January 2007 Issue

 

Digital Paper: Adding Value And Volume

PAPER IS the sole opportunity for an audience to hold your organization’s identity in its hands. Paper reaches the target audiences’ sense of touch, and the paper used to communicate your organization’s message influences recipients’ perceptions of the organization. As they touch your letter, sales collateral or direct mailer, the consumer may make judgments about your quality, durability and whether or not you are high-tech. As little as five years ago, digital presses and color copiers could not run all the papers that offset presses could. The Indigo E-Print required special pre-treatment of all papers (otherwise the ink just rubbed off). Xeikon-based

Duplicators Reenergize UT-Martin In-plant

The purchase of two Riso V8000 digital presses has given the University of Tennessee at Martin Digital Printing Services a new lease on life. A few years ago, the in-plant seemed to be in trouble. Its machinery was very old and some of its presses were broken. “Life expectancy for the print shop looked very dim,” says Susie Nanney, director of Information Technology Services Computer Store and Digital Printing Services. In the summer of 2005, the university’s Information Technology Services began managing the print shop and transformed it into a digital workplace, rebranding it “Digital Printing Services.” That fall, the in-plant added its first Riso V8000 digital

Free Software Offsets IPMA Dues

Members of the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association will receive free management software as the result of a partnership with P3 Software. And since the cost of the software ($200) is more than IPMA’s annual dues ($185), the deal makes membership in the in-plant association essentially free. Both existing and new members will receive the P3Expeditor software, which manages the outsourcing of non-core production. This includes initial specification, supplier selection, pricing, job production tracking and delivery. The software can increase an in-plant’s productivity, control and accountability while documenting savings. Find out more about the software here: www.p3software.com/GetP3ExpeditorNowIPMA.php. To learn more about IPMA, visit

GPO’s ‘Future Digital System’

MAKING GOVERNMENT information available to the public is the core of GPO’s mission: “Keeping America Informed.” This critically important function sustains one of the keystones of our republic: an informed and enlightened citizenry. No one will dispute the fact that government information is crucial to informed public decision making and the achievement of our national goals. Throughout most of its history, GPO guaranteed public access to government information through printing. Even today we continue to print the majority of our most important documents. But in just the past few years, there have been revolutionary changes in the way the public accesses and uses government

Offset Printing in the Modern World

THE WORLD of the printing press has changed. Color printing once mandated longer runs because the setup time (makeready) was an hour or two. When the first direct imaging (DI) press was introduced in 1991, its makeready was at 20 minutes, and over time it came down to less than 10 minutes. Today older presses are at about 60 minutes for makeready. On newer presses, Komori has a user who was quoted with six-minute makereadies. Heidelberg introduced a press with a seven-minute make­ready—and heading to five minutes. MAN Roland customer Vista­Print boasts three-minute setups. KBA claims to be in the same league. A run

Punished for High Copy Costs

The copier in the Camden County Clerk’s Office is a cash cow no more. After charging citizens $1 per page to use the self-service copier in its office to duplicate public documents, the clerk’s office was ordered by the New Jersey courts to slash its rates to just 5 cents a copy—and refund nearly $1 million to taxpayers. The ruling, as reported in the Philadelphia Inquirer, came about after a local contractor sued Camden and Burlington counties for price gouging. (Burlington was charging 50 cents.) The suit contended the counties had a captive audience, since taxpayers weren’t permitted to copy the documents elsewhere. Now

Salem State Wins PIXI Award

The Copy Center at Salem State College, in Salem, Mass., was the only in-plant to win a Printing Innovation with Xerox Imaging (PIXI) Award this year. The first place prize in the short-run digital color category was awarded to a calendar created by art student Yen Vo and printed double-sided on the in-plant’s Xerox DocuColor 3535.

Spartan’s Strategic Advantage

EVERY IN-PLANT strives to be an asset to its parent organization. Spartan Stores’ Graphic Services department takes this even further. The in-plant’s 82 “associates” work tirelessly to give their parent company a strategic advantage over the competition in the wholesale and retail food distribution business. And what is this strategic advantage? Well, versatility for one. The in-plant provides so many services it can meet virtually any demand. It can take a job from design through fulfillment, while offering excellent customer service. Convenience and fast turnaround are other strategic advantages. The 36,000-square-foot in-plant is housed right at the Spartan Stores corporate office in Byron Center,

The Competition Within

Why send jobs to the in-plant when a desktop printer or hallway copier can take care of them? That’s what many of your customers are thinking—and doing. It’s up to you to change their bad, wasteful habits. Here are some suggestions from fellow managers. To see even more, check out our e-news story on this topic. Educate Them What we do is point out to all our departments with short presentations during departmental meetings how expensive the cost per copy is for a desktop versus our cheaper cost per copy with our in-plant equipment. We also stress the labor issue: that the department

Two Decades and Going Strong

TWENTY-THREE YEARS ago, Keith St. Clair got a tip that a local print shop was looking for an employee. Knowing nothing about the printing business, he thought it sounded like an advantageous career path and took the job. “I didn’t know what to expect,” says St. Clair, now print shop production manager at Grocery Supply Co., in Sulphur Springs, Texas. “I thought I would just stand around and the machines would do all the work.” He quickly learned he would not be doing a lot of standing around. Born and raised in Sulphur Springs, about 80 miles east of Dallas, St. Clair graduated high school and entered