Reprographics 101

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Press release from the issuing company

CLEVELAND – ARC, the nation’s leading provider of reprographics services and technology, continues to expand in the Cleveland area by providing new job opportunities and technological enhancements to better serve their customers.

Previously known as eBlueprint in MidTown Cleveland, ARC is increasing its national network as locally branded stores adopt the parent name. ARC’s Northeast Ohio customers have grown to depend on the company’s high service standards, and although the name has changed, dedication to producing quality products still remains the highest priority.

Cleveland’s ARC has also recently restructured their color services to introduce the brand Riot Creative Imaging, which specializes in large format digital graphics such as banners, rigid signs, vehicle and wall wraps, tradeshow graphics and much more.

As a result, Cleveland’s ARC has remodeled their existing facility and added five employees to the Riot team in the last eight months, a number the company expects to see increase. In addition, the company has expanded production hours and invested approximately $500,000 to improve production capabilities and customer service. Revenue has doubled in the past year for the Riot brand.

“This is an exciting time for ARC,” said Frank Loughan, Cleveland ARC’s executive director. “We believe that in order to grow, we must invest in the best employees and most innovative technologies. We have embraced this philosophy in the past year and the results have been outstanding.”

ARC’s national network has supplied the company with the necessary tools to give employees better opportunities and provide local customers with global resources. Technologies such as a new digital routing system have allowed ARC to expand product lines and decrease turn times, thus allowing the company to become more efficient and service more clients in a shorter amount of time.

To celebrate the company’s success and introduce the Riot brand, ARC is hosting an open house on Thursday, June 23, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at ARC’s office, located at 3666 Carnegie Ave. in Cleveland.

“Riot Creative Imaging was conceived to provide more complex and specialized color support requested by customers,” said Loughan. “ARC is well positioned for the future of digital technology and we are eager to celebrate our growth and new services at our open house.”

ARC’S RIOT BRAND OPEN HOUSE
ARC, formerly eBlueprint, hosts public open house to showcase service capabilities and technological advancements

What: Opportunity to meet with ARC staff, learn about the company’s reprographic processes and color services, see product demonstrations and view sample work. Light appetizers will be served.
Who: Open to the public
When: Thursday, June 23
Time: 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Where: ARC’s MidTown Cleveland office
3666 Carnegie Ave., Cleveland

For more information on ARC and Riot, please visit:
http://www.e-arc.com/locations/overview/eblueprint.

Interviews, photo opportunities and personal tours are also available. For more information, please call Melanie Eyerman at 216.391.2255 or via email at
melanie.eyerman@thundertech.com

Well, the Federal Reserve Board met on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, and, right afterwards, Chairman Ben Bernanke commented on the economy. Today is the “day after”, and I just noticed that the Dow Jones averaged “plunged nearly 200 points at the open.” Doesn’t sound like there’s a good dose of confidence in the investor arena.

There’s an article on Bloomberg this morning, and I’m going to mention the title and copy into this post a few of the paragraphs that were in that article …. then, later on, I’m going to ask for your help!

Title of the article on Bloomberg:

Bernanke Leaves Door Open to Further Easing

By Scott Lanman and Jeannine Aversa – Jun 23, 2011 12:00 AM ET

Here are a few of the paragraphs that were in that article:

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke left the door open to a fresh shot of monetary stimulus should the economic rebound he’s predicting fail to materialize.

The Fed would be “prepared to take additional action, obviously, if conditions warranted,” including the purchase of more Treasury securities, Bernanke said yesterday after U.S. central bankers met in Washington. The economy will probably overcome constraints from elevated energy prices and Japan- related disruptions to manufacturing, he said. Still, declining home prices, high unemployment and weaknesses in the financial system may restrain the recovery in the longer term, he said.

The U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 1.8 percent in the first quarter, down from 3.1 percent in the fourth quarter, and recent data have shown manufacturing and consumer and business sentiment weakening.

“We don’t have a precise read on why this slower pace of growth is persisting,” Bernanke said. Referring to “frustratingly” slow job growth and weakness in the financial and housing industries, Bernanke said “some of these headwinds may be stronger and more persistent than we thought.”

U.S. employers added 54,000 jobs in May, down from 232,000 in April, while the jobless rate climbed to 9.1 percent, the second straight increase after dropping 1 percentage point since November in the biggest four-month decline since 1984.

“The camel’s nose is under the tent” for additional bond purchases, said Jason Schenker, president of Prestige Economics LLC in Austin, Texas. “Bernanke acknowledged a less-than-ideal recovery and left the door open for potentially more accommodation should it be required.”

Bernanke said that to further stimulate the economy the Fed could buy more bonds or cut the interest rate it pays banks on excess reserves held at the central bank. It could also pledge to hold interest rates at record lows for a longer period of time, he said.

Okay, here’s where I need some help!

I’m the author of “Reprographics 101”, and one can, therefore, assume that I know a lot about the reprographics business and industry.

