Reprographics 101

The Reprographics 101 Blog 2013 Mid-Year Survey is not being held in conjunction with the IRgA nor is it sanctioned by the IRgA. So what! Is that a good reason not to give industry-wide exposure to the Survey?

June 25, 2013

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UPDATE on June 26 at 1:00 pm – the IRgA has posted an announcement of the Survey on its web-site. My thanks to Ed Avis of the IRgA for doing that. Joel

23 days ago, I posted a note in the IRgA LinkedIn Group page to
let reprographers know that I, that day, resumed publishing the “Reprographics
101 Blog” at its original Internet address, http://reprographics.blogspot.com. Most who’ve followed the Reprographics 101
Blog since its inception in early 2009 were aware that I moved the Repro 101
Blog to the IRgA web-site when I took over as Managing Director of the IRgA on
August 1, 2012 and are aware that I relocated the Repro 101 Blog back to its
original blog-site when I left the IRgA at the end of May this year.

Today, I received a blast e-mail from the IRgA LinkedIn Group,
and, for those of you who did not receive this blast e-mail from the IRgA,
here’s what it said:

A message from the IRgA President, John A. Davis, Alabama
Graphics.

The IRGA Board of Directors on May 13 sent out an email
about changes going on within the structure of the IRgA relative to a
replacement for the Managing Director.

Since there seems to be some confusion, I thought it would
be important to clarify what has transpired. On June 1, 2013, Ed Avis became
the IRGA’s Managing Director, replacing Joel Salus, who served the IRgA from
August 2012 until May 31, 2013. During the month of May the transition was
completed. Joel retained the Reprographics 101 blog he started and the IRgA
will continue with its own blog with plans to develop a new blog as well.

Joel
recently posted notice about a 2013 mid-year “Reprographics Survey” on his blog
and the IRgA LinkedIn discussion page. This survey is not affiliated in any way
with the IRgA. In the future the IRgA will probably conduct its own membership
survey and the results will be posted on the IRgA website.

Respectfully,

John A. Davis- IRgA President.

My comments about the note sent out by John Davis on behalf of the
IRgA:

The Reprographics 101 Blog launched its 2013 Mid-Year Survey of
Reprographers on Sunday, June 23^rd, and, when I did that, I posted a
note about the Survey on the IRgA LinkedIn Group and in the “comment section”
on the IRgA’s web-site. I posted those
notices – about the launch of the Survey – in an effort to reach as many
reprographers as possible. I did not say
in those notices that this new Survey was being held in conjunction with the
IRgA, is affiliated with the IRgA, or that the IRgA has sanctioned the Mid-Year
Survey I’m currently conducting. As to
the notice that I put up in the “comment section” on the IRgA web-site about
the survey, that notice has been deleted by the IRgA. Apparently, the IRgA does not want
Reprographers to know that Reprographics 101 is conducting a Mid-Year Survey of
Reprographers, and, for the life of me, I have no idea why the IRgA would take
that position. The IRgA is, supposedly, an open forum for ALL
in the reprographics community, and if that is the case, I would think that the
IRgA would encourage any communications or surveys in the
Reprographics Industry even if the IRgA is not the one communicating or
surveying. If the purpose of the
IRgA is to foster and encourage open communication within the industry, then
what purpose does it serve for the IRgA to come out with a statement that, in
its purest essence, implies that
Reprographers should not bother to participate in a survey that’s not
sanctioned by the IRgA? Surveys are
intended to educate and inform. What difference
does it make who actually conducts industry surveys? I respectfully ask that the IRgA post a note
about the Mid-Year Survey on its web-site and further ask that the IRgA
encourage all IRgA members to participate.
Will, at some point in the not too distant future, the policy of Affirmative Action in the business arena be challenged?

June 25, 2013

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Portions of an
article authored by Miranda Leitsinger, Staff Writer, NBC News, published on
June 24, 2013:

The Supreme
Court’s decision to apply a tough legal standard on college affirmative action
policies on Monday was hailed as a win by opposing sides, though supporters
acknowledged it meant they’d have to go farther to keep such guidelines in
place.

By a 7-1 vote,
the court sent a case about the University of Texas admissions policy back to a
federal appeals court for review, and directed the appeals court to apply an
exacting legal standard known as strict scrutiny rather than accept a
university’s assurances of acting in good faith. (There were only eight votes
because Justice Elena Kagan recused herself since she worked on the
issue while she was solicitor general under President Barack Obama).

“The Supreme Court has established
exceptionally high hurdles for the Univ. of Texas and other universities and
colleges to overcome if they intend to continue using race preferences in their
admissions policies,” Blum said in a statement. “It is unlikely that most
institutions will be able to overcome these hurdles.”

