Reprographics 101

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  • Downtown St Petersburg FL – Compilation of Real Estate Development Projects – Existing, Under Construction, Proposed – as of September 2011

    While doing some Google-research this morning, I came across an interesting document that was published, last fall, by the City of St Petersburg, FL.

    What a great way to learn the real estate development market in a city. Question; has your city (or county) published a document similar to this one? If so, get a copy of it.

    If you choose to open the document I’ve placed in my Google-Docs library, please be patient; it’s large file and will take time to fully download.

    On the left hand side of the pages, there’s color coding to indicate whether projects are “existing,” “under construction”, or “proposed.” I noticed that only 2 of the 150 projects mentioned are “under construction.” There are quite a lot of “proposed” projects.

    Link to document:

    http://tinyurl.com/85qy5n6

  • R.R. Donnelley to close Mendota (IL) plant

    Anybody out there want an excellent deal on a large commercial printing plant?

    Mendota is about a 2-hour drive west from Chicago.

    By Alejandra Cancino — Chicago Tribune

    Created: Friday, March 30, 2012 11:33 a.m. CDT

    R.R. Donnelley and Sons Co. (NYSE: RRD) will close its Mendota printing plant at the end of May in a move that will affect 207 employees.

    The pending closure will be devastating for the city, Mayor David Boelk said Thursday. Boelk said the company’s announcement caught him off guard, adding that he learned about the closing on Wednesday when an employee called him in tears.

    “I feel for all (the workers). There are quite a few families where both spouses work at the plant,” Boelk said.

    R.R. Donnelley is one of the largest employers in the city of 7,340 residents. As such, the closing will affect other businesses, including the local post office, which Boelk said was spared in the latest round of Postal Service closings because of the volume of mail generated by the plant. Boelk said he hopes to find a buyer for the plant that could rehire the workers.

    The commercial printing company acquired the Mendota plant in 1992 after purchasing Combined Communication Services Inc., a magazine printer. Donnelley employs about 58,000 workers and makes store signs, labels, packaging, receipts, catalogs, coupons, direct mail, bills, books and magazines.

    R.R. Donnelley has sought to adapt itself to an increasingly digital world in the last eight years. As part of that reorganization, it laid off 2,899 workers in 2011.

    – – – – – – – – – –

    Eleven years ago, RR Donnelly closed a 100,000 sq ft printing plant in St Petersburg, FL; I pass this printing plant on my way to/from the library in St Pete. Today, it’s a storage facility. That worked for St Pete, a city with a population of around 245,000. I seriously doubt that a large storage facility In Mendota would work, since there are less than 8,000 people residing in Mendota.

    R.R. Donnelley to Close St. Petersburg Printing Facility

    Press release from the issuing company

    CHICAGO, February 5, 2001 — R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company (NYSE: DNY) today announced it will close its St. Petersburg, Florida, telephone directory printing facility on February 16. “After careful review, we determined the facility, which is the smallest in our operation, lacks the scale necessary to support the current and future needs of our customers,” said Ronald E. Daly, president, Telecommunications. “By consolidating our efforts and transferring St. Petersburg’s workload to other facilities, R.R. Donnelley can further maximize operating efficiencies and more effectively meet our customers’ needs.” The St. Petersburg facility, which was acquired from GTE in 1998, employs 120 people. Daly said that after carefully and thoroughly reviewing the business under a variety of marketplace scenarios, the company determined that the best decision was to close the facility. “I want to emphasize that this decision is in no way a reflection on the hard work or dedication of our St. Petersburg employees. We will make every effort to assist affected employees during this difficult time as they plan for the future,” said Daly. In addition to separation packages, R.R. Donnelley will offer job search assistance to affected employees. Products currently produced at the St. Petersburg facility will be transferred to other R.R. Donnelley plants. Some of the equipment will be moved to other R.R. Donnelley plants. The company plans to seek a buyer for the building.

    In 2009, the former R. R. Donnelly Building at 111 18th Street South, St Petersburg, was renovated for $3.3 million into storage facilities. Now known as Lockup St. Petersburg, the 99,000 SF building offers storage opportunities for Downtown St. Petersburg and the surrounding residential market.

  • Western Reprographics Association (WRA) dissolves

    As one of the officers of the IRgA said this morning in an e-mail to me, this development was “not unexpected.”

    This leaves the ERA (www.eastrepro.com) as the only “regional” reprographics association still in operation.

    Here are the two letters I received, this morning, about the dissolution of the WRA:

    ———–

    March 30, 2012

    Good Afternoon,

    Attached is a letter from WRA President, Mike Attebery in regard to the Board of Directors decision to dissolve the Western Reprographics Association.

    We will be reimbursing any member company that has already paid their 2012 dues.

    Please feel free to email or call with any questions you may have.

    Thank you.

    Sincerely,

    Monica

    Monica Vargas

    Western Reprographics Association

    ———-

    March 30, 2012

    To all WRA Members,

    After considerable thought and discussion the Board of the Western Reprographics Association has voted unanimously to dissolve the WRA.

    This decision was made considering two primary factors. First is the lack of participation by the membership, which creates the second dilemma, we are experiencing a lack of funding. Having a diminishing cash flow and tapping into saving reserves the outcome is inevitable.

    Effective today, March 31st the WRA will disband; 2012 dues paid by members in good standing will be refunded, any fees and taxes will be paid due and the balance of any cash will be donated to the PIASC/RAISE Foundation. The PIASC/RAISE Foundation is an educational foundation of the Printing Industries Association Inc., of Southern California.

