Reprographics 101

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  • isOK Construction Document Version Control System – QR-Code

    On May 29, 2011, I did a post on the blog to introduce the Reprographics 101 reader-community to the web-site of Paul Dougherty.

    As I said in that post, Paul was formerly the CTO of Gresham, Smith & Partners (GS&P) one of the largest A/E firms in the U.S. Before joining L&R (Nashville and Knoxville, TN) as its CTO, Paul had been GS&P’s CTO for many years. From my friends at L&R in Nashville, I was already aware of who Paul is and that he is a very bright guy.

    Yesterday, I received an e-mail from Paul to let me know that it would be okay for me to post about a QR Code application and system he’s been working on. Paul had informed me, months ago, about what he was working on, but I was not supposed to post anything about what he was working on, until he gave me the go-ahead.

    In Yesterday’s e-mail, Paul provided a link to a video he has up on YouTube.

    Here’s the “written introduction” to the video:

    An introduction to the isOK.us construction document revision control system. Saves you time and money in the field. For more info visit AECGuild.com or email info@isok.us

    According to what it says in the YouTube video, isOK can integrate with ReproMAX’s PDM and ARC’s PlanWell.

    Okay, here’s the link to the video:

    http://youtu.be/EUXCXY2AN1U

    Evidently, Paul will be exhibiting his construction document revision control system at the upcoming EcoBuild conference:

    EcoBuild 2011

    High Performance Through High Technology

    Ecobuild America and its co-located Events give you the education and resources to build smarter and improve our built environment.

    Building Information Modeling • Geographic Information Systems • Green Technology • High Performance Building • Sustainable Design • Energy 
Efficiency • Security • Smart Buildings & more!

    EcoBuild will take place December 5-9, 2011, in Washington, DC

    Paul Dougherty said that, if you are interested in attending the exhibit, he can get you free entry! (E-mail Paul at info@isok.us)

  • Arto Kunnola appointed CEO at Valopaino Oy (Helsinki, Finland)

    On September 21, 2011, Kirsti Paasikallio, Owner of Valopaino Oy, one of the leading reprographics companies in Finland and the developer of Lideri e-planroom software, sent me an e-mail to introduce me to her company’s CEO, Arto Kunnola. When Kirsti’s e-mail came to me, I was traveling in Europe, and, when I returned home to the U.S., I completely forgot do a post on Reprographics 101 about this development at Valopaino.

    Hi Joel,

    I wish to introduce you our new CEO, Arto Kunnola, who began his work at Valopaino 22nd of August. He has a degree as Engineer in graphic industry, has worked with Xerox about 4 years, then in international sales and after that with one of our competitors, taking care of sales. His focus has been mainly on the small format, thus your blog will give him quite a wide range of activities and new thoughts.

    Best Regards

    Kirsti Paasikallio

    ______________

    Arto Kunnola

    Current Position:

    CEO at Valopaino Oy

    Past Positions:

    Area Sales Director, Turku at Multiprint Oy

    Sales Director at Multiprint Oy

    ______________

    Valopaino Oy

    Vattuniemenkatu 7

    00210 Helsinki

    Puhelin (09) 4137 4411

    Gsm 0400 410 920

    Fax (09) 677 723

    www.valopaino.fi

    “Lenkki suunnittelun ja rakentamisen välillä”

    _______________

    To Arto, we wish you the best of luck and success in your role as CEO of Valopaino!

  • QR Codes in CAD and REVIT

    QR Codes in CAD and Revit

    This article comes from the blog-site of

    Paul Crickard, an education facility planner.

    1UN

    Have you noticed the proliferation of these things in

    magazines?

    These are QR codes. And with a smartphone and a free scanner

    (such as RedLaser for iPhone) a person can scan this code and

    be taken to your website, a map, call you, receive a message, or

    a number of other options — its up to you what data you embed

    in this code.

    You can generate a code using one of several free generators

    such as Kaywa. Or, since we are creating drawings, we can generate

    them natively as a hatch in AutoCAD or as an image in Revit.

    Autodesk released a plugin of the month that allows you to

    create a QR code inside AutoCAD. The plugin is here.

    Once installed, just type ‘QRGEN’ and follow the GUI

    prompts.

    These QR codes can be placed in your drawing title blocks,

    for example.

    What I find to be of the greatest benefit is the ability to

    track how many people have scanned your code. By using

    a URL shortener such as http://bit.ly you can create a

    short URL for your site and bit.ly generates the QR code.