– – – – – – – – – – –

Back to the question I posed – the title of
this blog post – “Will, at some point in the not too distant future, the policy
of Affirmative Action in the business arena be challenged?”

While I
seriously doubt that we’ll see, anytime soon, the elimination of “small-business-set-asides” (and other small business “preferences”) in
government sector procurements, it may well be that, at some point in the not
too distant future – given the decision (or some would say, non-decision) by
the U.S. Supreme Court on the matter of preferences in university admissions –
a company (and all it takes is one) will take a city or county (or state)
agency to court over affirmative actions preferences and set-asides – in
government sector procurements – for MBE, DBE or even WBE “certified”
businesses. And, when that happens, I
will not at all be surprised if the Supreme Court, given its current make up,
determines that MBE, DBE and WBE set-asides and preferences are
unconstitutional.
NAPL SURVEY SEES (PRINTING) INDUSTRY SALES SLIP, UNABLE TO SUSTAIN EARLIER GAINS

June 25, 2013

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Blog Publisher’s comments:

I would
venture to guess that pricing (pressure) conditions contributed partly to the
reason why printing industry sales have dipped in Q1 2013, but I also think
that the continuing “digitization” of documents and “electronic distribution”
of documents (meaning, people are printing fewer documents than they used to
print and when they do print, they print less than they used to print) are also
contributing to the problem printing firms are experiencing. Back in the late 1990’s, an executive of
Xerox Corp, addressing the audience at an IRgA Convention so much as said that,
“over the years to come, the number of documents that are created will expand exponentially, but the number of documents that are
committed to print and the quantity of those documents actually printed when
documents are committed to print will not expand proportionately. In spite of that, printing equipment manufacturers
continue to introduce faster, higher volume print devices of all types and
kinds.

By NAPL,
June 25, 2013

(Printing) Industry sales declined 0.2% in the first
quarter of 2013 as consistent growth remains elusive. Fewer than half the
printers surveyed saw sales rise―the lowest reading since mid-2010.

East
Rutherford, N.J. (June 18, 2013)―Industry sales from all
sources declined 0.2% in the first quarter of 2013, a disappointing drop
following sales increases of 0.8%, 0.7%, and 0.6%, respectively, in the
previous three quarters. The
results were reported in the summer edition of the National Association for
Printing Leadership (NAPL) Printing Research Center’s Printing Business
Conditions report.

“The
hope was that we were finally progressing from sporadic upturns in activity to
the consistent growth that begins to restore pricing power and profitability,
but we haven’t made much progress lately,” note report authors NAPL Senior Vice
President and Chief Economist Andrew Paparozzi and Senior Economist Joseph
Vincenzino.

“So
far 2013 has been a disappointment,” they write. “We haven’t sustained even the
modest gains made during the second half of 2012. Business is still maddeningly
inconsistent, and the pressure on prices and profitability still hasn’t eased.
Nothing suggests that we are turning back down,” they continue, “but nothing
suggests that our climb back up will be getting easier.”

The
report, part of the NAPL State of the Industry Series sponsored by KBA,
is based on regular surveys of the Center’s State of the Industry Panel,
comprising several hundred commercial and quick printers in North America. The
most recent survey found that sales were down for 57.8%, far surpassing the 47%
who experienced sales declines in the fourth quarter of 2012; only 42.2% of
respondents increased sales in the first quarter of the year, down sharply from
53% the previous quarter and the lowest reading since summer 2010.

Of
those whose sales decreased in the first quarter of 2013, more than two-thirds
(41.4%) saw sales fall 5% or more and one-quarter (25.8%) experienced a sales
decline of 10% or more. Of those whose sales rose, 26.6% enjoyed sales
increases of 5% or more, and just 21.1% had sales growth of 10% or more.

The
survey also found that prices were still at or below year-earlier levels for
more than two-thirds (69.4%) of those surveyed, more than double the 30.6% who
were able to increase prices at the beginning of the year. In addition, only
34.3% increased pre-tax profitability in April, down from 42.0% in January, and
well below the 39.2% for whom profitability decreased.

“The
disappointing start to 2013 hasn’t affected confidence, but it has heightened
uncertainty,” write the report authors. “Nearly 29% (28.6%) of the participants
in our research expect business to improve during the six months ahead, up from
27.3% in January, but nearly as many―26.5%, up from 18.2% at the start of
2013―say business is so erratic they don’t know what to expect.”

The Printing
Business Conditions Report is distributed to NAPL members as a benefit of
membership. The current issue also includes data on industry confidence,
economic conditions and prospects for growth, and workforce issues, such as
upgrading skills for new services.

