Baton Rouge

Bob has served as editor of In-plant Impressions since October of 1994. Prior to that he served for three years as managing editor of Printing Impressions, a commercial printing publication. Mr. Neubauer is very active in the U.S. in-plant industry. He attends all the major in-plant conferences and has visited more than 170 in-plant operations around the world. He has given presentations to numerous in-plant groups in the U.S., Canada and Australia, including the Association of College and University Printers and the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association. He also coordinates the annual In-Print contest, co-sponsored by IPMA and In-plant Impressions.

It was his first job in printing. The sole press operator for a classified ad magazine publisher, Paul Bethel was alone in the pressroom on that fateful day in 1983, running an old five-unit Harris web press.

Tight budgets in Louisiana and the need for more on-demand printing have compelled the Office of State Printing to slim down and digitize. The slimming down came in October when staff reductions brought the Baton Rouge operation down to 20 full-time employees plus five student workers. The transition from offset to digital technologies followed closely after.

The Southeast University Printing and Digital Managers Conference (SUPDMC) took place in Baton Rouge this week, hosted by Louisiana State University. The three-day event, which drew more than 100 in-plant managers from around the country, was also something of a retirement party for organizer Mike Loyd, who is leaving LSU after 12 years as director of Graphic Services. (He won’t be out of sight for long, though, having accepted a new position with a prominent digital printing equipment vendor.) The conference featured such well-known industry speakers as Barb Pellow, of InfoTrends, and Jeff Hayzlett, of Kodak’s Graphic Communications Group. Debbie Pavletich, incoming IPMA president, also

Hurricane Katrina packed a punch felt around the country. Among those reeling were many Gulf Coast in-plants. The fate of those in New Orleans is as murky as the water that once covered that town. Tulane University's in-plant, like its campus, remains closed. Through the in-plant grapevine I learned that manager Orin Fosberg got his family safely out of town, but the future of his shop, as with many New Orleans' businesses, is unclear. In Biloxi, which lost so many buildings to the storm, two of the in-plants closest to the chaos survived virtually unscathed. Though winds tore off roofs at Mississippi Gulf

After 33 years with the state of Louisiana, Irene Babin looks forward to retiring this month. By Joe Ranoia Several years into her printing career, Irene Babin made a startling discovery: Her grandfather had been a printer. "That figures," she muses. But it's also fitting, since Babin, director of General Services for the State of Louisiana, already feels she has lots of family among her employees at the state's Printing Services department. "The people in the shop are the most important part of any success I've had," she declares. And she's enjoyed a lot of success. For example, two years ago

Louisiana offered government printers a warm welcome as they gathered for the 25th year to trade tips and ideas. by Bob Neubauer Despite coming less than three weeks after the September 11 terrorist attacks, the National State Publishing Association's 25th annual conference went on without a hitch last month. Held in Baton Rouge, La., the conference drew 54 government attendees from 33 states. United States Public Printer Michael DiMario was also in attendance. With American flags at every table, a color guard leading the Pledge of Allegiance, and renditions of the "National Anthem" and "God Bless America" to kick things off, the

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