SELL LIKE A CEO SELL LIKE A CEO

Transcription

REPRO REPORT
Volume 24
September/October
2005
Get Your Salespeople to
SELL LIKE A CEO
Incentive Balance for Salespeople
Just Like Family
Digital Services: An
International Perspective
REPRO REPORT
Vol. 24 • No. 5 • 2005
Features
8
The bimonthly news magazine of the
International Reprographic Association
401 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 2200
Chicago, IL 60611
Tel: 312/245-1026; Fax: 312/527-6705
http://www.irga.com
Amy Carlton: Managing Editor
William Wargo: Design/Production
Editorial Committee
12
Reg Garner
Triangle Reprographics
Orlando, FL
The Incentive Balance
Motivating your sales staff means
getting the right mix of base pay,
commission and bonus incentives
By Ed Avis
Industry experts and shop owners discuss what
works—and what doesn’t—for getting the most
from your salespeople.
Sell Like a CEO
Five assets for efficient sales
By Rick Farrell
The best salespeople think like CEOs. This
presentation from the 2005 Central Reprographics
Association meeting shows how to develop that
CEO mentality.
Chuck Gremillion
A&E – The Graphics Complex
Houston, TX
Bill Schaberg
American Reprographics Company
Fairfield, CT
Navina Waterman
ReproScene
Myrtle Point, OR
26
Gary Wilbur
R.S. Knapp/Napco
West Lyndhurst, NJ
IRgA Board of Directors
Michael Shaw, President
Central Blueprint Corp.
Great Neck, NY
Michael Carter, Vice President
Lynn Imaging
Lexington, KY
Chuck Gremillion, Immediate Past President
A&E – The Graphics Complex
Houston, TX
Bryan Thomas, Secretary/Treasurer
Thomas Reprographics, Inc.
Richardson, TX
30
Dan Stephens, Director-at-Large
Georgia Blueprint Co., LLC
Atlanta, GA
John Cronin
PLP Digital Systems
Alexandria, VA
Just Like Family
Ensuring that non-family members
feel vested in the business helps
build morale and goes a long way
towards retention.
By Scott Cullen
In the final installment of our three-part series
on family businesses in reprographics, learn how
to bridge the gap that sometimes exists between
family and non-family employees.
Digital Services: An
International Perspective
Three IRgA international member
firms share their experiences with
digital services.
By Andrea May
A sampling of how repro shops around the
world are dealing with—and charging for—
scanning, archiving, and other data
management services.
Mike Cully
AIR Graphics
North Quincy, MA
Chuck Hayes
OCB Reprographics
Irvine, CA
Betsy Kahn
Copycat Print Shop Inc.
Wilmington, NC
Woodie Rush
Plan Express
Memphis, TN
In This Issue
Sherman Sawtelle
KIP America, Inc.
Novi, MI
Gary Wilbur
R.S. Knapp/Napco
West Lyndhurst, NJ
6
17
18
20
22
Steve Bova, CAE, Executive Director
IRgA
Chicago, IL
President’s Perspective
Insurance Primer
In the News
Association Highlights
Hoek’s Corner
24
33
37
38
Repronomics
Product Innovations
Classified Ads
End of the Roll
© 2005 The International Reprographic Association
Write US
Send mail to: The Editor
REPRO REPORT
401 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 2200
Chicago, IL 60611, or to info@irga.com
Any statement of fact or opinion is the responsibility of the author alone and does not imply an opinion of the board
of directors, staff, or members of the International Reprographic Association (IRgA). Subscriptions are free to IRgA
member contacts; additional subscriptions are available at the cost of $30/year for members and $150/year for non-members
(international subscribers; please add $20 per subscription). No part of this publication may be reprinted without the
written permission of the editor. Send reprint and subscription inquiries c/o the IRgA.
PRESIDENT’SPERSPECTIVE
Coffee Talk
B
Michael Shaw
President
2005-2006
y the time you read this article,
the IRgA Convention will have
passed, and many of the
regional association conventions have
passed as well (or will soon pass).
Which ones will you be able to say
YOU attended? And more importantly,
what have you been able to implement
within your organization as a direct
result of your attendance?
I personally try to bring at least two
improvements/enhancements back to
our organization from every
convention I attend. Sometimes it’s
even something simple, like placing
our company labels on corner
protectors in our mounting and
laminating department.
If you did not attend an
industry-specific convention this
year, maybe the time is now
to plan for the future!
Peer Networking
If you were to observe successful
people and try to come up with a list
of common traits or characteristics,
one would be the ability to network.
The ability to see opportunities as
well as confirm viewpoints is achieved
in large part through networking.
Opportunities do not always come
looking for you; you must see them,
refine them and ultimately take full
advantage of them.
And one of the best ways to network
is to attend a gathering of your peers,
whether your peers are from large
companies or small, an affinity group
or independent, or whether they
reside within or outside of your
6
ReproReport.com • September/October 2005
geographic location. Successful
companies see opportunities and
take advantage of them.
The ability to walk up to a stranger
and introduce yourself is one of the
first steps in networking. Ultimately,
you would like to make some small
talk while getting to know each other.
This becomes so much easier when the
people you are attempting to network
with are your peers within the industry
you all serve. Conversations can start
very simply and evolve into the more
complex. Asking for and giving advice
or help is a perfectly acceptable way to
start networking. Successful people are
equally as comfortable asking for as
giving advice.
It’s amazing how small the world
becomes when you introduce yourself
to a stranger only to find out that your
lives are connected by others, the socalled “six degrees of separation.” In
fact, this just happened to me. I was
talking with one of the trade show
vendors about his return to Las Vegas
the week after the IRgA show to
attend the National AIA show. I asked
him what the odds were that he knew
one of my friends who might be
attending, with whom I have lost
touch since he left New York. Wouldn’t
you know that this vendor was also
good friends with Paul! Now we were
able to communicate on a more
personal level, and this never would
have happened if I didn’t take time to
strike up a conversation with him.
