Halm Industries

A sudden workload increase came when cosmetics company Mary Kay Inc. shifted the printing and folding of product inserts from outside printing suppliers to the company's in-plant facility in Carrollton, Texas. "It hit us like a ton of bricks" recalls Keith Hopson. "We didn't know it was coming until we were flooded with work."

THE STATE of Ohio’s Printing and Mail Services operation had a lot going for it. Its facility on the west side of Columbus boasted a convenient loading dock, more than enough floor space and plenty of free parking. One thing it didn’t have, though, was easy access to customers, most of which were in downtown Columbus, a good 15 minutes away. “If you’re in the quick copy business, you really need to be around your customers,” acknowledges Joe Tucker, state printing administrator. “And being out here, logistically, wasn’t a good thing for us because everything we print, we ship downtown.” So when

OFFSET PRESSES continue to pull their weight amidst the flashy digital printers that have been popping up in offices nationwide. These digital newcomers might be great for short-run work, but for big projects they still must step aside and let ye olde offset workhorses do their thing. Don’t think being called “old” is an insult, though. The longevity of these machines is impressive and can easily add up to decades. Jim VanderWal, production manager at CRC Product Services in Grand Rapids, Mich., says that his shop’s four-color Heidelberg SM102 was purchased in 1989 and the two-color Heidelberg SM72 dates back to 1975. Over

AS FALLING leaves carpet the University of Tennessee’s Knoxville campus, so has the autumn of Gary Williford’s career arrived. After 34 years at the university—30 of them in the in-plant—Williford plans to retire in a few months from his role as manager of the school’s Graphic Arts Service department. But while others might view their final days as an opportunity to kick back and coast to an easy farewell, Williford has insisted on pushing forward, preparing his 55-employee operation for the days after his departure. “I owe this organization. It’s been good to me. It’s a part of my life,” he explains. “I want

What's all this about digital? To a lot of managers, offset is still the biggest wave of the future. by Mike Llewellyn IT SEEMS like all anyone can talk about lately is variable data printing. Equipment manufacturers, conference speakers and even in-plant managers have been loudly praising its virtues. But does that mean the sound of cranking offset presses is soon to fade into memory? Not if you ask Tom Neckvatal, manager of Minnesota Life Insurance Printing Services. His operation is proof that when the going gets tough, the tough run offset. The print runs streaming out of the 54-employee in-plant's offset press area

Small-format sheetfed presses now boast many of the features previously only available on larger machines. As the saying goes, "good things come in small packages." This is especially true for small-format presses. They provide a quality product with fast turnaround time, while meeting the requirements of a tight budget. Take A.B.Dick's 9995A-ICS, for example. A line extension of its two-color 9995 offset press, the 9995A has a semi-automatic plate loading feature for metal and polyester plates. The Ink Control System (ICS) allows for automatic adjusting of the ink fountains. "The 9995A-ICS gives a printer the ability and automation to produce four-color process work

Graph Expo marked the debut appearance of many of the technologies unveiled at Drupa. After seeing so many new technologies displayed at the massive Drupa trade show in Düsseldorf, Germany, trade journalists found few surprises at the recent Graph Expo show in Chicago. But it was for printers, not journalists, that McCormick Place opened its doors—and they were certainly impressed. "I thought the show was very complete, with more than enough new things to see and want," remarked Don Davis, associate director of LSU Graphic Services, in Baton Rouge, La. He went to the show to look at prepress and computer-to-plate (CTP) equipment and

Often overlooked, specialty printing equipment can prove vital to your in-plant when a job requires its services. Digital copiers and wide-format ink-jet printers may get the lion's share of the headlines these days, but when you have special needs—like for envelopes or labels—it's the specialty printing equipment that you turn to. To help you sort through the available systems, IPG has assembled information on various models of envelope presses, tag and label presses, thermographic equipment and sheetfed press attachments. Envelope Presses For in-plants that need to print short and mid-volume runs of envelopes, Olympus America Digital & Imaging Group offers the PagePlex

Like automation, color is not just an option anymore. Manufacturers are responding to the trend by offering more color-productive equipment. Color and simplicity seem to be the chief components of today's sheetfed offset presses. Quicker makereadies, digital prepress consoles, auto-perfecting channels and color controls are just some of the latest advances—with color creating a new niche market. "In 1986, most of the 9,000 presses sold by small-press manufacturers comprised single-color presses," observes Tom Nishimura, president of Hamada. "However, last year approximately only 4 percent of about 2,700 presses sold under 40˝ were single color. In-plants looking for easy-to-use, multi-functional machines that feature the