    By entering the URL provided with a ‘+’ sign, you will see

    a tally of how many people scanned your code and when.

    This means you can create project specific codes and

    monitor their effectiveness for marketing purposes.

    I just provided one example of using QR codes in a drawing,

    and a very simple one at that. You could do a million other

    things, such as place one next to a detail that takes you to

    a 3D model of the detail. Place one on your signage at

    the site that takes you to a render of what the finished

    building will look like. Put one on your business card that

    updates a persons contacts using a vcard.

    Happy scanning.

  • Happy Thanksgiving

    I just found an article/post on a web-site called “Packerville.” I’m watching Monday Night Football, and, now at half-time, they just did replays of the Packer’s win over the Bucs and of the Lion’s win over the Panthers, and a promo for this coming Thursday’s Thanksgiving Day game between the Packers and the Lions. During the promo, Bob Costas spoke about the long-famous 1962 TXGiving Day game between the Packers and the Lions, which the Lions won. That was the Packer’s only loss that year, as the Packers went on to win that year’s NFL title. BUT, OF COURSE, I HAD TO GET UP AND GOOGLE THAT GAME, JUST TO SEE IF OUR OLD INDUSTRY FRIEND, DARRIS MCCORD, WAS IN THAT GAME, AND, SURE ENOUGH, YOU’LL SEE DARRIS’ NAME MENTIONED IN THE ARTICLE ABOUT THE 1962 GAME (you’ll see that article below). For those of you who never met Darris, he was the owner of Shacoh USA (which later became KIP USA), he was the owner of Franklin Graphics, which operated as Reprographics Technologies (DC and Baltimore), and he had other reprographics industry interests. Quite a character …. and a great guy! I’m sure I watched that 1962 game; in 1962 I was 15, and we always celebrated TXGiving at my Grandparents’ house with all of our aunts, uncles and cousins and the NFL game was always on in the afternoon, much to my Grandmother’s chagrin. To all my blog visitors, HAPPY THANKSGIVING WISHES TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILIES.

    This article is from 2007 and is about Packers vs. Lions, Thanksgiving 1962


    After a wonderful win over the Detroit Lions yesterday, we’re very thankful for the Packers’ unexpected 10-1 record — their best record since this week 45 years ago. At that time, however, they ran into problems in their Thanksgiving Day contest with the Lions, as this article from the Detroit News recalls:

    DETROIT (Nov. 22) — A picture hanging outside the locker room of the Lions’ practice facility in Allen Park frames a special moment in time. It depicts an overpowering display of defensive dominance on Thanksgiving Day in 1962. Bart Starr, the Packers’ Hall of Fame quarterback, is surrounded by a group of charging, swarming defenders. Starr is helpless, with no protective pocket of blockers near him. Starr went down on that play and was sacked 10 more times as the Lions atoned for a loss to the Packers earlier in the season with a 26-14 victory at Tiger Stadium.

    There have been other big games, and great performances, in the traditional holiday game. It began in 1934 and continues today with the Lions playing the Packers at Ford Field. The 1962 game — 45 years ago today — is the pinnacle. For one day, one game, they were superior to Vince Lombardi’s Packers. It was the Packers’ only loss in the ’62 season, in which they went 13-1 and won a second straight NFL championship.

    Roger Brown, a defensive tackle who played the first seven of 10 pro seasons with the Lions, led the defensive charge that smothered Starr. “I don’t think a Sherman tank could have stopped us that day,” Brown said in a telephone interview from his home in Portsmouth, Va. Brown was in on seven of the 11 sacks, including five solos. He also trapped Starr in the end zone for a safety. “They were getting the jump on us something awful,” Lombardi said after the game.

    In 1962, the Packers were the gods of pro football as Lombardi, the legendary coach, was building a dynasty. The Packers won the NFL championship in 1961, the first of five under Lombardi. The Lions finished second to the Packers in the Western Division for three straight years, 1960-62. By 1962, the Packers-Lions rivalry was as fierce as any. The rivalry was fueled partly by the Thanksgiving matchup. The Packers were the opponent for 13 straight years, from 1951-63. After that, the NFL began rotating opponents.

    The Lions were tired of being second-best. In the fourth game of the season at Green Bay, they led 7-6 late in the fourth quarter. On a third-down play, the Lions tried a pass. The receiver, Terry Barr, slipped. Herb Adderley got an interception and a long return to set up a field goal in the last minute for a 9-7 Packers win. Seven weeks later came the rematch. The Packers were 10-0. The Lions were 8-2.
    “I think we were fired up the whole month, the whole week,” Brown said. “Ever since that game in Green Bay, we looked forward to Thanksgiving so we could vindicate ourselves.”

