Xerox Corp.

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

Despite losing its original hotel to Hurricane Katrina, the National State Publishing Association rebounded, holding a successful 29th annual conference in Tunica, Miss. By Bob Neubauer Joe Tucker said it all in his opening statement as he addressed the crowd at last month's National State Publishing Association conference. "I can't tell you how happy I am to see today come, after all that's happened," said Tucker, NSPA president and State of Ohio Printing Administrator. "All that's happened" includes Hurricane Katrina, which wiped out Biloxi, Miss., the intended location for the 29th annual meeting of government printers. The Casino Magic Biloxi—the conference's original venue and

Sick of poor service and price increases, Georgia-Pacific kicked its outsourcing firm out and brought its in-plant back to life. By Bob Neubauer The old joke goes: Price, Quality or Service: Pick any two. A few years ago, Georgia-Pacific couldn't even get those two from its print provider. The facilities management firm with which Georgia-Pacific had contracted—so full of promises in the beginning—had gradually revealed itself to be less than fully committed to the company's interests. Andy McDonald puts it more bluntly: "It really was a disaster," declares McDonald, manager of administrative services. "They did not work with the business units or

Implementing a chargeback system, says Steelcase's Al Schmidutz, was one of wisest moves he has made. By Kristen E. Monte "IT IS something that continually needs to be tweaked to make it better, and we constantly have to measure and update it." "It," according to Al Schmidutz, is the chargeback system he implemented at Steelcase's in-plant a few years ago. This system, he says, is the foundation for the many significant changes he has made during his nearly five-year tenure with the company. His entry into the printing industry, though, started several years earlier. Born and raised in Flint, Mich., Schmidutz left home after

For years the University of Texas at Austin operated two distinct in-plants that seldom worked together. With a new director and a new strategy, they are slowly discovering the strength of unity. By Bob Neubauer It's an indelible Texas image: the longhorn stampede. It's also the analogy Richard Beto uses to describe the changes coming to University Services at the University of Texas at Austin. "In the beginning of the stampede you see the dust," says Beto, director of document services. "As it moves toward you, you can feel it." Likewise, he notes, the stampede of new ideas, new equipment and better service

A year after Drupa, what new surprises do graphic arts vendors have in store for in-plants? Here's an advanced look. In-plant managers eager to see the latest graphic arts technologies can't do much better than Print 05 & Converting 05. Held in Chicago once every four years, this is the printing industry's main event. Larger than last year's Graph Expo show, Print 05 will feature nearly 800 exhibits covering more than 725,000 square feet of floor space. To help in-plants prepare, many of the industry's key vendors offered a peak at the products they plan to display in Chicago. Offset Boasting

Technology mingled with history as the AIIM On Demand Conference and Exposition brought the latest digital printing technologies to Philadelphia. By Bob Neubauer Prior to this year's AIIM On Demand Conference and Exposition, vendors had wondered whether attendees would follow the show from New York, where it took place for the past decade, to Philadelphia. But after watching more than 21,000 visitors flood the show's two floors' worth of exhibits in May, few left disappointed. True, last year's showing of 25,903 attendees topped this year's crowd. But as locations go, the Pennsylvania Convention Center, smack in the heart of downtown Philadelphia, beat New

From college and university in-plants all over Canada, managers traveled to a resort in Ontario for the 38th annual CUPMAC conference. By Bob Neubauer For 37 years members of the College and University Print Management Association of Canada (CUPMAC) have been getting together at locations around Canada to discuss their mutual concerns. Last month, for the first time, IPG joined them. Twenty-five members of the group met for four days at a lakeside resort in Ontario, about two hours northeast of Toronto. Despite some uncharacteristically hot and humid weather—especially jarring for those coming down from chilly Newfoundland—the group managed to have a good time

Though she never became a teacher like she planned, Jan Hale found another way to help students. By Mike Llewellyn Well before Jan Hale got into the printing business—years before she became Printing Services manager at Douglas County School District—she was on her way to becoming a teacher. She had even worked as a teacher's aide at a special education high school. While attending Arizona State University, though, she decided to major in graphic communications. The sudden change in interest can be traced back to one man, Dr. Zeke Prust, a printing industry veteran on staff at ASU who introduced her to the craft.

Providing low-cost printing is no longer enough. At IPMA 2005, in-plants learned they must improve their customer relations skills and integrate themselves into their organizations' core businesses to survive. By Bob Neubauer More than 100 in-plant managers gathered in suburban Chicago last month for IPMA 2005, the annual International Publishing Management Association conference. Appropriately dubbed "Winds of Change," the conference focused on the need for in-plants to transform from printing operations into providers of financial and strategic value to their parent organizations. The conference took place at the elegant Oak Brook Hills Resort, in the midst of a Midwest heat wave that kept