Judging by the content of the sessions at last month's Southeastern University Printing and Digital Managers Conference (SUPDMC), the threat of outsourcing still weighs heavy on the minds of higher-ed in-plant managers. Throughout the three-day conference, held on the campus of The University of Texas at Austin, speakers repeated the worrisome message that outsourcing companies are relentless and every in-plant should expect—and prepare—to be called into question.
Austin, Texas
Anyone who thinks in-plants are in decline should have been tagging along with me the past two weeks. Between PRINT 13 and the Southeastern Printing and Digital Managers Conference (SUPDMC) a week later, I've lost count of the number of managers I've seen. So heavy was the in-plant participation at PRINT 13 that I could not cross the trade show floor without spotting a manager.
After putting up with some very old and slow cutting machines for several decades, Texas Health and Human Services (HHS) Printing Services recently upgraded to a new Heidelberg POLAR 92 XT guillotine cutter with a jogging unit, scale and lifts.
THE NATIONAL Government Publishing Association (NGPA) rounded up government in-plant managers from all parts of the country last month for the group’s 31st annual conference. The three-day event, held in Austin, Texas, was organized by NGPA Vice President Richard Beto, director of document services at the University of Texas-Austin; Robert Gomez, director of publishing for the Texas State Senate; and NGPA President Audrey Marrocco, print administrator for the Pennsylvania Department of General Services. Several dozen state and federal printing managers, along with a few of their state university counterparts, attended professional development sessions and toured the in-plants at the University of Texas and
Autumn is a busy time for government in-plants. First the National Government Publishing Association (NGPA) meets next week in Austin, Texas (www.govpublishing.org). Then on November 28, the second edition of the “Digital Printing in Government” conference takes place in Washington, D.C. Hosted by INTERQUEST, a market and technology research and consulting firm, the event will feature key results from INTERQUEST’s new study “Digital Printing in Government: Perspectives of Print Buyers and Outsourcing Providers,” which will be published in November. “Last year our research was mainly focused on government printing operations. This year we are adding a dimension by exploring how government agencies have
WHEN ROBERT Gomez was hired as a press operator for the Texas Senate in 1974, the in-plant was housed in the basement of the state capitol building. It was staffed by a supervisor, a secretary and three production employees. Layout involved mat boards, wax machines and spray adhesives, and hand-developed film was stripped up on light tables. Thirty-three years later, Gomez—who was appointed director of senate publications and printing in 1985—oversees 20 staff members in a facility that occupies more than 20,000 square feet. The journey along his career path began when Gomez was just a kid growing up in Austin, Texas, where