    This decision was made with considerable thought and discussion, not without a certain amount of anguish, while having a unanimous consent by the board. If you have any questions or concern please direct them at me as I am the outgoing President. You can reach me via email at mike@adsrepro.com or by telephone at (925) 449-3486.

    Thank you all for your past support and the Board wishes you all success.

    With great respect,

    Mike Attebery

    President WRA

    ADS Reprographics Inc.

  • ReproMAX Partners award the 2012 Mike Duff Award to BarkerBlue’s Gene Klein

    Congratulations to Gene Klein!

    March 24, 2012. Gene Klein, President and CEO of BarkerBlue, was awarded the annual Mike Duff Award at the ReproMAX 2012 Spring Executive Conference in Orlando, FL. The Mike Duff Award is the highest individual recognition offered by ReproMAX. It is awarded to an individual who generously gives their time and talent to improve the business value of their partnership and the organization.

    For more than thirty years, the members of ReproMAX have shared the common belief that reprographic companies can become more effective, successful, and profitable by pooling knowledge and resources. No one embodied that belief more than Mike Duff. Gene Klein’s consistent efforts epitomize the spirit of ReproMAX’s award. Gene responded “ReproMAX would not be the great organization it is today without the contributions of Mike Duff. Along with Rick Bosworth and Bill Thomas, Mike co-founded ReproMAX by merging ReproCAD and miniMAX, resulting in a combined alliance that continues to be greater than the sum of its parts. I was on the ReproCAD Board at the time and got to watch Mike’s tireless efforts up close. Mike believed that for us to reach our potential we had to work on the industry, not just in the industry. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about Mike and it is a great honor to be given an award named after him.”

    Gene is one of the founding members of ReproMAX and served as the organization’s chairman in 2005. He continues to serve on the ReproMAX Board of Directors. Gene joined “Barker Blueprint” in 1979 and worked in every phase of the business over the next ten years, holding VP positions in operations and sales before becoming President in 1989 and CEO in 1991. Gene oversaw the transformation of the company in the early 1990s, being among the first in the business to eliminate blueprint machines in favor of electronic plans. The company pioneered the concept of Construction Information Management and online planrooms. He launched the firm’s color printing business in the late 1990’s which continues to grow.

    There is no better way to remember Mike Duff’s contribution than to recognize other members who generously give their time and talent to improve the value of their membership. It would please him greatly to know that he could be the inspiration for another person to take up where he left off and improve the industry.

    ReproMAX is an international network of independent reprographic companies dedicated to promoting excellence in reprographic services and technology. ReproMAX provides education, technology, information share, and competitive advantage to affiliated companies.

    For more information about ReproMAX, call (800) 873-7762 or send an email to: info@repromax.com

  • Comments on Wide-Format Imaging's Top 40 Shops 2012

    Well, I noticed a post on Thomas Reprographics’ blog that Thomas Repro came in 2nd in the Top 40 Shops ranking for 2012. After I read that post, I visited myprintresource.com to read the article that Denise Gustavson wrote about the Top 40 Shops competition. I also looked at the pdf file that contained the “rankings”. The “rankings” file contains a list of the Top 40 shops; most of them are “large-format color imaging” companies, a few are “reprographers” who also offer large-format color imaging services; for example, PacBlue Imaging, ReproHaus, Alabama Graphics, Sharpe Images, Academy Reprographics are, like Thomas Reprographics, “reprographers” who made it into the Top 40. I would imagine that quite a lot of “reprographers” would have made it into the Top 40, had they taken the time to (or, I guess I should say, had any interest in) entering Wide-Format Imaging’s Top Shops competition.

    Which brings to mind the question, why do shops even bother to enter a competition of this sort??? If being in the Top 40, doesn’t mean anything to customers or prospects, why bother?

    Here’s a link to the file that contains the list of the Top 40 Shops for 2012:

    http://tinyurl.com/7a6p2tr

    As to Denise’s article about the Top 40 Shops for 2012, her article was (as is always the case with articles she authors) very well written. It’s been nearly a month since her article was published on myprintresource.com, and I hope they don’t mind me re-publishing her article on Reprographics 101. I’m only doing this because I’d like to make a few comments to my blog readers about the comments and other information Denise included in her article.

    In the article, one of the people, whose comments were included in Denise’s article, said this:

    “I think the overall economic uncertainty is the biggest threat to small business at the moment,” says John Rhodes, owner, Colorchrome Atlanta, Inc. “We need a more business friendly government to keep out of our way so we feel comfortable investing in our economy.”

    That, to me, is the typical “whining, complaining” type of comment we’ve heard so often lately, the past 12 months or so, that it makes me want to throw up. I first started in business in 1970, and there was a lot of “government regulation” of business back then, and, for sure, government regulatory actions have increased since them, but, if government regulations are what “holds back businesses from growing” (and what holds back the U.S. economy, overall), then how in the world did the U.S. business economy, collectively, manage to grow enormously larger over the past 40+ years? It is not “government” that’s the cause of the problems (recession, lack of growth, slow growth) our economy has experienced the past 5 or so years, it’s been caused “lack of demand”. The economy will grow when demand (for goods and services) grows, and even if government regulation increases (which I certainly hope is not the case) over the next couple of years, the economy will grow if demand (and as demand) grows; in other words, the economy will grow “in spite of” the government. As it always has. You can whine and complain all you want, but it might be smarter if you stopped your whining and complaining (about government) and focused all of your energy on building closer relationships with your customers and on convincing prospects that your company is “the best choice”. And, with the energy you have left over, spend that on examining your business; does it have the “right stuff” and does it offer “what customers/prospects want”.

