Reprographics 101

(more than you ever wanted to know about the reprographics industry)

recent posts

about

  • Bid Results – for City of St Petersburg (FL) Reprographics Services Bid

    A couple of weeks ago, one of my reprographics industry friends brought to my attention that the City of St Petersburg (FL) had recently released a invitation to bid for the City’s “reprographics services” requirements. Two year contract.

    Bids were opened on February 15th.

    There were three bidders – here are the profiles of those three bidders:

    S&R Blueprint

    Which is actually “Rapid Blueprint Co” of Tampa, and Rapid is owned by Chris Zametz. (Chris also owns Digital Imaging Services, a company that sells and services reprographics equipment.) S&R Blueprint is a small shop in St Petersburg, which is located in a facility that, at some point, must have been someone’s house.

    Ridgway’s LLC Southern, which, of course, is owned by American Reprographics (ARC)

    But, actually, the name of the ARC division that would be the vendor for the work would be National Graphic Imaging, NGI. The ARC/NGI downtown St Pete location was recently relocated to a modern retail store in downtown St Pete. For approximately 5 years by now, NGI has been the “contract vendor” for the City of St Pete’s reprographics work (under the previous bid and contract issued by the City).

    Jiffy Reprographics

    Jiffy does not maintain an office location in St Petersburg, but does have a large, modern reprographics facility in downtown Clearwater, about a 25 minute drive from downtown St Petersburg (when traffic is not totally choked up.) Jiffy is owned by Bob Roperti and Mary Dianne Roperti. Bob Roperti is one of the premier veterans of the reprographics industry, and he and Dianne have owned Jiffy since around 1988/9. Bob is currently the Vice President (and a Board Member of) the IRgA.

    The “low” bidder for the deal was S&R Blueprint. So, it looks like the “incumbent vendor”, NGI (Ridgways/ARC/NGI), will soon lose the work that the City of St Pete was buying under this contract.

    For those of you who like to look at the “bid abstracts” of reprographics bids, I’ve posted, on Google Docs, the “bid abstract” prepared by the City of St Pete Purchasing Department. You can find that bid abstract by clicking on this link:

    https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B81al4kFAU9JYTI3NjAxMmMtMGUzNy00MmMxLWJmZGItNmJlYzg4MzBiMTBi&hl=en&authkey=CK_W7PcL

    If you do look at the bid abstract, you will see some funny stuff. What I’m referring to are the unit prices that were bid for quite a number of different line items – the “unit prices” for many of the items vary greatly. You seldom see this in a bid for “printing” services, but it is not uncommon to see wide variations in unit prices (bid) for “reprographics” services. Games people play?

  • Shares of Service Point Solutions and American Reprographics Company are both on the rise

    Service Point Solutions shares on the rise …..

    After hitting a low of .39 Euros on January 10, 2011, shares of Service Point Solutions have been rising of late and were trading at .64 Euros, when I checked this morning, February 18, 2011.

    If I’ve done this calculation correctly, that means that shares of Service Point Solutions have increased 64% since January 10th.

    Hopefully, SPS will soon be issuing a report on Q4 2010 and Full-year 2010.

    Note: Service Point Solutions stock trades on the Spanish Stock Exchange.

    *******************************************************************************

    American Reprographics Company (NYSE: ARC) shares on the rise …..

    Today (February 18, 2011), when I checked the price of ARC’s shares, ARC’s shares were trading at $9.30 per share.

    On January 10, 2011, ARC’s shares closed the day at $7.87 per share. Between January 10th and February 18th (as of 3:00 pm), ARC’s shares have risen 18%.

    ARC will be reporting its Q4 2010 and Full-year 2010 results on February 22, 2011, right after the market closes.

    *******************************************************************************

    If you’re a short-term stock trader, these are very impressive gains in a very short period of time. At this point, it looks like the shares of both companies are trading up in anticipation of good results being reported for their respective Q4 2010 results.

  • “Once Again, Memjet Is in the News: So What?”

    The other day, we posted an article about an article (and video) about “Memjet”. In that article, an industry veteran (Andy Tribute of Infotrends) opined that “Memjet” is considered a “disruptive” technology, and, by that, he meant that, if Memjet actually makes it to market in a meaningful way, it will change the printer-equipment marketplace and could change how printers and reprographers do business.


    Today, I discovered another interesting article about Memjet; this one from “Actionable Intelligence”. The author of this article – his name is Charles Brewer and he’s the President of Actionable Intelligence – says this about Memjet:

    “Once Again, Memjet Is in the News: So What?”

