I think I mentioned in one of my early posts (around the time I began my blog-site) that the “reprographics” business is different from the “printing” business. One of those differences, and this has long been a key difference between the reprographics industry and the printing industry, is “profitability”. Simply put, it has long been…

Recently, I had the opportunity to get together with the CEO of a large engineering firm. His firm is not completely “nationwide,” but it is one of the larger firms in the U.S. (and they have operations outside the U.S. as well, although the substantial bulk of their business is in the U.S.) Getting to…

Can business conditions in the reprographics industry get any worse than they were during the first six months of 2009? Although many in the financial world are already beginning to say that, U.S.-economy-wise, the worst of the recession is behind us and that the beginning of the recovery appears to be not too far ahead…

When I was in the reprographics business full time, I made it a habit to follow government bidding activity for procurements for reprographics services. To me, the importance of following government bidding activity is that it helps one determine the “low” end of pricing action in a local market. While competitors like to keep their…

Well, the previous post, I will admit, was a bit “gloomy”, so, now, I’d like to post something that’s “good news.” Several friends of mine in the reprographics industry – and friends who are knowledgeable about the GC business – are saying that, because of the recession, more GC’s are pursuing more jobs than ever…

While doing some research, I came across an interesting article about a “paperless” construction project. Egads, a “paperless” construction project? What’s that all about? The reprographics industry is in a recession because the real estate development industry is in a recession; everyone knows that. Reprographics revenues are down. Significantly, in some areas of the country.…

I received this article from Mahil Maurice, a very smart young man who works for ARC. I think he is the “Product Manager” for ARC’s “ishipdocs” technology product, which ARC began selling (I think through its PlanWell team) around the time of the IRGA Convention. I think the article Mahil authored is thought provoking. (A…

“A Kindle Rival for Business People” – this short article, authored by Brad Stone, appeared in the NY Times Technology section on Monday, June 1st. The article says that Plastic Logic, a 10 year old company founded by two Cambridge (MA) professors, is working on devices with E-INK reading screens on thin, flexible plastic displays.…

I visited the PEiR Group blog-site this morning. On April 28th, there was a post on that site that talked about a reprographer in Cincinnati who provided a digital camera system (service?) for a large construction project in that city. That post was interesting (at least it was to me!) While doing some research, late…

This is an update on previous posts about ARC’s stock. In one of my previous posts, I suggested that there are at least two ways to make money in the reprographics business: (1) earn money from owning a profitable reprographics company, (2) earn money by owning a piece of another reprographics company (if you buy…