    There will continue to be pressure on margins, as we move forward. But, has not that always been the case in the printing industry …. and in the reprographics industry? Has it not always been a smart idea to continuously “right-size” your business, recession or not? The only thing that will remove some of the pressure from (pricing) and margins is a huge boost in demand. No telling, though, when that huge boost will come. If history repeats itself (and history has a way of doing that), that huge boost will come. Someone did say, years ago, that “patience is a virtue.” Admittedly, easy to say, but not easy to be.

    Here’s Denise’s article about the Top Shops. (Congratulations? to the shops that made it into the final 40.)

    (Wide-Format Imaging’s) “Top Shops 2012: Striking A Careful Balance”

    BY DENISE GUSTAVSON (myprintresource.com), article published March 1, 2012

    It’s all about profits and margins this year—at least according to Wide-Format Imaging’s 2012 Top 40 Shops.

    It’s all about profits and margins this year—at least according to Wide-Format Imaging’s 2012 Top 40 Shops. Whether you’re talking about the national economy, pricing, commoditization, the difficulties in hiring, training, and retaining employees, local, national, and international competition, credit availability, interest rates, government regulations, or sustainability, it’s all about the margins—and profits.

    “We all have to become better business managers and sales aware,” says Vista Color Imaging Inc.’s CEO, Pete Gallo. “We need to run a tighter ship and continue to become more efficient and cost conscious.”

    “To remain competitive in the markets we serve, we at times must match price and lower our pricing to win jobs and retain clients. This, along with increased raw media and material costs, finds us yielding a lower margin than ever before,” says Gary Paulin, co-owner, Harmonic Media. “Without a doubt, the last few years have proved to be difficult for businesses in all parts of the globe and even though we’re only a few months into 2012, unsettled world conditions continue to make running a business anything but usual.”

    “I think the overall economic uncertainty is the biggest threat to small business at the moment,” says John Rhodes, owner, Colorchrome Atlanta, Inc. “We need a more business friendly government to keep out of our way so we feel comfortable investing in our economy.”

    While maintaining margins and growing profits is at the heart of everyone’s plan for 2012, where will this growth come from? According to industry leaders it’s from investments—investments in new technology and expanding marketing efforts into social media; an uncharted territory for some.

    “It’s a balancing act,” according to Ken Madsen, owner, Graphic Systems Group. Shops need to balance between committing to new technologies that give them more efficiencies and cost savings on output and having the cash to invest in the technology without strapping the company.

    “Costs have continued to rise, but selling price has not,” says Shane Beard, president, FastSigns of Naperville, IL. “To combat this I must invest in more technology that allows me to print faster and less expensively. Technology is moving so fast that leasing equipment is not as attractive as it once was, since the leases sometime outlast the useful life of the equipment!”

    “I feel it in my gut that our industry is in an economic rebound. This has given us the confidence to start investing again in new technology,” says Gary Schellerer, VP Operations, Signs by Tomorrow of Bloomingdale, IL. “This year we have already invested in new equipment from EFI and Zund. The last time we invested this much money was in 2005.”

    Schellerer continues, “Bringing in new technology always creates the need for change. Change can be one of the biggest challenges a team can face. But change is typically necessary to keep up with some of our competition. Although we expect this year to be challenging, knowing that this change is making our organization stronger gives these difficulties a lining of joy.”

    “As we turn from survival to growth mode in 2012, our biggest challenge will be to recruit and hire great talent to keep up with our growth,” says Tom Truna, owner, Big Ink Display Graphics. “We will use social media such as Facebook, blogging, and LinkedIn to share our company core values and culture and to differentiate us from our competition.”

    “We believe more than ever that with social media tools, effective networking, and by nurturing key relationships, we can grow our gross revenues by well over 25 percent this year, essentially doubling our market share in Colorado,” says Paulin.

    The Numbers

    Overall, the numbers for this group were very positive, even showing a substantial increase over last year’s numbers. As a group, shops gained on average about 14.29 percent, up from 7.82 percent in 2010—and owners were positive that 2012 would see growth again.

    The age of our companies averaged out a little over 28 years (28.45 years), with our oldest founded in 1898, 114 years ago: Philadelphia, PA-based Berry & Homer. Filmet Color Laboratories, Inc. from Cheswick, PA, is the only other firm on the list to top out at more than a century old—boasting 102 years. Again this year, we have five shops with more than 50 years in business: PacBlue Printing (62), Thomas Reprographics, Inc. (56), Alabama Graphics (56), Coloredge New York * Los Angeles (53), and Sharpe Images (51). Our youngest shop was established in 2010: Digital Graphics Express, based in Concord.

    The total number of locations is up this year, 106 versus 98 in 2010. While most shops had only a handful of locations—ranging from one to four—five of our Top 40 have five or more locations, with Thomas Reprographics, Inc. topping out with 28, down from last year’s 31. New York-based Duggal Visual Solutions and San Diego, CA-based reproHAUS Corp. have six locations currently, while Coloredge New York * Los Angeles and Winston-Salem, NC-based Sharpe Images boast five apiece. Additionally, the Top 40 Shops have plans to open up 20 new locations in 2012, down 10 from last year’s projected number.

