From the Editor: Observations From Ottawa

CUPMAC 2017 attendees pose on the deck of the riverboat, where they enjoyed dinner and an awards ceremony.

Tomorrow is Canada Day. What's more, it's Canada's 150th birthday. I'll bet not many of you in the U.S. knew that. But after spending nearly a week in Ottawa, Canada's capital, watching the preparations, it became pretty clear to me that something big was in the works.

When I left yesterday, streets were being shut down, barriers were being erected all over the city and sound checks were being conducted on the massive stage that had been set up in front of the Parliament complex. Yes, it's a pretty big deal in Canada.

CUPMAC President Sean Kehler (Kwantlen Polytechnic University) opened the conference on Monday.

In the Canadian in-plant community, the CUPMAC conference is also a pretty big deal. The College and University Print Management Association of Canada has been meeting for 50 years now, and it held its conference last week in Ottawa.

For those who have never heard of it, it's a lot like ACUP, the Association of College and University Printers, only about a quarter of the size. About 30 managers from colleges all over Canada took part this week, with a sizable contingent from the Vancouver area. I talked with just about every one of them during the three-day event.

CUPMAC attendees at one of the sessions.

I gave a presentation on in-plant trends, using IPG research, but it was probably Frank Romano's opening talk on on printing’s past, present and future that attendees liked best, for both its humor and the nostalgia it evoked.

What struck me, though, were the number of presentations on managed print services. Ray Konecsni, of the University of Regina, gave an excellent talk that detailed the print optimization program he coordinated to reduce the size of the school's fleet, aided by an independent consultant chosen through an RFP process.

Touring Algonquin College's in-plant.

In another session, a consultant named Bruce Farrant from The More Group gave a similar message on the benefits of better managing office print and document environments. Representatives from Konica Minolta repeated the managed print message later on. Clearly fleet management is an important issue for Canadian universities.

In the offset pressroom at Carleton University.

I enjoyed the tours of the in-plants at Algonquin College and Carleton University, both of which rely on multiple Konica Minolta printers. Carleton, however, runs several offset presses, including a four-color Heidelberg, which it uses to print some great quality work. I heard talk of their plans to get a flatbed inkjet printer in the coming months, which would greatly expand the shop's wide-format printing business.

I spent part of our visit to Carleton holed up in the office of assistant director Kathleen Kelly where I moderated a webinar Wednesday on Web-to-print, as those of you who listened to the webinar already know. And later that night, the group took a riverboat dinner cruise, during which President Sean Kehler gave out CUPMAC awards to members for the quality of their printing. The pieces were on display during the conference, and members cast their ballots during the event.

I got to know Ottawa pretty well in my five-day stay, after walking all around the Parliament buildings — which towered like castles over the Ottawa River — past the locks on the Rideau Canal and through the bustling Byward Market. I kind of regret that I didn't get to stay for Canada Day, after witnessing all the hubbub. But I really enjoyed getting to know all the Canadian managers and hearing about their shops. The issues they face are pretty much the same ones that U.S. managers face.

I wish all of you a great Fourth of July weekend and, of course, a very happy Canada Day.

The locks on the Rideau Canal with Parliament rising high above.