The real kicker is that I was then able
to get back in contact with Paul, who
is moving back to New York and has
some business opportunities he would
like to bring me into.
I encourage all of you to give
networking a try.
Meeting Your
Fellow Members
All of you who attend the IRgA’s
“networking” opportunities know what
I am talking about. If you did not
attend an industry-specific convention
this year, maybe the time is now to
plan for the future!
One simple way to start is to continue
your membership in the IRgA and take
advantage of the numerous member
benefits, from the Membership
Directory and REPRO REPORT to the
IRgA Discussion Forum, Convention
discounts and on and on.
As I am jotting these notes, I am
watching the networking that is
currently underway on the IRgA
Discussion Forum. This medium is a
long-term way to reach out to your
industry peers and the vendor
community. Many, if not all, of the
people you see having dialogue on
the Forum attend the annual
Convention and continue this
networking face to face.
For more tips on how to start
networking, I recommend a very quick
read by Susan RoAne, How to Create
Your Own Luck (Wiley & Sons, 2004).
The fact that you are reading REPRO
REPORT indicates your support of the
industry, because this publication is an
IRgA member benefit. If you received
this issue in some other manner,
maybe the time has come to show your
support and take advantage of all the
member benefits the IRgA has to offer.
If you know of someone who could and
should benefit from membership, I ask
you to reach out to them and encourage
them to consider membership for less
than the price of a cup of coffee a day.
And you never know what
conversations can take place over a
cup of coffee. It may just change the
way you view your business! ●
Michael Shaw is president of Central Blueprint
Corp. in Great Neck, New York. He may be
reached at 516/482-1340 or mshaw@cdr.net.
The Incentive
BALANCE
Motivating your sales staff means getting the right
mix of base pay, commission and bonus incentives
By Ed Avis
8
S
alespeople at Alabama Graphics thrive on
commissions. In fact, 100 percent of their
compensation comes from commissions.
“They can make as much money as they want,
as long as they sell,” says John Davis, owner of
Alabama Graphics, which has locations in Birmingham
and Montgomery.
Salespeople at Kansas Blue Print, on the other hand, make
zero commission. Their compensation is 100 percent salary.
they think paying a lot of money necessarily gives you a
good person.”
One client Fellman visited was paying a base salary of
$150,000 for a sales manager. That manager wasn’t working
very hard because his base was so comfortable. Fellman
found a new sales manager who works for $70,000 with
incentives up to $100,000. They’re paying the new manager
at least one third less, but he’s working much harder
because his compensation program is set up that way.
Kansas Blue Print Sales Manager Jeff Scharping says their
sales strategy is to develop long-term relationships with
customers, and he finds that commission-based
compensation—which they have tried—didn’t motivate
salespeople to do that well.
“There are a lot of underachievers being paid way too much,”
Fellman says.
“I could never effectively judge and pay proper commission
on what I felt was important—relationships. How do we
judge relationships?” Scharping asks.
How much sales volume
Alabama Graphics and Kansas Blue Print represent the two
extremes in the reprographics industry, where finding an effective,
motivational way to compensate salespeople is always a struggle.
“Most reprographics shop owners are dissatisfied with their
sales compensation program,” says Dave Fellman, a sales
consultant who specializes in the printing and reprographics
industries. “Most people feel they’re paying a lot of money
and not getting a lot in return.”
Two Questions
Fellman, who gave a presentation on sales compensation
at the 2005 IRgA Convention and Trade Show, says shop
owners should start developing their compensation plan by
answering two questions: How much sales volume can I
reasonably expect from a salesperson? And how much am
I willing to pay for that?
“Once you’ve determined that, it’s just arithmetic as to how
you structure the compensation plan,” he says.
There should be three components to the plan, according to
Fellman: A guaranteed component, which is either a salary
or a draw; an earned component, such as a commission; and
an incentive component, which is an opportunity to get a
bonus if certain goals are exceeded.
For example, Fellman says, suppose you expect a particular
salesperson to bring in $100,000 in sales and you can afford
to pay him $25,000 a year. You could pay a base salary of
$2,000 a month, which would leave $1,000 as a commission
or bonus. Or you could pay a base of $1,000 a month,
leaving $13,000 as a commission or bonus. Fellman
recommends the second option, because theoretically the
salesperson will be more motivated to work for his money if
such a large part of it is based on his sales effort.
Fellman says he sees many examples of out-of-whack sales
compensation programs. “Sometimes people think they
can’t hire a good person without paying a ton of money, or
can I reasonably expect from
a salesperson? And how much
am I wiling to pay for that?
Commissions vs. Competition
Alabama Graphics and Kansas Blue Print motivate their
salespeople in distinctly different ways.
At Alabama Graphics, the commissions drive sales. On
services, the company pays either 10% of the sale or 25% of
the net revenue from that sale, whichever is less. On
supplies the commission is 10% of the sale or 20% of the
net. (This prevents salespeople from offering cut-rate deals
to increase sales, since the lower net will affect their
commissions.)
“We’re continually tweaking that,” Davis says. “If we ever
want to promote sales of a particular item, we can change
things.”
Davis says the monthly commission report for his six
salesmen is 500 pages long, crammed with details about
what products and services sold well to which customers.
The voluminous details help managers and sales staff see
what’s selling well (or poorly) and which salespeople are
selling what.
“We use that commission report as a tool to see what’s going
on,” Davis says.
On the other end of the spectrum, Scharping says he and
the other salesman at Kansas Blue Print are motivated by
competition between them. “We talk continuously, and
continued on page 10
9
motivate each other,” Scharping says. “We say, ‘Hey, did
you get that customer? Did you get that sale?’”
That kind of internal competition works well in his
small business, Scharping says. In a larger company—
Alabama Graphics has three times the sales force, for
example—that might not work as well, he says.
An Extra Incentive
A reprographics shop’s basic sales
compensation program—base and
commission—should be accompanied by
Fellman’s third element: The bonus
opportunity. The bonus opportunity can mean
a cash incentive or a non-monetary prize, such
as a special trip or gifts.
