February 2015
A Big Win in Vegas
David Pearson doesn't gamble, a seemingly odd admission from the director of Print and Mail Services at Station Casinos, one of Las Vegas' most popular casinos for locals. But for Pearson, his 16 years at Station have been more about bringing gaming opportunities to others through printing and mailing monthly rewards booklets and other direct mail pieces.
A Chicago Mega Show
Printers, packagers, processors and converters will come together when Graph Expo, CPP Expo and Process Expo visit Chicago.
A Cleaner Cut in Hartford
You never realize how important a paper cutter is to your in-plant until it breaks down. That's something Mario Maselli learned very quickly in September when his shop's old MBM Triumph 721-06 LT cutter stopped working. Production in his three-employee in-plant at the University of Hartford soon backed up.
An Educational Enterprise
With a renewed customer focus and education as its top priority, the Auxiliary Services department for Salem-Keizer Public Schools rebounded from years of budget reductions.
Bindery Upgrades Save Time and Money for AEP
Printing about 4 million offset and digital impressions a year, American Electric Power (AEP) Workplace Services is a busy in-plant. In addition to printing, the shop processes 285,000 pieces of incoming/outgoing mail a year, and oversees the design and order fulfillment of 4,000 company forms.
Coated Paper Shakeup
Almost exactly a year after announcing its plans, Verso Corp. has finally completed its acquisition of NewPage Holdings, North America’s largest coated paper producer. This gives the producer of printing and specialty papers approximately $3.5 billion in annual sales and about 5,800 employees in eight mills across six states and makes Verso the largest manufacturer of coated paper in the U.S.
From the Editor: The Value of Adding Value
For years now we’ve encouraged in-plant managers to add new services to their repertoires, so they can increase the value they bring to their organizations. We did it again last month, with a feature story highlighting some of the unique services in-plants have launched.
Hot Products
Hot products for in-plants from companies including Riso, Canon U.S.A., Xanté, Fujifilm North America, Roland, Heidelberg, On Demand Machinery and Agfa Graphics
In-plant Paycheck Comparison
Our 2015 salary survey reveals that managers’ salaries have risen 9.9 percent over the past two years, and the median salary has jumped $10,000.
Increased Automation at Woman's Hospital
Graphic Services at Woman's Hospital in Baton Rouge, LA was in need of a more automated option to replace its old folder. It found exactly that with the Standard Horizon AFC-566A.
Literature
Literature for in-plant printers from companies including Neenah Paper, International Paper, Appleton Coated, InfoTrends, PRIMIR, Mohawk, and CTI Paper USA
Mohawk to Expand Envelope Manufacturing
Mohawk plans to operate a new envelope manufacturing facility in the town of South Hadley, MA, creating up to 40 new jobs. North America’s largest privately owned manufacturer of fine papers, envelopes and specialty substrates intends to enter into a seven-year lease agreement on the 112,342-square-foot facility.
New NexPress Brings New Features to Knoxville
The University of Tennessee in-plant stays on the cutting edge of technology with a new Kodak NexPress SX3900. The NexPress SX3900 had only been up and running for a few weeks when IPG spoke with him, but Jack Williams, director of University Printing and Mail, says he hopes to soon see it producing brochures, landscape saddle-stitched books, perfect-bound books and posters.
No Cracks with New Creaser
When cracking appeared in a Christmas card that his in-plant produced for the university president, John Keating knew it was time to bring a new creaser on board.
Software Synchronization Tops Agenda at EFI Connect
It’s hard to improve on a winning formula, but EFI has continued to raise the bar for its Connect users’ conference as illustrated by last month’s 15th annual event in Las Vegas. Approximately 1,500 attendees—1,000 of them EFI customers from 25 different countries (a 20 percent jump from the previous year)—gathered at The Wynn Las Vegas for four days of educational and breakout sessions, plus several keynote presentations.
Temple Brings Booklet Binding In-house
For years, Temple University Digital Document Services reported to Business Services, and getting approval for new equipment was a challenge. Then a curious thing happened at the Philadelphia university about a year ago.
The Perks of Print-to-Post
Ten years ago, half of all in-plants oversaw the mailing operations at their parent organizations; today that figure has crept up to nearly two-thirds. And why shouldn’t it? Many of the items in-plants print end up in the mail stream.
Wire Binding a Hit
While at PRINT 13, the manager of an in-plant at a Midwestern energy company saw a demo of the Sterling Digipunch and Rilecart WB-450 double loop wire binder at the Spiel Associates booth and was impressed. So last spring the 11-employee in-plant installed both pieces of equipment and began punching and binding training manuals, calendars, trade show brochures and more.
