June 2007 Issue
ACUP by the Bay
IF YOU try to remain “just a printer,” you’re not going to be in business very long. Those words, spoken by Xerox President Ursula Burns in her keynote address, reflected the overall message of this year’s Association of College and University Printers (ACUP) conference, held recently in San Francisco. Taking the theme “We’re Not Just Printers Anymore,” ACUP 2007 endeavored to remind its in-plant attendees that they are communications providers, and should think beyond print when adding new products and services. Collaborate with admissions and other departments to come up with new ways your in-plant can add value, urged Burns. And never
An In-plant In Limbo
BORN AND raised in Newton, Mass., Bruce MacDonald was jokingly referred to as the “token Presbyterian” when he started his job as a printer with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston (RCAB). In 1984, it was a big deal for a Protestant to be working for the Catholic church. Today, employees’ religious persuasions are quite varied. Back then, MacDonald was preparing to get married and buy a house with the woman he has been happily sharing his life with for the past 23 years, and he needed more job stability. Financial difficulties at Barker Press, a small shop in the city of Watertown, where he
Artwork Surprised by Markzware Lawsuit
Artwork Systems Group is investigating claims made by Markzware in a lawsuit filed in the federal district court in Santa Ana, Calif. The suit contends Enfocus products infringe Markzware’s U.S. patent. The lawsuit, which focuses on two Enfocus software products (PitStop Professional and PitStop Server) reportedly came as a surprise to Enfocus, whose leading PDF preflighting products have been on the U.S. market for many years. Said Artwork Systems Group CEO, Peter Denoo, “Artwork Systems and Enfocus respect the intellectual property rights of third parties, and are currently conducting a full investigation into what appear to be unsupportable allegations made by Markzware. We do
Color Printer Creates Opportunities in Chico
Only a couple of days after installing a Konica Minolta bizhub C6500 (with an external Fiery controller), Printing Services at California State University, Chico, put its latest addition to the test. “We had an emergency situation on the campus and the campus police called to find out how long it would take to get 100 copies of a missing persons’ poster done,” recalls Manager Dale Wymore. “I asked them to send the file directly to the Fiery, and we had them printed by the time they walked over to our building in less than five minutes. We had only had the printer for a couple
DI’s New Niche
IT HAS now been 16 years since Heidelberg introduced the first GTO digital imaging (DI) offset press. In that time, enhancements in architecture, quality, speed and control have served to create a viable and sustainable technology. The history, though, has been rocky. Other displacement technologies on both sides of the run length and quality equation continue to compress the space in which DI presses play. Still, digital imaging presses have many unique positive qualities that every in-plant should consider. As an independent consultant, I know that one of the things my clients appreciate is my objectivity. I operate in an unbiased, vendor-neutral environment.
Divine Inspiration
This month’s focus on in-plants at religious organizations gave me a great opportunity to chat with managers all around the country. From massive print operations like that of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (400 employees) to the one- and two-person shops in church basements, I enjoyed learning about the different ways these in-plants handle printing. Despite their different faiths, they share many similarities, chief among them the feeling that their work fulfills a higher purpose. Many feel they are serving the Lord, a perspective that makes them put forth their best efforts. Most of the managers I spoke with
Domtar, Weyerhaeuser Complete Merger
Domtar Inc. has completed its merger with Weyerhaeuser’s Fine Paper business. The new company, Domtar Corp., is reportedly the largest manufacturer and marketer of uncoated freesheet paper in North America, and a leading manufacturer of market pulp. The company’s head office is in Montreal, Quebec, and its operations center is in Fort Mill, S.C. Domtar Corp., with nearly 14,000 employees, has six uncoated freesheet mills that provide two-thirds of its nearly five million tons of annual capacity. The company plans to expand its environmentally and socially responsible papers such as the Domtar EarthChoice product line.
Fulfillment Services: Are Printers Getting It?
INCREASINGLY, PRINTERS are entering the fulfillment business sector to make their operations more viable in the future. However, most printers are not reaping the rewards of establishing a fulfillment operation. Here are several facts to substantiate this premise: n 88 percent of printers adopted fulfillment at their clients’ request. Many of those 88 percent admit they were placed in a defensive posture to keep the printing. n 50 percent of the printers surveyed in 2006 did not know if they were making a profit in their fulfillment operations. And 25 percent did not have a separate P&L. The cost of entry for fulfillment is
Is Something MISsing At Your Shop?