Louise Anderson, a corporate performance
improvement consultant, suggests that
there’s more to the bonus incentive
than just rewarding based on sales
volume. She says the right thing to do
is to recognize the behaviors that seem
to most affect your company’s bottom
line, and reward those behaviors.
“When we reward for behaviors and incremental
improvement—and utilize a token economy such as
awarding points that can be accumulated to be
redeemed for an award that the participant really wants,
such as a mountain bike, new earrings, new grill or jet
skis—then you have real motivation,” says Anderson,
who is president of Anderson Performance Improvement
Co. and author of Cream of the Corp.: An Ingenious Way to
Get People Doing Things That Accelerate Profits Now.
Cash incentives are the most common in the
reprographics industry. For example, Alabama Graphics
pumps up the commission on a particular item when the
company wants to sell more of that, and pays a “growth
bonus” to salespeople who increase their average sales.
One of Fellman’s clients wanted to find more clients to fill
the slow summer months. So he developed a plan that paid
bonuses to salespeople who brought in new prospects in the
spring (with the hope that they’d become regular customers
by summer).
month” recognition that includes a special parking spot.
“These things should be thought of as part of the
compensation plan, but they should be part of the overall
motivation plan. You can’t not pay someone what he needs
to earn by giving him a parking space, but that may be
something that motivates high achievers.”
Davis says Alabama Graphics uses only cash incentives.
“We have tried an incentive contest,” he says. “We offered
a night in Atlanta at the Four Seasons, but it didn’t work
for us. We can dangle it out there, and they don’t care
whether they get it or not.”
Non-cash incentives are common in other industries.
Brian Sullivan, author of the book Twenty Days to the Top –
How the PRECISE Selling Formula Will Make You Your
Company’s Top Sales Performer in 20 Days or Less, suggests
letting the sales staff choose their bonuses.
“Instead of a one-size-fits all sales promotion, have each rep
express something they have been longing for but would
never spend their own money on,” Sullivan says. “Then
make that the prize, and set sales objectives based on the
value of the prize.”
Another idea Sullivan suggests is to get the salesperson’s
family involved. “If a trip is the incentive and the husband
or wife is reminded of where THEY may be headed, the
heat is on. Very effective,” he says.
An inexpensive sales promotion idea is to let the top
salesperson be “CEO for a day,” Sullivan says. “This is a
fun, creative bonus and it creates a winning culture.”
At insurance company Aflac, non-cash incentives range
from membership in clubs that honor top salespeople to
recognition in company publications.
“Everyone is motivated by different things,” says Rashmi
Hudson, second vice president of marketing
communications and promotions at Aflac, “For some, the
compensation is ample. Others want to know that they are
better than their peers, and a plaque or trophy recognizing
their top performance really hits the spot.”
Reprographics shop owners use diverse incentives to
promote sales, but the bottom line is the same for all of
them: If the incentive costs less than the sales that it
brought in, it worked. ●
Non-cash incentives may also be part of the plan.
“One of the options with bonus plan is to include non-cash
things—from travel to merchandise to days off to
recognition factors,” Fellman says. “What’s really important
is that you do what motivates salespeople.”
Some ideas Fellman considers are a “salesperson of the
10
Ed Avis is a freelance writer in Oak Park, Illinois.
SELL LIKE A CEO
By Rick Farrell
This article was adapted from a presentation Farrell gave at
the 2005 Central Reprographics Association meeting.
I
n order to be successful,
salespeople need to develop a
CEO mentality. They need to
view their territory as a
separate company that they
run with profit and loss
responsibility. Salespeople should have
an acid test for assessing their
activities: If I had to fund every penny
of my salary, benefits, expenses and
other costs of acquiring this piece of
business and in return get
reimbursements and 30% to 40%
commission, would I do it? That’s the
bet companies are making in their
salespeople every day, which
unfortunately is usually a poor bet.
The best salespeople think like CEOs.
Even if they lack a good sales strategy,
they succeed because they look at the
sales cycle as a business investment.
A salesperson with CEO mentality
understands that she has to manage
and control five assets in order to be
efficient in her day-to-day selling
activities. Salespeople have to be
effective asset managers and must be
protective, judicious and discriminating
about who they will allocate their
assets to.
Those five assets are time, information,
resources, relationships and self concept.
Time
Time is your single most important
asset. Unfortunately it is a depreciating
asset that is non-recoverable. Once
you’ve given it away, you can never
get it back. Since time is money, you
should be very discriminating as to
whom, when and under what circumstances you allocate it. Not only do we
have to manage spending time on the
right people, but we also have to work
to shorten the length of time it takes
to sell to people. Time kills all deals,
and shortening the selling cycle is
critical to managing time.
The longer those deals sit out there,
the greater the chance they will go
south. Most salespeople operate under
the exact opposite assumption. They
believe if they hang in there, outdistance the competition, show the
customer they care and assert
themselves, they will ultimately
prevail. In reality, this is simply not
true. Professional salespeople are good
at qualifying their opportunities and
quit early when they are operating
under non-optimal conditions. They
know there are only two winners in a
competitive selling situation, the
salesperson who was awarded the deal
and the salesperson who lost early and
saved time.
In today’s marketplace selling is less
about convincing, persuading and
cajoling and more about sifting, sorting
and selecting opportunities that have
the greatest likelihood of closing. A
CEO would look at acquisition cost as
overhead that needs to be judiciously
guarded and protected. Unfortunately,
80% of what salespeople are spending
their time on has low value and
probably won’t close. Working this
way is a waste of your most valuable
asset, time, and not consistent with a
CEO mentality.
Time is also an inventory control
system. A CEO looks at inventory
with one thing in mind: Turn it as
quickly as possible because time is
money. A salesperson with CEO
mentality sees his sales pipeline in the
same way. He must move his clients as
quickly and profitably through his
pipeline while keeping them comfortable
so they feel no pressure. He knows the
longer it takes to sell them, the more
time and money he has to invest.
