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The latest color copiers offer higher speeds and resolutions, along with other enticing options, to boost your in-plant's productivity. By Kristen E. Monte In-plants clearly love color copiers. According to In-Plant Graphics' 2004 Market Statistics report, more in-plants (71 percent) use copiers to output color than any other device. This appreciation of color copiers isn't lost on those who sell this equipment. "The in-plant market is very important to the color copier vendor, especially those vendors offering speeds of 30 ppm or greater," says Steve Rhorer, director of product marketing for Toshiba America Business Solutions. "Most of the recent color product introductions offer

Digital color printing is on the rise at in-plants. To help, equipment vendors are making their devices more user-friendly than ever. By Vince De Franco When it comes to digital color printing, in-plants are among the leaders. Some 30 percent of color devices in the 24- to 59-ppm category reside at in-plants, according to an InfoTrends/CAP Ventures research study. Not only that, 20 percent of all production color devices in excess of 60 ppm are at in-plants. This has made suppliers of digital color printing equipment take note. They have responded by making this equipment more user-friendly than ever. Vendors have broadened the choice

How to form a good relationship with your office equipment service technician. By Eric Engel Do you want a technician who will do only what is required? Or do you want who will go the extra mile, doing everything in his power to keep your machine running as well as it can? Technicians may not have complete control over your hourly rate, but most techs have the freedom to turn an extra seven minutes into a full hour—or not. Techs also usually control when they will arrive at a call (and thus whether you will have more or less down time) and sometimes

School district in-plants provide valuable support to their schools, allowing teachers to focus on student achievement. By Bob Neubauer Public school has changed a lot since you were a kid. I don't just mean the addition of computers into the classroom nor the lax dress codes that would make your eyes pop. These days, many schools are specializing in specific subjects and allowing students to choose schools based on their own interests. For example, at Pinellas County Schools, in Largo, Fla., the district's 145 schools focus on such diverse topics as marine science, health care, computers and the arts. Students can pick

A look at some of the latest workflow solutions. By Mark Smith The digital revolution was already on its way to making "workflow" a catch-all term in prepress, when the rise of computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) extended its use to the entire print production process. As a result, an ever-wider array of products can now be called "digital workflow solutions." For our purposes, the definition is being limited to the evolution of what used to be called prepress systems. Vendors have responded to this trend with a shift toward marketing workflow solution brands as much as specific products. Modularity and flexibility are at

By uniting data center and in-plant printing services under one roof, organizations are discovering extreme workflow solutions. By Maggie DeWitt With today's emphasis on doing business better, faster and more cost-effectively, it was inevitable that management would see the wisdom of merging in-plant printing services with data centers. For those who have not done so already, there is good news and bad news. The bad news is, with each day that goes by, your parent organization is squandering resources, losing operating efficiency and wasting money. The good news is, the task is not as daunting as you might think, and the two departments

Both digital duplicators and color copiers have made major strides to meet changing customer demands. Which is right for you?

In-plant managers got a chance to see the technologies they've been reading about at the recent Graph Expo show. For the many in-plant managers in attendance, the recent Graph Expo and Converting Expo 2004 show in Chicago was a graphic arts fantasy land. "I felt like a kid in a candy store," observes Mike Renn, of Mellon Corporate Publishing, in Philadelphia. "I went to take a look at the latest direct-to-plate systems and software management packages and came away with numerous options." Attendance this year was pretty healthy, he adds: "I had to wedge myself between bodies to check out the latest gear." Other managers agreed. "I

The three largest state government in-plants are all on the West Coast. Despite budget cuts and calls for privatization, they continue to thrive--but changes are afoot. By Erik Cagle Don't let the calendar fool you. It may not read 1849, but tremendous wealth is still being mined in the largely untapped western portion of our country. Instead of prospectors dredging local waterways for gold nuggets, though, government in-plants are reaping a fortune by producing print and communications-related products for their respective agencies. Look at the figures. Each of the three West Coast states cracked the top 10 list on the In-Plant Graphics Top

Finding the high-speed/high-volume printer that provides the maximum productivity and cost savings for your in-plant is not easy. Here's some help. By Michael Fego There are many printer/copier manufacturers, but relatively few offer high-speed/high-volume models. Since "high-speed" and "high-volume" can be somewhat relative terms, let's first define what constitutes a high-speed printer. Most experts consider devices with print/copy speeds of 70 pages per minute (ppm) or more to be high-speed devices. For the purpose of this article, we will use this definition. Manufacturers offering products with speeds between 70 and 90 ppm include Konica Minolta, Kyocera Mita, Sharp, Xerox, Canon, Ricoh and