Heidelberg

For short-run, on-demand work—especially work that can be enhanced with variable data—digital printing is the answer. FOR YEARS the data center at Georgia Tech University was churning out up to 12 million impressions annually and was a separate department from the in-plant. Paul Thomas, director of printing and copying services, knew that if he could combine both departments, he would produce this work cheaper and faster. Last year Thomas merged the in-plant with the data center. He then made another bold move by purchasing two new 110-ppm Kodak DigiSource 9110s, distributed through Danka. He hasn't looked back since. "It enabled us to take

Want to bring polyester platemaking or film production in-house? Check out the latest imagesetters that will help you bring home the savings. In-plant managers who have brought film and plate work in-house have been thrilled with the time and money they save. No more expensive outsourcing—and no more waiting around for work to arrive from the outside. If this sounds good to you, maybe it is time your shop brought in a new imagesetter. Here's what vendors are offering. The Tanto 5120 imagesetter from Screen (USA) is an entry-level CTP device. The eight-page unit is able to provide direct-to-plate digital imaging on flexible, polyester

Though most headlines are taken up by digital imaging equipment these days, offset vendors say they are still making a great impression. To print its heavy load of two-color, 11x17˝ work, Penn State Document Services traditionally used a 40˝ press. Director Michael Pierick, however, felt this was not the most cost-effective way to handle these jobs. To keep prices competitive, he knew he needed some new equipment. But despite the lure of digital devices, he decided to stick with offset equipment. "There was a clear benefit to us with respect to buying an offset device," says Pierick, who bought a two-color A.B.Dick 9995 last

For in-plants serving religious organizations, printing takes on a much deeper meaning. In her white habit and black veil, Sister Mary Jeremiah blends in well with the other 27 Dominican nuns at the Monastery of the Infant Jesus as they go about their daily routine of work and prayer. But when she throws a coverall apron over her habit and fires up her Multi 1250, one thing becomes instantly clear: She's a printer. Sister Jeremiah has been running the in-plant at her Lufkin, Texas-based monastery for eight years. She's the third printer the monastery has had since it started its in-plant in

University of Washington Publications Services, Seattle Annual sales: $15.8 million Operating budget: $16.2 million Full-time employees: 162 Part-time employees: 110 Jobs printed per year: 6,500 At 48,000 square feet in size and with 270 full- and part-time employees, University of Washington Publications Services is a monster of a university in-plant. And Acting Director Frank Davis predicts it will only get bigger—in terms of services, if nothing else. Of course, when you're serving a campus of 36,000 students and 18,000 faculty and staff members, it's hard to keep things on a small scale. Take color printing for example: A year ago, the Copy Services division averaged 10,000 to 15,000 color

California Office Of State Publishing Sacramento, Calif. Annual sales: $61,333,656 Operating budget: $57,996,000 Full-time employees: 456 Part-time employees: 21 Jobs printed per year: 24,380 When the California Office of State Publishing (OSP) installed a new eight-color Heidelberg M-1000B web press recently it was major news in the in-plant world, where such giant webs are rare. Still, for OSP the installation was, in a way, just a continuation of the growth it experienced through much of the 1990s. "We went [from] having some of the most obsolete technology in our greater Sacramento area, to having some of the most current, sophisticated technology, especially in prepress and in our digital print

Spartan Stores Grand Rapids, Mich. Annual Sales: $16.4 million Operating Budget: $14.1 million Full-time employees: 90 Part-time employees: 4 Jobs printed per year: 9,620 When it started out 35 years ago with just a one-color duplicator for printing company bulletins, the in-plant for Spartan Stores seemed an unlikely candidate to become one of the largest in-house printing facilities in the nation. But as the century nears its end, that is exactly what has happened. For the second consecutive year, Spartan Stores has ranked tenth on the IPG Top 50 list. There have been some drastic changes at this Midwestern grocery wholesaler shop since the single duplicator days. The

North Carolina Correction Enterprise Print Plant/Central Duplicating Raleigh, N.C. Annual sales: $7 million Full-time employees: 186 Jobs printed per year: 13,500 Robert Leon runs an extremely professional, profitable in-plant. Comprising a large offset operation and a separate duplicating facility, his in-plant generates $7 million in annual sales and employs 186 people. But his operation is different from other in-plants in one key way: Nearly all of his employees are prison inmates. Leon is director of printing at North Carolina Correction Enterprises. He oversees the offset print plant, located in Nashville, N.C., and a central duplicating center, in Raleigh. In its 60 years of

Printers showed up in force to see the latest in graphic arts technology and learn how E-Commerce might affect their futures. From all reports, Graph Expo 99 was a huge success. According to the Graphic Arts Show Co., which organized the event, 45,217 people took part—including numerous in-plant managers who stopped to chat with In-Plant Graphics' staff at our booth. All told, the show's 622 exhibitors occupied more than 430,000 net square feet of booth space. IPG spent three days walking the show floor at Chicago's McCormick Place, examining the new equipment and talking to the numerous E-Commerce vendors. Here's what

Several vendors have released products designed to tap the high-speed digital printing market, long the domain of the Xerox DocuTech. Ever since the Xerox DocuTech made its debut in 1990, it has stood virtually alone in its class. In recent weeks, however, other vendors have unleashed products designed to cut into the digital market that Xerox created. Specifically, these new products are geared toward printers who don't have the volume to afford a DocuTech, but want the same features at a slower speed. One unlikely entrant into the print-on-demand market is Heidelberg, a dominant force in the offset world. At Graph Expo