December 2013

A New In-plant Challenge Emerges

I've seen a disturbing trend in which in-plants that were performing well and did not appear to be under scrutiny were suddenly surprised to hear that they were closing. They were achieving their goals; some reported huge savings, and others talked about how happy their customers were.

A New Rap for a New Era

Snoop Lion gets it. Lyrics from the rapper's songs were printed on 10-lb. onionskin with a perforation at the gutter and bound together with a hemp-covered case and a red phosphorous textured spine. Rolling Words debuted at the 2012 Coachella Music Festival where 420 elite and rare "prototypes" were handed out to fans of the hip-hop star.

Color Quality Inspires Change at Cedarville

When Cedarville University Postal & Print Services installed its Ricoh Pro C901 Graphic Arts Edition digital color printer in 2011, the 10-employee operation was quite happy with it. It greatly improved the quality of the color materials printed for the university’s Enrollment Services division, making the in-plant an integral part of the university’s marketing efforts.

Does 3D Printing Belong in the In-plant?

As 3D printing technology becomes more accessible, in-plants are wondering whether adding this service might help them maintain relevance to the parent organization and increase the value they bring to their organizations.

From the Editor: Reflecting on 2013

And so another year ends, my 19th with this magazine. This was a busy year for me. Though 2013 lacked the international events that wore out my passport last year, it was a year packed with in-plant conferences, most of them grappling with the question "how do we add value and stay in business?"

Intelligent Mail Barcode Can Invigorate Your In-plant

On January 26, the USPS will require mailers to have implemented Full-Service Intelligent Mail barcode (IMb) in order to continue to qualify for postal discounts. The IMb barcode is a simple series of lines that contains a vast amount of information—and an opportunity to improve your in-plant.

Keys to Our Success

It's been a rough road the last several years for in-plant printers. Disruptive technologies, economic uncertainty and the threat of being outsourced have taken their toll.

Managing for Survival

A few years ago I did a presentation at a conference, which I called "Prepare to Defend Yourself." In it I explained that in my experience senior management probably does not understand the strategic contribution of an in-plant, so it's up to us to make the connection for them. The content was informed by more than 30 years of dealing with management and hundreds of projects involving in-plant performance.

Messiah Sees the Light on FSC

While the printing world gushed over FSC chain-of-custody certification a few years ago, Dwayne Magee made no secret about his skepticism. “The issue of the environment is important, but having the certification in our shop isn’t a huge issue,” he told IPG in a 2009 article. He had, after all, been duped into obtaining ISO 9000 certification at a previous print shop, with the promise that it would bring new business, which never happened.

New Digs, New Color Press

Sometimes “temporary” can last a long time. For 32 years, the in-plant at California State University-Fullerton was housed in a “temporary” location on the north side of campus. This past summer, the long wait for new digs finally ended when the in-plant’s printing operation was relocated to the second floor of the library in the center of campus.