Xerox Corp.

In-plants are acquiring digital color presses like the iGen3, NexPress 2100 and HP-Indigo 5000 in increasing numbers. Is this the right time for you to make the investment? By Eric W. Martin CONSUMER LUST for high-definition TV is driven by digital technology. If studios and sports broadcasters can deliver a higher-quality image than ye olde cable provides, people are more than willing to shell out the money to see the result. Printing works the same way. As digital technology is adopted and improved upon in color printers, users gain the ability to print better quality images at higher speeds and lower costs with

The largest, most successful company in the country also maintains one of the most sizable in-plants, with a staff that's willing to bend over backwards to keep Wal-Mart on top. By Carol Brzozowski ASK DANNY Funkhouser, the general manager of Wal-Mart's Print and Mail Distribution Center (PMDC), what role his in-plant plays in the success of the country's leading retailer, and he replies: "benchmarking." By being competitive in pricing and speed, Funkhouser explains, the in-plant keeps its competition in line. "We typically get bids that are not inflated since most printing firms are aware that Wal-Mart has an in-plant operation," he says. "PMDC's

Despite having a six-color, 40˝ press, a digital "Quickcopy" center and a top-notch Web storefront, Rick Wise felt his in-plant's capabilities weren't quite as advanced as they could be. That all changed in December when the University of Missouri-Columbia installed a new Xerox iGen3 digital production press in its 81-employee operation. "It's a huge part of our future," enthuses Wise, director of Printing Services. "To be all that we can be to the university and provide the full service, we had to have what we feel are top-drawer capabilities in both offset and toner." While researching the purchase, the in-plant looked closely at

No segment of the printing industry was as impacted by the Xerox DocuTech than in-plants. It seems hard to believe that revolutionary introduction took place 15 years ago. To celebrate the DocuTech's 15th birthday, a group of senior Xerox executives got together in December at Xerox's Gil Hatch Center for Customer Innovation, where many employees were instrumental to the original launch currently work. Holding a cake to mark the occasion were: (from the left) Xerox Executives Mike Kucharski, Frank Steenburgh, Tony Federico and Val Blauvelt. (Inside scoop: The DocuTech turned down a piece of this cake.)

SITUATED ON the banks of the Cape Fear River, Wilmington, N.C., is rich in both history and great food. It was also home to the 2005 Southeastern University Printing and Duplicating Managers Conference (SUPDMC), held in October. Hosted by Don Harty, manager of Printing Services at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, and Roland Falana, general manager of Office Products & Services at Duke University, this year's conference was also rich in education and entertainment. With approximately 60 in-plant representatives and 16 vendors in attendance, the conference focused on the changing face of printing. Sessions covered document management, in-plant closings (and how to prevent

WITH GLOBAL prescription sales now topping $550 billion, it's clear that pharmaceutical products play an important role in many of our lives. One of the top firms in this industry is Merck, maker of drugs such as Zocor, Maxalt and Fosamax. The Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based company was ranked fifth in the world by Pharmaceutical Executive magazine in its May 2005 ranking. Though Merck's downsizing plans may have made recent headlines, its $21.493 billion in global pharmaceutical sales are certainly nothing to sneeze at. Neither is this: Merck is a huge supporter of in-plants, maintaining not one but four in-plants to serve its

To compete, your in-plant must offer Web-based file submission. Customers are expecting it. By Heath Cajandig In the past five years, a new category of print product has emerged, as increasingly more print is created from digital "originals" instead of hard copy documents. With customers submitting job files via e-mail, floppy disk, CD-ROM, DVD, USB drive and countless other media storage devices, print operations needed a way to consolidate the methods customers used to send digital files while improving quality, speed and customer service. As a result, Web-based file submission has emerged as the on-ramp to the production workflow. In the future,

As we approach 2006, this is an opportune time to assess how well your in-plant is serving its constituencies, and to lay out strategies for helping your enterprise achieve its objectives. By Frank Steenburgh Across the board, the printing industry has experienced tough times over the past several years. This has largely been driven by the impact of the Internet and the availability of an array of alternatives to print as a business communications medium. As would be expected in a period of tumultuous change, the industry continues to experience significant consolidation. In the commercial printing segment alone, according to PIA, the number

Creating a centralized copier management program will save your organization money while boosting your in-plant's credibility. By Carol Brzozowski Before Kris Davis took over the copier management program at West Virginia University five years ago, six different vendors were providing 80 copiers for departments on the Morgantown campus. Each vendor pushed machines with capabilities departments didn't need, pricing varied between customers and the multiple invoices were an accounting imbroglio. The situation was, quite frankly, not in the school's best interest. So Davis and his team took action. "We consolidated everything we had, when we wrote a new request for proposal, into one vendor with

Before buying any printing device, calculate the total cost of ownership. You may be surprised at what you find. By Dennis Walthers If you are considering the purchase of a new printer, take a few minutes and research the total cost of ownership. The TCO varies by printer technology. While technologies like ink-jet have a low initial cost and are well suited for day-to-day correspondence, they are not intended for the business that needs to print 10,000 color pages per month. Printer technology has changed rapidly in the past 20 years and even more so just in the last 10 years. Affordable color printing