    Okay, here’s some information about Actionable Intelligence:

    Actionable Intelligence, Inc (from the “about us” on AI’s web-site):

    Based outside of Boston, Massachusetts, Actionable Intelligence, Inc., was established in 2009 and is committed to delivering tactical market research and custom consulting related to the markets for digital printer, copier, and MFP hardware and toner and inkjet supplies. These industries face new challenges such as lower secular demand for hardcopy. Our team understands that the printer and supplies business has changed, and we are dedicated to providing practical, accurate market analysis that clients can use to succeed.

    Now, I’m going to share with you a few of the paragraphs in Mr. Brewer’s article about Memjet. Please note; at the end of this post, you’ll find a link to the complete article Mr. Brewer wrote, and I urge you to click on that link and read the full article.

    In the beginning part of his article, Mr. Brewer says…..

    “Memjet is making headlines again in 2011. Image source: Memjet

    The inkjet technology firm Memjet is grabbing headlines once again. At the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held in Las Vegas, Memjet announced that it will partner with several Asian companies, including China’s computer giant Lenovo. The partnerships will allow Memjet to introduce desktop office devices in China, India, and Taiwan. The CES news follows a December article in the San Diego Union-Tribune claiming that the first mass-produced machines featuring Memjet print heads will hit the market this month. The initial Memjet devices will be for label and packaging applications, and an assortment of other Memjet printers will be available this year, including wide-format machines, photo kiosks, and office printers.”

    “Sound familiar? Probably. Is it believable? Not really. For years, we have heard that machines sporting Memjet technology are about to launch. So far, however, no such device has ever shipped.”

    And, at the end of the article, Mr. Brewer says this…..

    “So, the question we are forced to ask is: Will Memjet deliver this year or is the company crying wolf again? The technology holds such promise—we really want to believe in it. And we get lots of assurances that the company is very close to achieving its goals. But with no products and a string of missed product launches, can we continue to just believe and be patient? The question is increasingly rhetorical.”

    Here’s a link to the article that Mr. Brewer wrote:

    http://www.action-intell.com/2011/01/07/once-again-memjet-is-in-the-news-so-what/

    – – – – – – – – – – – –

    Joel’s comments:

    I’m not sure if Mr. Brewer is old enough to know the history of “Indigo” and the “electronic ink” technology that Indigo’s inventors came up with. Mabye, maybe not. But, I’m sure most reprographers know at least some of the history of Indigo. I’m speaking about Indigo prior to HP’s purchase of Indigo.

    Indigo, who like Sllverbrook Research has with Memjet, came up with an innovative idea/technology for imaging / digital printing. But the big difference between Indigo and Silverbrook Reseearch, business-model-wise, is that, after the technology was developed, Indigo committed to manufacturing printing systems enabled by its technology. Silverbrook (and Memjet itself) has long let it be known that it has no interest in manufacturing equipment and that its business model is to find licensees who will manufacture and distribute Memjet-enabled equipment. Even though Indigo struggled in the beginning, it was at least successful enough (in terms of printing-industry buy-in and number of placements) to bring the technology (Indigo-enabled printing systems) to market and then sell the business to HP.

    CHICAGO, Sept. 6, 2001; Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HWP) and Indigo N.V. (NASDAQ: INDG) today announced that the companies have entered into an agreement for HP to acquire the remaining outstanding shares of Indigo, a leading commercial and industrial printing systems company. The acquisition of Indigo, which offers the broadest range of digital color printing presses in the industry, positions HP for a major thrust into commercial printing, a $400 billion market ripe for digital transformation. The companies will discuss the new relationship at the Print 01 trade show, which opened here today.

    While Indigo was eventually successful with its “small-format” COLOR printing systems, Indigo’s other product line (which Indigo also committed to manufacturing), the Indigo XLT (high-speed, high-volume, WIDE-FORMAT, BLACK & WHITE plotter system) was not successful. Not because it wasn’t good technology, but because it (the XLT model, and there was only one model) was difficult and expensive to maintain, not to mention relatively high-priced. I’m not saying that those reprographers who purchased Indigo XLT’s were not successful with their Indigo XLT’s. At least two reprographers who purchased Indigo XLT’s (L&R, Nashville and Entire Reproductions, Toronto) made a lot of money with their Indigo XLT’s (and one of those reprographers, L&R, Nashville, TN) made a small fortune with its Indigo XLT’s. But, as to the Indigo XLT, the XLT was not as reliable/dependable as it needed to be. But that’s not the main point of this paragraph. The main point, Indigo did commit to manufacturing equipment. Silverbrook (and Memjet) has said it will not do that.

