April 2008 Issue

 

A Greener In-plant

1. Get an energy audit to calculate your energy consumption. Your local electric company may have programs and people in place to evaluate your plant. 2. Calculate your carbon footprint. There are numerous calculators freely available on the Internet to help you determine this. 3. Investigate the level of ozone emissions, noise, dust and heat from your printing equipment. The lower the emission levels, the healthier the environment for your employees. This will help you determine what to look for in your next purchase. 4. Choose equipment that complies with the more stringent 2007 ENERGY STAR requirements. Product listings can be found

Best Products at On Demand

The On Demand Exposition & Conference partnered with InfoTrends, a market research and consulting firm, to present the Best of Show Awards at On Demand last month in Boston. IPG congratulates the nine top award winners: • Monochrome Digital Printing: Océ Vario­Stream 8000 • Process Color Digital Printing: Canon U.S.A. imagePRESS C6000 • Wide-format Printing: Xerox 8265 Color Wide Format Printer • Bindery, Finishing and Mailing: Ricoh Ring Binder RB5000 • Innovations in Paper Usage/Substrates: Mohawk Fine Papers Beckett Cambric • Document Creation Software: XMPie Personal­Effect • Web To Print Solutions: Rochester Software Associates WebCRD Enterprise System 7.0 • Workflow Solutions: Ultimate Technographics Impostrip

CSU Long Beach Goes Computer-to-plate

It seems like just a couple years ago that imagesetters were all the rage. But these days it’s getting increasingly difficult to keep one running due to the shrinking availability of film. Just ask Mike Sternfeld, manager of the Print Shop at California State University-Long Beach. When Kodak stopped making film for his in-plant’s ECRM Mako 3650, he had to turn to a distributor in New York. It started to get very expensive. So recently, after a two-year search, the eight-employee in-plant did away with film altogether and installed a new Presstek Vector TX52 thermal computer-to-plate device running Freedom chemistry-free plates. Included in

Forest Certification in the In-plant

IN MARCH 2007, Nordstrom announced it would incorporate more environmentally sound practices into its printed products. It became the first of its peers in fashion specialty retail to print on Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified stock. As a result, virtually all of the company’s printing partners are now FSC-certified by mandate. This is just one example of how the Corporate Social Responsibility phenomena has turned what was once just a preference for certified paper into a policy in some organizations. In my article from the January 2008 issue of In-Plant Graphics, I explained how the FSC is regarded as the gold standard among forest

From the Editor: Raise Your Rates

LIKE EVERY other business, an in-plant has to remain viable, and that means raising rates from time to time to compensate for cost increases. Yet many in-plants are reluctant to tamper with established prices. After all, aren’t you there to save money for your organization? Don’t your rates have to be low? Won’t customers revolt if you raise them? The reality is, your costs are rising all the time. Paper, ink, gasoline for delivery vehicles, they’re all getting pricier by the day (as are employee wages and benefits). Some in-plants factor rising consumables costs into each job estimate without touching the overall rate. But

HP Offers Pre-Drupa Peek

At a pre-Drupa press event last month in Tel Aviv, Israel, Hewlett Packard unveiled several new technologies. In the spotlight were its Ink-jet Web Press, Latex Inks, SmartStream Digital Workflow Portfolio and three new Indigo digital presses. All will debut at Drupa. Causing quite a stir among the new products was the 30˝ HP Ink-jet Web Press—reportedly the world’s first 30˝ digital ink-jet web press designed for high-volume production of books, transpromo mail, direct marketing materials and newspapers. The new web press, which prints at 600 dpi at speeds up to 400 fpm, will be available in the summer of 2009. However, it

Improve Your In-plant’s Performance and Results

THERE’S BEEN a lot of economic belt-tightening taking place during the past three years. How can your in-plant overcome the challenges of tight economic times and demonstrate improved results to your senior leadership? How do you take your organization from good to great? One answer is to use the Five P’s to reposition yourself in the eyes of your major stakeholders. The Five P’s are part of CRI Global’s Reputation Leadership strategy that best-in-class organizations are using to win the hearts, minds and wallets of their stakeholders and customers. The Five P’s are: Purpose, Principles, People, Process and Performance. Let’s briefly examine each one

In-plant Managers to Meet in Mississippi

THE COUNTRY’S largest gathering of in-plant managers is about to assemble in Tunica, Miss., just south of Memphis. The In-Plant Printing and Mailing Association (IPMA) Conference will be taking place June 4-7 at the Veranda Hotel, part of the Grand Casino Resort, in Tunica. Any manager interested in improving his or her in-plant should make plans to attend. This will be the association’s 49th conference, and the agenda is packed with educational sessions that get right to the heart of the issues most important to in-plants. Topics include variable data, mail piece design, customer service, Web-based job submission, going green and much more.

In-plant Roundtable at On Demand

At the On Demand show last month in Boston, In-plant Graphics organized a roundtable luncheon for in-plant managers. Hosted by GBC, the luncheon meeting lured more than 25 in-plant managers away from the busy show floor. They came from a diverse collection of organizations, such as Portland General Electric, Principal Financial Group, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Securian Financial, Allstate Insurance, Brown University and the University of Missouri-Columbia, to name a few. IPG Editor Bob Neubauer moderated the discussion, which covered in-plants’ equipment acquisition plans and new services they have added. Among the new services that attendees said helped strengthen their in-plants was

IPG Prepress Guide: Color Management

Agfa ColorTune X color management software solutions work in combination with measuring devices to generate accurate, ICC-compatible color profiles. QMS X (Quality Management System) checks the calibration and engine performance of Sherpa proofers in contract proofing applications. Every proofer in the workflow can be calibrated to achieve the same tonal response within predefined tolerances. Alterno color conversion tool broadens the CMYK color spectrum. It enables printers to standardize their presses on a self-defined ink set that extends the color gamut. EFI ColorWise in-RIP color management system provides a range of simple and expert-level tools. A standard component of Fiery color print servers, it includes

