Canon U.S.A.

After two decades in its comfortable 30,000-square-foot facility, Printing & Mailing Services at the University of Alabama-Birmingham got a jolt last summer when it learned its building was going be razed to make way for a new minor league ballpark. The news was more than a little unsettling for Director Steve Murray.

Nothing wakes you up in the morning quite like a football flying toward your face. That's what greeted attendees of the recent In-Plant Printing and Mailing Association (IPMA) conference during the opening keynote session when speaker Nick Lowery, Kansas City Chiefs' Hall of Famer, began tossing a ball randomly into the crowd as he delivered his inspirational message.

Lehigh University's Fall 2012 semester begins on August 23, but Glenn Strause, director of Printing and Mailing Services, is focusing on August 22 as a red-letter day for the college's in-plant. Why? The 22nd marks the planned grand opening of Mail at Campus Square, Lehigh's new full-service post office.

I think it is the responsibility of every publishing executive to develop an ongoing and active learning strategy. The goal is to keep your “edge” as sharp as you can and provide a greater level of service and support to both your employer and your clients,  which can be the difference between a sale or an empty shopping cart!

In June, IPG Editor Bob Neubauer visited Canon Inc.'s headquarters in Tokyo and toured Canon's largest MFD manufacturing facility in Suzhou, China. A new IPG video takes you on that tour along with him.

Join IPG Editor Bob Neubauer on a trip to Japan and China to visit Canon's facilities there.

Here's another category where Apple and Samsung go head to head: chip buying. And Apple's dominance is expanding rapidly.

Rip off the plastic, metal, and glass on any consumer device, and it's pretty much all chips. And if you're the No. 1 buyer of those chips, as Apple is, that means you hold a lot of sway over global chip manufacturing.

More sway than chip kingpin Samsung (which Apple, ironically, buys lots of chips from).

"It's well known that Apple has already conquered the smartphone and tablet segments

Canon Inc trimmed its full-year operating profit outlook, buffeted by a euro zone crisis that has sent the yen surging and sapped demand from a key overseas market, boding ill for earnings prospects in Japan's export sector.

Canon, long one of Japan's most profitable technology companies with its aggressive cost-cutting, is also among the first major Japanese companies to report quarterly earnings and is under scrutiny for early signs of how the euro zone's woes could reach Japanese shores.

Panasonic's G5 is a relatively minor upgrade to the company's Micro Four Thirds camera lineup - today's biggest changes were saved for the point-and-shoot market. The company released five new high-end compact cameras today, offering a combination of huge zoom, fast lenses, and impressive speed. The FZ200 is perhaps the most complete package, combining 24x zoom (from 25-600mm) with f/2.8 aperture through the entire range, meaning you'll get bright shots even at the longest zoom. Its 12.1-megapixel MOS sensor is very much a point-and-shoot sensor, but paired with Panasonic's Venus processor

Canon U.S.A said this week that it has debuted its new Canon Direct Print and Scan For Mobile Application, which is available for iOS devices.

Canon is now supplying production printing systems to Peak Resources, a Denver-based systems integration and print/output distribution company that supports a nationwide network of resellers. Peak will initially distribute imagePRESS C7010VP series of digital color presses, VarioPrint 135/120/110 monochrome digital presses, imageRUNNER ADVANCE C9075 PRO high-speed color printing systems and imageRUNNER ADVANCE 8105/8095/8085 high-speed black-and-white printing and color scanning systems.

The sea of blue caps seemed to stretch to the horizon. Beneath each one of them, a Chinese worker quietly, meticulously popped a paper roller or other part into place—parts that, when fully assembled, would form a Canon image­RUNNER ADVANC­E printer.

In June, I had a fabulous opportunity to visit Japan and China. I was invited by Canon USA to tour Canon Inc.'s headquarters in Tokyo and its largest MFD manufacturing plant, near Shanghai. Along with a handful of other editors and analysts, I met with Canon executives—including Chairman and CEO Fujio Mitarai—and inspected some cutting-edge technologies, still a year away from release. It was a fantastic experience. My story detailing Canon's strategy and accomplishments begins on page 26, but my observations on the rest of this amazing journey...well, I guess that's what this page is for.

Attendance was up yet again this year at the In-Plant Printing and Mailing Association conference, which ended its three-day event on Wednesday evening. Nearly 150 people attended the in-plant gathering, up from 135 last year and 100 the year before. President Tony Seaman noted during the business luncheon that the association remains financially solvent and is in growth mode.

Though it takes place later than usual this year, the 53rd In-Plant Printing and Mailing Association (IPMA) conference promises to be an exciting, action-packed event when it kicks off Sunday evening in Kansas City. In-plant managers from all over the country are already packing their bags in anticipation of the opportunity to see old friends and make new ones.

The trial of four men accused of having equipment for printing counterfeit currency has heard that machines found in a bunker hidden under a yard where the men were arrested were used to print a range of images. These included those of U.S. bills, Euro notes, Sterling and posters of Star Wars characters.

Detective Garda Walsh told Mr O’Connell that Machine Number Two (Canon iPF 8100 printers) printed off 16 items, including images of a U.S. $100 bill, several images of a Bank of England £20 and £1 note, several small and one very large image of a €500 note and

In-plant Graphics Editor Bob Neubauer is in the midst of a media tour of Canon's Tokyo headquarters facility and MFD manufacturing operation in Shanghai, China. On Tuesday, he and a small group of U.S. editors and analysts met with Canon Chairman and CEO Fujio Mitarai to learn more about Canon's strategy.

Late last year I had the misfortune of having my desktop replacement laptop stolen when my car was burgled. A generation old, the laptop was still doing yeoman duty and had recently been upgraded with 500 GB hard drive. The system was more than adequate to run Windows and the 1900 x 1200 17″ display was the most compelling reason I hadn't replaced the unit. But I no longer had the option of not moving on to something else.

But in the years since I originally purchased that laptop, my usage patterns had changed significantly.

Crestron said this week that its Crestron Connected initiative is growing, with the technology featured in the products of various partners at the InfoComm show.

Crestron said this week that its Crestron Connected initiative is growing, with the technology featured in the products of various partners at the InfoComm show.