    As to the wide-format equipment world, reprographers are not interested in investing in imaging equipment / printing systems that are not reliable and dependable. And, inasmuch as OCE’s 9800 kind of fooled everyone (with the exception of OCE), because the OCE 9800 proved to be one of the most reliable, dependable, high-speed, high-volume, wide-format printing systems ever to come to market (in spite of the fact that most reprographers were, at introduction, skeptical that the OCE 9800 would be that), reprographers aren’t likely going to want to play “pioneer” when (and if) the first Memjet-enabled equipment comes to market, since, by now, they’ve long been spoiled with the reliability / dependability of their OCE high-speed, wide-format systems. (HP DesignJet plotters are also very reliable systems and many reprographers have a whole bunch of HP DesignJet plotters, at their production centers and at customer FM locations.)

    But, reliability and dependability aside, before any reprographer can “try” a wide-format Memjet, a “real machine” – the actual equipment – has to be manufactured and come to market.

    If Silverbrook (Memjet corporate) isn’t going to manufacture a wide-format printing system and bring it to market, then the BIG question is “who is going to do that?” And, if the answer to that question is “no one is going to do that”, then the world, let alone reprographers, will never see what could be (or, later on, speaking in the past tense, could have been) the most amazing print-technology to be developed in the last 20 years.

    Silverbrook Research has invested heavily in the development of Memjet technology, and Memjet Corporate has invested heavily in developing an “A Class” management team. But, anyone (who has it or who has access to it) can spend money. In order to be successful, someone has to “manufacture” the equipment.

    And, to that, you have to ask, “which existing “wide-format” equipment manufacturer, HP, OCE, KIP, Xerox or anyone else” is going to want to manufacture a new-technology printing system that, for all intents and purposes, could render obsolete all of its prior equipment research & development and manufacturing investments? Might Kodak be the one to step into the picture? Maybe Benny Landa (the principal founder of Indigo) will step into the picture? Or, maybe another company, not now well known in the wide-format equipment manufacturing / distribution business, will come out of nowhere and commit to manufacturing a Memjet-enabled wide-format printing system? (Too bad Meteor-Siegen isn’t around any more.)

    Too look further at the reprographer side of things, even if Memjet does come up with an equipment manufacturer to manufacture Memjet-enabled wide-format printing systems, there will likely be resistance to reprographer-buy-in, because reprographers would face the same problem as HP, OCE, KIP and Xerox would face on the equipment-manufacturing side; reprographers would (might) run the risk of adding a new piece of wide-format equipment (Memjet-enabled wide-format equipment) that could render obsolete all of their prior wide-format equipment investments.

    But, I don’t see reprographer-resistance as an insurmountable problem for a Memjet-enabled wide-format printing system. And, that’s because of the way the reprographics industry works. I’ll put it to you this way. Two years from now, when my “covenant-not-to-compete” is over and done with, if there is, by then, a Memjet-enabled wide-format printing system (actually on the market) and no reprographer in my market area has committed to purchasing a Memjet wide-format printing system (because they don’t want to render obsolete all of their wide-format printing equipment and investments in that equipment), then, provided that the (Memjet-enabled) equipment isn’t prohibitively priced and doesn’t cost much more (than existing toner-based systems) to operate (running costs, service costs, click and ink, if you will), then I might consider buying a couple of systems and go out and offer “all color” AEC plan printing services to customers in my market. Same price for color AEC plan printing that they are paying (the “other reprographers”) for black & white plan printing services. Even if not me, there’s always going to be someone who will be willing to introduce new printing technology to AEC customers. So, I don’t see “reprographer” resistance as the major hurdle for Silverbrook/Memjet.

    None of that, however, affects, at all, the real BIG question – who is going to commit to manufacturing a Memjet-enabled wide-format printing system?

    I don’t agree with comments that Memjet print-heads won’t prove to be reliable and/or can’t be manufactured in sufficient quantity/quality (or whatever). That really won’t be known BY ANYONE until someone commits to manufacturing the equipment.

  • Will BIM and Emerging Technologies Change Reprographics Forever ???

    I just noticed that the title of the “opening session” presentation, at the upcoming IRgA Convention contains a few highly controversial words (which I’ve highlighted below):

    IRgA Opening General Session:

    How BIM and Emerging Technologies will Change Reprographics Forever

    Speakers:

    Jim Balding, CEO and Founder

    The ANT Group, Inc.

    Stephen A Jones, Senior Director

    McGraw-Hill Construction

    Joseph Joseph, AAIA, Director of BIM/CAD Technologies

    SAIC Energy, Environment & Infrastructure, LLC

    – – – – – – –

    I’m wondering if the “change” will be for the better …. or for the worse?

  • GlobalGrafixNet Annual Meeting in Vienna, Austria (May 6-7, 2011)

    Soon after the IRgA Convention, GlobalGrafixNet, a Europe-based trade association for reprographers and printers, will be holding its next “Annual Meeting”….