    The onslaught began early. On the Packers’ fourth play, Alex Karras broke through on a running play to throw Tom Moore for a 3-yard loss. On the next play, Darris McCord, Joe Schmidt and Karras sacked Starr, but the play was nullified by a delay-of-game penalty. It didn’t matter. Brown sacked Starr for a 15-yard loss on the next play. A short punt put the ball at the Packers 39, and three plays later, Milt Plum passed to Gail Cogdill for a touchdown. The rout was on.

    Starr was sacked eight more times in the half, and the Lions had a 23-0 lead at the intermission. The Lions coasted through the second half and won easily. After the game, Schmidt, the Hall of Fame middle linebacker, seemed in awe of the performance. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” Schmidt said. “We killed them.”

  • Arkitektkopia’s Byggnet Verify app is now in the iTunes store – QR Codes for AEC drawings

    Arkitektkopia is the largest reprographics enterprise in the country of Sweden. There are more than 30 Arkitektkopia locations in Sweden.


    Here’s what Arkitektopia’s Managing Director said to me in an e-mail I received from him early this morning:


    “Byggnet Verify, our fist patent application ever and our first app. Basically, it helps the AEC-sector to improve deviation reporting and verifies that you have the correct version of a blueprint.”


    Click on this link to see the app in the iTunes store:

    http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/byggnet-verify/id470519373?mt=8


  • Stadium Capital continues building its position in American Reprographics Co (ARC) shares (information updated for purchases through 11/17/2011)

    I’ve done several previous posts on Reprographics 101 about Stadium Capital continuing to build its position in ARC shares. Today is yet another “update post.”

    Since the last time I posted about Stadium Capital’s ownership (and purchases) of ARC shares, Stadium Capital has made several subsequent purchases of ARC shares. Here’s the latest table reflecting Stadium Capital’s purchases of ARC shares from August 23, 2011 through November 17, 2011:

    Transaction Date

    Purchase Price

    # of Shares Purchased

    # of shares owned, after purchase

    %age of O/S Stock Owned

    8/23/11

    $3.79

    30,600

    4,676,921

    10.12%

    8/24/11

    $3.88

    17,991

    4,694,912

    10.16%

    8/25/11

    $3.80

    244,000

    4,938,912

    10.69%

    9/2/11

    $3.54

    29,315

    4,968,227

    10.75%

    9/6/11

    $3.45

    1,833

    4,970,060

    10.75%

    9/8/11

    $3.57

    6,591

    4,976,651

    10.77%

    9/9/11

    $3.49

    11,641

    4,988,292

    10.79%

    9/12/11

    $3.54

    17,256

    5,005,548

    10.83%

    9/20/11

    $3.56

    13,737

    5,019,285

    10.86%

    9/21/11

    $3.50

    9,170

    5,028,455

    10.88%

    9/26/11

    $3.47

    5,500

    5,033,955

    10.89%

    9/28/11

    $3.33

    27,524

    5,061,479

    10.95%

    9/29/11

    $3.29

    22,203

    5,083,682

    11.00%

    9/30/11

    $3.35

    41,019

    5,124,701

    11.09%

    10/3/11

    $3.20

    18,348

    5,143,049

    11.13%

    10/17/11

    $3.64

    15,497

    5,158,546

    11.16%

    11/1/11

    $3.89

    2,201

    5,160,747

    11.17%

    11/9/11

    $4.29

    14,605

    5,175,352

    11.20%

    11/15/11

    $4.30

    804

    5,176,156

    11.20%

    11/16/11

    $4.34

    8,304

    5,184,460

    11.22%

    11/17/11

    $4.28

    5,225

    5,189,685

    11.23%

    Stadium Capital had amassed 4,646,321 ARC shares prior to August 23rd, and I’m pretty sure that those earlier share purchases were completed when ARC’s stock price was substantially higher than it’s been of late.

  • On November 10, 2011, Service Point Solutions issued (in a Spanish-language version only) a Press Release about its Q3 2011 Sales Results

    Don’t forget to read the “Joel’s comments” section of this post!

    Service Point’s Press Release indicates an increase in sales over prior comparable periods and an increase in EBIT and EBITDA.

    Here’s the Spanish-language version of the Press Release. Skip below for an English-language version of this Press Release.)

