XMPie

With $14.65 million in annual revenue, University of Washington Publications Services is the largest university in-plant, according to sales. But until August, it was one of the few big in-plants that had neither a digital color press nor computer-to-plate equipment. That just changed. The Seattle-based operation recently added both a Xerox iGen3 and an Agfa :Avalon chemistry-free CTP system. “Now it’s an all-digital workflow,” proclaims Frank Davis, associate director. “Whether it goes to the pressroom or it goes on the iGen, it’s all digital now.” So far the speed and quality improvements are making a huge difference. “Our designers and customer service reps

THE IN-PLANT market is probably the most underestimated user of digital printing technology. The influence of the in-plant is apparent from an examination of the segments where on-demand devices are being placed. The in-plant market drove the adoption of black-and-white digital printing and currently accounts for 40 percent of high-speed monochrome print-on-demand cut-sheet installations. The in-plants are also leading the color charge, accounting for 30 percent of placements in the 24-59 pages per minute (ppm) production color segment and 20 percent of the convenience color copier/printers and production color devices in excess of 60 ppm. Just like the entire print-for-pay market, in-plants are

IF YOU veer away from the Las Vegas Strip and drive about a mile east, until the Hard Rock Casino fades away in your rear view mirror, you’ll hit the campus of the University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV), an academic oasis on the fringes of the casino world. Celebrating 50 years in 2007, the university now hosts more than 28,000 students on its 350-acre campus. Providing UNLV’s printing for 38 of those 50 years has been the Reprographics/Design Services (R/DS) department, now operating out of a 7,200-square-foot facility in the center of campus, plus an adjoining 2,000-square-foot copy center. With 20 full-time and

NEW YORK CITY—August 7, 2007—Printing Industries Alliance, formerly known as the Printing and Imaging Association of New York State, has announced that internationally known lifestyle communicator Martha Stewart has been named the recipient of the 2007 Franklin Award, which recognizes the achievements of outstanding leaders and communicators. The award will be presented during the Association’s Franklin Event on Tuesday evening, September 18, at Pier Sixty at Chelsea Piers in New York City. A New Host This is the first time the Franklin Event will be hosted by the Printing Industries Alliance. “We are happy to have this opportunity to host the Franklin Event which has been

Four distinguished industry executives have been appointed to the Board of Directors of New York University’s Graphic Communications Graduate M.A. Program. • Werner Naegeli, President and Chief Executive Officer of U.S. operations for Muller Martini Corp. • Francis A. McMahon, Director of Marketing, Digital Printing Solutions and Sales Organization, Imaging and Printing Group, at Hewlett-Packard. • Richard Schadle, Vice President, Worldwide Sales at XMPie, a Xerox company. • Stanley E. Freimuth, Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer of Fujifilm U.S.A. The Board is a prestigious advisory body for the program, which offers curricula to develop the next generation of leaders in the graphics industry. On a pro bono

A CONTROVERSY is brewing about the future of book and manual production. Some people say they are going away; I believe book production is evolving from a labor intensive, manual process to an automated, template-based digital process. The argument that book and manual production are dead cites evidence of dwindling book readership, numbers of book publishers, comparisons of the costs of long offset runs verses shorter digital runs and the book distribution model. On the other side of the coin is the argument that print production is morphing with digital printing and online technologies; those who take advantage of this evolution will be

Getting approval for a Xerox iGen3 wasn’t the hard part. Nor was the installation of the digital color press. “The education [of customers] is what I’m finding will be our greatest challenge,” reveals Rich Bundsgaard, director of Print Mail Copy Solutions at the University of Arkansas. Specifically, he added, the 50-employee in-plant has to show customers how high-quality color work from the iGen3 can help them do their jobs better. Since its installation just before Christmas, the iGen3 has been churning out on-demand color books and full-color course packs for professors who see the benefits (and cost effectiveness) of digital color. To keep the digital

DIGITAL COLOR was introduced to the marketplace more than a decade ago. Indigo and Xeikon unveiled key new products in the mid-1990s, and early projections were that these technologies would take off. Initially, as with a number of new technologies, there were technical issues. Presses were unreliable; ink and toner didn’t stick to the paper; and the cost of consumables was too high to generate any substantial application transfer from offset technology. Today, Indigo has been taken over by Hewlett Packard. Xeikon faced bankruptcy before being acquired by Punch Technologies. Kodak bought out Heidelberg’s share of NexPress. Ink and toner are now sticking

THE MARKETING budget in corporate America typically falls victim to intense scrutiny. In a results-driven age, the chief marketing officer feels intense pressure from executive officers, boards, shareholders and customers to deliver measurable results. As a consequence, marketers are always asking questions like these: • How can I be as efficient as possible in my marketing efforts so I don’t waste time and money? • How can I make sales personnel more productive in prospecting and closing business? • How do I keep the sales funnel filled with qualified leads? • How can I more effectively get clients to come to me instead of

WHEN RAJ Nadrajan took the job as director of Document Solutions at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, he knew the in-plant needed change. Upon his arrival he discovered the full extent of the task ahead of him and admits it gave him pause. “After my first few weeks when I joined the operation, I did not have much hope that the operation would make it,” Nadrajan remembers. “I even considered going back to my last position, but stayed to challenge my ability to make the operation one of the best in the industry.” Five years later that goal has become