    The Top Shops offer a range of capabilities and services, both color and black-and-white graphics, as needed. Fifty-eight percent of the Top 40 offer both black-and-white and color graphics while 42 percent are “color-only” shops. When it comes to output sizes produced, the numbers stay pretty consistent with the report from last year. As an average, 51.21 percent of the top shops’ output is wide-format (36-96 inches in width), down from 53.55 percent in 2010. Grand-format (96-inches plus) grabs the next largest share with 24.38 percent, down from 26.82 percent the previous year. Medium-format (24-35 inches) gained the most traction this year, topping out at 18.21 percent, up from 14.95 percent. The remaining 6.21 percent is in small-format (14-inches and smaller documents) down up from 7.32 percent.

    We’ve seen some shift in the types of work being done in shops this year. Retail and POP displays and signs (including floor graphics) moved to the lead position, up three percent to 18.49 percent. This is probably tied directly in with positive trending of the Consumer Confidence Index—showing gains during January, March, April, July, November, and December 2011—and the subsequent advertising push from retail stores and manufacturers to encourage consumers to spend more.

    Banners and signs moved from the number one position to number two with 16.26 percent. Exhibit and trade show graphics (12.36 percent) pull in the next largest segment of business, down a few ticks from last year. Fleet and vehicle graphics showed a slight decrease this year, down about two percent to 9.41 percent. Fabric and textile printing (6.72 percent) saw a nearly three percent decrease. Billboards and building wraps (6.67 percent), backlit display graphics (6.10 percent), engineering drawings (5.95 percent), posters (5.18 percent), décor printing (4.13 percent), fine art and museum graphics (3.97 percent), specialty printing and graphics (3.08 percent), and other applications (1.69 percent) round out the rest of the applications.

    New Market Opportunities

    The Top 40 pointed to several key market niches they believe had the most opportunity for growth in 2012. Not surprisingly, digital signage and LED displays were at the top of that list. While digital signage is not within the reach of some sign and digital graphics companies, ignoring it—and its impact on the market—is not smart for your business. While digital signage is not every PSP’s cup of tea, the technology will begin to move some projects—wayfinding signage in hotels, conference centers, and airports to digital billboards—away from the traditional sign and graphics market.

    The next four market segments rounding out the top five growth areas—window graphics, POP and retail, corporate branding, and fabric graphics—are all tied together and, as mentioned above, the retail market, which saw a tremendous push in 2011, seems to be continuing on into 2012. Today, retailers are looking to engage with the consumer in more ways than just inside the retail environment. They have expanded the scope of their campaigns from the brick-and-mortar stores to online—ecommerce and social media marketing—and out-of-home advertising opportunities. PSPs have a real opportunity in this space to support retailers by helping them to provide a unified message to their customers—no matter what platform they wish to use to engage the consumer.

    “Our challenge is to ensure we service our existing channels while also adding new revenue streams and markets,” says Jittu Sarna, owner, Inkjet International. “This goal requires us to apply existing and new resources and capital. An example of this strategy is to leverage appropriate Web technology to develop customer relationships further, educate and provide a different purchase method for certain products.”

    “We need to find ways to build superior long-term value to meet and exceed our customer’s expectations,” says Nicolas Slobinsky, marketing communications manager, PacBlue Printing. “We plan to achieve this by working closer with our customers in creating solutions that inspire, innovate, and impact while delivering tangible results.”

  • Service Point Solutions – its German subsidiary – extends agreements with PIN AG and wundekarten.de

    Here’s a link to the Spanish-language version of the press release.

    http://tinyurl.com/btdczh6

    And, here’s a Google-translate translated version of the press release: (Note, Google-translate does do perfect translation.)

    Service Point has signed agreements with the German PIN AG and wunderkarten.de

    • Service Point Germany renews its contract with wunderkarten.de to produce 10 million postcards

    • SPS Germany signs an agreement with PIN AG for photographic

    • The Service Point business EBITDA grew 139% in 2011

    March 28, 2012 – Service Point Germany, third largest manufacturer of photo albums in Europe, has renewed its contract with the Internet portal Germanic http://www.wunderkarten.de to produce 10 million units over the next five years. In parallel, Announces Agreement with AG to distribute PIN photo-related items through the online image bank www.serienkarte.de.

    Service Point Germany and its specialized division Koebcke Photo Services, will develop the entire product portfolio http://www.wunderkarte.de. Besides postcards, SPS also produce consumer goods, such as albums, reproduction of paintings and posters, and so will for PIN AG.

    According to Benno Huebel, Executive Director of the Division of SPS Germany Photo Service, “Photography is our collective memory binds our emotions. People want to see your photos on new formats. Every day we have more demand and we are very pleased to have signed these contracts with wunderkarten.de and PIN AG “.

    Both companies specialize in customized solutions for distributing invitations and event announcements personal and family ceremonies such as weddings, births, communions or confirmations. The two companies are growing in this niche market and have chosen to Service Point as its strategic supplier.

    Service Point has been growing exponentially in this business activity through its Photo Service Division, an increase of EBITDA in 2011 of 139% over the previous year. Adding services such as photo albums and e-portals, its range of production is becoming a complete and comprehensive, with the aim is to position SPS as the leading independent business in 2014.


    http://www.wunderkarten.de/



  • Bluebeam® Software Pushes the Limits of Project Collaboration with Revu® 10

    New Features for Cloud Storage, Hyperlink Management, 3D Creation and Markup, and Space Definition, Take Digital Workflows to a New Level

    Press Release, Pasadena, CA (March 27, 2012)

    Today, Bluebeam Software announced the debut of Bluebeam Revu 10. Revu 10 pushes the limits of collaboration, cloud storage and project communication – delivering solutions that enable architecture, engineering and construction professionals to do what they do better, without compromise. With several new features including real-time collaboration with integrated cloud storage, hyperlink management, space definition for automated tracking in PDFs, 3D PDF creation and markup to 3D views – Revu 10 proves that there are no limits to what project teams can achieve with digital workflows.

