Reprographics 101

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  • 5 Reasons Why Investors Want an Earn-Out Agreement

    Well, I’m not sure where I came across the article, but owners of reprographics companies might find this article of interest, since printing businesess and reprographics businesses are similar, especially when it comes to selling a business.

    Mr. LaManna, the author of the article below, takes a pretty hard line on the “earn-out” issue, kind of implying that “no” business will be sold without an earn-out, which, of course, is simply his own personal opinion. My own personal opinion on this issue is that “always” never applies. Some “buyers” may only be interested in offering earn-out deals to sellers, but there are still likely to be buyers who are willing to offer cash-out deals (cash, notes, stock deals) or a mixed deal where cash, notes, stock and some form of earn-out are elements of the deal.

    If, now or in the future, you are a “seller” considering a deal that does or will involve an earn-out as a part of the deal, then beware ….. once you sell your company, the buyer is in control, and I’ve seen deals where the buyer stepped in and made decisions that adversely affected the seller’s ability to achieve the earn-out!!! So, if your deal to sell does include an earn-out, make damn sure that you won’t get screwed because of the buyer’s decision to mess with the business.

    Okay, here’s the article I mentioned:

    “5 Reasons Why Investors Want an Earn-Out Agreement”

    Posted by Rock LaManna on Wed, Feb 08, 2012 @ 08:00 AM

    (From Rock Around the Block – The Blog of Rock LaManna)

    I’d like to dispel one romantic notion printing owners have about selling their business. I want you to stop thinking that you’re going to cash out when you sell your business. It’s not going to happen. An earn-out agreement is much more likely in today’s world.

    If you’re not sure what an earn-out agreement is, it’s basically a payment for performance after a deal is closed. An investor might buy your business at a lower price than you believe it’s worth, and then retain your services until you can improve performance to meet your intended sticker value. (For more details, check out my 3-part series “When Does an Earn-Out Agreement Make Sense?”)

    Like it or not, this is how business is done these days, and here are 5 reasons why:

    1.Investors want a business based on tomorrow’s performance. They don’t want to invest in a company that’s totally reliant on you. That’s why they won’t just let you walk away: You need to create the systems that allow the company to function without you, or at least transition to a new CEO who can take your place.

    2.Not many losers making strategic acquisitions. I’m sorry, but unless you’ve got some sort of amazing technology or incredibly well-structured company, no investor will buy you without an earn-out agreement. The only person who would make that kind of deal does not know what they’re doing. You’re not going to find that kind of incompetency in today’s investor.

    3.The buyers are shaping the risk. In case you hadn’t notice, the poor economic situation has many printers trying to sell their business. The investors are calling the shots, and when they’re running the show, an earn-out agreement will likely be part of the deal.

    4.Investors have learned from recent economic meltdowns. Between the dot.com bubble of 2000 and the housing bust of 2008, investors have (at least for now) become more discerning. They’re buying based on solid business models, not on promises of quick cash. And they’re rewarding owners in the same way.

    5.It’s the new paradigm. Like it or not, the earn-out agreement has become part of the mergers and acquisition landscape. If you’ve built a solid business and earned every cent of your profits, it doesn’t matter. You’re going to have to earn it all over again to make an investor happy.

    Look, I don’t want to dispel your dreams of selling your business. I just want you to go into this type of arrangement with your eyes wide open. A smart investor will purchase something that’s successful. It’s just that they want to keep that success going – and you’re the one to make that happen.

    To read about mistakes to avoid when selling your printing business, download, Rock LaManna’s “12 Code Red Seller Mistakes.”Rock LaManna provides executive coaching for printing owners looking to grow their printing business, merge with a synergistic partner, make a strategic acquisition, or create a succession plan.

  • Océ Business Services Named a Top 100 Global Outsourcing Company for the Sixth Straight Year

    Press Release found at oceusa.com

    IAOP Names Océ to the Select Leaders Category of the 2012 IAOP Global Outsourcing 100 List

    NEW YORK (February 21, 2012) – Océ Business Services, a Canon Group company and a leader in managed business process services, has been named to the top-ranked Leaders category of the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals’ (IAOP®) 2012 Global Outsourcing 100 ® list. The list defines the standard of excellence in outsourcing service delivery. This is the sixth straight year in which Océ Business Services has been ranked a Leader in The Global Outsourcing 100.