    Here’s the announcement of that meeting:

    – – – – – – – –

    The 2011 GlobalGrafixNet Annual Members Meeting and Leadership Convention

    The GlobalgrafixNet Board is delighted to announce that The 2011 Annual Members Meeting and Leadership Convention will be held in Vienna, Austria, May 6th-7th!

    · We welcome all our Members and Sponsors to another great GlobalgrafixNet event!

    · Theme this time is “Adding Client Value, Revenue Generation in the E-Commerce business”

    – – – – – – – –

    Joel’s comments:

    I attended the last two GlobalGrafixNet meetings (one was in Prague, the other one was in Rome) and both where chock-full of good information (and ideas) for reprographers.

    Although the meeting is a “members only” meeting, I am aware (at least this was my past experience) that they will allow non-members to attend the annual meeting, provided that you are considering becoming a member. If you are interested in attending this meeting, I suggest that you contact Mats Lenngren of GlobalGrafixNet. Mats e-mail address is: mats.lenngren@globalgrafixnet.com

    Vienna, Austria is a beautiful city to visit, and May is a perfect time to visit that part of Europe. Wonderful shopping (but leave your spouse home, since she will make your trip very, very expensive!), beautiful architecture, great museums, and chock-full of history.

    One last thing – Mats Lenngren will be the “master of ceremonies” for the GlobalGrafixNet meeting. He is a talented and engaging speaker.

  • Guide to web-sites and blog-sites – related to Reprographics Business and Industry

    In the banner heading on “Reprographics 101”, we say that Reprographics 101 is devoted to providing … “Facts and opinions related to the reprographics business and the reprographics industry as well as articles and information related to the A/E/C industry served by reprographers. This blog is intended for reprographers, for vendors who sell to reprographers and for analysts and investors who are interested in learning more about the reprographics industry.”

    In an effort to assist those who devote time to researching the reprographics industry – and the A/E/C Industry served by firms in the reprographics business – we’ve compiled a guide to web-sites and blog-sites that may be of interest. There are different “sections” in this guide.

    From time to time, we will update this guide. You may want to “bookmark” this particular page, for, if you do that and we update the guide, the guide you access will contain the most updated version.

    If we’ve missed some sites that you believe should be included, please let us know that by using the “comment” feature.

    Resources for information about Economics and Trends affecting the A/E/C Industry. Every Reprographer should be aware what’s going on in the A/E/C customer world.

    U.S. Census Bureau – Statistics for Construction Spending (U.S.)

    http://www.census.gov/const/www/c30index.html

    AIA (American Institute of Architects) web-page devoted to “Consensus Construction Forecasts”

    http://www.aia.org/practicing/economics/AIAS076259

    Associated General Contractors of America – Construction Economics

    http://www.agc.org/cs/industry_topics/construction_economics

    Associated Builders & Contractors – Construction Economics

    http://www.abc.org/Hot_Links/ConstructionEconomicsIndex.aspx

    Engineering News Record (a McGraw-Hill publication)

    NOTE: at this web-site address, you will find, and can click on, links to “regional news” for these different regions in the U.S.; California, Mid-West, Mountain States, New York, Southeast, Southwest, and Texas/Louisiana

    http://enr.construction.com/

    Reed Construction Data

    NOTE: at this web-site address, you will find a page that contains links to “construction economics and other information for each state in the U.S. and for all of the Canadian provinces

    http://www.reedconstructiondata.com/regions/

    CoStar Group – # 1 Commercial Real Estate Information Company

    http://www.costar.com/News/

    Information about technology affecting, or that will affect, the A/E/C Industry. Reprographers should be aware of what A/E/C customers are doing.

    AECbytes is an online publication launched by Dr. Lachmi Khemlani in Nov 2003. It is focused on researching, analyzing, and reviewing technology products and services for the building industry

    http://www.aecbytes.com

    Constructech magazine is the construction industry advocate focused on the technology needs of the construction professional dedicated to driving technology initiatives forward.

    http://www.constructech.com

    Bluebeam Software makes smart, simple solutions for paperless workflows that leverage the PDF format. (Site has numerous case studies of A/E firms and GC’s who are using Bluebeam)

    http://www.bluebeam.com

    Blog-site for HKS team members (HKS is one of the largest Architecture firms in the U.S., and, for that matter, in the whole wide world.)

    http://www.hkstracepaper.com/

    Information about what’s going on the world of printing and imaging; who’s doing what, imaging software and equipment, trade-show events.

    Wide-FormatImaging.com

    – web-site containing news for and about the wide-format imaging industry, including news releases about “who’s doing what,” trade-show events, wide-format imaging software and equipment vendors, and supplies, etc.

    http://www.wide-formatimaging.com

    Large-format-printers.org

    – web-site of mostly technical information and reviews about wide-format printing technology

    http://www.large-format-printers.org

    Web-site for Memjet, a very exciting developing print technology (that will affect both small-format and large-format reprographics and reprographers)

    http://www.memjet.com/

    Blog-sites and Web-sites devoted to providing information about the reprographics business and industry, including opinions about what’s happening …. and going to happen in the world in which Reprographers live. (A few of the blogs and web-sites listed are “printing industry” related.)

