Inland Group, a US-based high-quality printing and graphic services company, has been “putting ink on paper” since 1984. It started by printing letterhead, envelopes and business cards, making sure all company documents looked identical - a novel branding idea 40 years ago.
As customers began asking, “Can you print this?” Inland Group continued to upgrade its equipment to meet their needs. Today, it has added such well-known companies as Disney and Sketchers to its client roster, providing digital, sheet-fed and wide-format services as well as mailing, bindery and design. And, all the branded pieces for each client still look identical.
The Inland Group’s philosophy also remains unchanged: keep upgrading everything to newer, faster and better to meet evolving market needs, while recognizing employees as valuable team players.
“My title is offensive coordinator,” said C. J. Urban, Vice President, Operations. “Our salespeople are quarterbacks. The president and owner’s title is the coach. That’s what really drives our culture. When our players retire, we retire their jersey. We take their Inland uniform, put their name, start and end date and hang it on the wall. It’s pretty great. And with that teamwork, great quality and care just come; everyone wins.”
Streamlining production from a single user interface
When Inland Group met ECO3, Urban was looking for ways to make operations easier, and was intrigued by ECO3’s ability to integrate digital and wide-format.
ECO3 is out there innovating, pushing the way with technology, and I want to be on that bus. I want to be a part of that team innovating and trying new things. ECO3 offers solutions to automate and that’s what we’re looking for.
C.J. Urban, Vice President Operations, Inland Group
Today, Inland Group is automating with ECO3 APOGEE software, a comprehensive prepress workflow solution that integrates various digital and offset software modules into one streamlined system. Users can control every phase of the production process from a single user interface.
Saving time, delivering on schedule
With APOGEE, Inland Group is connecting and automating its digital cutting programs, such as stacked sheets of paper and cardboard, saving 20 to 60 minutes per job for one client alone.
“You can have 16 or 20 different layout or labels in different configurations on a sheet,” said Nicole Kent, Art Director. “It typically takes 20 minutes per form, and if there’s two to five forms you can save an hour of programming time. With APOGEE it’s all automated.”
“It could be signage, posters, banners, flyers, whatever, and we have to have this job finished today because our client will be on air at 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. promoting some new attraction. We have to deliver.”
And, with the integration of Pace™ MIS and APOGEE, Inland Group can improve its overall productivity and efficiency.
APOGEE automation reduces errors, lowers costs, boosts quality and speed
Kent said APOGEE’s software takes the thinking out of imposition. “I can tell APOGEE I need a 24-page book, lay it out with simple, pre-programmed impositions and I know that it’s going to come out correct.” When it comes to wide format, APOGEE is as simple as point and click. For example, users can take a 20-page file and tell APOGEE they want five copies of page 1, 10 copies of page 5, etc., and by the time it gets to the controllers, they can literally just hit program.
When it comes to wide format, APOGEE is as simple as point and click. For example, users can take a 20-page file and tell APOGEE they want five copies of page 1, 10 copies of page 5, etc., and by the time it gets to the controllers, they can literally just hit program.
APOGEE saves us 25 percent of the time easily.
Nicole Kent, Art Director, Inland Group
Kent explained you can see how it’s going to plate, you can see every single color, you can see every single element before you’ve even plated it. "The imposition software of APOGEE is just absolutely incredible. It’s not anything that I have ever worked in. Switching over to APOGEE with any kind of imposition layouts, how easy it is, it just was a huge step for us,” Kent said.
Color consistency 40 years later
Automating with ECO3 APOGEE and ECO3 PressTune is how Inland Group is keeping color consistency across devices today. PressTune is a comprehensive print standardization solution that guarantees color consistency and ensures printing jobs meet ISO, G7, and even client-specific standards. It increases productivity by lowering ink and paper consumption, significantly reducing make-ready time and improving communication between prepress operator, quality management and print buyers.
Inland Group can switch between digital and offset machines without anyone noticing a quality difference. “I’ve never seen anything that close. It is a powerful tool to have that color consistency between multiple devices,” said Kent. “We’re getting 90 percent against G7 throughout the whole run.”
“We printed the same job on multiple devices, and it was hard to believe how good everything looked. The digital can’t quite get there to offset, but it looked pretty dang close,” Urban added.
Customers are impressed
Inland Group takes pride not only in upgrading its equipment and software, but also in its people and the shop floor itself. It’s air-conditioned and clean, with 5000 Kelvin lighting. You can walk anywhere in the building and know that whatever piece is in your hand is going to look exactly the same, no matter if you’re at the press or you’re in the conference room, Urban explained.
“Our shop is our showroom,” Urban said. “Employees are proud to work here, and customers are impressed.”
Automation is the future
Inland Group’s Urban knows it’s difficult to find skilled people who understand print. “APOGEE can take that workload of imposition and color management off the operator. Just put the paper in, push the button. That’s all done offline and pre-pressed through APOGEE. That’s where we see the future,” said Urban.
We’ve grown about 10% every year using ECO3 APOGEE automation software, without adding to our workforce.
C.J. Urban
PRINTING United interview
At the PRINTING United 2026 trade show in Las Vegas, Pat McGrew from Inkish TV met with C.J. Urban to discuss the company's transition to APOGEE and how closer integration with Pace MIS has changed day-to-day production.
Referenced products
Apogee
Innovate, interact, and optimize. That’s the Apogee workflow software philosophy with which you stay ahead of the competition. Because quality and efficiency can never be rated too high in the printing business.
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Apogee Impose
Are template options too limited for your professional prepress department? Let Apogee Impose calculate smart impositions, with the minimum of time, errors and paper waste.
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PressTune
Take total control with ECO3's comprehensive PressTune print standardization tool. Benefit from more accurate, consistent colors, faster make-ready times, lower ink consumption and smoother approvals.
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