Military to consolidate print shops

The Defense Automated Printing Service plans to absorb 190 military printing facilities in a consolidation the Pentagon launched last month.

DAPS which was the Defense Printing Service until it was renamed in October is the military's printer. The organ-ization was created as the Defense Printing Service in 1992 when Air Force Army Navy and Marine Corps printing resources were merged. Most of the new printing centers that will be consolidated are installations attached to military units in Europe Asia and the Pacific.

"We will be taking on expanded responsibility for providing document management to military components worldwide " said Michael J. Cocchiola DAPS' director. He said his organization will automate those facilities and "greatly reduce the infrastructure necessary to provide the services."

DAPS provides traditional printing and digital publishing services. The organization is in the midst of a massive effort to convert the military services' hard-copy technical documents into digital format. DAPS recently started to convert military contract documents into digital format as well.

The addition of "automated" to the organization's name symbolizes the shift to digital publishing and the automation of traditional printing Cocchiola said. DAPS for example offers customers the ability to order and track print jobs on-line he said.

In another shift DAPS became a part of the Defense Logistics Agency in October. DAPS had been a Navy organization reporting through the Naval Supply Systems Command.