From the Editor: Why Do I Do This to Myself?
Sitting in stop-and-go Denver traffic, well into my fifth hour behind the wheel, I started to question the logic of the ambitious itinerary I had burdened myself with.
Brett Birky (left) and Bob Neubauer at Urban Fulfillment Services.
I was in Colorado for the annual In-plant Printing and Mailing Association (IPMA) conference last month, and had decided to spend the day before the event visiting three different in-plants — a 200-mile road trip that would leave me exhausted and frazzled, just as my busy week began.
“Why do I do this to myself?” I mused, as every lane but mine began inching forward again. I had started the day driving clear across the city to tour Urban Fulfillment Services’ extremely clean and spacious in-plant. As you read in our May cover story, the company started a new in-plant with two Ricoh InfoPrint 5000 GP inkjet presses, and it was great to see them in person and hear the enthusiasm in Brett Birky’s voice as he detailed the workflow process and security measures that make this well-oiled operation run so smoothly.
From there I drove to Cherry Creek School District to talk with Tim Waltz and tour his eight-employee in-plant, which was busy printing middle and high school course materials. The shop also prints math books from files it gets from the publisher, saving the district a quarter million dollars a year. The in-plant is in the middle of adding Web-to-print software.
Tim Waltz gives a tour of the Cherry School District in-plant.
Coincidentally, two other in-plant managers got their starts at this shop: Mike Lincoln, Colorado’s state printer, and Jon Bedsted, head of Mayo Clinic’s in-plant, both worked here in years past.
My next visit was way down in Colorado Springs, 65 miles down highway 25. I’ve known Joe Morin for years and wanted to finally see his in-plant at Colorado Springs School District 11. The shop just sold its four-color Ryobi offset press after taking it offline a year ago and going all digital with a Konica Minolta bizhub PRESS C1100.
Joe Morin (left) and Bob Neubauer at Colorado Springs School District 11, standing standing in front of the shop's Konica Minolta 1250 digital press.
“I just love technology, and I love to see what’s coming next,” Joe told me. With 38 years at the in-plant, he’s seen a lot of technology come and go. It was a nice visit, and I’m glad I went, but the trip back to Denver took forever, with awful traffic. Again I wondered, as I cranked up the air conditioning to fend off an unexpected Colorado heat wave, why I plan such exhausting agendas for myself.
That question was answered some time later when, after lamenting to Doug Larsen, manager of Boys Town’s in-plant, at the conference, he reminded me that getting mentioned in IPG is a big deal for an in-plant; getting visited by the editor and showing off their operation is a huge morale boost for managers, and gives them something noteworthy to tell their bosses.
So right there was the answer that had eluded me all along: I do it for all of you.
Bob has served as editor of In-plant Impressions since October of 1994. Prior to that he served for three years as managing editor of Printing Impressions, a commercial printing publication. Mr. Neubauer is very active in the U.S. in-plant industry. He attends all the major in-plant conferences and has visited 200 in-plant operations around the world. He has given presentations to numerous in-plant groups in the U.S., Canada and Australia, including the Association of College and University Printers and the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association. He also coordinates the annual In-Print contest, co-sponsored by IPMA and In-plant Impressions.
