XANTÉ Corp.

Now in its 18th year, the On Demand Conference and Exposition tried something new this time when it moved south of the Mason-Dixon line to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. Not everyone was happy with the results. Though some exhibits were packed at intervals, others were not so busy. Perhaps the absence of key companies like Xerox, Kodak, Presstek and Standard caused some potential attendees to skip this year's event. Or maybe D.C. was too far for the Northeast day trippers who attended previous years' shows in Philadelphia, Boston and New York.

Dan Dore was tired of the waste he saw coming out of the old digital duplicator that his in-plant used to print envelopes. So after reading about the Xanté Illumina Digital Production Press GT in early 2010, Dore, Printing Services Section supervisor at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Labratory, sent two employees to the On Demand show in Philadelphia to check it out.

Braving single-digit temperatures (which he secretly enjoyed), intrepid IPG Editor Bob Neubauer traveled to Minnesota to visit the in-plant at the University of St. Thomas.

University of West Alabama recently took delivery of a Xanté Ilumina Digital Envelope Press. Now envelope jobs have gone from two-hour projects to just eight minutes per box.

Auburn University’s stationery and envelopes had always been printed on offset presses. The very suggestion of printing them digitally brought deep frowns to the faces of university officials. But that didn’t stop Glenda Miley, manager of the Alabama university’s all-digital CopyCat operation, from trying.

Larger than expected crowds converged on the AIIM/On Demand Show last month in Philadelphia, despite a drop in vendors from last year.

THE AIIM/On Demand Conference and Exposition is returning to IPG’s home town of Philadelphia next month, taking place April 20-22. Some 10,000 people are expected to attend the three-day show, with hundreds of vendors planning to exhibit. To whet your appetite, IPG asked some key vendors what they plan to showcase at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

Dozens of in-plant managers came to Philadelphia recently for the On Demand Conference. Here's a brief glimpse of what they saw there.

Sustainability starts at the corporate level. Several vendors are taking steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, use alternative energy sources, recycle and more.

While most of you probably think IPG Editor Bob Neubauer lives the life of a jet-setter, criss-crossing the globe to attend conferences and black tie receptions, in reality he spends most of his days locked in his Philadelphia office, chained to his computer.

Two weeks ago, though, he managed to escape for a day, and made a road trip to nearby Montgomery County, Pa. There he visited two in-plants (LRP Publications and Merck) and attended an open house hosted by Xanté.