    “In today’s economy, it is more important than ever for outsourcing end users to be able to easily identify and select the right company for their outsourcing needs,” said IAOP Chairman Michael F. Corbett. “Global Outsourcing 100 and The World’s Best Outsourcing Advisors lists are essential for companies that are looking for proven leaders and rising stars in the outsourcing industry.”

    “Because of the rigorous application and acute judging processes involved, the Global Outsourcing 100 and The World’s Best Outsourcing Advisors rankings not only help companies make better-informed purchasing decisions, they raise the bar for excellence in the industry,” added IAOP CEO Debi Hamill.

    The Global Outsourcing 100 and its sub-lists are essential references for companies seeking new and expanded relationships with the best companies in the industry. The list includes companies from around the world that provide the full spectrum of outsourcing services, from information technology and business process outsourcing to facility services, real estate and capital asset management, manufacturing and logistics.

    The organizations selected for The Global Outsourcing 100 are currently being recognized at the IAOP 2012 Outsourcing World Summit®, currently taking place in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Océ Business Services is exhibiting at the Summit with experts on hand to help organizations better understand how outsourced document management processes can help reduce costs and drive efficiency. Official Global Outsourcing 100 rankings will be published in the July 23rd Global 500 issue of FORTUNE® magazine, in a special advertising feature produced by IAOP.

  • Cool Job Opening – Management level person (Director of Print Operations)

    Director Print Operations, Fidelity Investments, Boston, MA

    2/29/2012

    Job Description

    The Director of Print Operations will provide strategic leadership for regional and/or multi site in-plant print operations (Document Printing Services (DPS)), as well as the communication of service and product capabilities to business partners throughout the firm. Continually improve the efficiency and effectiveness of operational processes and results via measures and metrics and be responsible for daily operational decisions with direct and indirect reports who manage site operations. This position may provide successors to the Vice President Corporate Distribution Services (CDS)/DPS.

    Primary Responsibilities

    • Manage multi-functional staff and highly complex function in all aspects of print operational responsibilities which include financial management, operations management, people/organizational development, business partner satisfaction, contingency planning/risk mitigation and the management of projects/ initiatives

    • Work with VP CDS/DPS to implement strategies that drive effective business results; take a long-term vision and apply this vision to actions and behaviors

    • Strategic leadership of regional and/or multi-site print operations

    • Effective communication of service and product capabilities to business partners throughout the firm; look for opportunities to expand print capabilities for the good of the firm

    • Lead initiatives and projects that positively impact operations and associate development

    • Strategic catalyst for process improvement, initiative/project development and execution, and setting direction and focus for peers/peer operations

    • Supply critical thinking with a high emphasis on continuous improvement with the efficiency and effectiveness of operational processes

    • Provide results via effective measure and metrics

    • Develop plans using strategic relationships and manage group processes to get desired results with business unit leaders, peers and vendors; ensure that service failures do not occur

    • Ongoing development of associates that support print operations

    Job Requirements

    Education and Experience

    • Bachelor’s degree; MBA a plus

    • 12+ years relevant print industry experience (profit or non-profit)

    • Management of digital in-plant print and bindery operations; familiarity with Xerox hardware and Fiery software a plus

    • Working knowledge/experience with Electronics For Imaging (EFI) print production software; namely Digital Store Front, Pace and PrintFlow

    Skills and Knowledge

    • Excellent strategist

    • Strong operational leader

    • Strong motivator/influencer

    • Exceptional relationship builder (associates, business partners, vendors)

    • Executive level presenter and communicator (both written and oral)

    • Excellent time-management and prioritization skills

    • Excellent analytical and computer skills

    • Ability to analyze and interpret data/trends

    • Ability to successfully influence and lead operational managers, finance personnel and vendor contacts (without the leverage of direct report relationships)

    About Fidelity Investments Fidelity Investments is one of the world’s largest providers of financial services. Founded in 1946, the firm is a leading provider of investment management, retirement planning, portfolio guidance, brokerage, benefits outsourcing and many other financial products and services to more than 20 million individuals and institutions, as well as through 5,000 financial intermediary firms. For more information about Fidelity Investments, visit www.fidelity.com.