IPG Prepress Guide: CTP

Heidelberg Suprasetter 145, Suprasetter 162 and Suprasetter 190: Heidelberg is adding large-format models to its Suprasetter range to coincide with Drupa 2008. The new systems are used in conjunction with the Speedmaster XL 145 and XL 162, and the Suprasetter 190 can also supply plates for other presses, up to a sheet width of 74.8˝. The platesetters are available with throughput speeds of up to 35 plates per hour (pph), with a resolution of either 2,540 or 2,400 dots per inch (dpi) as required. The six cassettes of the plate loading unit enable up to 600 plates in as many as six different formats

IPG Prepress Guide: Proofing Systems

Eastman Kodak Kodak Approval NX thermal halftone proofer supports specialty, corporate and brand colors, including metallics. The system can control density, dot gain and print on actual printing stocks. Matchprint Virtual for InSite proofing software enables SWOP-certified soft proofing on calibrated monitors with consistent and accurate color. PressProof extends monitor proofing to the pressroom utilizing qualified LCD monitors. The Veris ink-jet proofer uses Multi Drop Array technology for true 1,500x1,500 dpi addressability. Color consistency assured by 4D calibration and quality-controlled consumables. ICC compliant. Matchprint Ink-Jet proofing marries drop-on-demand (DOD) imaging with the same software as Veris for color accuracy, enhanced image smoothness, quick calibration

IPG Prepress Guide: Workflow Software

Barr Systems Barr Enterprise Print Server: input/output management solution. Receives data from multiple sources (hosts, servers, network apps) and outputs to multiple destinations (network and production printers, archive, e-mail, Web). StreamTracer: high-speed print data stream comparison application for AFP, Metacode, LCDS, PostScript, and PDF formats. It displays “before” and “after” document snapshots side by side and highlights all differences. EFI With the Fiery open platform and compliance with industry standards such JDF, PDF, and PPML the Fiery seamlessly integrates into customers’ overall print shop operations, including offset/digital hybrid environments and third-party graphic arts workflows, including CTP environments. The Fiery server is integral

Judges Pick 85 In-Print Winners

Some judges braved long drives through several inches of new snow to help pick the winners of this year’s In-Print contest on March 31. The judging took place in Salt Lake City, in the offices of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Printing Division. LDS staff members Karen Pixton, Judy Alred and Emily Butler had graciously spent weeks sorting and cataloging the 567 entries. Fresh snow covered the ground on the morning of the judging, but the hardy judges (one of whom had a 90-mile drive) all made it. They were: • Ron Anderson, Weber State University • Larry Clements,

Market Plan Key to Success of CSU’s Digital Press

Word-of-mouth promotion was not good enough for Michael Kalstein. If his in-plant at California State University-Sacramento was going to install a digital press—and keep it busy—he knew he would have to visit customers and show them how to use the machine’s capabilities to their best advantage. To get as much help as possible in this endeavor, Kalstein, director of Reprographics and Mail Services, made market development assistance a part of the request for proposal for the digital press his shop was seeking. “When we looked at all the major players—HP, Kodak and Xerox—they all either are beginning to, or have already recognized the fact

Navy Veteran, Alabama Enthusiast

SPEND SOME time talking with Jimmy Robinson and you’ll quickly learn a few things about him. He’s a proud Navy veteran who’s fond of college football, loyal to his friends and proud of his Alabama upbringing. Knowing all this, you might be surprised to learn that Robinson, director of the University of West Alabama’s Department of Printing for more than two decades, actually hails from New Eagle, Pa. That’s where he spent his first five years, until that fateful day in 1965 when the printing company where his father worked—McGregor Printing—pulled up stakes and moved south to York, Ala. It was a move that

Taking Oklahoma by Storm

JOHN SARANTAKOS is not shy about revealing his intentions. “I want to print everything,” declares Sarantakos, administrator of Printing & Mailing Services at the University of Oklahoma (OU). “Obviously that’s not feasible, but that’s always been the goal.” To bring his award-winning in-plant closer to this lofty ambition, he and his staff recently made a move virtually unheard of in the in-plant sector. They installed an eight-color sheetfed offset press in their Norman, Okla., facility. Adding the rebuilt 28x40? Heidelberg Speedmaster 102 perfector had become something of a necessity, Sarantakos contends, “because of the vast amount of four-color work we’re doing—and it’s almost

Trivia Time

First, the question: Which of these in-plants closed its doors just as IPG’s cover story about it was going to press? _ Sands Hotel & Casino _ Rohm & Haas _ Rocketdyne _ The University of Chicago • Though all four of those in-plants were sadly shuttered in the 1990s, only one of them managed to do it right under our vigilant noses. In late 1997 I drove to Atlantic City to tour the in-plant at Sands Hotel & Casino. Manager Sam Green was a great host and even arranged to let us take photos in the casino, which is almost unheard of.

Washington State University Earns FSC Certification

Washington State University Earns FSC Certification After many months of effort, Washington State University’s printing facility has been awarded chain-of-custody certification from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Called University Publishing, it is one of the first in-plants to receive FSC certification. Steve Rigby, director of printing, says WSU’s strong commitment to the environment and sustainability inspired the in-plant to begin the certification process. With its certification in hand, the in-plant can now include the FSC logo on its printed products, further spreading the message about WSU’s commitment to the environment and to well managed forests. “We’re the biggest user of paper products on campus,”