    “Reprographics 101” – Blog authored by a washed-up, down-and-out, so-called-reprographics-industry-expert (a retired reprographer)

    http://reprographics.blogspot.com

    “The Blueprint” – John Cronin’s blog-site – Observations and Opinions regarding the AEC commercial reprographics industry (John is the owner of PLP Digital Systems)

    http://theblueprint.typepad.com/

    “BuildIt” – Blog authored by Jared Willis, Sales Director at Barker Blue Digital Imaging (Jared is a bright young man with good insights into issues reprographers face)

    www.buildit.typepad.com/

    PEiR Group Point of View – Blog authored by Shaun Meany, President of ARC’s PEiR Group division

    http://peirgrouppointofview.blogspot.com/

    Whattheythink.com –

    web—site devoted to the printing and graphics industry

    http://www.whattheythink.com

    Digital Nirvana – blog-site with various articles about the printing industry

    http://thedigitalnirvana.com/

    Managed Print Services –

    Information about “managed print services”

    http://www.managed-print-services.com/

    U.S.A.-based Reprographics Trade Associations (Europe-based trade associations are listed in a different section, scroll further down to see that other section.)

    IRgA – International Reprographics Association (U.S.A-based association of reprographers)

    http://www.irga.com

    Eastern Region Reprographics Association

    (trade association for Eastern U.S.A. reprographers)

    http://www.eastrepro.com/

    Central Region Reprographics Association (trade association for reprographers located in the middle part of the U.S.A.)

    http://www.cra1.org/

    Western Region Reprographics Association (trade association for Western U.S.A. reprographers)

    http://www.westernreprographics.org/

    RSA – Member-owned Trade association of Reprographers

    http://www.rsacorporation.com

    ReproMAX – Member-owned Trade association of Reprographers

    http://www.repromax.com

    The PEiR Group – Trade association of Reprographers (this association is owned by ARC)

    http://www.peirgroup.com

    This section contains information about publicly-traded companies involved in the reprographics business and industry and includes links to web-sites that contain financial analyses, financial results and press releases.

    PAA Research – web-site of an independent financial research firm that provides investment ideas backed by extensive fundamental and primary research to professional money managers and high net worth individuals. The company strives to generate action-oriented investment ideas with high absolute return potential. PAA Research generates very in-depth reports about ARC and conducts surveys of reprographers (subscription required)

    http://www.paaresearch.com

    Press Releases for Service Point Solutions (Spain-based parent company)

    http://www.servicepoint.net/SPSG/Notas_Prensa.html

    Financial results for Service Point Solutions (Spain-based parent company)

    http://www.servicepoint.net/SPSG/index/Accionistas_e_Inversores/Informacin_Econmico_Financiera/Resultados.html

    Press Releases for American Reprographics Co (ARC)

    http://www.e-arc.com/site/press_room/index.php

    SEC Filings for American Reprographics Co (ARC)

    http://ir.e-arc.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=184915&p=irol-sec

    Financial results for OCE

    http://investor.oce.com/

    If you are in the reprographics business and need a print-partner in Eastern/Central Europe, this info is for you.

    Web-site for Copy General Europe – for reprographers who want a knowledgeable print-partner in Russia, Poland, Hungary or the Czech Republic; contact Jan Halik, Regional Sales Director at jan.halik@copygeneral.eu

    http://www.copygeneral.eu

    Europe-based Reprographics Trade Associations (U.S.A.-based trade associations are listed in a different section, scroll up to see that other section.) Please note: most of the links below will take you web-sites that are in foreign languages. Using “Google Translate”, you can generally convert foreign languages to English!)

    GlobalGrafixNet – Trade association of Reprographers (this association is owned by Service Point)

    http://www.globalgrafixnet.com

    Trade association for reprographers in Europe

    Federation of European Reprographics Associations

    http://www.reprography.com

    Trade association for reprographers in Austria(?) –

    Fachverband Reprografie Osterreich

    http://www.reprografie.at/

    Trade association for reprographers in France

    – Syndicat de L’Impression Numerique et des Services Graphiques

    http://www.sin.fr/

    Trade association for reprographers in The Netherlands –

    Vereniging Repro Nederland

    www.repronederland.nl

    Trade association for reprographers in Spain –

    Asociación Española de Reprografía

    http://www.aer-repro.com/

    Trade association of owner-operated reprographics and copy service companies in Germany and Austria – Reprografie

    http://www.reprografie.de

    Trade association of reprographics and copy service companies in Switzerland – CopyPrintSuisse

    http://www.copyprintsuisse.ch/

  • Former ARC CFO, Mark Legg, is the CFO of Memjet

    Related to the article we posted yesterday (in that article we mentioned Memjet), here’s something that reprographers will find interesting, I’m sure:

    MARK LEGG

    MEMJET CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

    Mark Legg was named as chief financial officer of Memjet in March 2010. He brings more than 30 years of experience in domestic and international management, operations, finance and logistics to Memjet as the company commercializes its color printing technologies across multiple markets.

