Xerox Corp.

Higher-than-expected turnout made Graph Expo 2002 an exciting four days for both vendors and attendees. By Mike Llewellyn &012;and Bob Neubauer Graph Expo was back in action last month in Chicago, and from the look of the 380,000-square-foot show floor, the printing industry may soon spring back, as well. Close to 38,000 people attended the show, including buyers representing over 9,600 companies. After last year's big-ticket event, Print '01, was brought to a halt by the September 11 terrorist attacks, it was reassuring to see crowded exhibit areas and overflowing equipment demos this year. David Poulos, director of communications for the event's organizer,

What's it like to run the in-plant at a prominent graphic arts university? We talked to managers at the major schools on each coast, as well as one in the heartland. By MIKE LLEWELLYN &012;Professor Ken Macro has a lot on his plate nowadays—and he couldn't be happier. Macro is director of Reprographic, Mailing and Shipping (RM&S) Services and a faculty member at California Polytechnic State University, in San Luis Obispo. The fact that he works for one of the most important graphic arts schools in the country has had a large effect on his shop and his career. Macro says his shop benefits

After moving from offset to digital printing, this in-plant slashed turnaround time and increased business. by Dan Pothier A few years ago, Portsmouth City Public Schools, in Virginia, decided it was time to transform the existing offset print shop into a digital, on-demand print center. Skipper Duck, assistant superintendent, and Dan Pendarvis, purchasing agent, hired me to run the center based on my experience as digital production supervisor at the U.S. Government's Defense Automated Printing Service (DAPS). My first act was to transform the shop from being all offset to producing 80 percent of all jobs digitally. Since then, turnaround time has

I was in Rochester, N.Y., the other day at a meeting with Xerox executives. Though they had a lot of interesting things to say about their strategy for leading "the new business of printing," one item in particular grabbed my attention. Anshoo Gupta, president of the Production Systems Group, said that despite all the buzz about digital printing over the past decade, despite all the advancements in digital technology, many printing establishments still have not bought into the digital message. They are still printing nearly everything with offset presses, whether short-run or long. As startling as this may seem to those of you

BlueCross BlueShield is a big name in the in-plant world, with dozens of shops serving its many offices around the country. We spoke with several of them to find out why BCBS values its in-plants so much. By MIKE LLEWELLYN &012;If you were to look at a list of all the in-plants in the country, one name would pop up more than any other: BlueCross BlueShield. Because BCBS is not centrally operated, each "Blue Plan," as employees call the independent companies in the network, must produce its own marketing materials, explanations of benefits (EOBs), brochures and internal correspondence. Thus, many BCBS Blue Plans

Scanning services are one new way to win back revenue nixed by the Web. Find how how other managers are making scanning work for them. By MIKE LLEWELLYN A natural disaster showed Newell Fogelberg just how important scanning can be to his customers. Three years ago, Fogelberg, director of Imaging Services for the University of Colorado at Boulder, received a call from the library at nearby Colorado State University. There had been a flood and many of the library's books had been ruined. "They asked for our help," he says. "So we scanned the damaged pages, cleaned them up, cut out the

In-plant managers from around the country headed south for the 43rd International Publishing Management Association conference. by Bob Neubauer Atlanta got even hotter recently when the the country's largest gathering of in-plant managers dropped into town. The International Publishing Management Association's annual conference drew scores of managers from around the country to Georgia's capital for four days of education and fraternization. Though attendance was down this year compared with 2001's Oregon conference, enthusiasm was as high as ever. The numerous social gatherings during the conference had a much more intimate feeling than usual, inspiring managers to forge new friendships. Because IPMA 2002 took

New digital gear and a streamlined production process are propelling this Alabama in-plant to the forefront. by Bob Neubauer When Alabama's finance director mandated that all state printing be routed through the Division of Printing and Publications a few years ago, he ticked off a lot of state agencies. One of them, the Alabama Forestry Commission, grumbled for weeks, upset it couldn't keep using its long-time commercial vendor. "But they worked with us a time or two and found out that we could do the job—and we actually did it cheaper," notes Jerry Wilson, division director of Alabama's Division of Printing and Publications,

Variable data: Is it in your future? It better be, according to several speakers at the International Publishing Management Association conference. At the recent in-plant event in Atlanta, I listened to representatives from Heidelberg, Xerox and the Rochester Institute of Technology talk enthusiastically about variable data in their sessions, calling it a burning hot trend—a way to improve an organization's marketing efforts and generate more revenue. They pointed out the excellent response rates of personalized direct marketing pieces, showing chart after chart proving personalized printing is on the rise and is very effective. They made a good case. But they also left

Numerous recent upgrades and service enhancements show why the Washington Department of Printing is one of the top 10 in-plants in the country. by Bob Neubauer When you sit down at the table in George Morton's office at the Washington State Department of Printing, you get the feeling there's nobody else he'd rather be talking to. His welcoming smile and direct eye contact make it clear that he really cares about the people he's with. Perhaps that's why Morton, director of the Department of Printing for the past four years, is so popular among his 160 employees—he's concerned about them. In fact, he visits