Xerox Corp.

Two-color printing had never been a problem for Tuomey Healthcare System’s two-employee Print Shop. Its Riso MZ790 digital duplicator did a great job printing two-color flyers, envelopes and other items needed by the Sumter, S.C.-based hospital. But Graphic Artist Lisa Reardon was ready to move beyond just two colors. “We’ve always wanted to do full color,” she says.

in July, the in-plant for the City of Henderson, Nev., installed a new Xerox iGen4 digital color press. The shop traded in its Xerox DocuColor 250, along with a Xerox DocuColor 5252 and a DocuTech 6135, keeping its lease costs for the iGen4 the same. So far the iGen4 has done an excellent job printing promotional materials for the Department of Cultural Arts and Tourism. The cost savings have been noticeable.

A long-time press operator at the University of West Alabama (UWA) was recently honored with the Support Staff Excellence Award. Tommy Hutchins, who joined the UWA staff in July 1996, was one of three employees recognized during a December board of trustees meeting. He received one of the university’s annual Loraine McIlwain Bell Trustee Awards.

In November 2009, Bryan Wheeler, process engineer for FEO Outbound Publishing Services at Fidelity Investments, oversaw the implementation of a Baum AutoSet 2020 folder in his Covington, Ky.-based operation. This followed the addition of two Xerox iGen4 digital color presses.

FOR THE in-plant at the Research and Curriculum Unit (RCU) at Mississippi State University, there's always something new to learn about printing—and something new to print about learning.

THE BEGINNING of the college semester is always a bustling time for the employees at Azusa Pacific University Duplicating and Graphics. Located in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains near Los Angeles, the in-plant serving this private Southern California Christian university is usually busy producing course packs and other materials prior to students arriving on campus.

Tina Gray saw the end of a lease agreement for an older Duplo saddle stitcher as an opportunity to bring more automated technology into her in-plant. Gray, print shop manager of the in-plant serving the Oklahoma Department of Human Services in Oklahoma City, decided last spring to install a four-tower Standard Horizon VAC collator system in-line with a Standard Horizon StitchLiner 5500 saddle stitching system with integrated three-knife trimming.

A FEW years back, Parma City School District's in-plant faced a dilemma. The 13,000-student district, just south of Cleveland, wanted spot color on some of its documents, but the in-plant's equipment could not cost effectively provide it. Its Xerox DocuColor 8000 was up to the task, but page costs for spot color would be high. Likewise, inking up the shop's two-color presses would be expensive for short runs.

I just hung up from a conversation with an administrator at a major university in the Southwest. Background: This school closed its in-plant printing department—offset and digital—four or five years ago. That’s right, they outsourced everything.

Just before Christmas I took the train up to New York City to visit a few in-plants. I do this from time to time to remind myself what the inside of an in-plant looks like and to learn more about the situations managers are facing. So I planned a rather ambitious itinerary that would take me to four different in-plants, all around the city. One was at a television network, one at a financial services company. Another was in a hospital, and the last at a famous art museum.