Time becomes your enemy because it
downgrades the value of your proposals,
the likelihood that priorities will shift
and the money your customers can
save or gain by your proposal.
Another common mistake salespeople
have about time is they believe they
can manage it. Time management is
an oxymoron. You can’t manage
time—only what you do with time—
so you must become a master of
prioritizing. Most salespeople make the
mistake of trying to manage time by
organizing their week with activity
that is unqualified. If a salesperson
looked at her calendar, she would be
impressed with her organizational
skills but upon further examination
would see she has organized and
arranged her week with sales calls
that will only net her a 10% to 15%
return. There will always be more
opportunities to invest in than there is
time. Therefore, one of the greatest
skills a salesperson can have is being
able to quickly assess whether a client
has a “compelling reason to change”
and being able to confidently “walk
away” from opportunities that will be
a time drain. Top sales professionals
are not afraid to walk away, and they
strive to walk as early in the sales
process as possible, supported by an
effective qualifying model.
Information
Salespeople misuse this valuable asset
by giving out information and solutions
to clients before they qualify. Salespeople are frequently rendered to the
continued on page 14
13
status of free consultants because they
willingly give out information
believing it will make the sale. If they
had CEO mentality, they would guard
and protect their information knowing
that it is one of their most important
assets. Salespeople must realize that
the most important information is the
information the customer has. But
since most salespeople are so productcentric, they lead with their information,
which invariably invites comparison,
confusion and objections. Ultimately,
the best presentation a salesperson can
give is no presentation at all—her job
is to get information not give it. Use
the information from the customers to
build a presentation that they are less
likely to object to.
Most sales organizations are finding
that their value proposition is
“valueless” because the information
they tout—quality, service, reliability,
expertise, value and performance—is
the exact mirror image of what their
customers believe they are already
buying. So all of the hard work they
do to create a difference actually ends
up making them look the same.
Unknowingly, they are marginalizing,
commoditizing and denigrating their
value. The real value proposition lies
with the customer, not the seller. So
the salesperson’s most important job is
to understand where the “value gaps”
are. What are the costs and
consequences of not getting what you
have? Help the client come to his own
conclusions that he needs what you
have. The sale and the trust are won
in the diagnostic phase, not in the
solution phase.
Resources
With CEO mentality you must guard
and protect your company’s resources
14
and only allocate them when
appropriate. Most salespeople operate
as if their company had infinite
resources. They promiscuously quote
and bid on deals with little chance of
winning and little consideration of the
cost and drain of their company’s
resources. They involve management’s
time and energy on deals that don’t fit
the company’s strategy, therefore
squandering the company’s development
costs in trying to fit a square peg into a
round hole. They freely give samples
to anyone who asks. If they had CEO
mentality they would quickly realize
that the company’s resources are really
their own.
Company’s resources (demos, samples,
tests, quotes, proposals, technical
expertise and management’s time) are
leverage points, but only as validation
and proof steps to move the sale to its
completion. It is imperative that these
resources be used on well qualified
opportunities and at the right time in
the selling cycle.
Relationships
People buy from people they like, but
more importantly from people they
trust and believe understand their
problems and their unique situation.
No longer can you rely on building
relationships on personality and shared
interests. Today, the only solid business
relationship is one built on trust. Clients
build trust in direct proportion to your
understanding of their problems, your
business knowledge and your ability to
help them understand their problems
in a way that no other salesperson has.
With CEO mentality salespeople will
be much more discriminating about
whom they will spend valuable time
building a relationship with. Too often
salespeople are too intent on being
liked, so they will build strong,
longstanding relationships with people
who are at the wrong level, who don’t
have authority and who can’t buy.
Their need for personal approval
supersedes their desire to make sales.
Some salespeople claim that they are
great relationship sellers when in fact
they are just professional visitors or
journeymen who bring no business
substance to the relationship. They
just go where they are liked and are
used only as a price check or are
thrown an occasional bone.
Relationship sellers are more concerned
that people respect them and view
them as a business resource as opposed
to having someone like them. They
ask tough questions, and they are
willing to walk away from relationships
that no longer are mutually profitable.
They build relationships wide within
an organization so they are never left
high and dry when the inevitable day
comes when “their guy” leaves. They
know when to have serious relationships
and casual ones and they’re always
open to making adjustments.
Self Concept
Salespeople with a CEO mentality
consistently perform at a level equal to
their belief in their own self worth. To
protect this valuable asset they will
only work on qualified deals. They will
not put their self concept at risk by
chasing deals that aren’t budgeted, are
poorly qualified, aren’t in a position to
change or have the authority to make
decisions. Instead of spending a lot of
time giving out information and doing
quotes, they spend a lot of time
disqualifying opportunities that don’t
fit their ideal profile. They know that
having a CEO mentality involves
taking risks and pushing the envelope,
and nothing maintains self-concept
more effectively than risk, change and
learning. They know that you can’t be
rejected if you don’t make an offering.
So they sparingly make offers and only
do it under optimal conditions for
success. They use a selling process that
limits failure and preserves their dignity.
CEO mentality is not only a frame of
mind, but it also is a business sales
strategy. Salespeople, like CEOs, must
have a strong asset management
program. The more successful they are
at managing their assets, the more
successful they will be in selling. ●
Rick Farrell is vice president of Selling
Dynamics, a sales development and training
company in Chicago (www.sellingdynamics.com).
He can be reached at 773/404-7915 or
rfarrell@sellingdynamics.com.
unscheduled interrupt!
Your customer expects you to complete the
job and have it in their office by the end of business
today. They have a meeting with their biggest
client tonight. And, you’ve been struggling with
a new file format for the last 2 hours…
If you were a member of
the IRgA, you would have:
✔ Instant access to an online forum of hundreds
of repro firms throughout the country
With so much riding on your jobs today....
