THERE HAVE been significant developments that make ink-jet a more viable process and now thrust it into the mainstream of the printing industry. The ink-jet market is growing in every direction, from flatbed and wide-format, to label, to transpromo, to commercial web and sheet. Print head manufacturers are accelerating their developments, and new inks are being introduced almost daily. Today’s ink-jet technologies are undergoing a number of significant quality and performance evolutions. These changes will combine with advances in new jettable fluids and inks, with improved materials handling and substrates—all of which are leading to a new generation of cost-effective printing solutions. But many of these solutions are due in the 2009–2011 time frame.
Xerox Corp.
To improve both its quality and its delivery time, the University of Texas-Austin has upgraded from a Xerox 2045 to a Xerox 7000. “We were steadily doing 70,000 a month on it, and that’s a lot for a 2045,” says Steve Meadows, Copy Center Manager. The new machine can run card stock at 70 pages per minute, he says. This is just what the in-plant needs to produce book covers, posters, postcards and other common jobs.
At its annual investor conference being held here today, Xerox Corp. is addressing how its annuity-based business model, strong operating cash flow and industry-leading document management services and technology are assets in tough economic times.
More than 60 in-plant managers filled the room for a special seminar on digital printing at Graph Expo last week. They were a diverse mix, representing government, insurance companies, school districts, universities, retail chains and more.
The 90-minute session—co-hosted by IPG and the IPMA—yielded tons of useful information from six different speakers: three vendors and three in-plant managers. The theme of the meeting was digital printing, a topic of strong interest among in-plants.
When Otter Tail Power Co. decided to put its in-plant’s basement facility to a different use, Scott Nelson jumped at the chance to move his 12-employee operation to new quarters. And because the in-plant has a thriving insourcing business that brings in good revenue for the Fergus Falls, Minn.-based power company, Otter Tail didn’t hesitate to fund the move. In September, the in-plant began operating out of its new 7,200-square-foot facility, just a half block from its old location. Nelson says the new plant is better in many ways. “It’s more of a storefront operation,” he says. Customers used to have to go into
LAST MONTH I had the opportunity to join about two dozen in-plant managers in Rochester, N.Y., for a Thought Leadership Workshop, organized by Xerox. As part of its effort to better understand the concerns of in-plants, one of its most important customer groups, Xerox has hosted several of these workshops for in-plants to give them a chance to network with one another, help each other resolve common problems and learn about Xerox technology. I was invited to give the keynote address at the kickoff dinner. Xerox had assembled a great group of in-plant managers, most of whom I had never met before. They
GRAPH EXPO took over Chicago for four days last month, bringing the best of Drupa to U.S. soil. Thousands of printers turned out to see what the 600+ vendors had to show. They saw several striking changes from years past. For one thing, offset presses were not a dominant sight. Wide-open floor space typified the booths of many offset vendors. Even Heidelberg had just one press on hand, focusing instead on using Prinect to fully integrate a print shop. manroland showed no presses, but highlighted its service contract portfolios. This contrasted sharply with the booths of digital press manufacturers, which crammed as many
Despite seeing its third-quarter profit rise 2 percent, Xerox Corp. announced it will aggressively cut costs in the fourth quarter and take a $400 million charge. The company didn’t indicate where the cuts would take place or provide a figure for the number of job cuts. Xerox earned $258 million, or 29 cents per share, during the third quarter.
The National Government Publishing Association (NGPA) concluded its 31st annual conference yesterday in Bellevue, Wash. More than 80 government in-plant representatives attended. This year’s conference, organized by the Washington State Department of Printing, brought a more diverse group than usual, including a number of in-plants from schools in the Pacific Northwest. Ursula Burns, president of Xerox, flew in from Rochester, N.Y., just to give the opening keynote address. She focused on the “three mega trends” that Xerox has identified: personalization, collaboration and digitization. Wes Friesen, of Portland General Electric’s in-plant, enlivened the atmosphere with tips on how to be a better manager
IPG Editor Bob Neubauer gave the keynote address last week to two dozen in-plant managers at a Xerox Thought Leadership Workshop in Rochester, N.Y. He spoke about trends in the in-plant market, using data IPG collected in a major industry survey. The workshop was part of an effort by Xerox to better understand the in-plant market, which the company recognizes as one of its most important customer groups. In-plant attendees, who hailed from Alaska, South Carolina, Missouri, California, Nebraska and many other places, got plenty of time to network with one another. They spent a full day at the Gil Hatch Center for