This blog isn’t called “Economics 101”, and there’s a very good reason for that! I barely passed the Economics courses I took in college. So, one could rightly conclude that, when it comes to understanding “Economics”, I’m definitely “challenged.”

In the last paragraph of the “article” I posted certain paragraphs from, the authors said that Bernanke said:

…..to further stimulate the economy,

a) the Fed could buy more bonds, or

b) the Fed could cut the interest rate it pays banks on excess reserves held at the central bank, or

c) the Fed could also pledge to hold interest rates at record lows for a longer period of time

Would someone please kindly educate me, in detail, as to how each of these actions “stimulate” the economy? I would be immensely appreciative of your assistance on this, since, as I said, I am definitely challenged when it comes to understanding Economics.

I kind of understand that holding interest rates at record lows helps banks make money. They borrow at a cheap cost and lend that money out at a higher cost. But, that assumes that banks are willing to lend money. Credit has tightened, in spite of the Fed’s actions to “keep interest rates low.”

How does the “Fed buying more bonds” help stimulate the economy?

How does the “Fed cutting the interest rate it pays banks on excess reserves” stimulate the economy?

Thank you.

Very, very interesting articles – good food for thought – from the blog-site of McKinsey & Co, one of the world’s premier management consulting practices.

One of these articles talks about the “pace of change” in technology and how the pace of change is increasing faster and faster.

As to reprographers, think back “just” 20 years ago, think about how reprographics businesses were operating back then, how customers used us, what they used us for, the volume of printing work we did for them. Then, think about “where we are now”. And, then, think about where the reprographics business will be five years from now, ten years from now, 20 years from now. Technology advancements, certainly those affecting reprographers and the volume of printing reprographers do, have come on very quickly the past five years. But, some are predicting that “change” will happen even faster in the future.

(1) The Debate Zone: Has the US passed peak productivity growth? (to access these articles, click on the authors’ names)

Yes. The big gains in the 20th century resulted from transformative innovations that are much rarer today. 


By Tyler Cowen

Technologies such as electricity, automobiles, radios, and airplanes transformed the way we lived and worked in the last century. Innovations today, including the Internet, have less impact on our lives—and our productivity.

No. We’ve only just begun to reap the productivity benefits of digital technology.

By Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson

As ubiquitous as the computer chip seems, there are still areas, such as mining and agriculture, that have yet to take full advantage of it. In addition, the technology itself keeps improving. This means the opportunities for productivity gains will keep increasing as well.

(2) The next golden age of innovation

By Irving Wladawsky-Berger

17 May 2011

http://whatmatters.mckinseydigital.com/growth_and_productivity/the-next-golden-age-of-innovation

(3) Reducing the drag on the American economy

By Lenny Mendonca and Laura D’Andrea Tyson

1 June 2011

http://whatmatters.mckinseydigital.com/growth_and_productivity/reducing-the-drag-on-the-american-economy

According to a brief post I found on the “calculatedrisk” blog (which attributed the information in its post to information it found in the Wall Street Journal), the AIA ABI (Architecture Billing) Index reading for May 2011 was 47.2.

That’s bad news for the A/E/C Industry, and that’s bad news for reprographers.

According to the AIA, there is an “approximate nine to twelve month lag time between architecture billings and construction spending” on non-residential construction. So this suggests another dip in CRE (commercial real estate) investment towards the end of this year – and into 2012.

On its web-site, the AIA publishes the schedule for its monthly press releases of the ABI Index reading. This month’s press release was supposed to be issued on June 22^nd, which, of course, is today. But, when I visited the AIA’s web-site this morning, I did not find a June 22 Press Release about the ABI Index reading for May

Apparently, the AIA’s habit is to issue Press Releases (about the ABI Index) to major news services, in advance of posting the Press Releases on its web-site. I would imagine that’s how the Wall Street Journal already knows what the May 2011 ABI Index reading was. When I visited Reuter’s web-site this morning, I did not see where Reuter’s has yet posted anything about the May 2011 Index reading.

AIA ABI Index, recent “readings”:

47.2 – May 2011

47.6 – April 2011

50.5 – March 2011

50.6 – February 2011

50.0 – January 2011

54.2 – December 2010

52.0 – November 2010

48.7 – October 2010

50.4 – September 2010

Prior to September 2010, the ABI Index had not been at 50 or above since December 2007.

One of my frequent blog-visitors sent this article to me, indicating that he really “loved” this particular statement made by one of Gannett’s division chiefs – – “We have made continued progress on the many initiatives underway to seek new sources of revenue….”

Gannett to lay off 700 newspaper workers

The Business Journal – by Business First of Louisville, Business First of Louisville, Date: Tuesday, June 21, 2011, 1:53pm CDT – Last Modified: Tuesday, June 21, 2011, 3:31pm CDT

Gannett Co., Inc., owner of a national newspaper chain that includes the Green Bay Press-Gazette and other Wisconsin newspapers, is planning to cut about 700 positions from its newspaper division, about 2 percent of the division’s work force, according to an industry blog.