    “We challenge ourselves to create solutions that take digital workflows further. Revu 10 is artfully designed to be undefined, allowing our customers to innovate and demonstrate that anything is possible,” said Bluebeam Software CEO Richard Lee. “Early feedback from our select community of beta testers indicates that Revu 10 will definitely make a huge and immediate impact on how AEC professionals work and collaborate.”

    According to Eric Cleveland, a Senior Technology Specialist with Balfour Beatty Construction, “Revu 10 will not only help enhance our current workflows, but will actually allow us to change them. When we first started using Revu, we were simply marking up and stamping digital submittals. Now, we are using it to help manage drawing sets, annotate site logistics plans and communicate with multiple project stakeholders, among other things. With all the new functionality in Revu 10, Bluebeam seems to be making this transition right along with us.”

    Store Project Files in a Simplified Document Management System in the Cloud

    One of the most highly requested features debuting today is Bluebeam Studio™ projects, an enhancement to Revu’s online collaboration technology. Studio users can now store and share up to 5GBs of PDFs and other Windows files in the cloud for free, with a subscription for additional storage space if needed. Files can be viewed by users and invited guests, checked out for editing and checked back in with changes, as well as shared in Studio sessions for real-time collaboration with multiple project partners. In the spirit of true collaboration, Bluebeam is enabling non-Revu users the ability to access and markup files stored in Studio projects or sessions using the company’s new free PDF viewer, Bluebeam Vu™, also debuting today.

    Get to the ‘Places’ You Need to Go Faster with ‘Links’

    Many design and construction professionals use Revu to link related project information together – including detail symbols to corresponding elevations, RFIs to the area in question and more. The new Links feature enables users to hyperlink thousands of references quickly and easily by defining and saving hyperlink targets, called Places. Additionally, Links provides centralized management and editing of all hyperlinks on a PDF. When a place changes, the hyperlink can be updated once in Links, whereby all instances of that hyperlink are automatically updated throughout the PDF.

    Create the Next Generation of RFIs Using Revu’s new 3D Capabilities

    Revu’s innovative 3D PDF creation and markup capabilities enhance 3D model-centric project delivery. The program now enables users to add markups to 3D views to communicate instructions about complex design changes, essentially creating the next generation of RFIs. Additionally, Revu CAD and eXtreme™ add 3D PDF creation through plug-ins for Revit® and Navisworks® Manage. Revu allows teams to extract 3D models from these BIM applications to identify and share design conflicts with the entire team in 3D PDF. Together, Revu’s new 3D capabilities eliminate the need for every team member to have access to expensive 3D applications, allowing anyone to share and collaborate on the data in the PDF format.

    Use Spaces to Assign Markups to their Defined Location

    For many project workflows, knowing the exact space in which an issue or question exists is necessary. Spaces is perfect for bids, estimates and the punch process, enabling teams to define and name areas on a PDF. All markups placed within that named Space will be automatically tracked in the Markups list, which can then be sorted or filtered by Space, summarized to PDF, Excel or CSV, and distributed for bids, punch lists and more.

    “In addition to these major enhancements, we redesigned the user interface to make it easier to access tools and customize toolbars on the fly,” Lee said. “Key menus are accessible directly from the command bar, with new pinning technology to build custom toolbars that include markup options, editing tools and even tool sets. Our single objective was to build a flexible and fully customizable interface to give our customers the power to define how they work, in any given environment.”

    Bluebeam Software products are sold direct and through a global network of resellers. For more information about Bluebeam Revu 10, visit www.bluebeam.com

  • OBAMA TO SIGN JOBS ACT INTO LAW – DO YOU NEED INVESTORS?

    I’m not against this act – the JOBS ACT – I’m for it, but I do believe that lots of people (small investors) will end up on the short end of the stick, end up getting scammed.

    While there are many companies (including existing companies and start-ups) that will benefit from the JOBS Act and whose management teams will do their best to earn a return for their investors, there are, unfortunately, many scam artists “out there” who will use the JOBS Act to fleece investors. Why are there so many dishonest people? I’ll never be able to answer that question, nor will any of you.

    Back in 1985, we took our first company public; our stock was traded on the NASDAQ National Market System. In order to take our company public – and we were a very small company – we had to get through three years of audited (“certified”) financial statements and a TON of regulatory-required paper work. A “ton” of paperwork is putting it mildly! And, that was way before Sarbanes-Oxley. I can’t even begin to imagine how much of a pain in the neck it is today to deal with the SEC reporting required of public companies.

    Okay, now with the JOBS Act, it “sounds like” one can come up with an idea for a business, post “funding” requests on an Internet site, sit back and collect checks from hundreds of investors, and, once there’s sufficient money in the pot, start the business …. and see what happens. Where there’s no risk, there’s generally no chance for reward (or however that saying goes.)

    I think I’ve “just gotta try this out.” I have an idea for a business, and I don’t mind taking in investors. I guess I’d better read the JOBS Act to see all that’s involved.

    Here’s the story that was released today about the JOBS Act:

    House passes JOBS Act, sends bill to Obama

    By Ed O’Keefe (The Washington Post)

    Posted at 03:10 PM ET, 03/27/2012

    The House overwhelmingly approved a measure Tuesday designed to make it easier for growing companies to attract investors and comply with securities laws. The bipartisan measure, strongly backed by both parties and the White House, passed 380 to 41.