    Service Point logra incrementar un 7% las ventas en el tercer trimestre del año y un 5% durante 2011

    • El EBITDA acumulado ha alcanzado los 10,7 millones de euros, lo que supone crecer un 38% frente al mismo periodo de 2010.

    • Los elementos clave de este incremento han sido el comercio electrónico, que ya supone el 16% de las ventas de la compañía y el estricto control de los gastos.

    • El grupo ha nombrado responsable global del canal online al director general de Service Point en Noruega, Christian Paulsen.

    10 de noviembre de 2011 –

    Service Point Solutions SA (ticker: SPS.MC), ha cerrado el tercer trimestre del año con unas ventas acumuladas que se han incrementado un 5% con respecto al mismo periodo del 2010, alcanzando los 162 millones de euros. En el tercer trimestre el incremento de las ventas ha sido de 7% respecto al mismo período en el 2010. Este aumento, unido al control de costes operativos llevados a cabo por la compañía, han logrado que el EBITDA se haya elevado hasta los 10,7 millones de euros, un 38% más que en el mismo período del año pasado. El EBIT alcanzó los 3,1 millones de euros, frente a las pérdidas de 0,7 millones de euros del mismo periodo del año anterior, lo que supone un incremento de 3,8 millones de euros.

    El crecimiento de los ingresos se debe principalmente al aumento de la actividad comercial del grupo en los mercados escandinavos (Noruega y Suecia) y centroeuropeos (Países Bajos y Alemania) donde se han obtenido tasas de crecimiento de doble dígito en las actividades consideradas estratégicas: canal de impresión online, impresión bajo demanda, foto-álbumes y gestión documental para el sector financiero.

    El comercio electrónico sigue siendo clave para el grupo y se actúa para reorientar los ingresos para que una parte más grande del negocio total derive de este canal. Para lograr el objetivo del grupo, que un 30% de las ventas totales en 2013 procedan del comercio electrónico, Service Point ha nombrado a Christian Paulsen responsable de Service Point en Noruega responsable del desarrollo de negocio y estrategia del canal online. A septiembre de 2011, el 16% de las ventas totales de Service Point procedían de este canal.

    A pesar del entorno, la compañía espera una evolución positiva durante el cuarto trimestre en línea con su evolución anual y en términos relativos contra el mismo período de 2010 gracias a los proyectos en curso, la buena marcha del negocio de foto-albumes que presenta una estacionalidad positiva destacada en el cuarto trimestre y el continuo control de los gastos operativos con el objetivo de alcanzar ventas anualizadas totales de 220 a 223 millones de euros para 2011.

    Here’s an English-language version of the Press Release, which I generated using Google Translate: (Please note: Google Translate does not produce perfect translations.)

    Service Point achieved a 7% increase in sales in the third quarter and 5% in 2011

    • The cumulative EBITDA reached 10.7 million euros, representing a 38% increase over the same period in 2010.

    • Key elements of this increase have been e-commerce, which already accounts for 16% of company sales and tight cost control.

    • The group has appointed global head of the online channel to the CEO of Service Point in Norway, Christian Paulsen.

    November 10, 2011 –

    Service Point Solutions SA (ticker: SPS.MC) has closed the third quarter with cumulative sales have increased by 5% over the same period in 2010, reaching 162 million euros . In the third quarter, sales growth was 7% over the same period in 2010. This increase, coupled with cost control operations carried out by the company, have achieved the EBITDA has risen to 10.7 million euros, up 38% over the same period last year. EBIT reached 3.1 million euros, compared to losses of 0.7 million euros in the same period last year, representing an increase of 3.8 million euros.

    The revenue growth is primarily due to increased commercial activity of the group in the Scandinavian markets (Norway and Sweden) and Central (Netherlands and Germany) where rates have been achieved double-digit growth in activities considered strategic: channel online printing, print on demand, photo-albums and document management for the financial sector.

    Electronic commerce is still key to the group and acts to redirect the revenue for a larger share of total business resulting from this channel. To achieve the goal of the group, that 30% of total sales in 2013 are from the e-commerce, Service Point has appointed Christian Paulsen responsible for Service Point in Norway responsible for business development and strategy of the online channel. In September 2011, 16% of total sales came from the Service Point channel.

    Despite the environment, the company expects a positive trend during the fourth quarter in line with its annual progress report and in relative terms against the same period in 2010 due to ongoing projects, the smooth running of the business of photo-albums that has a prominent positive seasonality in the fourth quarter and the continued control of operating expenses in order to achieve total annual sales from 220 to 223 million euros for 2011.

