Midwest

WITH MY laptop balanced precariously on a tray table I’m gazing down at the farm fields and small towns of the Midwest as I write this, my elbow battling with that of the large fellow next to me for space on the arm rest. Las Vegas has faded into the distance, but the IPMA conference that brought me there is still sharp in my mind. The sessions and discussions at the three-day event were certainly timely, covering such crucial issues as online job submission, variable data printing, chargeback systems, PDF workflows and computer-to-plate. I did my part by giving a presentation on trends

Sometimes, when I'm sitting back, feeling satisfied that my work at IPG is truly benefiting the in-plant managers of the world, it's jarring to have my face slapped by reality. One day not long ago I heard that President Bush was planning to sign a bill at a Midwest manufacturing firm. Ever on the lookout for interesting story angles, I called the firm's in-plant manager, only to discover a new man had taken his place. It was clear from the man's cautious tone that he had not heard of IPG, his predecessor's subscription having apparently retired with him. When I asked him

Providing low-cost printing is no longer enough. At IPMA 2005, in-plants learned they must improve their customer relations skills and integrate themselves into their organizations' core businesses to survive. By Bob Neubauer More than 100 in-plant managers gathered in suburban Chicago last month for IPMA 2005, the annual International Publishing Management Association conference. Appropriately dubbed "Winds of Change," the conference focused on the need for in-plants to transform from printing operations into providers of financial and strategic value to their parent organizations. The conference took place at the elegant Oak Brook Hills Resort, in the midst of a Midwest heat wave that kept

Computer Integrated Manufacturing is important enough to CIP4, Creo, Printcafe and MAN Roland to take it out on the road. The four have joined forces to develop a series of seminars, free for printers, titled "CIM in Print: It's Here. It's Working. It's Ready for You." The seminars will show printers how to utilize CIM to streamline workflows and maximize automation. The dates are: • November 12: Phoenix • November 13: San Diego • November 14: Los Angeles • November 19: San Francisco • November 20: Seattle • November 21: Vancouver The roadshow will hit the South and Southwest in January and catch up

The 33rd annual Big Ten Printing Managers' Conference took place at Penn State recently, luring university in-plant managers from across the country. University in-plants are perhaps the most social of the in-plant industry segments, judging by the number of times their managers get together at conferences. In addition to the major Association of College and University Printers (ACUP) conference held each spring, two more sizeable gatherings take place in the fall: • The Southeastern University Printing and Duplicating Managers Conference (SUPDMC), which was hosted this year by Catherine Armitage at North Carolina State University. • The Big Ten Printing Managers' Conference, held at

A new five-color press is just the beginning for Spartan Stores, which plans to expand its in-plant even more. Wander through any grocery store and you are likely to see thousands of dollars worth of printing. Posters line the windows, inviting shoppers to come inside; stacks of circulars greet them as they walk through the automatic doors; and multi-color shelf cards point out sale items. Then there are the endless ad inserts in the Sunday paper. Who designs and prints up all this material? For a group of grocery retailers in the Midwest, it's the in-plant print shop at Spartan Stores. Forget