    Fidelity Investments is an equal opportunity employer.

    For more information about this position, go to Careerbuilder.com and enter “printing” and “Boston”

  • Florida Construction Contract Activity begins on right foot in 2012

    From McGraw-Hill’s Southeast Construction News

    “Florida Sees 44% Overall Gain in New Contracts to Start 2012”

    03/02/2012

    By Scott Judy

    The value of new Florida construction contracts increased in all three broad categories during January, resulting in a 44% overall gain and more than $1.8 billion in new work, according to the latest figures from McGraw-Hill Construction.

    The two building categories both experienced notable increases. The nonresidential sector recorded a 58% gain compared to last January, tallying roughly $655.3 million in new contracts. Residential totaled $697.7 million in new contracts for the month, 9% ahead of a year ago.

    McGraw-Hill Construction’s nonbuilding category, which includes infrastructure projects, recorded the largest monthly percentage gain, however. The overall value of these contracts—estimated at nearly $482.7 million—more than doubled compared to the previous January.

  • Bill Zablocki, industry veteran, now at Service Point Solutions USA subsidiary

    On July 28th, 2011, we did a post on the blog about “noteworthy changes in employment in the reprographics industry”, and, in that post, we mentioned Bill Zablocki. Here’s what we said in that previous post:

    Bill Zablocki, one of the reprographics industry’s true veteran business-development, sales management guys, resigned from ABC Imaging in February this year. (But, I did not know that until last week.) Prior to his time with ABC Imaging, Bill was with ARC’s Premier Accounts group (now referred to as ARC’s Global Solutions group), and, prior to that, Bill was, for many years, a member of National Reprographics’ (NRI’s) team.

    At dinner on Thursday night this past week, I was informed that Bill Zablocki subsequently joined Service Point USA’s team, and that he’s been with SP for several months by now. That means he’s working with Kevin Eyers, the gentlemen that SP announced on October 24th, 2010 would head up SP’s USA subsidiary.

    Belated congratulations to Bill Zablocki; good luck and great success.

  • Service Point Solutions’ Dutch Subsidiary digitizes 300,000 patient records; expands into the healthcare records business sector

    Yesterday, Service Point Solutions (SPS) issued a Press Release to announce its Dutch subsidiary’s expansion into the healthcare records business sector.

    For those of you who read Spanish, here’s a link to the Spanish-language version of the Press Release (feliz lectura!)…..

    http://tinyurl.com/7estn4p

    For those of you who do not read Spanish, I used Google-Translate to create an English-language version of the press release. Note that Google-Translate does not do a perfect job.

    Okay, here’s the English-language version of the press release:

    Service Point lands in the hospital sector in the Netherlands

    • Sales in the hospital segment increased 30% in 2011 and expects similar growth in 2012

    • Service Point Netherlands 300,000 digitized records of patients Leids University Medical Center (LUMC), one of the largest hospitals in the country

    Barcelona, March 2, 2012 – The Dutch subsidiary of Service Point has expanded its mail services, printing and document management segment of hospitals and health centers. During the last six months, the Dutch subsidiary of Service Point has added six new clients in this sector, which provides mail services and reprographics and scanning the new service in situ.

    The segment of hospitals and health centers is one that has better growth prospects for Service Point. The year 2011 closed with a specific sales growth for this sector of 30% and projections suggest that 2012 will end with a similar pattern.

    The potential scanning in situ

    The Leids University Medical Center (LUMC), one of the largest hospitals in the Netherlands, with an archive of 3.7 million medical records of patients-has been one of the last hospitals to hire the services of Service Point. The LUMC is in the process of implementing a new system for information management which is counting on support from Service Point is digitizing 300,000 medical records center in the hospital’s central file. Service Point first prepared the documents and removes all the redundant information to later scan scanners deliver high capacity and medical specialists electronically for approval.

