Bill May

Bob has served as editor of In-plant Impressions since October of 1994. Prior to that he served for three years as managing editor of Printing Impressions, a commercial printing publication. Mr. Neubauer is very active in the U.S. in-plant industry. He attends all the major in-plant conferences and has visited more than 170 in-plant operations around the world. He has given presentations to numerous in-plant groups in the U.S., Canada and Australia, including the Association of College and University Printers and the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association. He also coordinates the annual In-Print contest, co-sponsored by IPMA and In-plant Impressions.

For in-plants eager to show their commitment to their organizations' sustainability policies, earning chain-of-custody certification from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) has been worth its weight in gold. Sustainability has become a critical strategic initiative, particularly at universities, and becoming FSC certified has helped many in-plants show their support of this goal.

Eleven in-plants have just achieved Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) chain-of-custody certification through the new InGreen group certification program for in-plants. Managed by Printers Green Resource LLC, the InGreen (In-plant Graphic Reproduction for the Environment, Ecology and Nature) program allows U.S. in-plants with annual print sales of less than $5 million to get certified for about half the cost of doing so independently. At the same time, InGreen handles many key administrative and compliance requirements, such as documented procedures and training.

With 68 percent of in-plants still providing offset printing (according to a new IPG survey), and shops like University of Alabama, University of Oklahoma, Vanderbilt University, and many others still keeping their presses very busy, it appears that long-run offset printing is a long way from fading away.

Process color printing is a booming business at the University of Alabama. Printing Services has just added its second four-color press, a 26˝ Sakurai 466SIP two-over-two convertible perfector. It replaced a two-color, 26˝ press. At one time, the 31-employee operation, based in Tuscaloosa, ran its four-color jobs on two-color presses. Then the demand for four-color recruiting materials, newsletters, brochures and alumni publications got so great that the shop invested in a four-color 29˝ Sakurai 474P press, back in June of 2002. “Once we installed that first machine and our quality improved dramatically, it just grew,” explains Bill May, director of Printing Services. “Demand exceeded capacity, and

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