    Prior to joining Memjet, Mark served as senior vice president and chief financial officer for General Atomics, a global technology, mining and U.S. defense contractor. Mark oversaw all financial functions of this multibillion-dollar company.

    Before General Atomics, Mark served as chief financial officer for the American Reprographics Company, a leading information management, digital printing and software company. While there Mark established the financial infrastructure to support the company’s IPO that was recognized as one of the 10 most successful initial public offerings in 2005. During Mark’s tenure at American Reprographics the company grew by 600 percent.

    Prior to joining American Reprographics Company, Mark spent 11 years at Vivitar Corporation, a global photography and technology firm. He served as the company’s chief financial officer and chief operating officer during that time.

    Mark began his financial career with Price Waterhouse. In addition to his corporate responsibilities for Memjet, he also serves on the San Diego Advisory Board for the CFO Roundtable at the University of San Diego.

  • “Disruptive” Technologies? Game-changers, opportunity-drivers?

    In my opinion, there have been several “disruptive” technologies that have affected the reprographics business and industry:

    · Diazo printing (replaced wet-process “blueprinting”)

    · CAD software and CAD systems (made obsolete “overlay drafting” and pin-bar photographic work)

    · The very first digital plotter (I don’t recall which plotter came first)

    · The very first HP DesignJet plotter (first really-low-cost digital plotter)

    · The Shacoh 920 (over time, seriously eroded engineering photo services revenues)

    · The OCE 9800 – truly a game changer – forced reprographers, over time, to eliminate “photo” departments, caused pricing for “plots vs. prints” to consolidate, eliminated the distinction between “large-format copying” (diazo and xerographic) and “large-format plotting”.

    · The first large-format RIP (enabled “short-run”, large-format, photo-realistic digital printing) (Was that the Cactus RIP?)

    · The first small-format RIP (enabled “short=run”, small-format, digital color printing (I don’t recall which RIP was first, perhaps Fiery?)

    · Electronic “planrooms” and other software and services for “document management” and project-participant collaboration.

    · Software for electronic permitting

    · Software for electronic estimating

    · The Internet, of course

    Some new technologies created opportunities for reprographers, but some changed completely the way reprographers operated their businesses and, over time, had dramatic effects on pricing for services offered by reprographers.

    What’s the “next” “disruptive” technology on the horizon? And, how will it affect the reprographics business and industry?

    Sometime within the next two years, will there really come to market an ultra-fast, wide-format, black & white and color printer capable of generating 1,400 E1-size (30 x 42) A/E prints per hour, meaning output at up to 12,600 sq ft per hour and with 800 x 1600 dpi resolution?

    [[[ 12,600 sq ft per hour, CAD drawings (technical documents) in color!; people, that’s significantly faster than the black & white print output capabilities of OCE, KIP and Xerox large-format black & white printing systems! ]]]

    And, will it be sold at a price at which no reprographer will want to pay, or will it be sold at a price that will (comparatively speaking, of course) rock our (reprographics) world?

    And, will the operating/running costs (service, ink, paper) be low enough to enable a reprographer, if the reprographer wanted to, to sell A/E/C (drawing) printing services in color (or in b/w) for the same price that the reprographer now sells b/w printing services?

    Hmmmm? I think these are thought provoking questions. But, of course, that’s only my own personal opinion.

    Yesterday, I visited www.whattheythink.com and watched a video presentation from Andy Tribute. (At the very end of this post, I’ve placed Andy’s bio. After I watched the video, I looked for information about him, just to make sure that he isn’t a looney-tune. Apparently, he is an expert in the printing industry.)

    Now, I’m going to give you the link to that video, BUT PLEASE NOTE – IF YOU WANT TO WATCH THE VIDEO YOU WILL NEED TO BUY A DAY-PASS FOR $4.95, since the video is considered “premium content”. EVEN IF you do want to watch the video, I encourage you to read the rest of my post before you watch the video.

    http://whattheythink.com/video/view.cfm?id=49076&slug=andy-tribute-memjet-latest-disruptive-technology

    Immediately hereafter is the beginning part of the multi-page typed transcript that appeared in the article (Andy Tribute’s article) on whattheythink.com. (I cannot give you the entire transcript, since it, like the video is considered premium content.)

