Jack Williams

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.

Judging by the content of the sessions at last month's Southeastern University Printing and Digital Managers Conference (SUPDMC), the threat of outsourcing still weighs heavy on the minds of higher-ed in-plant managers. Throughout the three-day conference, held on the campus of The University of Texas at Austin, speakers repeated the worrisome message that outsourcing companies are relentless and every in-plant should expect—and prepare—to be called into question.

It was exactly a year ago that the drama began for Jack Williams. That's when the board of trustees at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, issued a directive to begin soliciting proposals from outside vendors for the possible outsourcing of his Graphic Arts Services operation.

ANY TIME in-plant managers get together, the conversation and camaraderie never end. This was particularly true at the recent Southeastern University Printing and Digital Managers Conference (SUPDMC). About 30 in-plant managers from universities all over the southern U.S. and as far away as the state of Washington got together in Nashville, Tenn., to exchange information and listen to presentations to help them tune up their operations.

Until recently, when the University of Tennessee Graphic Arts Service needed to print a banner for an outdoor event, the in-plant had to outsource the work. For posters, the shop used an HP inkjet copier. But that has all changed since the Knoxville in-plant purchased a 64˝ Mutoh ValueJet 1608 Hybrid wide-format printer.

There is certainly no shortage of offset presses at the University of Tennessee, in Knoxville. The 47-employee in-plant boasts six of them, the centerpiece being a four-color Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 105. Still, Graphic Arts Service Manager Jack Williams knew the best days of the shop’s two-color Hamada CD-555 were behind it, and there was no shortage of two-color printing coming in the door. So in October, the in-plant installed its second two-color Heidelberg Printmaster QM 46-2. 

More Blogs