Xerox Corp.

When Rustin Myers first joined the in-plant at Grocers Supply Co. his top priority was changing attitudes. From there, he went on to increase productivity. By Kristen E. Monte UPON HIS arrival at Grocers Supply Co., Rustin Myers quickly realized that the in-plant was neither productive for the parent company, nor service-oriented for the customer. "I came from the environment where you have to be customer-oriented," says Myers, senior printing services manager of the 26-employee operation. "Once you start helping people, they want to use your services." For the past 17 years, that's what he's been trying to do at the family-owned Houston-based company.

Thanks to strong support from corporate management, Printing Services at Advocate Health Care is now a state-of-the-art in-plant… with an iGen3 to boot. According to Webster's Dictionary, an advocate is a person who pleads for a cause or propounds an idea. For Printing Services at Advocate Health Care, this definition couldn't be more apt. While some in-plants struggle to justify their existence to an ever-skeptical parent company, at Advocate, upper management fully supports Printing Services. So much so that, over the past five years, the corporation has made massive improvements to its 28-employee, 25,000-square-foot in-plant, replacing nearly every piece of production equipment. Based

Thanks to two back-to-back installations, Ball State University Printing Services is producing work faster and at a lower cost. By Bob Neubauer For 10 long years Ken Johnson and his crew at Ball State University Printing Services have been slowly building an equipment reserve fund. Now payoff time has come. Over the past couple of months, the Muncie, Ind., in-plant has used its savings to make two major installations that will completely overhaul the 11-employee operation. First the shop installed a six-page thermal Screen (U.S.A.) PlateRite 4100 platesetter. Then, in April, it added a four-color Heidelberg Printmaster 52 perfector. The new capabilities will

Printing equipment wasn't the only thing on display at the AIIM On Demand Conference and Exposition. There was plenty of bindery gear, as well. By Bob Neubauer For more than a decade now the On Demand trade show has been giving the world a look at the latest in digital printing. But an equally important part of the show has been the bindery equipment on display. Last month, IPG joined the 21,000 people who attended On Demand. As part of our mission, we sought out the latest bindery gear—a task made much more convenient by the show's relocation from New York to IPG's home

Several vendors recently revealed their plans for the big September show. By Bob Neubauer The Print 05 and Converting 05 trade show is right around the corner. To get a taste of what's in store, IPG was recently invited to Chicago along with other journalists to hear a handful of vendors discuss their plans for the show, which will take place September 9-15 in downtown Chicago. The two-day press conference, called MediaDays 2005, was organized by the Broadford & Maloney PR firm. Dave Poulos, of the Graphic Arts Show Co., told attendees that 80,000 people are expected to attend Print 05 and visit

Users of monochrome devices say speed, quality and service are among their chief considerations when looking for equipment. By Gretchen A. Peck While many in-plants cite color printing as an emerging opportunity, black-and-white output is still their bread and butter. Many, if not the majority, of their digital jobs are monochromatic. And since the speed of the printer largely determines how much work the in-plant can produce, this has become a very important criterion; it's typically the first specification a prospective buyer wants to know. At Greenville, Texas-based L-3 Communications Integrated Systems, the in-plant uses an assortment of Konica-Minolta black-and-white systems

One of the largest university in-plants, the BYU Print & Mail Production Center is reorganizing to make itself more efficient and customer friendly. By Bob Neubauer When Brigham Young University merged its print and mail operations in 1998 to form the Print & Mail Production Center, it improved communication between the departments and enhanced its workflow. Now Doug Maxwell wants to take that merger even farther. The new director and his team are reorganizing and streamlining the 65-employee in-plant so that printing, copying and mail functions are completely integrated, not independent services with separate staffs, reporting structures and scheduling. "We felt that we

In-plants interested in variable data printing should take things one step at a time. By Chris Reid Whether you're a small reprographics shop or a large offset printer, the prospect of supporting variable data printing (VDP) applications for your customers can be daunting. Many shops lack the IT skills or infrastructure to handle VDP. They may not be familiar with typical variable data formats or the composition tools used to build variable applications. Still others haven't made the leap to digital print technology in order to support a fully variable page for color or black-and-white printing. You may be at a

In recent months Kodak has announced acquisitions and restructured in a bid to grab a bigger chunk of the graphic arts business. But how will this benefit in-plants? By Bob Neubauer Eastman Kodak is optimistic. The 124-year-old company is betting that in-plants and printing companies are looking for a single vendor to satisfy all of their graphic arts needs—and it has been investing rather heavily lately to make sure it becomes this vendor. Since 2002, the Rochester, N.Y.-based firm has been acquiring companies and buying out joint venture partners as part of a strategy to dominate the graphic arts business. But is this strategy

Ohio University has moved beyond printing. The additional services it provides have made it a more crucial part of the university. By Bob Neubauer Ohio University Printing and Graphic Services has been doing a lot more than just printing lately. Thanks to several initiatives coordinated by Director David Kasler, the 15-employee in-plant is now handling laser engraving, heat transfer printing, fulfillment of university gift orders and—perhaps most unique of all—a program that creates handmade wooden gifts from fallen university trees. "If all you're providing is printing and copying...I think your days are numbered," notes Kasler. "Because those are things that they feel