    – – – – – – – – – – – –

    Joel’s comments:

    [You may want to read the “note” paragraph (the one in blue type) below before you read the next three paragraphs.]

    In a press release SP issued on May 9, 2011, SP had “the confidence to venture that revenue in 2011 will exceed €230 million”. SP pointed out that its acquisition of Holmberg (Sweden) would be one of the reasons why it felt confident that its 2011 revenue would exceed €230 million. Now, by November 2011, SP doesn’t appear to be as confident, as it was last May, that its 2011 revenues will reach the level previously hoped for.

    In the November 10th press release, SP indicates that its EBITDA is €10.7 million through Q3 2011. In the May 9th press release, SP “had the confidence to venture” that its full-year 2011 EBITDA would exceed €20 million. In order to achieve €20 million in EBITDA for 2011, SP will have to add an additional €9.7 million in EBITDA in Q4 2011, or, to say it in other words, SP’s EBITDA in Q4 2011 – the last 3 months of 2011 – will have to be nearly as much as SP’s EBITDA in the first 9 months of 2011. SP’s going to have to sell a lot of photo albums to achieve that number!

    Most of Service Point Solutions’ revenues are generated by its UK and Western European operations. Apparently, SP’s business in Scandinavia (Norway and Sweden) has been healthy. But, if there is a slowdown in the economies of the UK and Western Europe, now and in months to come, what will that mean for SP’s outlook for 2012?

    Service Point continues to point out that its e-commerce business is growing; reportedly now 16% of its total revenues. I find myself wondering (often) how much of SP’s e-commerce business is “new, incremental” business vs. business being transferred from one bucket to another. In other words, if, prior to implementing my e-commerce business strategy, I was already doing $1 million annually in digital printing business with a large corporate customer, but, after I implemented my e-commerce business strategy, I converted this customer’s business to “on-line ordering” and continued doing $1 million in digital printing business with this customer, I would not consider that to be “new, incremental” revenue …. the increase in my e-commerce business would be a “reclassification” of business I was already doing. Would it not?

    Okay, let’s wish SP the best of luck in its quest to grow revenues and earn lots of money!

    Note the following paragraph I pulled from the May 9, 2011 press release:

    In the first quarter of 2011, Service Point’s revenue rose 4.7% year-on-year to €54.7 million, ahead of our guidance for topline growth of 3% for the quarter. The recent trends in business volumes, new customer wins and average customer orders, the growth in online sales and the consolidation of Holmbergs in Sweden from May give us the confidence to venture that revenue in 2011 will exceed €230 million, leaving EBITDA of more than €20 million.

  • The world’s leading “reprographics business expert” is available for short-term consulting engagements!

    No cost for the initial 4 hour consultation visit (see below). No obligation, whatsoever, if you decide that I’m not the right person to serve as your consultant.

    Well, of course, I’m kidding about the “world’s leading” part of the title of this post, for who would be so pompous to imply that he (or she) is a “world leader” in anything, let alone the reprographics business. And, as to the word, “expert,” well, that’s certainly subject to debate.

    But, all kidding aside, if you are the owner of – or a significant investor in – a reprographics business and want to engage someone to help you sort things out, get a better grasp on how to improve the profitability your business, figure out how to better market and promote your business, how to grow your business, how to play defense, and how to play offense ….. then I just might be the right person for you. I also have experience with selling, buying and merging reprographics companies.

    Special offer: I’m willing to spend 4 hours with you, at your place or mine, to discuss your business. If you come to where I am, then you won’t incur any expense for the time I spend with you (other than the expense you incur to travel to where I am.) Or, if I come to you, there will not be any charge, at all, for the 4 hours I spend with you, but you will have to cover the cost of my round-trip airfare (economy-coach) and hotel. After we meet, you’ll then be in a better position to decide if you want to engage me as your consultant.

    My background, in brief: Former Chairman & CEO of a fairly large reprographics enterprise based in the Washington, DC area. I took that company public, in 1985, and, later, sold it to an investor group that included CitiCorp Venture Capital, LTD. The last year I was involved in that company, our sales exceeded $26 million. Years later, I was invited to join another reprographics company; at that company, National Graphic Imaging (NGI), I was the Senior VP and Chief Business Strategist; NGI operated in Florida and Georgia, and I helped that company grow to more than $23 million in sales before we sold it to ARC. I have direct experience in all areas of the reprographics business; strategy and strategic planning, sales management and sales, marketing and promotion, production and customer service, administration, billing, finance, etc,. etc. Many of my peers consider me to be one of the leading experts in the FM (Onsite) service segment of the business.