How much longer can you afford not
to become a member of the International
Reprographic Association (IRgA)?
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trends and the latest in technology
✔ Bi monthly copies of the foremost
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✔ Targeted publications covering a wide range
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✔ Nearly 150 hours of educational opportunities
available to you each year
Join Today!
www.IRgA.com or by phone 800.833.4742
PRINTI.T.
Beyond IE: Building a Better Browser
By John Marquardt
If I had to choose one application to
have with me on a deserted island, it
would be a Web browser. Of course
that’s cheating in many ways, not the
least of which are the assumptions of
an Internet connection and an
operating system, but also because a
browser can run just about any other
kind of program through plug-ins,
Java applets, Flash animations or
even complete control of another
computer through remote access à la
VNC or Gotomypc.
Now if the vision of me kicked back
on a beach with my laptop and a
swimsuit top made of coconuts doesn’t
scare you, the state of current browser
technology should. The browser
market is like some electronic Lord of
the Flies and right now Microsoft has
the Conch.
I suppose most geeks blame Microsoft
and would like to see Bill Gates’ head
on a stick. But like most negative side
effects of a free market, we can really
only blame ourselves.
Like any other Web interaction
with browsers, plan rooms
don’t always behave consistently,
or sometimes run at all, on
alternatives to IE.
When the World Wide Web was young,
Microsoft saw it as a great way to make
more money, but there was one
problem—they didn’t own it and they
didn’t own the interface to it. The two
browsers of the day were NCSA’s
Mosaic and Netscape Navigator. To
combat this, Microsoft not only made
their browser free, they included it
with Windows. Put another way,
Internet Explorer was by default installed
and available to anyone with a PC
(enter the US Department of Justice).
16
Once Microsoft started to have a big
enough share of the browser market,
they began to try and take ownership
of it by creating enhanced content and
programming interfaces for developers
that would really only work with
Internet Explorer. Certainly this
content was something of a next step
for the Web, and I think Microsoft
should get some credit for wanting it
to do more. But Sun basically did the
same thing with Java and they started
with a tenet of cross-platform
compatibility—of course there are no
altruistic motives in that case either.
So why does any of this matter to
reprographers? Well, reprographics has
been affected by the Web as much as
(or more than) any other industry.
Online plan rooms are basically a case
study for analogizing a business to the
Internet, and like any other Web
interaction with browsers, plan rooms
don’t always behave consistently, or
sometimes run at all, on alternatives
to IE.
Statistics vary depending on who you
ask, and there is no consensus about
market share, but there are really three
or four big players. The most used
browsers are Internet Explorer,
Mozilla’s Firefox and Opera. IE6 has
about 90% of the market, Firefox 9%
and Opera, Safari and a handful of
others make up the difference. In
reality the statistics say Firefox has
between 5% and 25% of the market,
depending on whom you believe.
Internet Explorer has the best
compatibility for most business sites.
This is mostly because of the
compromises that have been forced
on the market by Microsoft. If you ran
a Web site and had to choose between
two browsers to play nice with, would
you go with the 90% guy or the 10%
guy? It’s a no-brainer for businesses
of course, but it leaves a lot of us out
to dry. Microsoft can sit on that
compatibility laurel all day with no
real reason to improve the product,
which removes the competitive
aspects and ultimately hurts the
consumer. The upside is that
developers working on alternative
browsers have to pack in enough
features to overcome Microsoft’s
powerful advantage.
Firefox (www.getfirefox.com) and
Opera (www.opera.com) are prime
examples: faster page rendering, tabbed
browsing, RSS-feed integration,
working ad-blocks and the ability to
easily integrate user-developed plug-ins
to do just about anything. They are
clearly better browsers, yet Microsoft
says it isn’t motivated to make a
change until late 2006 or early 2007
with IE7.
As it stands, hard-line anti-Microsoft
users will boycott sites that don’t work
well in their alternative of choice, but
the realists have accepted the
limitations and make a value-decision
based on getting our jobs done.
For myself, I run Firefox as exclusively
as I can. I can’t live without tabbed
browsing, and RSS feeds are my
lifeblood these days, but when I want
to get some actual money-making work
done, I load up IE and gesture at my
screen a lot. I have trouble typing
words with E, D, and C in them
because that finger is busy doing
something else.
I strongly encourage you to try out
Firefox or Opera and see for yourself.
At the very least it’s a self-serving
move for us as business users since the
lost market share will motivate
Microsoft to keep up with the
innovation the alternatives display.
Looks like our three-hour tour is just
getting started. ●
Formerly the I.T. manager for Engineering
Repro Systems in Minneapolis, John
Marquardt is an industry speaker and educator.
You can reach him at john@offblue.com.
REPRONOMICS
Listening to the Market:
iPods and Blueprints
By Brett Scully
I
think I have the most cluttered and
disorganized CD collection of all
time. I’ve collected about 300 discs
over the years, and most of them are
out of their CD jacket and piled on
top of one another in my library. I
hardly use my CDs anymore because
it’s too clumsy and time consuming
trying to find the music that fits my
particular mood.
Well, along comes Steve Jobs with the
iPod. I have to say, I think the iPod is
an invention that compares to the
light bulb or telephone. I mean, what
would Alexander Graham Bell think
of it? The iPod gave me a new lease on
life as far as music is concerned. Before
my iPod, I had to wrestle with lame
Cleveland radio stations, or hunt
through my myriad of random CDs,
only to play one or two songs of
interest, and then hunt for another.
Most of the time, I’d end up just
shutting down my CD player and
just turning on the TV or regrettably
succumbing to one of our local
garbage radio stations.
Not anymore. Now with my iPod, I
take a CD, upload only the songs I like
from it, and can actually throw away
the CD afterwards (not that I do. But
I could). With the music now in my
iPod Mini, I have my own jukebox of
all my favorites tunes. No more
fumbling for a CD I want to hear. In
addition to the music upload, the iPod
also neatly catalogs information for
further use, like artist, CD title, type
of music and the song name. With this
information along with the tune, I
can organize my music according to
playlists like workout music, snowboarding songs or my party “toonage.”
