In-plant Events

IT’S BEEN a busy month for me. After a long break, I hit the road for a series of conferences and plant tours that brought me from Texas to Ohio to Washington, D.C. First I headed down to the University of North Texas to attend the TACUP conference. The Texas Association of College and University Printers has been meeting for 30 years now, and this year’s event drew 42 attendees. I had the opportunity to talk with in-plant managers from all over Texas. I also gave a presentation that included suggestions on steps in-plants can take to survive and thrive. (See full story on page

FOR 30 years now the Texas Association of College and University Printers (TACUP) has been meeting all over Texas. Last month, the University of North Texas (UNT) played host to the group, which included 42 managers from in-plants as far south as Brownsville, on the Mexico border. An affable group, they networked their way through 21/2 days of sessions and plant tours, finding plenty of time to laugh and learn. UNT’s Jimmy Friend modeled the conference’s theme on the TV reality show “Survivor,” splitting attendees into two tribes, the Inkadinkas and the Paperwampus. Members fielded questions throughout the event, getting points for correct answers.

DÜSSELDORF, GERMANY—11/30/07—With the drupacube, drupa 2008 will for the first time provide a special event aimed at the print buyer target group. As will be the case in the 19 halls, here too the spotlight will be on printed products – with one key difference. At the event inside the pavilion set up on the Rhine, the focus will be squarely on marketing-driven applications for printed products. The technology that makes this possible will play a subsidiary role. This shift in perspective offers one unbeatable advantage: Heads of marketing and publishing directors, production managers, account executives and creative directors will be able to take

Perhaps because it’s so large, Texas is the only state that has its own in-plant association. Called the Texas Association of College and University Printers (TACUP), the in-plant group has been meeting for 30 years. Earlier this month, managers from Lubbock to Brownsville and everywhere in between converged on the University of North Texas (UNT) for three days of networking, educational sessions and plant tours. Host Jimmy Friend modeled the conference’s theme on the reality show “Survivor,” splitting attendees into two tribes, the Inkadinkas and the Paperwampus. Members fielded questions throughout the event, getting points for correct answers (and humiliation for wrong ones: RGB

Robert C. Tapella, the newly appointed Public Printer, will provide the keynote address at the second annual “Digital Printing in Government” forum, taking place in Washington, D.C., Wednesday, November 28, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Hosted by INTERQUEST, a market and technology research and consulting firm, the event will feature key results from INTERQUEST’s new study “Digital Printing in Government: Perspectives of Print Buyers and Outsourcing Providers.” Joining Tapella will be Gilles Biscos, president of INTERQUEST, who will analyze key trends in the publishing, print-on-demand, transactional and direct mail markets. Other forum speakers will include Michael Bearden, chief of Data Services Division, Defense Intelligence

In-plant managers from all over the Lone Star State met recently at the University of North Texas (UNT) for three days of networking, educational sessions and plant tours. Called the Texas Association of College and University Printers (TACUP), the in-plant group has been meeting for 30 years. This year’s event took its theme from the reality show “Survivor” and focused on adapting and thriving. IPG Editor Bob Neubauer gave a presentation on in-plant survival, and xpedx sponsored a day-long version of its popular MBA of Finance workshop. The group toured the U. S. Bureau of Engraving & Printing, in Ft. Worth, and also visited Clampitt

THE NATIONAL Government Publishing Association (NGPA) rounded up government in-plant managers from all parts of the country last month for the group’s 31st annual conference. The three-day event, held in Austin, Texas, was organized by NGPA Vice President Richard Beto, director of document services at the University of Texas-Austin; Robert Gomez, director of publishing for the Texas State Senate; and NGPA President Audrey Marrocco, print administrator for the Pennsylvania Department of General Services. Several dozen state and federal printing managers, along with a few of their state university counterparts, attended professional development sessions and toured the in-plants at the University of Texas and

MORE THAN 100 in-plant managers from all parts of the United States gathered in Baton Rouge for the 32nd annual Southeastern University Printers and Digital Managers Conference (SUPDMC) in early October. Hosted by Mike Loyd and his team from Louisiana State University (LSU), the conference offered a mixture of Cajun hospitality and professional development. Tim Vellek, vice president of Ricoh’s new Production Printing Business Group (PPBG) delivered Monday’s keynote. He argued that in-plants need to keep up with market demands in the form of new services while managing their internal images. It is vital, he said, for in-plants to be perceived as

I’VE BEEN feeling oddly disconnected lately. I guess having a newborn in the house can do that to you. Suddenly your comfortable routine is gone and you’re plunged into an alternate world, where business issues barely register. Naturally I skipped all the usual fall shows this year to spend time at home with the baby. Now that I’m back, though, and hearing stories about the NGPA and SUPDMC conferences, a sense of detachment is setting in. The events don’t seem quite real to me. I feel like an outsider peering in. This, I suspect, is how many of you must also feel if

HUDSON, NH—Oct. 9, 2007—Presstek, Inc. (Nasdaq: PRST), the leading manufacturer and marketer of digital offset printing business solutions, today announced that President and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Jacobson has been appointed to the EDSF board of directors. EDSF is the international, non-profit organization dedicated to the document management and graphic communications industries. As a charitable foundation, EDSF is dedicated to preparing the next generation of professionals for the document management and graphic communications marketplace. The organization supports the industry’s future by granting scholarships to students in support of their academic careers, providing a research grant/mentor program for colleges and universities, building career awareness, and recognizing