Xerox has high hopes for its new DocuTech product, built with iGen3 technology. By Bob Neubauer Recalling the way its DocuTech revolutionized black-and-white printing back in 1990, Xerox is hoping to establish another milestone with a new monochrome printer that incorporates technology used in its iGen3 digital color printer. Targeted at what it has dubbed the "mid-production" space, the new DocuTech Copier/Printer was introduced privately to journalists in Xerox's Rochester, N.Y., headquarters in December, and then unveiled formally in New York on January 29. Xerox officials could barely contain their excitement as they showed off the machine for the first time. "This
Xerox Corp.
After collecting experience from all over the Philadelphia printing industry, Ron Orehowsky has used his skills to transform LRP's Publishing Support Services operation. By Bob Neubauer The only reason he's in the printing business today, Ronald Orehowsky explains, is because his four older brothers decided to put him there when he was a kid. "In my family decisions were made by group," recalls Orehowsky, vice president of LRP Publications, in Horsham, Pa. An electrician was his brothers' first career choice for him, but when those classes at Philadelphia's Dobbins Vocational Technical High School were filled, they had to reconsider. A family friend ran
Despite the growth in color printing, black-and-white copiers still produce much of the work in today's in-plants. By W. Eric Martin With all the new and improved digital goodness popping up in these pages, it's easy to overlook the advances made in those unappreciated machines of yore: ye olde black-and-white copiers. These printing mainstays might not be the most exciting machines an in-plant manager can add to his or her arsenal, but they can't be discounted entirely because sometimes they're still the best tool for the job. What's more, today's models bear little resemblance to the faulty, all-too-easily broken machines that most people
By building an in-plant from scratch, Lufkin Independent School District is both preparing students for employment and saving money. By Bob Neubauer When the Lufkin Independent School District decided to create an in-plant at its Lufkin, Texas-based high school, it went all out. First it hired Brian Crews, who had spent the previous 10 years running the in-plant and graphic arts instructional program for the Gladewater School District, an hour and a half away. Then it installed new prepress, offset and finishing gear worth close to $600,000, including computer-to-plate (CTP) equipment and two-color presses. "They told me to put together my Christmas list
NRF Distributors' Graphics & Printing Department has moved into a new and larger facility in Augusta, Maine. By Bob Neubauer NRF Distributors didn't become New England's largest flooring distributor by being slow. When its suppliers decide to have a sale, NRF needs to get that information to its customers before its competitors—somewhat of a challenge for a company tucked away in chilly Augusta, Maine, far from many of its clients. The family-owned company has long relied on its four-employee in-plant to print the sales announcements and other customer communications that keep NRF competitive. "I can get a mailing out in one day," boasts
Kamehameha Schools Design & Production Services recently brought a Xerox Gold Award home to its Honolulu facility. By Bob Neubauer While winter sends snow and bitter cold across much of the country, Reid Silva and his crew at Kamehameha Schools, in Honolulu, live in a world without jackets, where eucalyptus trees grow in a lush valley visible through the windows in their in-plant. But their location in the virtual paradise of Hawaii belies the hard work the nine employees at Design & Production Services handle every day. The three operators in the Digital Document Center (or DDC—part of Design & Production Services) churn
City government in-plants have to be fast, flexible and politically savvy. By Mike Llewellyn IT WASN'T too long ago that brush fires were gorging themselves on Southern California scrub and turning the nation's attention to the seemingly endless struggle firefighters had set before them. As the nightly news broadcast eerie aerial shots of glowing fire lines snaking their way across mountainsides, in downtown San Diego, uncomfortably near the blazes, Mayor Dick Murphy put in a call to the city manager's office. If the mayor and other city leaders were to decide how to address the wildfires, they had to work from the same report.
Xplor 2003 brought MICR and one-to-one marketing to the forefront in Atlanta. By Mike Llewellyn The exhibitors at Xplor 2003 were upbeat, talking about a market rebound and new ways for the printing industry to gain a foothold as new media proliferates. While attendee figures were down compared with past Xplor conferences, most exhibitors felt that those who had arrived were there to do business. Continuing the show's tradition of education, companies like IBM Printing Systems and Océ set up their booths more like learning centers than equipment showcases. And with a greater focus on transactional printing and variable data, many companies rolled
Here's what's been happening lately at the10 in-plants that top the list. By Bob Neubauer 1. This was a year of major change for the Government Printing Office. In January, Bruce James took over as Public Printer and set about reshaping the 142-year-old operation as an electronic information distribution organization. Under his direction, GPO reached a compact with the President's Office of Management and Budget, which had challenged GPO's right to handle executive branch printing and procurement. A test program with the Department of Labor allows that department to select printers outside the GPO procurement process. GPO also reduced its staff this year
More than 90 people converged on Purdue University recently for the 36th annual Big Ten Printing & Copyright Conference. By Bob Neubauer For the second year in a row the Big Ten Printing & Copyright Conference took place in Hoosier territory, this time at Purdue University, in West Lafayette, Ind. The first cold snap of the year didn't deter more than 90 in-plant and copyright managers from getting together for the 36th annual event. The mood was set when Purdue President Dr. Martin Jischke told the assemblage, "Printing and copyright play important rolls in the future of this university." That statement was followed by