Another great feature of the iPod is
the ability to buy music online at
iTunes.com for 99 cents a song. This is
another way that Steve Jobs helped
save the music industry from rampant
pirating. With 99-cent downloads,
people are more apt to pass on the free
song-swapping sites, with their nested
spyware and potential viruses. It seems
99 cents is the magic number because
Apple sells over one million songs a
day on iTunes. If only Napster had
figured this out five years ago, they might
have had a fighting chance at survival.
I love technology that changes such
everyday things as listening to music.
I am not kidding you; I almost forgot
how much I loved music until I got my
little iPod three months ago. Now to
the inevitable question you always ask,
“What in God’s name does this have
to do with making blueprints?”
Well…a lot!
First of all, the business of blueprints is
slowly being cannibalized though the
same culprit that has pulverized the
music industry for the past five years:
Internet file swapping. And, similar to
the music industry, everyone and their
brother had an idea on how to file
share, but no one knows how to make
money from it. Everyone has a differing
idea on how to charge: monthly fee,
price per CD…or…FREE. But nothing
seemed to stick until Steve Jobs “made
the market” 99 cents, and it worked.
Another very similar attribute of the
iPod and blueprints is the “intelligence”
that goes with the file. For instance, I
can easily listen to a specific type of
music, like reggae, by picking that
specific genre on my iPod, because it
knows a song is reggae from the
indexing that was uploaded when I
bought the song. That same type of
indexing is on our drawings that we all
database, like the name of a drawing,
its specific discipline or its revision
date. This information is also now
useful to our customers, who can now
search for files on our site the same
way we listen to music on the iPod.
Well, now that we see similarities in
the record business and the blueprint
business, what can we glean from the
mistakes and successes of there
business relative to ours? The most
important thing I see is that we can’t
stick our heads in the sand when it
comes to file swapping—it is going to
continue at breakneck speed. But how
do we charge? At our firm, we are
going to take Steve Jobs’ approach and
start allowing downloads in January
for—you guessed it—99 cents. If it
worked for Apple, I figure it can work
for us. Besides, I think most people like
the ring of anything that costs less
than a buck.
The most important thing I see
is that we can’t stick our heads
in the sand when it comes
to file swapping—it is going to
continue at breakneck speed.
But how do we charge?
Through our studies, we also figure a
99-cent download can be more
profitable than a $1.50 print, because
you have quite a few expenses for that
print that you don’t have in a
download, like paper, toner, labor and
delivery. The only questions still
unanswered: What will happen to
multiple set production once the
drawing files are downloaded? Will
these files be exponentially swapped?
Can we get additional prints from
those receiving downloaded files? Only
time will tell I guess, but the move has
to be made, otherwise I feel like we
will be the only guys selling buggy
whips to uninterested motorists. ●
Brett Scully is CEO of eBlueprint Holdings of
Cleveland, Ohio. You can reach Scully at
bscully@eblueprint.com.
17
HOEK’SCORNER
Defining the New Model
“See I am doing a new thing. Now, it springs up. Do you not perceive it?” – Isaiah 43:19
O
Doug Hoek
ver the past three to four years
much has been made of a “new
business model” that seems to
be springing up within the reprographic
industry. That new business model
might be difficult to perceive and
understand by simply listening to its
forecasters; it seems to have as many
definitions as there are people predicting
its advent. Therefore, though there is
abundant agreement within the
reprographic community that a new
business model is either approaching or
has already sprung up, agreement as to
how to perceive and address it is scarce.
The lack of consensus is disadvantageous
for the industry because precious time
is being spent “discussing” and
“dialoguing” about the new model.
It would be much more advantageous
for the industry if that time were spent
formulating and implementing strategies
in response to it.
The purpose of this article is to provide
a clear definition of the new model. If
that goal is attained then the article
might also serve to effectively focus
the industry’s collective energies in
moving forward.
It would be helpful to have a framework
that identifies and maps the important
elements of the new model. Such a
framework is not as complicated or
difficult to construct as it sounds if a
similar framework for the “old” model
can be constructed and analyzed first.
The Old Model
The framework for the old model can
be constructed and analyzed by
identifying and understanding its
major components: customers,
competitors, vendors, products and
services, and revenue source.
If realized or not, business people
innately recognize those five components
as the backbone of their business and
industry as indicated in their discussions
with colleagues. During many such
discussions questions pertaining to
18
customers, competitors, vendors,
products and services, and revenue
generation are the main themes. Thus,
business people constantly seek out
information about those major
components realizing that any new
information or insight into them
improves their perceptions of the everchanging business environment (model)
and provides a competitive edge.
The task of identifying and mapping
the main elements of the new model in
order to enhance our perception of it
will be easier and faster if the main
elements of the old model are
identified and defined first. Therefore,
below is a brief description and
definition of the major elements for
the framework of the old model:
Products and services
In the old model reprographic products
and services were analog-based and
concentrated around printing information
onto paper, primarily construction
information (plans and specs).
With the advent of color technology,
reprographic products and services
expanded a bit to include a wider
variety of color reproductions (printing
color images onto paper) and the
finishing of same.
And, to varying degrees, equipment
and supplies were promoted and sold;
equipment and supplies associated with
the printing of information onto pieces
of paper, primarily construction
information.
The primary reprographic service and
product group in the old model could
be described as “printing services for
the construction industry” because for
most reprographic companies such
products and services accounted for
50% to 90% of total sales.
Customers
In the old model the customers of the
reprographic industry were primarily
architects, engineers and general
contractors. They were the people that
provided reprographers drawings and
other documents (content) and
ordered prints, copies and related
services. And, they were the people
that paid the bills.
Competitors
In the old model reprographers
primarily competed against each other;
reprographers competed with the repro
shop down the street. The industry
being small and fragmented was one in
which intra-industry competitors were
the primary combatants.
