July 2006 Issue
ACUP Draws Enthusiastic Crowd to Boston
FOR THE first time since its initial meeting in 1964, the Association of College and University Printers (ACUP) returned to Massachusetts recently for its annual conference. And despite some stiff conference competition—ACUP kicked off just days after the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association conference wrapped up in Las Vegas—ACUP 2006 was a smashing success, drawing 130 managers from around the world. A number of first-time attendees from the New England area joined conference regulars from as far away as Alaska, the U.K., Australia and New Zealand. A large contingent from California was also on hand, building enthusiasm for ACUP 2007 in San Francisco—not
Back from the Brink
HERE’S A nightmare that no manager wants to face: Being hired to run an in-plant only to have your boss decide to outsource the whole shebang six months later. After being hired in August 1996 as manager of Printing Services for BlueCross BlueShield (BCBS) of South Carolina, John Fabian awoke to find his dream job turning scary. “They hired me because the former manager was retiring,” he says. “Work had been slow to get to the customer, and I had a digital background in addition to offset know
Lights, Camera ...
ON YOUR most recent visit to the IPG Web site you probably noticed a new feature. We have added video presentations to the wealth of information available there. Attendees of the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association conference may have spotted me toting a camera around, taking video of them as they nervously tried to act natural. I shot more video at the Association of College and University Printers conference. It brought me back to my post-college days as a wedding videographer. Our aim with these videos is to capture some of the action and enthusiasm at in-plant industry events and let you experience them on your
MFDs Manage Multiple Tasks with Ease
AT ONE time, the idea that an in-plant could take a document from start to finish on one machine was akin to science fiction. The advent of the multifunctional device (MFD), though, has enabled in-plants to provide more comprehensive service at greater cost savings. An MFD typically consolidates printing, faxing, scanning and copying into one device. Today’s MFDs offer even more features, such as finishing, variable data printing, scanning software that routes documents to various destinations, systems that track paper and toner usage, job status indicators, workflow features and customizing capabilities. Inline bindery features open more possibilities; perfect binding, saddle stitching, stacking,
Softening Paper’s Environmental Impact
YOUR CUSTOMERS are concerned about the environment. Many of them, in fact, would be happy to pay extra to read publications printed on recycled paper. According to a recent survey by the Green Press Initiative, Book Business magazine and Co-Op America, 80 percent of book/magazine purchasers said they would be willing to pay more for reading material printed on recycled stock. Paper manufacturers have been striving to address their customers’ environmental concerns by producing more papers with recycled content, and using pulp from sustainable, responsibly managed forests. They are also showing their environmental concern in other ways: by using wind-generated electricity for manufacturing
Steady Progress, Worthy Results
BRIAN CHEPREN, supervisor of Central Printing Services at Pinellas County Schools, is a fixture in the Florida printing business. His father was a lithographer who taught his son the trade, and Chepren began working in his dad’s business when he was just 12 years old. He worked weekends and summers until he went to Eckerd College where he earned a BA in business administration. Chepren went back to printing even after college; in 1969 he secured a position in the blueprints department at ECI, a defense contractor now called Raytheon. He then moved into the offset area and ultimately found himself supervising a
Tomorrow’s Digital Printers Debut at On Demand
IT MAY not be a new topic, but on-demand printing can still pack a room—or a trade show floor, as was the case at the recent AIIM On Demand Conference and Exposition. More than 20,000 visitors from 50 states and 62 countries traveled to Philadelphia in May for the annual event. Waiting to greet them were some 450 exhibitors, all displaying their latest wares. Despite the show’s successful two-year run in Philadelphia, though, the city will not be hosting next year’s event (and no, the annoying cab strike on the first day had nothing to do with it). Questex Media Group, the
