Cincinnati

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.

Winter was just settling in at the University of Cincinnati's campus back in January of 2012 when the sneak attack came. Agents from the facilities management (FM) arm of a popular print equipment vendor set up a meeting with the university's financial committee. With no one from the in-plant present, they began dishing out promises of cost savings if the university allowed the FM to handle its printing.

Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bank has a robust print and mail operation. "We're a 24/7 shop, and we produce approximately 170 million impressions a year, which equates to 70 million pieces of mail," reports Mark Kearns, vice president, Print & Mail Services. "We produce all of our customer correspondence, from customers' account statements to bank card statements to mortgage notices—all of our products across the enterprise."

After 17 years as director of Printing Services at Berea College, Melvin Cooper has no regrets. "It's been a great choice for me," says Cooper. "I've thoroughly enjoyed it."

STEVEN HOWE'S drive has been integral to his professional success at previous jobs and in his current role as manager of Printing Services, Stores and Mail Operations for the city of Cincinnati. But it was his driving that steered him onto the right career path.

Over the past few weeks, in-plants in Delaware and Ohio have installed Xerox iGen4 digital color presses. The University of Delaware, in Newark, Del., and Cincinnati-based Western & Southern Financial Group are among the first in-plants to install the latest Xerox production presses.

Both shops traded in other Xerox equipment that was nearing the end of its lease. As a result, they were able to keep lease costs at or below their previous levels.

AS WE plod through this recession, I keep hearing rumors of a growing interest in document outsourcing. Consultants say that facilities management firms are tripping over each other in a frenzied effort to convince companies to outsource their printing. With equipment purchases slowing, they say, vendors are encouraging their outsourcing divisions to get busy.

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