In-plants met inside the U.S Government Printing Office for the Interquest Digital Printing in Government and Higher Education Forum

By Bob Neubauer

In November, university and government in-plants met inside the U.S Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C., for the seventh annual Interquest Digital Printing in Government and Higher Education Forum. Acting Public Printer Davita Vance-Cooks gave the keynote address, discussing the challenges faced by GPO, including tight budgets, increased congressional oversight, rapid technology changes and the advance of social media. As a result, GPO has been reexamining its mission and trying to redefine itself as an information and communications provider.

“I think that we should be the Government Publishing Office,” she remarked, proposing a name change for the 151-year-old agency. She pointed to mobile apps, e-books and GPO’s Federal Digital System (FDsys) as different ways that GPO gives the public access to official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government.

“We are official, we are digital and we are moving forward,” she concluded.

Gilles Biscos, president of Interquest gave an overview of the print industry using Interquest research results. He discussed the growth of four-color in transactional printing, and the increasing shift from toner to inkjet. Direct mail volume is predicted to grow in the next couple years, he said.

Biscos cited IPG survey data when he noted that more than half of in-plants are self-supported or mostly self-supported, more than a third have not expanded in the past three years and more than half are now insourcing. He said the top value-added services provided by in-plants are variable data printing, mailing, wide-format printing, online ordering and fulfillment. Biscos also went over some of the technology developments shown at Drupa.

A panel of government and higher-ed printers talked about their operations. Greg Estep, superintendent of GPO’s Press Division, talked about GPO’s efforts to be a best-in-class printer. He noted GPO’s use of 5S lean manufacturing methodologies, and its certifications as a G7 Master Printer and a Sustainable Green Printer. GPO is planning to relocate its digital print center, upgrade its roll-fed toner equipment and investigate inkjet presses, he said.

Richard Beto, director of Document Solutions at The University of Texas at Austin, detailed some of his in-plant’s offerings including QR codes, copyright clearance, Web-to-print and wide-format.

“I love wide-format,” he said. “It’s a wonderful profit generator for us.”

Attendees of the Interquest forum—who numbered about 120—also had an opportunity to tour GPO’s operation.

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Bob Neubauer Author's page

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 more than 180 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.

In-plants Assemble at Interquest Forum in D.C.