    “Service Point offered us flexibility and many options for the digitization of our archive,” explains Stephen Helder, head of administration in the LUMC. “We were particularly pleased with the possibility offered to make this work in our facilities. Due to the high confidentiality of the records and the need for the medical staff have this information, this requirement was a priority for us and has been resolved with scanning in situ. The hospital’s daily activity is not affected and Service Point has demonstrated the ability to take large volumes even in periods of heavy load of work. “

  • History of the Mid-South Reprographics Association

    For Reprographers who are history buffs, I just found – and have posted in my Google Docs library – a copy of the “History of the Mid-South Reprographics Association”.

    Here’s the link to this interesting, historical document:

    http://tinyurl.com/73m2fe3

  • Former President of the IRGA, Bill Cavert, passed away last week

    William M. Cavert, President of the Triangle Company of Tulsa, Oklahoma, notified the IRgA that W.C. (“Bill”) Cavert passed away on February 28, 2012.

    Bill was a past past President of the IRgA (1981-1982) and was a co-recipient of the George K. Bukovsky Award in 2004. Bill had also been active in, and an officer of, the Mid-South Reprographics Association.

    Our condolences to Bill’s son, Mike Cavert (current President of the Triangle Company), and to the rest of the Cavert family.

    Here’s Bill’s Obituary:

    William Clark Cavert was born on June 1, 1921 to Curtis and Marian (Clark) Cavert in Independence, KS. He passed away on Tuesday, February 28, 2012 at his home surrounded by his family.

    Bill graduated from Independence High School and attended the University of Kansas where he enlisted in Reserve Officer Training. He became a brother of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity and earned a degree in Finance. In May of 1943, Bill was inducted into active duty in the U. S. Army’s 89th Division, specifically, the 2Platoon, Company D, 1st Battalion, 354th Infantry Regiment. Bill remained with the 89th throughout its combat tour assignment to cadre the staging areas (Lucky Strike, etc.) on the coast of France. In 1945, following the war, the 89th was disbanded. Bill continued in the military to serve in the Army of Occupation as an Economics Officer for North Austria. In 1946, Bill was honorably discharged from active duty as a Captain in the U.S. Army and recipient of the Bronze Star for valor in combat. Bill remained active in the Army Reserve until 1954.

    He was successful in many undertakings as circumstances dictated. He sold real estate in Tucson, AZ, bought oil leases out of Laramie, WY for Union Oil of California and taught school in a Chicago ghetto. In 1947 Bill returned to KU to earn a Juris Doctorate degree. Bill enjoyed a successful law practice and was a life member of the Oklahoma Bar Association and Phi Delta Phi International. In 1966 Bill became President of Triangle Company until his retirement in 1996. Bill served as President and Chairman of the International Reprographics Association from 1981-1982. In 2004 he was co-recipient (with his son Michael) of the 2004 George K. Bukosky Award for leadership in the advancement of the reprographics industry.

    Bill (Willy) was an avid golfer and Member of Southern Hills Country Club. He was an active member of St. John’s Episcopal Church and served on its vestry and as Jr. Warden during its formative

  • Does OWN-X plan to distribute its Memjet-based Widestar 2000 large-format color printer in the U.S.?

    I only recently found this Press Release from OWN-X, a company based in Hungary. The press release talks about OWN-X’s Speedstar 3000, which is a small-format, Memjet-based printer. I do not know, yet, if OWN-X also plans to distribute its soon-to-be-released Widestar 2000 wide-format, Memjet-based printer. I sent an e-mail to Brian Jobmann, two weeks ago, but have not yet heard back from him.

    Digital printer expands business – OWN-X Kft announces North America distribution

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Oct. 19, 2011 (Atlanta, Ga., USA) — OWN-X Kft, the rapidly expanding Hungarian provider of professional digital printing solutions, today announced its expansion into North America. Own-X Technologies of North America will be the exclusive distribution point of OWN-X Kft printing products on the North American continent.

