January 2015

A Chance Encounter

Don Reid had been working at a restaurant in his native Sacramento after graduating from high school, but after a year there he knew it wasn't the right industry for him. One day he was sent to Sierra Copy & Printing, a local print shop, to drop off a job. There, an enticing opportunity presented itself.

A Remarkable Expansion

When Sherri Broderick began as the supervisor of Print/Mail/Sign Services for the Frisco Independent School District in 2002, the district had just 19 schools for the two-employee in-plant to service. But a population boom in the area over the last decade has expanded the district to 61 schools, with four more to be added in the fall of 2015.

ACUP: Your ‘Golden Opportunity’

From April 12 to 16, ACUP will host printing, mailing and communications professionals from throughout higher education in the coastal city of Portsmouth, VA. The event will offer numerous opportunities to meet other managers, network and share industry insights.

Add Services, Add Value

All over the country, in-plants of every size are looking beyond traditional print services for additional lines of business that will endear them to their customers while generating needed revenue. Services like scanning, shredding, garment printing, framing and many others are well within the grasp of in-plants.

Farewell, Mr. B

In-plant Graphics is mourning the loss of a giant in the trade magazine business. Irvin J. Borowsky, the founder of IPG’s parent company, NAPCO Media (formerly North American Publishing Co.), passed away two days before Thanksgiving.

From the Editor: New Year, New Focus

With the arrival of 2015, IPG enters its 65th year of publication. To catch you up, we started in January of 1951, changed names a few times over the years, and here we are, ready to face a new year.

GPO Renamed

Buried two thirds of the way down in the “Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015” are these words: “The Government Printing Office is hereby redesignated the Government Publishing Office.” And with that, the 154-year-old GPO, the country’s largest in-plant by employee count, entered a new era when Congress passed the act last month and President Barack Obama signed it into law.

Hot Products

Hot wide-format products for in-plant printers from companies including Agfa Graphics, Canon Océ, EFI, FUJIFILM North America, Epson, HP, Mimaki, Mutoh and Screen USA

Manroland Sheetfed Unveils Printing Evolution

It’s not often that a popping-style street dancer and a billionaire are the opening acts for a printing press, but that only goes to show that Manroland Sheetfed knows how to put on a show.

Offset Out for Iowa Bankers Association

When the Iowa Bankers Association installed a four-color Ryobi 3304 in 2007, Todd Palmer was excited that his two-employee in-plant would be able to bring the majority of the association’s four-color printing in-house. But a lot can change in eight years.

Publishers Turn to Digital Printing

More than 150 book publishers, book manufacturers and suppliers met at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square recently for the first Digital Book Printing Conference, organized by IPG's parent company, NAPCO Media (formerly North American Publishing Co.) The networking and educational event featured an insightful keynote from Marco Boer, VP of IT Strategies.

Smart Management in Colorado

While Imaging Services, the in-plant for the University of Colorado-Boulder, has been dedicated to offering high-quality, full-service printing to its campus since 1923, the shop has never worked smarter than it does today.

State of Ohio Upgrades Wide-format, Digital Press

In September, the 70-employee state printing and mailing operation installed a 42˝ Océ ColorWave 650 and greatly expanded its wide-format business, focusing on larger-sized posters and banners than the shop’s previous 24˝ Canon imagePrograf W6400 could produce.

The Value of Sublimation

Dye-sublimation printing is not exactly a "new" technology; it's been around in various forms since the early 1970s, and the basic process used today was introduced in the late '90s. Because of the low initial investment, the simple production process and the high margins attainable on the products, this technology could be the new service that in-plants have been waiting for.

Whatever it Takes in Tennessee

Poring over 15 years of her in-plant's data recently, Tammy Golden made an intriguing discovery. Since 1999—the year she started at the State of Tennessee's Division of Printing and Media Services—annual revenue has stayed relatively consistent, despite the fact that print volume has been declining.

All Issues