    The Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, or JOBS Act, first passed the House earlier this month with wide bipartisan margins and the Senate approved it last week after adding amendments that provide additional safeguards on “crowdfunding” to prevent credit scams. The House needed to approve the changes before sending it to the White House for President Obama’s signature.

    The legislation lifts Securities and Exchange Commission restrictions on running advertisements soliciting new investors and permits “crowdfunding” so that entrepreneurs can raise equity capital from larger pools of small investors. Small private companies also would be able to sell up to $50 million in shares as part of a public offering before having to register with the SEC, and could have as many as 1,000 shareholders, up from the current cap of 500.

    House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said passage of the bill was “an increasingly rare legislative victory in Washington where both sides seized the opportunity to work together, improved the bill and passed it with strong bipartisan support.”

    But critics say that the changes would allow firms to avoid disclosing crucial financial information and elude government oversight, opening the door to fraud and investor abuse.

    Obama’s support for the bill has put him at odds with frequent allies, including labor unions and consumer and regulatory groups. And though the Senate approved the measure, half of the chamber’s Democrats voted against passage. Congressional aides said some Democratic senators felt boxed in by the Obama’s enthusiasm for the measure.

    As The Post’s Zachary A. Goldfarb reported Tuesday, the White House has worked hard since the fall to reconcile with liberal groups, adopting tougher rhetoric toward Republicans and advancing a series of policy proposals embraced by allies. But when liberals revolted over this recent legislation, the White House responded with what critics complain was only a token acknowledgment of their concerns.

    Lawmakers are expected to move next to competing proposals that would provide further tax cuts to growing companies — part of a GOP strategy and Democratic counteroffensive to introduce less ambitious, but politically popular economic-themed legislation.

    Cantor and House Republicans plan to vote next month on a measure that would grant 20 percent tax cuts to growing companies; a Senate Democratic proposal introduced this week would provide $26 billion in tax credits to smaller companies that either hire new workers or increase the overall size of their payroll.

    “Crowdfunding” definition:

    Crowd funding refers to the collective cooperation, attention and trust by people who network and pool their money and other resources together, to support efforts initiated by other people or organizations. The purpose of crowd funding varies, from disaster relief to citizen journalism to artists seeking support from fans, to political campaigns. Crowd funding is also used for startup companies. It is sometimes called crowd financing or crowd sourced capital. An entrepreneur seeking to use crowd funding typically makes use of online communities to solicit pledges of small amounts of money from individuals who are typically not professional financiers.

  • Reprographers: how much can you provide for free and still maintain a profitable business?

    Let me restate the above, this time a bit longer (as is my style and inclination):

    How many services can a reprographics company provide “for free” and how much (and what level of) technology (and “tools”) can a reprographics company provide “for free” ….. and still maintain a profitable business?

    In my opinion, that’s a question that has been plaguing Reprographers ever since the transition to “digital” began.

    This morning, I spent some time researching Pantera Tool’s web-site. Before I make further comments about Pantera Tools, I’d like to take a few minutes to provide my readers some “background information”.

    In 1993, DeWayne Adamson co-founded Plan Express, a national printing and distribution company. Most Reprographers (if not all) were familiar with Plan Express. Plan Express’ first location was located near the main Fedex hub in Memphis, TN. Later on, Plan Express opened additional locations – print centers – in other parts of the U.S.

    In 1999, Dewayne became the sole owner of Plan Express and went on a mission to make PEI the first Online Planroom with Print functionality. This technology was launched successfully and PEI grew to one of the largest print and logistics companies in the world, introducing many new technology products along the way.

    DeWayne left PEI in 2009 as his plans for continuing to build a digital workflow environment for the construction community were not shared by others in the organization. His departure was done to enable PEI to stay in, and focus on the print business and for DeWayne to fulfill his ideas.

    Blog Publisher’s comment. Actually, my comment is a question: If, by 2009, DeWayne was the sole owner of Plan Express and was not happy with the direction Plan Express had taken, then, instead of departing Plan Express, why did not DeWayne simply change Plan Express’ direction? Did Plan Express’ venture capital / private equity investors (or lenders) have something to do with that, with his decision to leave Plan Express?

    At some point (and I don’t recall exactly when), Plan Express sold some of its assets to iSqFt. I don’t know the specifics of the deal that happened between iSqFt and Plan Express, but I do recall seeing a press release about the deal. But, to go on, Plan Express, apparently, is still in business and is operating under the direction of Tom DeGreve, Vice President of Operations. Plan Express’ location is still in Memphis, TN.

    Whatever the case, DeWayne Adamson went on to found another company, this one called PANTERA TOOLS, and it’s that company – its apparent business model – that’s the subject of today’s blog-post.

    Based on what I read on Pantera Tool’s web-site, it “sounds like” Pantera Tool’s initial objective was to provide a lot of (virtually all of its) services for free (the use of the technology/software it developed, document management services, etc.) and only charge for “plans and specs” printed on paper.

    My own personal conclusion about that is that, if a company only generates revenues from printing plans and specs, it’s a reprographics company.

    Pantera Tool’s pricing – for hard-copy printing services – according to its web-site:

    Blueprint Pricing:

    ü 85 cents per Large Construction sheet

    ü 8 centers per Specification Sheet

    ü Free ground shipping on Online Blueprint orders

    ü No plot fees on Large Construction Documents

    I guess it does not matter what size prints are ordered, sounds like the same 85 cents per-sheet price applies to all large-format prints, 24 x 36, 30 x 42, 36 x 48, etc. If that’s true, then Pantera Tool’s pricing, on a per-square-foot basis, works out to a range of $.14 to $.07 per sq ft. (As a former Reprographer, I could probably live with that, provided that I got a ton of volume and provided that my only cost of doing business was limited to equipment, paper, toner and someone to operate the printer.)

