Jerry Wilson

Perfect registration. Faster makereadies. Lower costs. In-plants with direct imaging presses boast of these benefits and more. by Bob Neubauer AT THE University of Texas at Austin a few years ago, the administration started to fall in love with color. Alumni invitations and other projects were increasingly being designed in four-color process, then farmed out to local printers when they proved too complicated for the in-plant's aging two-color presses. To save the school money and give it more control over the final product, Printing Services started looking into digital color, with the administration's blessing. In the end, the in-plant settled on a Heidelberg Quickmaster

With student interest in offset and bindery taking a back seat to computers, in-plant managers must take a fresh look at the hiring process. By MIKE LLEWELLYN Students just aren't as interested in traditional printing skills as they used to be. "Approximately 10 percent of my students go on to positions in a print shop," reveals Bill Johnson, a graphic communications instructor at Louisiana Technical College, in Shreveport. "Not too many years ago it would have been 50 percent." Like many of his colleagues, Johnson attributes the downward turn in student interest to what he calls "the glamour of the desktop." "Computers