Gary Smith

Any in-plant manager who has attended one of the popular xpedx in-plant workshops in the past 10 years has met Jerry Sampson. As vice president of development and e-procurement for Prime Digital Printing, in Dayton, Ohio, he and workshop founders Don Kendall and Gary Smith travelled the country, meeting managers and passing along advice on how to keep their in-plants healthy. Sampson has now moved onto a new role. He has joined xpedx as national business development manager for Business Imaging. He will be charged with deepening xpedx’s relationships with in-plant managers and working with them to support their operations. “We can help in-plant

Working in an in-plant can sometimes leave you feeling unappreciated. You spend all your time trying to make your organization look good with quality printing, but at the first sign of fiscal trouble, where does your CEO look to cut expenses? Fortunately there are still a few places an in-plant manager can find respect. You're looking at one of them (this Web site, not your coffee cup). You'll never feel unappreciated after reading an issue of IPG--online or on paper. We know how valuable you are. Your fellow managers know it too, and you can always find support—not to mention good ideas—by getting

You should see the world through the eyes of a commercial printer. They're certainly looking into your world—specifically, at your customers. If you haven't been thinking of commercial printers as your competitors, you'd better start. Cutthroat competition is forcing them to drop their prices. They need more business; your in-plant is fair game. "Ha!" you scoff. "Our customers love us." But are you supplying value-added services beyond printing? Are you partnering with them to help them increase their competitive advantages? Are you accepting online job submissions? Commercial printers are. If you aren't changing the way you operate, you will lose business. This

NSPA members were warmly welcomed to the prairies of North Dakota for an enlightening and unforgettable gathering. Though Bismarck, N.D., may have seemed like an unlikely site for a national conference, members of the National State Publishing Association left their recent 23rd annual conference full of praise for the state capital. Forty-two government attendees from 39 states gathered in Bismarck to discuss common in-plant issues and attend educational sessions. The conference got underway after an emotional welcome from Linda Kapp, wife of the late Jim Kapp, director of North Dakota's Central Services Division until he passed away last year. Mr. Kapp, a long-time NSPA