Xerox Corp.

Join IPG Editor Bob Neubauer as he drives around central Pennsylvania, dropping in on in-plants along the way.

AS I'VE talked with in-plant managers at conferences over the years, many of them have extended an "if you're ever in the area" invitation for me to visit their shops. Earlier this year it dawned on me that for a quite a few Pennsylvania in-plants I was already "in the area" more or less, and the only thing stopping me from getting out there and visiting them was my own reluctance to leave the office.

University of West Alabama recently took delivery of a Xanté Ilumina Digital Envelope Press. Now envelope jobs have gone from two-hour projects to just eight minutes per box.

In this tough economy, commercial printers are aggressively looking for any new revenue opportunity. Many have targeted higher education as one of their growth areas.

As you hang up the phone, you're engrossed in thought. This offer from a potential vendor, like similar ones before it, was tempting: they'd like to audit all the printers and MFPs in your organization to give you the picture of what you're really spending for printing. Of course, they'll do all this work for free, and of course, they'll make recommendations that will save your organization some serious cash.

IPG Editor Bob Neubauer recently paid a visit to Bucknell University's Publications, Print & Mail operation.

INTERQUEST has announced an impressive lineup of presenters for its 2010 Digital Printing in Government and Higher Education Forum, to take place in Washington D.C. on Wednesday, November 17  at the Omni Shoreham Hotel.

For three days this week, IPG Editor Bob Neubauer traveled around Central Pennsylvania, visiting in-plants and talking with managers about their future plans. He provided daily updates of his travels on IPG’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/inplant) along with photos of the shops he visited.

Any in-plant manager lucky enough to be in Chicago last month for Graph Expo got to witness some significant developments in the world of graphic arts. Dubbed “The Inkjet Graph Expo” by some, the show featured more inkjet technology than most in-plant managers had ever seen in one place.

The “If you build it, they will come” approach may have worked for Kevin Costner, but it’s bad business advice for in-plants, believes Dwayne Magee, director of Messiah College Press in Grantham, Pa. He prefers “the Goldi-locks philosophy”—not too big, not too small, just right. In today’s unpredictable economy, if current volumes can’t justify it, he advises, forget it.