    Brian C. Jobmann, General Manager of OwnX Tech will spearhead distribution efforts, building and managing the reseller channel in North America. Jobmann, who has previously developed digital print solutions, brings more than 15 years’ experience in digital color printing to the new organization. In addition to building and managing reseller channels Jobmann brings experience in manufacturing, sales, marketing and establishing service organizations.

    “The US and Canada are prime markets for our high speed digital printing systems, highlighted by the Speedstar 3000” said Jules Farkas, Ph.D., chairman of OWN-X Kft. “And we are so pleased to have Brian join our team.”

    OWN-X products, powered by Memjet technology, are changing the way organizations print and how they use commercial printing, providing affordable, fast color with incredible resolution.

    About OwnX Technologies of North America

    OwnX Technologies of North America is the exclusive distributor of the OWN-X SpeedStar 3000 in North America. In addition, OwnX Tech provides label finishing equipment, media solutions, software and custom engineering for continuous and label printing applications. For more information, please visit http://www.OwnXTech.com.

    About OWN-X Kft

    OWN-X Kft is a Hungarian subsidiary of AM Trading Holding AG, based in Switzerland. It is a rapidly growing technological company developing solutions to market-driven needs in printing. OWN-X formed in 2008 as a financial and trading company for digital printers and is focused on bringing to market solutions powered by Memjet technologies, including the SpeedStar 3000. OWN-X sells and services its products through a European and North American reseller network. For more information, please visit http://www.own-x.hu.

    About Memjet

    Memjet is the global leader in color printing technologies that provide remarkable speeds and affordability. The company supplies technologies and components to OEM partners across the printing industry. Memjet maintains its corporate office in San Diego, and has offices in Dublin, Sydney, Taipei, Singapore and Boise, Idaho. The company is privately held. For more information, please visit memjet.com.

    Contacts

    Own-X Tech Brian Jobmann +1 (678) 824 – 2304

    bjobmann@ownxtech.com

    OWN-X George Kozmann +36 (30) 449.88.39

    gyorgy.kozmann@own-x.hu

  • Thomas Reprographics Named New Vendor of the Year by Bennigan’s Restaurants

    Citing exceptional service and quality products, Bennigan’s restaurants named Thomas Reprographics as New Vendor of the Year during Bennigan’s Franchise Conference meeting on January 18. “Thomas has been more of a partner than a vendor in producing our marketing materials and signs,” said Jennifer Gamble, Vice President of Marketing at Bennigan’s. “Whenever we need something, they find a way to make it happen, even when we have tight deadlines or non-standard requests.”

    Bennigan’s uses the Visualogistix service from Thomas Reprographics, which provides companies with control, customization and availability of marketing material through an online storefront. Franchises can order everything from signs and banners to menus and coupons through a branded online store, which streamlines the ordering process and allows for customization to meet the franchise’s needs.

    “We’re honored to receive this recognition from a valued customer,” said Bryan Thomas, CEO of Thomas Reprographics. “We pride ourselves on exceeding customer expectations and adding value to their business. Even in difficult economic times, we are committed to helping our customers grow by providing the products and services they need.”

    Thomas said improvements such as an expanded warehouse and fulfillment center in Dallas, an upgraded certified data security center, and improvements to the Visualogistix branded storefront are additional indications of the company’s growth and attention to customer care.

    About Thomas Reprographics

    Thomas Reprographics, Inc. combines more than 55 years of experience in the visual communications, reprographics and printing industries. Thomas Reprographics is based in Richardson, Texas, with more than 30 locations strategically located across the United States. Visit www.thomasrepro.com or www.visualogistix.com for more information.

    About Bennigan’s

    Bennigan’s is an upbeat neighborhood restaurant and pub and a great place to enjoy a meal with family or friends or catch a game and unwind. The restaurant is committed to delivering friendly service, tasty food, ice cold drinks, and a fun spirit that makes every day feel like St. Paddy’s Day. For more information visit www.bennigans.com.