Jim Romenesko, who covers the news business for the Poynter Institute, reproduced an internal Gannett memo dated Tuesday in which the planned layoffs were announced to employees of the McLean, Va.-based company’s U.S. Community Publishing division. The division includes the operations of the Press-Gazette and other dailies serving Appleton, Oshkosh, Fond du Lac, Wausau and a half dozen other Wisconsin cities.

It was not clear how many positions, if any, would be cut at any individual paper in the Gannett chain.

“As we reach the mid-point of the year, the economic recovery is not happening as quickly or favorably as we had hoped and continues to impact our U.S. community media organizations,” the memo from division chief Bob Dickey says.

“We have made continued progress on the many initiatives underway to seek new sources of revenue, build a world class sales force and better serve our customers through watchdog reporting and stronger Sunday newspapers. While we are seeing improved circulation results and audience growth, weakness in the real estate sector, slow job creation and now softer auto ad demand continue to challenge revenue growth in the division.”

The memo said publishers of the newspapers would be notifying affected employees by the end of Tuesday.

FROM BLOOMBERG BUSINESS WEEK….

VIEWPOINT June 21, 2011, 11:01AM EST

Don’t Undermine the Medical Marijuana Industry

It’s hard for legal dispensaries to get bank loans, and they can’t deduct expenses from their taxes. Let’s back legislation to fix that

By Scott Shane

Consider two small business owners: One sells a product that medical researchers have shown is a major cause of health problems, from cancer to heart disease. The other provides a medical treatment that doctors prescribe for glaucoma, pain, and the side effects of chemotherapy. Which owner can borrow from a bank and deduct expenses on income tax returns? The answer is the first, who sells cigarettes; the second, who sells medical marijuana, cannot. (To be clear, dispensary owners aren’t prohibited from applying for bank credit. The trouble is anti-money laundering statutes intended to stop illegal drug dealers make banks reluctant to do business with legal dealers.)

In late May, two Democratic congressmen, Jared Polis of Colorado and Pete Stark of California, introduced bills to remedy the federal government’s bias against the owners of medical marijuana dispensaries. Representative Polis’s bill would permit medical marijuana sellers to borrow money from banks, while Congressman Stark’s bill would allow them to deduct business expenses from their taxes. Passage of these bills makes sense for four reasons.

The first is fairness. No small business owners should be denied access to financing or be subject to unfair tax rules simply because they run a business that some in government don’t like. The government should create a level playing field for all business owners. As Polis explained when introducing his bill, “It is simply wrong for the federal government to intrude and threaten banks that are involved in legal transactions.” Using a law designed to root out illegal drug dealers, terrorists, fraudsters, and money launderers as a back-door way to make life difficult for the operators of medical marijuana dispensaries is simply unfair. If Congress doesn’t like state medical marijuana laws, it needs to challenge the legality of these laws directly rather than stack the rules against them.

FAVORING TOBACCO OVER MARIJUANA

But fairness isn’t the only reason I support these bills. I also find it perverse that the government favors the tobacco business over the medical marijuana industry when the former is responsible for several costly medical problems and the latter provides a medically prescribed treatment. Not only does the government’s approach makes it difficult for people who need physician-prescribed marijuana to get the treatments they need, imposing pain and hardship, but the approach is also backwards. The government supports the sale of cigarettes, which cause cancer, but discourages the sale of medical marijuana, which is used to manage the side effects of the chemotherapy that these cancer patients must endure. As for healthy individuals who abuse the system to get high, isn’t that why we spend large sums of money to stop the illegal drug trade?

By blocking the growth of the medical marijuana industry, federal policy makers are missing a golden opportunity to encourage entrepreneurship. Government officials often speak of finding new, high-growth industries, which are rare. Consultancy See Change Strategy in Olney, Md., forecasts that medical marijuana, currently a $2 billion industry, will reach nearly $9 billion in five years. That’s about the same size as the dry cleaning and laundry service industry.

Finally, by opposing the medical marijuana industry, the federal government is missing the chance to cut government expenditures and raise taxes in one of the few areas where such actions would face little opposition by business owners. Unlike virtually every other industry, where higher taxes are vehemently opposed, the medical marijuana industry welcomes higher taxes. In Oakland, for example, the industry drove the effort to impose a 1.8 percent tax on gross sales from medical marijuana sellers.

The potential economic gains from the legalization of marijuana are far from trivial. A 2005 study by Jeffrey Miron, then a visiting economics professor at Harvard, found that government spending could be cut by $7.7 billion and tax revenue increased by $6.2 billion if marijuana sales were legal and taxed at the same rate as alcohol and tobacco. A $14 billion improvement in the government budget isn’t something to ignore, especially in the current environment of paralysis over how to reduce high deficits.

Allowing owners of medical marijuana dispensaries to borrow money and deduct their business expenses from their taxes seems like a way to make policy fairer, encourage a high-growth industry, and reduce government expenditures and raise tax revenues without much opposition. Those seem to me like the kinds of objectives our elected officials should be striving for when introducing bills into Congress.

Scott Shane is the A. Malachi Mixon III Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies at Case Western Reserve University.