Vendors
In the old model the primary vendors
were manufacturers of paper, print and
copy machines, and supplies. And, in
the really old model, distillers and
distributors of ammonia, too.
Revenue source
The revenue source in the old model
was primarily created and driven by
printing information onto paper,
primarily information used by the
construction industry. The old revenue
model was print-for-pay; reprographic
companies printed information onto
paper and customers paid to have that
done.
The New Model
The five points above briefly describe
the backbone of the old reprographic
business model. Though the analysis is
brief, the identification of those topics
as being the major components of an
acceptable framework is important
because with such a framework in
place we can now define how the five
major components are likely to change
in the new model.
Products and services
In the new model reprographic
products and services will expand
tremendously and the thread that will
connect them will be information,
primarily construction information.
HOEK’SCORNER
In the new model there will continue
to be a need for printing construction
documents, but there will be products
and services that extend far beyond
printing into new and diverse areas. It
will be those new products and
services that will define the new
model and make it exciting with
abundant opportunity for growth. In
fact, those new products and services
will define a whole new industry—the
construction information industry.
The new industry will address the
constructor’s need for collecting,
storing, organizing, reformatting,
accessing, sharing, viewing,
broadcasting, distributing and
archiving construction information,
including both content and news and
information.
By expanding reprographic
competencies from the traditionally
narrow focus of printing to encompass
and include other emerging products
and services driven by terabytes of
construction information, an
expansive vision and definition for the
new model and new industry quickly
emerges.
Customers
The customers of the new model are
the people and companies that
consume construction information.
The people that consume construction
information will pay to have their
appetites satisfied, and they are hungry
every day. And, reprographers should
be mindful that it will take more than
construction content to satisfy those
appetites; constructors must also meet
their daily minimum requirements for
construction news and information.
Subcontractors and suppliers are the
primary customers in the new model;
they are the people that will shop ’til
they drop at construction information
stores. Subcontractors and suppliers
need all forms and varieties of
construction information.
Competitors
The competitive arena in the new
model is strategically different than in
the old. The new model introduces an
expansive competitive landscape,
where we will compete with other
companies and industries that provide
construction information services to
the construction industry. The other
repro shops down the street will no
longer be the important competitors.
Vendors
Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of
the new model concerns vendors. In
the new model the scope of products
and services extends far beyond
printing. Thus, in the new model the
scope of vendors must also extend far
beyond printing.
In the deepest sense, construction
information is the product of the new
model. And, the vendors of
construction information supply the
inventory sold at construction
information stores just like the
vendors of print paper supplied
inventory for blueprint shops.
In the new model architects, engineers
and general contractors are the
vendors because they manufacture
construction information. They supply
the “inventory” construction
information stores sell.
This strategically significant shift will
cause confusion for those that do not
perceive it and opportunity for those
that do. In either case it will
drastically alter the competitive
landscape and provide the perceptive
competitor a tremendous edge
(remember, the definition of
competitor expands in the new model,
as well).
The opportunities to generate revenue
within the new model will be greater
than in the old by an order of
magnitude. An expanded group of
products and services generates a
greater number potential revenue
sources.
A picture, then, of the new model’s
major components is complete.
Certainly this picture will seem odd
and foreign to any encountering it for
the first time. It is very much different
than the old model. But, certainly, the
industry cannot expect to watch the
world around us undergo drastic
changes without expecting such
changes ourselves. Our business model
is bound to change.
Friends, the world is changing. In
response to that change reprographics
is changing in equal or even greater
ways. The new model presented above
is a vision of a new industry, the
construction information industry.
And it describes briefly how at least
one perceives that new industry
springing up, and some of the
important dynamics that will impact
and drive that new industry.
What do you think?
Are important changes taking place?
Do you perceive those changes? Are
your perceptions accurate? What
framework, or model, are you using
upon which to base your perceptions
and judge your actions? Is it accurate?
Is there a model available today upon
which critical long-term business
decisions can be based? ●
Doug Hoek is the president of Veenstra
Reprographics in Grand Rapids, Mich.
Revenue source
The source of revenue will transition
from a print-for-pay model to an
information-for-pay model. And, as
with products and services, the
revenue landscape will be expansive.
19
ASSOCIATIONHIGHLIGHTS
IRgA 80th Annual Convention
to Be Held May 10–12, 2006
New dates offer attendees expanded benefits
T
he International
Reprographic Association
(IRgA) has announced that
its 80th Annual Convention and
Trade Show will be held May
10–12, 2006, at the Gaylord Palms
Resort and Convention Center
located in Orlando, Florida.
The IRgA Board of Directors has
decided unanimously to move
the dates from the following
weekend to avoid a scheduling
conflict that had arisen with
another industry organization.
In addition to accommodating
exhibitors’ needs, moving to the
new dates also benefits 2006
attendees with a further reduced
hotel room rate of $179 per
night, lowered from $189. The
negotiated rate also includes a
number of high-scale amenities
such as free high-speed Internet
access, admittance to the fitness
center, free unlimited shuttle to
and from Disney theme parks
and much more.
“We’re very excited that the
2006 Convention dates will
provide attendees with a further
reduced room rate and expanded
amenities,” notes Chuck
Gremillion, IRgA President.
“With hotel room rates on the
rise in a ‘seller’s market,’ the IRgA
has been able to keep room rates
level for four straight years."
The 2006 Planning Committee,
assembled by incoming president
Michael Shaw, has a head start on
planning the Orlando meeting, and
a Vendor Relations Committee has
been formed to provide input from
the supplier side.
“We are hopeful that more
reprographers and exhibitors than
ever will join the IRgA for its 2006
Convention and Trade Show as we
celebrate 80 successful years of
bringing together the key members
of the reprographics community,"
says Gremillion.
For more information as it
becomes available, please visit
www.irga.com. ■
Welcome IRgA Members of 2005-06!
