Around the time of Graph Expo, you may have seen an announcement on WhatTheyThink that Lightning Source, the largest manufacturer of books on demand, purchased 15 new Oce VarioStream 9210 black and color-capable digital presses, and you might have wondered what they were going to do with that substantial investment. I had the opportunity to speak with Lightning Source CEO Kirby Best, who shared the inside scoop.

Lightning Source is now printing about a million on demand books a month for its base of 4,500 publishers, and continuing to grow both its base of publishers and the number of books it has it its digital library--up to about a half million now. In addition to its 160,000 square foot facility in La Vergne, TN, and its UK manufacturing operation, Lightning Source plans to open a new 130,000 square foot facility in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. According to Best, the facility will be operational in June 2007.

Lightning Source's manufacturing capability has long been based on the IBM Infoprint 4000 family, and the change to Oce is a big move. Best said, "We have been with IBM for nine years and it was a big decision to switch to Oce. But our customers were demanding better halftones in the black & white world, and we could see a signicant improvement in quality with the Oce presses--with more improvements on the way. We will gradually migrate our base to Oce, replacing the IBMs as needed."

Watch for the full interview coming soon to WhatTheyThink.