of new equipment, expanded capabilities and shorter turnaround times for the shop's college clients.

Two new appointments have been made at Xerox. Jeff Jacobson has been tapped as COO, Xerox Technology; and Andrew Copley has been selected as president, Xerox Graphic Communications Operations.