• Tim Greene is Director of InfoTrends’ Wide
    Format Printing Consulting Service, and, on September 1st, he posted
    an article on myprintresource, “Market Intelligence; What Can We Expect Now?”
    It’s a well written article, and here’s the
    beginning of that article:
    InfoTrends’ forecasts on the wide-format digital printing
    market have just been published and there are a few key points that we want to
    explain to the market that put some of our projections into context. We
    forecast on a technology by technology basis, but as readers know there is a
    clear overlap or intersection between some of the production wide-format
    printing technologies available today. The forecasts also cover the wide-format
    technical and graphics markets, and while there are a few similarities, there
    are some huge differences between the ways these two key segments of the
    wide-format market work now.
    Blog Publisher’s further comments:
    Take a look at the bar chart – wide-format
    technical print volume – that appears on the first page of Tim’s article –
    that’s the bar chart that shows InfoTrends’ predictions as to the total volume
    of sq ft that was or will be produced, 2013 through 2018. 
    Key takeaways from that chart:
    -The overall total volume of wide-format
    technical document printing has declined and will continue to decline
    -The portion of the total volume handled by
    ink-jet printers has grown and will continue to grow, continuing to reduce the
    total volume handled by LED printers
    I disagree
    with InfoTrends’ predictions in one particular sense.  I DO THINK that, after HP releases (next
    year) its ink-jet based “pagewide” technical document printers, the percentage
    of the total volume handled by ink-jet vs. LED will grow much greater than the
    bar chart predicts.  I would not be at
    all surprised if, by 2018, LED output is less than 20% of the overall total
    volume of technical document output. 
    And, it could well be less than that! 
    I DO THINK that HP’s “pagewide” technical document printers are going to
    cause havoc in the LED printer manufacturing market.
    Here’s a link to Tim’s excellent article:

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  • Link:

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  • Interesting
    article, and, apparently, it’s the first of several installments:

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  • Here’s a portion of the “note” posted, this
    morning, about Autodesk by a Morningstar Research analyst:
    Autodesk
    reported surprisingly strong second-quarter fiscal 2015 results. The firm
    upgraded its full-year fiscal 2015 guidance and now expects billings growth of
    10%-12% (from 7%-9%), revenue growth of 7%-9% (from 4%-6%), a non-GAAP
    operating margin of 15-16% (from 14%-16%), and net subscription additions of
    200,000-250,000 (from 150,000 to 200,000). The company noted a strong demand
    environment across all geographic segments, good adoption of suite products,
    and a continued successful transition to a subscription-based business model.
    As a result, we have updated our financial model and raised our fair value
    estimate to $54 from $51. We retain our wide moat rating.
    For the
    quarter, revenue rose 13% to $637 million on a reported and constant currency
    basis. Revenue in the Americas, Europe, Middle East & Africa, Asia Pacific,
    and emerging economies all grew double-digits during the quarter and reflected
    a strong broad-based demand environment. Interestingly, standalone AutoCAD LT
    sales, which had been waning, were resilient during the quarter after the firm
    launched a desktop subscription offering, which helped boost the Flagship
    segment. Autodesk’s traditional
    Architecture, Engineering and Construction and Manufacturing businesses were
    strong
    given the adoption of building information modelling, industrial
    machinery, consumer, and automotive products. Non-GAAP operating margins
    remained under pressure, and slipped to 18% from 24% in the prior year, as the
    firm reinvested in its business model transition, cloud infrastructure, and bolt-on
    acquisitions.

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    Autodesk’s
    subscription transition is progressing ahead of internal and external
    expectations. We think the company’s fiscal 2018 financial targets look
    appropriate and we are encouraged by the market’s adoption of subscriptions
    (74,000 new subscribers were added during the quarter). Still, the stock is
    trading slightly above our fair value and we would seek a wider margin of
    safety before investing.
  • Now up on John’s web-site, a primer for anyone involved in
    the wide-format imaging industry.