    Pantera Tool’s web-site is really excellent looking. Well laid out and lots of information.

    In the “FAQ” section, here’s the first question and the first answer:

    Q1. What is Pantera Tools?

    Answer: We have created the most advanced bidding and collaborative project management tool in the industry. PanteraTools gives you the ability to upload files to your FTP/Planroom, invite users to share files for bid, or project management, and add vendors to your private address book as well as broadcast for bids and receive bids from our Contractors and Subs in the Pantera Sub-Mall all at no cost. We also offer Print-On-Demand for digital files received from any source, which provides the user with Printed files delivered to the doorstep for less than the cost of paper and toner, Document Management and quality assurance, as well as free tools from our Partners.

    Here’s some more information about Pantera Tools (Blog-publisher’s comments continue later on):

    About Pantera

    Pantera Global Technology is an Arizona corporation operating as Pantera LLC for the Pantera Tools product. Our offices are located in Arizona, Tennessee and Illinois. The sophistication of the technology behind Pantera Tools is unmatched in the Construction Industry. Our purpose is to create the largest community of users in all of Construction with access through one integrated Portal. We accomplish this by providing software that is not only superior to all others, but available at no cost. Our software provides complete File Sharing, Document Management, Contact Management, Messaging, Reporting, Collaboration, Construction Project Leads and Contractor Directory Functionality that all work together seamlessly as one product. Print and Delivery functionality is built-in and serviced by our network of Print Partners. We are not a “Cloud Based” system. We are a Web based Software provider and we use Top Tier Vaulted redundant Dedicated Servers to protect the security and safety of your data and to insure maximum up-time capability. We proudly challenge any paid service provider to match any of our product functions. Build the Community!

    Our Team

    The executive team has over 75 years of high level experience in our core product offering. Our team understands the Construction Industry as well if not better than any technology company in the sector. The tools we provide today will be available by our competitors next year. We are building software today that will keep Pantera always a step ahead. Not only do we take pride in the best and newest technology, we deliver it for free in order to fulfill our mission to build the largest construction community in the world. Pantera is trusted by many National Brand Retailers and 100’s of prominent General Contractors. We are talented, hard working, well funded and profitable. You can be assured that using Pantera Tools will provide you with the best product at the lowest price.

    Executive Team

    DeWayne Adamson/Founder and President

    DeWayne’s unique background encompasses numerous aspects of the Construction and Technology sectors.

    His expertise in Construction began as a skilled tradesman. At an early age he was quickly promoted through the ranks to become a Project Manager/Estimator by the age of 26 and a Vice President of a prominent Mechanical Contractor by 27. Gaining knowledge from one of Chicago’s largest Mechanical Contractors, Dewayne ran numerous Major construction projects in the downtown area. In 1986 State Construction offered Dewayne an opportunity as a Sr. Project Manager in the General Construction arena. Specializing in Retail Construction, Dewayne ran over 700 projects. In 1992 Dewayne founded the first National Permit Expediting firm, a National Maintenance Company, and Co-founded one of the Largest Retail Construction firms in the country. All of these companies were successfully sold. In 1993 he also co-founded Plan Express, a national printing and distribution company. In 1999 Dewayne became the sole owner of Plan Express and went on a mission to make PEI the first Online Planroom with Print functionality. This technology was launched successfully and PEI grew to one of the largest print and logistics companies in the world, introducing many new technology products along the way.

    DeWayne left PEI in 2009 as his plans for continuing to build a digital workflow environment for the construction community were not shared by others in the organization. His departure was done to enable PEI to stay in, and focus on the print business and for DeWayne to fulfill his ideas.

    Pantera Global Technology was launched with the vision of providing new mechanisms for file sharing and contact management, and wrapping it into a community setting using the very latest technology. Pantera Tools was written by some of the best programmers in the world.

    DeWayne is well on his way to yet another success story as Pantera has gone to profitability in half the time anticipated and is growing in revenue by over 20% every month. The community is building rapidly as demonstrated by web statistics that have surpassed every competitor in the industry.

    Blog-publisher’s comments, continued:

    After I explored most of Pantera Tool’s web-site, I came across a fairly recent post that DeWayne put up on the blog page of Pantera’s web-site:

    The following was “written by: DeWayne Adamson 
2/7/2012 7:18 PM”

    The best intentions don’t always work perfectly

    Well we had good intentions but had a bit of a misfire. As most readers know, Panteratools offers free Invitation to Bid software and a free File Sharing Planroom along with Address Book and Reporting features. These are all private areas to the GC and his contacts.

    We also offer GC’s the ability to publish jobs to a Public area known as the Sub-Mall. These projects are matched up with our registered vendors and sub-contractors and Invitations and links back to documents are sent to those matches. As most of our services are free there is very little opportunity to collect enough revenue to pay for the employees who handle the indexing, posting and hosting of the individual files. We have done well by providing a Print-on-Demand service for subs who want to save money on construction plans but many have moved to digital media.

    Despite our ability to print for cheaper than a sub can print on his own plotter, not enough people take advantage of that service to offset the cost of the growing number of projects posted daily to the Sub- Mall. We did not want to charge subs to list in our Directory or to build a Profile Page about their company as that could defeat the intent of building a large community.