    This offer is “geographically” limited. Your reprographics business must be located at least 30 miles away from the nearest ARC-owned reprographics operation. That’s due to a “covenant not to compete” agreement I agreed to when we sold NGI to ARC. My CNTC expires in December 2012.

    If you’re interested, contact me by phone or e-mail.

    Joel Salus

    Cell: 917-822-4164

    E-mail: joel.salus@mac.com

  • Author of an article says Hedge Funds missed out on ARC’s recent winning streak

    This morning, I found an article, on http://community.nasdaq.com, that mentions American Reprographics Co (ARC), and, below, I’ve re-published a portion of that article (the lead part of the article and the paragraph that specifically mentions ARC):

    “Underestimated Stocks: Hedge Funds Missed Out on These 9 Winning Streaks”

    (Written by Alexander Crawford, list compiled by Eben Esterhuizen, CFA. Data from 11/14. Institutional data sourced from Fidelity, price data sourced from Yahoo! Finance.)

    Analyzing the buying trends of “big money” investors like hedge funds becomes especially interesting when compared with price performance. Have hedge funds been making winning positions? If not, it opens up the question of whether hedge funds have been wrong, or whether they know something the market hasn’t yet realized.

    Winning streaks are one interesting angle to consider price performance.

    Stocks with a persistence of days in which they recently outperformed the S&P 500 and little persistence in recently underperforming the S&P 500 benchmark are very likely surrounded by positive market sentiment.

    The Screen

    To use these concepts, we ran a screen on recently “winning” stocks: those that have seen a persistence of days in which the stock beat the S&P 500 benchmark over the last month and little persistence in underperforming the S&P 500, i.e. long winning streaks and short losing streaks, as measured by a ratio of the longest winning streak to the longest losing streak.

    We screened these winners for those seeing the opposite sentiment (bearishness) from institutional investors like hedge funds, with significant net institutional selling over the current quarter.

    Clearly hedge funds disagree with the broader market – do you think hedge funds are wrong, or do they know something the market hasn’t yet priced in?

    American Reprographics Co. (ARC): Provides business-to-business document management services. Net institutional sales in the current quarter at 2.0M shares, which represents about 6.24% of the company’s float of 32.05M shares. The stock’s average daily alpha vs. the S&P500 index stands at 0.76% (measured close to close, over the last month). During this period, the longest winning streak lasted 5 days (i.e. the stock’s daily returns outperformed the S&P 500 for 5 consecutive days). The longest losing streak lasted 2 days (i.e. a win streak / losing streak ratio of 2.5).

  • Market Intelligence: Hot Markets For Wide-Format Print

    There’s an article out on www.myprintresource.com that I would recommend reprographers read.

    Title of the article:

    Market Intelligence: Hot Markets For Wide-Format Print

    BY TIM GREENE (of InfoTrends)

    Tim’s (rather extensive) article begins with these four paragraphs:

    In a recent survey issued by InfoTrends and Wide-Format Imaging with more than 400 print service providers in North America we learned what some of the hot markets and applications trends are here at the end of 2011.

    One of the most important things we have to do at InfoTrends is try to monitor the business activity levels across the gamut of stakeholders in the wide-format signage and graphics market. It is vital to understand the outlook on the wide-format business from print buyers, print service providers, equipment and supplies distributors, and manufacturers.

    In a recent survey issued by InfoTrends and Wide-Format Imaging with more than 400 print service providers in North America we learned what some of the hot markets and applications trends are here at the end of 2011. One of the questions we asked in the survey was about which print buying industries are growing and which are declining. Figure 1 illustrates especially that retail is a critical industry in the wide-format signage and graphics market—indicated by 76 percent of respondents that it is growing. Manufacturing, entertainment, and healthcare were the other top industries. While construction was cited by over 62 percent of the respondents, construction was also one of the only segments that printers reported seeing a significant decline in, along with real estate.

    Okay, so the data above illustrates which vertical segments are “hot”—but what are the application areas that are hot?

    And, Tim finishes his article with this “conclusion”:

    The wide-format signage and graphics business is undergoing a constant change placing ever-greater demands on print service providers. The data shows that wide-format printing is a tough business to “dabble in” as the heightening demand from print buyers necessitates comprehensive understanding of the markets and applications as well as high degrees of operational effectiveness.

    Okay, here’s a link to the complete article:

    http://www.myprintresource.com/article/10427964/market-intelligence-hot-markets-for-wide-format-print