    Andy Tribute: Memjet – The latest disruptive technology

    Published on February 9, 2011

    Andy Tribute looks at the impact of disruptive technologies on the printing and publishing industries, and discusses how Memjet’s inkjet technology will be the next disruptive technology to impact on the industry.

    Hello, this is Andy Tribute. I want to talk today about disruptive technologies because Disruptive Technologies are ones that change industries. Disruptive technologies happened within our industry many times. We’ve had the change in color workstations coming in, in 1979 with Sign Techs that largely changed the offset market and made color much easier. We had the major change that happened with desktop publishing that came in, in ’84 and ’85 and basically this in a sense killed the typesetting industry and created the design for print industry where we eliminated a large slice of the market where now designers created the work and it went straight to print. We had the same thing happen when we saw the digital print market starting. And again, this changed the way people considered printing where suddenly you could do short runs very economically and you could start doing one-to-one marketing with personalization.

    So, we’ve had disruptive technologies for some time in this industry and we now have another disruptive technology. This is a technology that’s going to change the inkjet marketplace. Now, inkjet is well-established. We’ve got the continuous feed inkjet machines that everyone’s very excited about at the moment, but we’ve had wide format inkjet for years, and the whole signage business has changed. But we’ve now got a disruptive technology that’s going to seriously impact in this area.

    As I said, this (the above) was only the introductory part of the transcript.

    Now, for the rest of my comments.

    I was aware of Memjet-technology before I watched the video of Andy on whattheythink.com, perhaps as much as 3 or 3.5 years before. Come to think of it, I think I was still working at NGI when I first heard and read about Memjet-technology. The question back then was, and, even today, still is, ……. “will we ever see memjet-technology-enabled wide-format printers come to market, or is this something that’s just going to be talked about for years and years and years?”

    Andy refers to “Memjet” as a potentially “disruptive” technology. He says that in reference to the ink-jet market, and, as to reprographers, that means “wide-format” ink-jet.

    But, Andy isn’t a “reprographer” and, although he has considerable experience in the “printing” industry, there are, as we in the reprographics industry know, differences between the reprographics business and the printing business.

    If a Memjet-enabled wide-format printer does come out on the market, it could well prove to be a “game changer” for the reprographics business and industry – – – and a truly astounding game changer at that, one that would not just affect “ink-jet” printing, but toner-based printing as well.

    What if I said to you, “there may soon come a time when reprographers are no longer printing plans in black & white, all are going to be printing plans in color, and only in color?”

    You would probably think I’m nuts. (There are already a number of people who think I’m nuts.) But in spite of that, that may well be what happens, if Memjet-enabled wide-format printers are introduced to the reprographics industry and provided they are not prohibitively priced, provided they are reliable, and provided that the operating/running costs are not prohibitive.

    When I first heard (and read) about Memjet technology a few years ago, I said to industry friends and associates that, even if Memjet’s technology was fabulous, Memjet may have an insurmountable hurdle in bringing its technology into the wide-format equipment marketplace. That’s because Memjet isn’t going to manufacture equipment. Memjet’s business model is based on licensing its technology to wide-format equipment manufacturers. Because of that, Memjet’s efforts could be stymied if the likes of HP, Canon, OCE, KIP and Xerox decide not to license Memjet technology. Why would an existing wide-format equipment manufacturer want to promote (and manufacture and sell) a new technology that would (or, I guess I should say, could), for all intents and purposes, obsolete all of its wide-format equipment products? Why would a reprographer want to acquire an OCE TDS 860 and an OCE ColorWave 600, when “one” Memjet device could do the work of both of those OCE systems and do that work faster than either of the OCE systems? Same question for a reprographer who acquires KIP b/w systems and HP DesignJet plotters (instead of OCE equipment.) And, the same applies to Xerox systems as well.

    After I watched Andy Tribute’s video-presentation (and re-read the transcript of that video), I went to Memjet’s web-site. (www.memjet.com)

    Although there are some interesting short videos (I’m speaking of the wide-format videos), I was unable to find any Memjet “partners” who are in the “wide-format” equipment manufacturing business. So, apparently, Memjet has not yet signed up any wide-format equipment manufacturers to manufacture Memjet-enabled wide-format printers. The BIG question is, “will that EVER happen?”

    If that does, at some point, happen, it could end up being a real big “game changer” for reprographers and for the reprographics industry as a whole.

    Comments?