For
more information on NAPL’s State of the Industry research, call (800) 642-6275,
Ext. 6303, or email jvincenzino@napl.org. To learn more
about membership in NAPL, contact NAPL Vice President/Member Relations Dean
D’Ambrosi at (800) 642-6275, Ext. 6314, or ddambrosi@napl.org, or visit www.napl.org/membership. ###
Apparently, Reprographers are finding ways to replace revenues lost from plan and spec printing!

June 25, 2013

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We don’t
think that any Reprographer (especially those that have been in business for
more than 25 years) would dispute the fact that revenues from plan and spec
printing used to account for more than
60% of a typical Reprographer’s total sales. For many, that percentage was
even higher. Short to say, that was the
“mainstay” of the reprographics business.

As some of
you are aware, we are in the process of conducting a mid-year Survey of
Reprographers, and some of the questions we ask in the survey – about sales
revenues – are questions to compare sales for the first half of 2013 with sales
for the first half of 2012. Since June
is not yet over and done with, we did not expect very many firms to participate
at this point, thinking that most would wait to participate until June is over
and done with. But, in spite of that,
there are firms who’ve already responded to the survey.

Just a brief note about what we’re seeing, so
far….

To
this question – “Comparing (total
sales) the first half of 2013 to the first half of 2012”

–
3 firms responded that “sales are
up”

–
4 firms responded that “sales are
flat”

–
1 firm responded that “sales are
down”

To
this question – “Comparing plan and
spec printing revenues the first half of 2013 to the first half of
2012”

–
1 firm responded, “our revenues
are up this year compared to last year”

–
2 firms responded, “our revenues
are about the same this year as last year”

–
5 firms responded, “our revenues are down this year compared to
last year”

Five firms said that their revenues
from
plan and spec printing are down
this year compared to last year, but
only one firm said that its overall sales are down. Doesn’t
this mean that some firms are finding ways to replace revenues from lost plan
and spec printing revenues? Or, am I
looking at this the wrong way?

Please take the time to participate in the
survey. And, please encourage your
industry friends, associates and competitors to participate as well. Survey numbers are only relevant when a large
number of firms participate.
KP Reddy's comments about Textura

June 25, 2013

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KP Reddy,
founder of Ampirix, weighs in with his comments about Textura (and its IPO):

http://ampirix.com/textura-ipo-why-does-it-matter/
Update on PlanGrid …. 15 months later

June 25, 2013

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A little more than 15 months ago, we put up a
blog-post about PlanGrid, which, at that time, was in its start-up phase. Well, PlanGrid is, evidently, well past its
start-up phase ….. and making progress.

PlanGrid is a software-as-a-service provider,
and its key tag line is this:

“THE SMART AND SIMPLE WAY TO MANAGE
YOUR BLUEPRINTS ON THE iPAD”

You can read about PlanGrid by clicking on
this link:

http://www.plangrid.com

On its web-site, PlanGrid asks this question:

Do you offer document management services?

And,
afterwards, PlanGrid provides this explanation:

“We’ve partnered with BarkerBlue to provide full document
control services, including the upload and management of your documents inside
PlanGrid.” For
those of you who do not know BarkerBlue, they are a progressive reprographics
firm based in the San Fran Bay Area.

Link to previous blog-post that mentioned
PlanGrid:

From FRIDAY, MARCH 9,
2012

iPad
App to Replace Printed Blueprints? (PlanGrid.com)
Webinar on Deploying Digital Signatures – from ENR

June 25, 2013
Best Practices for Deploying Digital Signatures and How to Prepare for Signing in the Cloud

Available: NOW

AEC and EPC firms issue thousands of documents a project. Up to 40% of these documents need to be signed or sealed. The trouble is once documents are printed, signed and scanned, workflows cease to flow, causing delays to project schedules and bumping up project costs.

Finally the industry is waking up to workflow automation and digital signatures, as indicated in a recent industry survey conducted with Fiatech, March 2013. At the same time AECs are acknowledging the benefits of moving processes to the cloud, as indicated in ENR’s Futuretech event this month. But with the growing popularity of web services in the cloud, AEC enterprises are confronting a new challenge – the loss of control and integrity under signature-dependent processes.

Join CoSign’s John Marchioni and co-speaker Brian Hase of Agile Frameworks to discover:
- The differences between digital and electronic signatures
- Digital seals and signatures best practices
- How to easily automate signature dependent processes with the proper controls and standards
- How to maintain and inspect electronic document integrity and inspect signatory’s identity
- And what to consider when moving digital signatures to the cloud
Sponsored by

ENR "Top Lists" – wealth of prospecting information

June 25, 2013

Top Lists

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