    We decided that the best way to capture some revenue was to charge for the Construction Content like everybody else does. (Not counting those who charge to advertise). Secondary to that we wanted to make it cheaper than any other service plus we knew that there was value that would be created simply because not every member would pay thereby limiting the number of subs competing for the project.

    We picked a price that we thought was fair and would get great participation. The result of the Pay per Project feature is mixed at best. While we have gotten very good response with many subs paying for the download, we also received many calls and emails from subs that were not as happy. Most of the passionate emails pointed out that high use of the product would result in large spending per month.

    We do not want to alienate any members of our community so after much discussion amongst the team and our customer base, we changed the individual download price to 3.99 for those who don’t receive many invites and added an unlimited projects and downloads price of 19.99 per month. In the near future we will offer a discount for an additional 3 months free per year if paid in advance. (Give us a couple of days to write the software, either way, it will be ready by the end of the free month trial period.) For those who want to take advantage of a free Project or a free month, simply add the credit card billing info and you are good to go.

    Sometimes companies fail to realize just how much customers value a service until it changes. That was us, and we thank all the members who helped to put the new pricing in place. Over the next year you will also notice many new projects being posted as we continue to add new General Contractors daily posting projects to the Sub-Mall.

    Blog-publisher’s comments, continued:

    So, in spite of the fact that “Pantera has gone to profitability in half the time anticipated and is growing in revenue by over 20% every month”, Pantera was not generating enough revenue, and, in an effort to increase revenue, Pantera has begun to charge for downloads of digital files!

    Our best wishes for luck and success to DeWayne and his team. Hopefully, Pantera’s revenue from printing – when subs actually do order hard-copy – and revenue from digital-file downloads will allow Pantera to continue to provide the rest of its services and technology for free.

    But, certainly, this change in Pantera’s revenue-generation model brings to mind the question I posed at the beginning to today’s blog post: “How many services can a reprographics company provide “for free” and how much (and what level of) technology (and “tools”) can a reprographics company provide “for free” ….. and still maintain a profitable business?”

  • Scodix – further developments

    Several weeks ago, we did a post on Reprographics 101 about Scodix. Here’s a link to that previous post…

    Very interesting new printing technology – Scodix 1200 Digital Press

    This morning, I received an e-mail from Scodix that talks about new (further) developments at Scodix. Before you read further, I’d like to make a couple of comments.

    After I first read about the Scodix 1200 Digital Press, I contacted Scodix and asked them to send samples of prints produced with the Scodix 1200 Digital Press. They Fedex’d the samples to me, and I received them the day before I had to catch a plane from Tampa to Boston (and I had no room to take them with me to Boston.) When I looked through the samples – all of which were extremely impressive, “eye-popping” if you will – I realized that the Scodix Digital Press “process” is kind of like “embossing”, only, in this case, “digital embossing”, rather than embossing with a die on a letterpress. I think the way this works is that you print your project on a digital press and then you run the printed sheets through the Scodix 1200 digital press, where the areas designated to stand out are enhanced – raised – to give it dimension and feel. On every samples I received, the areas designated to stand out were, as I said, eye-popping. If you are in the printing business, it would be best if you requested samples, so you can see, first hand, what I’m talking about. My words about the Scodix 1200 process are not doing it justice!

    Here’s the information I received in an e-mail from Scodix this morning:

    The Scodix team is proud to be the only company focusing on digital print enhancement solutions.
Our focus has lead to the creation of fresh, innovative, eye-­‐catching and sensory capturing capabilities that open new printing dimensions, effectively changing the meaning of print enhancements in our industry.

    Here at Scodix we always make SENSE, and now, at the upcoming DRUPA conference, we make HISTORY!

    As one of our valued Scodix friends, we wanted to share our exciting news with you first, before we even present it at DRUPA. We hope that what we have in store for you is as valuable and beneficial to your operations as we think it will be.

    At DRUPA 2012, Scodix bursts onto the scene by launching our newly created Scodix Rainbow TM. The Scodix Rainbow is an add-­‐on station that digitally applies glitter powder to selected areas over printed substrates. The process – Scodix Digital-­‐Glittering TM– is a patent pending new print technology that brings the sparkle to your printed materials. And as an add-­‐on, your initial Scodix investment just grows!

    Once again Scodix makes history, while demonstrating our commitment to digital print enhancements.

    Also at DRUPA 2012, Scodix once again presents a new line of digital presses, the Scodix S Series. With this unveiling we continue our strategy of offering customers a variety of digital print enhancement solutions that differentiate and create an impact in the competitive market we live in. The new Scodix S product line features are all upgradeable at a negligible cost to our current customers.
All Scodix new developments are optional upgrades or modular solutions that can be easily implemented on existing Scodix1200 digital presses, protecting your Scodix investment.

    As if we would stop there! Scodix will also unveil the world’s first Inkjet-­‐Braille TM printing technology, Scodix Braille, which will allow PSP’s to finally print Braille letters, as well as raised elements and shapes on materials previously reserved for the seeing community.
The Scodix Braille letters and raised elements reach up to 250 micron high on specific materials. More details will be provided at the show.
The written world now opens to the blind and visually impaired through sense reading.

    And to round all this off, Scodix will present the Scodix barcode system and the company’s re-­‐branded clear polymer, Scodix Barcode and Scodix PolySENSE TM. Developed to support the Scodix S Digital Press series, this proprietary polymer allows us to provide a complete, high quality digital printing solution to all Scodix customers – the Scodix SENSE TM printing experience.
You have to feel it to believe it!