    Oh, here’s the information about Andy Tribute from the INFOTRENDS web-site

    
andy_tribute@infotrends.com Associate Consultant

    Andrew Tribute is an industry analyst, and is widely regarded as one of the leading industry experts in the printing and publishing field. He is Managing Partner of Attributes Associates, a specialist consultancy organisation for the print, publishing and media industries. Attributes’ clients include many of the leading suppliers to the industry, as well as major publishers throughout the world. He has worked in the area of applying digital technology into these industries for over thirty years. He graduated in printing management from the London College of Printing in 1964, and has worked in print or print related industries since then. After a career working for both users and vendors of equipment he established Attributes in 1984. In 1985 he started to write about digital technology and applications for The Seybold Report, and later worked in association with them as their International Editor. He gave up this role in September 2000.

    In addition to his consultancy business, he writes a monthly syndicated column, Tribute’s View, which is published by a large number of printing magazines and online publications throughout the world. He also speaks regularly at conferences and seminars, often as keynote speaker. This is for both public and vendor sponsored events.

    He is a Fellow of the Institute of Printing in the UK.

  • Print A/E/C plans at 12,600 sq ft per hour ??? !!!

    Reprographers, how would you feel about a wide-format (color and black & white) print engine that is capable of printing A/E/C plans from files and capable of producing 12,600 sq ft output per hour?


    Years ago, when I was in the blueprinting business and we time-tested our blueprint (diazo) machine operators, we found that our best guys(gals) were capable to producing approximately 500 – 30 x 42 prints per hour, or about 4,500 sq ft per hour. To be able to produce that much output, it required not just one operator but a team of 2.5 operators; one operator, one puller (to take originals out of the receiving tray and place the originals back on the table) and 1/2 of a person to catch and trim the prints (1/2, because we could have the “back” person work the backside of 2 machines, where we placed our equipment back to back.) Anyway, 4,500 sq ft per hour of diazo blueline output, using a $24,000 diazo machine and a crew of 2.5 people.

    So, today, when I saw the technical specs of a “prototype” wide-format printer capable of outputting 12,600 sq ft per hour ….. I about fell off my chair!

    Will we soon (perhaps within the next year or two) enter a new era in the A/E/C reprographics business where reprographers will no longer be printing plans in black & white and where all plans will be printed in color?

    More about this in my next post.

  • Heavy Winter Weather will adversely affect reprographer revenues in Q1 2011, but, as the year progresses, business in 2011 will improve over 2010

    This article (the one below entitled, “A Very Cold Winter for Construction”) appeared on the web-site of Associated General Contractors (AGC) on February 8, 2011. The author of the article predicts that “total construction” (this refers to total construction in the U.S.) will increase 3-7% in 2011 compared to 2009.

    Prior to this, we’ve pointed out that the AIA ABI Index was positive news (the ABI Index was above 50) in three out of the last four months, indicating (supposedly) that Architects will be busier months from now, than they now are or have been in the recent past.

    Given all the snow that many parts of the country have experienced, so far during Q1 2011, it is highly likely that revenues of reprographers, in parts of the U.S. that have been heavily and adversely affected by the heavy winter weather, will be challenged in Q1 2011, but, as we said in an earlier post this year, we do believe that, as the year progresses, there will be a “pick-up” in design and construction, leading to better revenues (than last year) for U.S. reprographers. Let’s hope that WILL be the case.

    Here’s the article I found on the AGC’s web-site:

    A Very Cold Winter for Construction

    This isn’t a weather report but an economic one. On February 4, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that construction employment in January tumbled by 32,000 jobs. Some of that job loss may be attributable to projects that didn’t start during harsh midmonth weather conditions. But most of the decrease reflects the ongoing decline in construction activity, which has lasted for almost five years. The high points for construction employment and spending were in the spring of 2006. The January employment total was the lowest since 1996.

    As for construction spending, the Census Bureau reported on February 1 that spending in December (2010) was at the lowest level since July 2000. For the (2010) year as a whole, spending was down more than 10 percent from 2009, the fourth yearly decrease in a row and the lowest annual total since 2000—even without adjusting for inflation.

    Nevertheless, there are a few signs that a thaw is beginning. Several billion dollar-plus manufacturing projects have been announced, won permits or broken ground in recent weeks: a lubricating-oil plant in Mississippi, a steel plant in Louisiana, and a specialty steel plant. Market-rate multifamily rental projects have started up in a number of metro areas as vacancy rates edge down from recent highs and effective rents begin to rise. A variety of large hospital projects are underway or in fundraising phases. And warehouse and truck terminal construction should pick up as exports, imports and domestic sales keep rising.

    Offsetting these positives will be the conclusion of many base realignment (BRAC) and stimulus projects. Funding for construction by all levels of government appears likely to hold level, at best, through most of 2011, and probably drop off sharply by yearend or early in 2012.

    Expect total construction spending to increase between 3 and 7 percent in 2011 as a whole compared with 2010. That will be a welcome turnaround but will not even bring spending back to 2009 levels.