Automation, wide-format and specialty printing, outsourcing. These were but three of the hot topics at last week’s IPMA 2018 Conference, held by the In-Plant Printing and Mailing Association (IPMA) in Costa Mesa, Calif. Those issues, as well as other opportunities and challenges—cybersecurity, interactive marketing campaigns, implementing augmented reality, and more—were covered in the two dozen or so keynotes and breakout sessions.

This year’s event was the 54th IPMA conference, and attracted 166 attendees from 114 different companies and organizations, 64 of whom were attending their very first IPMA conference.

While in-plants have always traditionally been the “copy center” for their parent organizations, ask virtually any attendee what kind of work has been increasing in volume, and they’ll be quick to cite wide format—posters, banners, signage, etc. Specialty items like pens, hats, T shirts, and other tchotchkes have also been taking off, and in-plants are adopting dye-sublimation technologies to take advantage of these kinds of applications.