I WAS amazed to learn that only 42 percent of in-plants have shop management software. I then got down from my high horse and remembered the not-so-distant past when the shop that I manage was part of that statistic. Like many small in-plants we had a homegrown system that relied upon Microsoft Excel, carbonless forms, chalkboards and the memory of our employees. While it sufficed for years, the two-day drudgery of generating the end-of-the-month chargeback reports for our controller’s office was reason alone for me to begin investigating management information systems (MIS), knowing in the back of my mind that we couldn’t afford
Jacobson Joins Presstek
Presstek’s board of directors has named Jeffrey Jacobson to serve as the company’s president and CEO, replacing Edward J. Marino, who is leaving Presstek to pursue other interests. Jacobson, 47, will assume the post immediately. Prior to joining Presstek, he was the chief operating officer of Eastman Kodak’s Graphic Communications Group. Jacobson has 20 years of experience in the graphics arts industry, including five years as CEO of Kodak Polychrome Graphics. As Presstek’s CEO, he will be responsible for the overall strategic direction and management of Presstek, with a focus on furthering the company’s growth in the digital offset printing business, continuing its expansion into
Keeping the Faith
CONSIDERING THE role the Bible played in the invention of the printing press, it’s not surprising that religious institutions still hold the printing process in such high esteem. In fact, some of the largest in-plant operations are maintained by religious organizations. To name just a few: • The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), has a massive Printing Division in Salt Lake City with 400 employees. • More than 340 Jehovah’s Witnesses, all volunteers, work at the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society’s Wallkill, N.Y., Printery, with over 1,000 volunteers in its 18 printing facilities worldwide. • Pacific Press Publishing Association, the
Kodak Donates NexPress
Kodak has donated a NexPress 2100 Plus Digital Production Color Press with a Fifth Imaging Unit to Waukesha County Technical College’s new Applied Technology Center (ATC). The facility serves the needs of students through technical training, applied research and product testing. The center also received a Kodak NexGlosser glossing unit, PRINERGY Workflow Software and Kodak Web-to-print solution. Waukesha CountyTechnical College, located in Waukesha, Wisconsin, has more than 100 areas of study including printing and graphics.
Konica Minolta Merges Printing/Business Solutions Units
Konica Minolta Printing Solutions is being merged with Konica Minolta Business Solutions. In unifying into one organization, the new business unit will be able to offer customers complete solutions for document creation, production and management ranging from small office/home office to workgroups and enterprises all the way up to large production operations with its technologically advanced line of products and services. Jun Haraguchi will continue to serve president and CEO of Konica Minolta Business Solutions. “By unifying under one umbrella organization, we are able to mobilize our full resources to take advantage of the business opportunity before us, while offering one point of contact to our
Make Way for Ink-jet
NOT LONG after the close of Drupa 2004, the 2008 edition of the international printing exhibition was already being called the “ink-jet Drupa.” More recently, the title of a keynote panel at the April On Demand Conference & Expo asked, “Is Ink-jet the Technology Story for 2007?” Both are references to color production printing, not wide-format or consumer photographic printing. For 2006, the big story in ink-jet printing was industrial printing applications. It seemed as if every vendor was talking about flatbed machines capable of printing on a wide range of substrates. There have already been some signs of a shift in product focus
Preparing for the Postal Punch
Louisiana State University Manager of Mailing Services: Paul Ramirez Prior to the increase, we did a rate comparison to let our customers know what kind of an increase to expect on the more commonly used mail categories (First Class, Priority, Media and Library Mail). Knowing that rates on flats and parcels would be increased dramatically, we decided to focus on customer education first. About three weeks out, we sent a memo out to all customers to make sure that they knew the rate increase was coming as well as to inform them that the flat and parcel categories were going to be hit really hard. We
Religion Going Digital
One clear trend among the religion-based in-plants contacted by IPG is a move away from offset and toward digital printing. Three different in-plants have shut down their presses, while another started a digital in-plant from scratch. “Most of our runs are short run,” explains Lynn Baskerville, director of print operations for the Central Community Church in Wichita, Kan. The shop recently silenced its two-color Ryobi and is using a new Konica Minolta LD-5100 color printer to produce newsletters, letterhead and other products. “We get [the newsletter] out a day and a half quicker now,” remarks Baskerville. “Color’s consistent all the way through the run.” Turnaround time was
Small Shops Serve God in Big Ways
NORMAN HOWARD sums up the feelings of most faith-based in-plant managers in just one sentence: “I just feel like I’m serving God here doing what I’m doing,” says Howard, director of printing for the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, Va. It’s a sentiment shared by countless in-plant managers at religious organizations—and one that drives them to put forth their best efforts in the service of their faith. “It’s not just a job; I’m working for the Lord,” echoes Trout Davis, print shop manager at Grace Baptist Church, in Santa Clarita, Calif. The devotion of in-plant managers like these has certainly been a blessing for the churches and
Tapella to be Named Public Printer
Robert Tapella, current chief of staff of the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), is expected to be nominated as the next Public Printer. Upon confirmation, Tapella will replace William Turri, acting Public Printer. Turri has been filling the role since January, following the retirement of Bruce James. Tapella has served as Chief of Staff since 2004, responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the executive offices of the GPO, which include: Innovation and New Technology, Public Relations, Congressional Relations, General Counsel, Equal Employment Opportunity and the Inspector General. He also directs strategic planning for the GPO and serves as the chief adviser to the Public