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  • Blog Publisher’s
    Comment:
    FastSigns was founded by Gary Salomon, but Gary sold most of his stake
    in FastSigns International years ago, at the time he retired from active
    management in the company.  Shortly after
    that (or around that time), Catherine Monson joined the company as its CEO, and
    Catherine has done an outstanding job growing FastSign International’s
    business.  Congratulations to Catherine
    on her partnership with Levine Leichtman Partners!
    Levine Leichtman
    Capital Partners has partnered with management to complete the acquisition of
    FASTSIGNS International.
    Levine Leichtman
    Capital Partners, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm, has partnered
    with management to complete the acquisition of FASTSIGNS International.
    FASTSIGNS is the market leading franchisor in the custom sign and graphics
    industry with nearly 550 franchised locations across 44 US states and
    eight international countries with additional franchises recently sold and soon
    to open in the UAE and Northern Africa. FASTSIGNS is a sign, graphics and
    visual communications company that helps customers of all sizes – across all
    industries – meet their business objectives and increase their business
    visibility. Some of the products and services that FASTSIGNS uses to provide
    comprehensive solutions include vehicle, floor and window graphics, point of
    purchase signs, digital signs, labels and decals, architectural and interior
    décor signs, printing, promotional products and wearables, mobile marketing and
    other related marketing services. FASTSIGNS was founded in 1985 and is
    headquartered outside of Dallas, TX.
    FASTSIGNS is the
    fourth investment from Levine Leichtman Capital Partners V, L.P. Lauren
    Leichtman, Co-Founder and CEO of LLCP, said, “We couldn’t be more excited to
    partner with Catherine Monson whom has driven strong performance and solidified
    FASTSIGNS’ position as the market leader since joining as CEO in 2009. The
    Company’s growth prospects and strong cash flow characteristics resemble those
    of past successful LLCP franchise investments, and we look forward to our
    partnership with the Company to generate another great outcome.”

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    Catherine
    Monson, FASTSIGNS Chief Executive Officer, commented, “Having a partner that
    understands franchising and the importance of providing valuable support to
    franchisees was critical to us in selecting our next financial partner. The
    deep experience LLCP has investing in franchise businesses inspired great
    confidence among my management team that they are the right partner to support
    our continued growth.” FASTSIGNS was advised by North Point Advisors.
  • Callprint is one of the three largest
    reprographics enterprises in the UK.
    From an article now up on PrintWeek:
    Former Service
    Graphics and McKenzie Clark director Ben Moss has returned to print by taking a
    “significant” stake in Callprint Group.
    Callprint has
    sales of £12.5m, but Moss said that he and the other directors planned to grow
    this to £25m over the next two years through organic growth and by targeting
    new sectors.
    Full article at this link:

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  • In what may prove to be one of the most
    interesting posts to go up on the IRgA web-site this year, Ed Avis, Managing
    Director of the IRgA, will soon be publishing an interview he conducted with
    Patrick Crean.
     
    If you are a
    frequent visitor of the Reprographics 101 Blog, you must be aware by now that
    the Paragon Group, a company never before involved in the A/E/C reprographics
    space, has acquired, or now controls, most of the business units formerly operated
    by Service Point Solutions, SA.  Inasmuch
    as a good slug of SPS’ business came/comes from A/E/C reprographics, these
    acquisitions, of course, have vaulted the Paragon Group into the world of
    reprographics … and in a major way.
    Visit the
    IRgA web-site frequently; I’m told that the interview of Patrick Crean will
    appear either tomorrow or the next day.

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  • I just
    noticed that the upcoming September issue of Wide-Format Imaging will feature
    an article/report on “FLATBED” printers.
    The advent
    of flatbed printers made it possible to print (large-format, photo-realistic
    color prints) directly onto substrates.  Imaging/printing
    companies that don’t have flatbed printers still have to go through a two-step
    process (first step, print, second step, mount) in order to complete jobs that
    require prints be mounted on substrates. 
    I can’t imagine being a true player in this space –  large-format poster and POS printing – if one
    does not have a flatbed printer.

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    But, that’s
    not the point I’d like to make; the point I’d like to make is this.  All of the current flatbed printers I’m aware
    of (and I may not be aware of all of them) use a print-head that goes “back and
    forth” and “back and forth” across the print-width of the print device; in
    other words, “traditional” plotter action. 
    Although HP has announced that its first “PageWide” technology
    wide-format printer will be targeted at the “technical” document market, what’s
    to prevent HP from later coming out with a “PageWide” technology FLATBED
    printer?  If/when that happens, I think that that
    would be truly disruptive to the screen printing business and industry.
  • Hi Joel,
    We’ve been longtime fans
    of your blog over here, and wanted to share with you some news about our new
    product – Printerpoint.
    Printerpoint is a
    cloud-based wide format device management tool that is geared towards equipment
    dealers and resellers. We currently support HP Designjet, Canon IPF and Océ
    devices, and plan to include additional manufacturers in the future. 
    We’ve been working with
    RSA and ReproMAX members to roll this out over the past few months, but just
    made the first official announcement about it today:
    You can check out
    Printerpoint here: https://www.printerpoint.com
    If you have any questions,
    please let me know.
    Thanks,
    Alan
    Alan
    Kasameyer
    Director of Product Management
    Sepialine
    (800) 404-9558 x152

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