Heidelberg

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

USAA San Antonio, Texas Annual Sales/Budget: $38 million Full-time employees: 305 Jobs printed per year: 36,000 For the employees at USAA Publishing Services, an increased workload is to be expected. The customer base, which stands at over 3.5 million people, grows by up to eight percent annually. But with a cap on the number of employees at the shop since 1992, that increase in work must be handled by the current staff. "We expect capacity to increase with our volume growth but expect staffing to remain constant," explains Jack Mondin, executive director of publishing output services. "That means...we cannot continue to do business the way we have

University of California Printing Services Berkeley, Calif. Annual sales/budget: $15,877,189 Full-time employees: 186 Jobs printed per year: 5,000 To satisfy the printing needs of some 140,000 University of California students attending nine campuses across the state, University of California-Berkeley Printing Services has needed to be flexible. According to George Craig, printing services director, there have been many changes over the years, especially with the emergence of digital technology. Craig recalls bringing in photocomposition and computer business management systems in the '80s, before moving to the direct-to-plate processes and computer-controlled presses of today. Through it all, Craig says, his staff has excelled at adapting to the changes.

A look back at the in-plant world of the early 1990s reveals a lot of the same concerns and predictions that we see today—but a lot of changes, as well. As one pages through issues of In-Plant Reproductions magazine (now called In-Plant Graphics, for those of you who have been asleep) from 1990, the most interesting observation is how similar the topics are to those covered in 1999. Even at the beginning of the decade, in-plant managers were worried about facilities management. Like today, IPR urged them to learn their costs by charging back and to justify themselves to management. And contrary

The University of Kentucky's Karen Willmott watched her responsibilities skyrocket as the university consolidated its services under her umbrella. by CHRIS BAUER The successful reorganization of two departments at the University of Kentucky was a major reason Karen Willmott was chosen as Manager of the Year in 1994. In 1993, while director of publishing services, she took on responsibility for the University Extension Print and Graphic Design Shop and the Public Relations Graphic Design Shop. Though it was no small feat to incorporate three print shops into one, it pales in comparison to what Willmott has tackled since she was named

The latest digital imposition tools are object-independent, page rotating signature refiners—automating even further the territory once governed by the manual stripper. Very soon, the task of manual stripping will seem as foreign a concept to the seasoned graphic arts professional as does the nearly lost art of photo engraving. Current imposition tools perform a flexible and varied set of clever tasks: • Digitally imposing signatures that can be output on a variety of PostScript-compatible devices, like platesetters and imagesetters. • Rotating and viewing any object on any signature. • Creating complete, precise impositions in minutes—seconds—for a variety of layouts and

Safety and efficiency are the key factors to consider when trying to find the best cutter for your in-plant. by CHRIS BAUER THE SAFETY of your in-plant employees must be a priority for you as a manger. Especially vulnerable to injury are operators of paper cutting equipment. So to ensure that no injuries occur in your shop, make sure you bring in equipment that is safe. "Safety has always been number one with Polar," stresses Rob Kuehl, product manager for Heidelberg's Polar Cutting Systems division. He notes that all new Polar customers and operators must go through a safety training program put on

In 1994 the University of Nevada, Las Vegas started outsourcing its large offset work. Now, with the upcoming addition of a new press, it's bringing that work back to save money. Sometimes, on paper, it may seem like outsourcing is a good idea for certain jobs. Unfortunately, it can take years for these jobs to be brought back in-house, once lost to the outside. One in-plant is ready to turn back the clock and regain control and cost savings. "In 1994, after careful study, we got out of the large offset, high-end printing market because it just wasn't cost-effective for us," recalls Paul Kurzynowski,