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The demand for black-and-white printing continues in an increasingly colorful world. By Gretchen Peck Digital color printing has been stealing the spotlight from black-and-white in recent years. But the black-and-white technology developers have had no fear; they realize it's still, very much, a black-and-white world out there. According to Paul Preo, business line manager of distributed printers for IBM Printing Systems, recent data indicates that as much as 75 percent of the work managed by in-plants is of the black-and-white kind. "Monochrome is still a lot less expensive and now offers excellent quality," he notes. "Today's digital monochrome technology boasts the strongest image

Jennifer Bowers has excelled in printing from Colorado to New York. Now she's putting her experience to good use at Florida State University. By Joe Ranoia Printing is in Jennifer Bowers' blood. Her father taught the subject at Purdue University. "I'm a university brat," she quips. "Probably that connection got me interested in graphics." Bowers took that connection and turned it into an accomplished career, finally landing in Tallahassee as director of Printing and Mailing Services at Florida State University. Bowers, 45, grew up in South Bend, Ind., before moving to Colorado. While in high school she took a job at a small

In part two of our variable data printing coverage, Vic Barkin explains how your in-plant can move into this lucrative business. By Vic Nathan Barkin During the American Revolution, every rifle was what today we would refer to as a customized model. A master craftsman produced each lock, stock and barrel individually. No two were exactly alike. Finding the optimum load for each rifle meant that a rifleman had to test the accuracy of different powder volumes, patch thicknesses and ball size combinations to ensure, when the time came to hit his mark, he could trust his tool to do the job. Marketing

Installing CTP means rethinking your proofing methods. When the State of Washington Department of Printing decided to add a Creo Lotem 800 II Quantum platesetter last fall, the in-plant had to start thinking about proofing in a whole new way. Without film, its DuPont Waterproof system wouldn't be much use. So the in-plant added Creo's Iris4Print ink-jet proofer, with an eye toward upgrading to the new Creo Veris 1,500x1,500-dpi proofer this spring, according to Dan Maygra, interim prepress manager. The same thing happened at Arkansas State University Printing Services when it added a Heidelberg ProSetter 74 in September. The in-plant went with

Even though Drupa is just a month away, vendors still had plenty of new products to show at On Demand. By Bob Neubauer The biggest news at the recent AIIM On Demand Conference & Expo was certainly Eastman Kodak's announcement that it would purchase Heidelberg's digital printing business. That announcement, unleashed the morning of the show, slowly filtered through the crowd of 33,753 at New York's Javits Convention Center, engendering lots of speculation. The upshot: Kodak will buy Heidelberg's 50 percent interest in the pair's NexPress Solutions joint venture, as well as the equity of Heidelberg Digital, which makes the Digimaster black-and-white printer. This

Here is one in-plant production manager's take on recent technology introductions and how they address trends in the in-plant market. By Heath Cajandig In this industry, vendors are continuously trying to gear up the hype machine to tout a new vision for the future. Over time, it is hard not to be skeptical of any claim. Every now and then, though, a product actually does come along that perfectly sums up the current and future state of the industry. This past January, one of these products arrived: The Xerox DocuTech 100 series copier/printer. For Xerox it helps solidify a digital future for the company; for

Variable Data Printing has become a buzz word. But how do you sell it to customers? What does it take to provide VDP? And how can your department profit from it? By Vic Nathan Barkin When taking aim with a rifle, the smaller the target you aim for, the more likely you are to hit that target. The very same concept can be applied to personalized variable data printing. The VDP process is much more than just printing with new technology, though; it's a fundamental change in how printing is perceived, utilized and produced. A musket in the time of the American Revolution

In-plants that have added digital color printing capabilities are thriving—and the call for more on-demand color work is only getting louder. By Cheryl Adams ACE Hardware certainly has a loyal customer base. "We have 6.2 million customers in our ACE Helpful Hardware Club," maintains Rick Salinas, production manager at the company's in-plant in Downers Grove, Ill. He says the club—which awards customers points, and eventually store credit, for purchases—is the "second largest customer-loyalty program in the country." The company's in-plant has played a major part in creating that loyalty, chiefly through the huge number of personalized color marketing materials it produces. In 1998

By adding digital duplicators, these in-plants have saved money, decreased turnaround times and kept more work in-house. Majoring In High-volume Color o grow beyond its humble beginnings, the Glassboro Normal School, home to 400 students in 1923, knew progress would be measured by more than a name change. Today, after much dedication and innovation, Rowan University, in Rowan, N.J., has almost 10,000 students and 1,200 faculty and staff. Back in the pre-digital days, students and staff turned to the Rowan University print shop for most of their document needs. In 1994, when Mike Lukasavage started to run Rowan's printing operations, he had a

Despite the growth in color printing, black-and-white copiers still produce much of the work in today's in-plants. By W. Eric Martin With all the new and improved digital goodness popping up in these pages, it's easy to overlook the advances made in those unappreciated machines of yore: ye olde black-and-white copiers. These printing mainstays might not be the most exciting machines an in-plant manager can add to his or her arsenal, but they can't be discounted entirely because sometimes they're still the best tool for the job. What's more, today's models bear little resemblance to the faulty, all-too-easily broken machines that most people