As August 1 signals the beginning of the IRgA 2005–06 membership year, new
members should be aware that:
• The Discussion Forum e-mail list is an “opt in”—your e-mail address will only be
added to the distribution if you sign up online or by calling IRgA headquarters at
800/833-4742
• The specified contacts and all e-mail addresses indicated on your application form are
automatically added to the REPRO REPORT and IRgA News Digest distribution as
well as the online Directory
• If you have forgotten your login or need a new one, contact IRgA headquarters at
800/833-4742 or send an e-mail to info@irga.com.
Thank you for continuing your participation in the IRgA community!
For those whose membership has lapsed, please note that your 2004-05 information will
no longer be recognized for Web site logins, Discussion Forum e-mails, regular REPRO
REPORT distribution, listing in the Membership Directory and all further member
benefits of the IRgA. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact
800/833-4742. ■
20
ASSOCIATIONHIGHLIGHTS
It's Not Too Late!
Mounting & Laminating
Courses Still Available
The M&L seminars integrate theory
with hands–on training in the latest
technologies and techniques.
New Members
Active
AnB Reprographics
San Diego, Calif.
Blaylock Reprographics
Dallas, Texas
Openings are available for the
following 2005 classes.
Burton Blueprinting
Flint, Mich.
Oct. 13-14 . . . . . . . . Drytac\Dallas, TX
Copy Cop Blueprints
Boston, Mass.
Nov. 10-11 . . . . . . GBC\De Forest, WI
Upcoming Reprographic
Conventions
Central Reprographic Association
September 29 - October 1, 2005
Marriott Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire, Ill.
Contact: Shirley Zawoyski
shirleyzawoyski@sbcglobal.net
Western Reprographic Association
October 5-11, 2005
Sheraton Maui Kaanapali Beach
Maui, Hawaii
Contact: Monica Estrada
monica@piasc.org
Eastern Regional Reprographic
Association
October 6-9, 2005
Hyatt Harborside
Boston, Mass.
Contact: Kim Clements
kjc@johnsonimagingsystems.com
Southeastern Reprographic
Association
November 3-5, 2005
The Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa
Asheville, S.C.
Contact: Forrest Kenley II
forrestjr@aerepro.com
Duncan-Parnell, Inc.
Charlotte, N.C.
ICED
Cypress, Texas
Imtek Reprographics
Nashua, N.H.
New England Blue Print
Paper Co. Inc.
Springfield, Mass.
Sir Speedy Printing
Huntington Station, N.Y.
Triangle Reprocenter of
Princeton, Inc.
Princeton, N.J.
Xact Reprographics
Tampa, Fla.
Associate
Avnet Partner Solutions
Tempe, Ariz.
Mark Bric Display Corp.
Prince George, Va.
PLP Digital Systems, Inc.
Alexandria, Va.
The ColorMan
Dallas, Texas
Thoroughbred Software
International Inc.
Spring, Texas
Xerox Corporation
Stamford, Conn.
Skadden, Arps, Slate,
Meacher & Flom LLP
New York, N.Y.
Interviewing for a Production
Technician? Sales & Marketing
Manager? Controller?
Keep more than 350 pages of employee job descriptions
at your fingertips with the Job Description Sample
Guide, including
• Administrative
• Accounting
• Customer Service
• HR
• IT/IS
• Production
• Sales & Marketing
• Service/Maintenance
• Warehouse/Delivery
An indispensable compilation! Visit the IRgA
Bookstore at www.irga.com or call
800/833-4742 to order your copy today!
21
INSURANCEPRIMER
How to File Your Claims
If the employee is injured, he should
be checked out by medical personnel
and transported to a medical facility if
needed. This would then become a
worker’s compensation claim, and a
first report of injury form should be
completed and filed with the
insurance carrier. Filing the claim
ASAP is essential to controlling
claims costs. This would be true for
the auto claim and the work comp
claim. Why is this so important? In
the case of the auto claim, if the
insurance company is given the
opportunity to contact the injured
party immediately, the chance for a
lawsuit diminishes. The injured party
will feel that the insurance company
wants to help them and take care of
their expenses and won’t be as likely
to contact an attorney for help.
Worker’s comp claims costs are
controlled by allowing the adjustor to
direct the employee to medical care
providers that have negotiated fees
with the insurance company. This
keeps medical costs under control.
service number. Most companies have
a 24-hour reporting line for claims.
Report the claim immediately and ask
for help in securing the building. As
part of the insurance contract, the
insured has the right and duty to
protect their property from further
damage after a loss. This would
include moving undamaged property
to a safe location and securing the
building from further damage. Keep
track of the costs associated with
securing the safety of the building and
property. Take steps to protect the
property from vandals and thieves. It’s
a good idea to tape off the area to keep
curious onlookers away and potential
injuries from occurring. Begin taking
an inventory of your loss. If you have
an inventory list on hand, or have a
video tape of your property, make a
copy for the claims adjustor. If you are
not able to open for business, make
sure you have financial reports to file
for business income reimbursement.
Finally, take all necessary steps to
return to business promptly.
lot of stress at a time where more Slip and Fall
and fall accidents happen on
stress is certainly not needed. Slip
business properties happen on a regular
Claims do not always affect premiums
but they are more certain to affect
pricing if the claim is found to have
been preventable. In this instance,
steps should be taken to make sure
this type of claim does not happen in
the future. The insurance carrier
should be advised that these procedures
are in place. A willingness to accept
more of the claims costs (increase of
deductible) is also helpful in keeping
the claim from affecting future premiums.
D
o you know how to handle a
claim when one of your
delivery drivers rams into the
back of the car in front of them? What
about if a visitor trips and falls in your
shop’s parking lot? Or if a tornado rips
through your building, causing damage
to the building and property inside
and leaving undamaged property out
in the open?
These are the kinds of claims that
happen every day, and they have
happened to the reprographers we
insure. Often, business owners don’t
know the proper procedure for
handling these claims, which leads to
a lot of stress at a time where more
stress is certainly not needed.
Often, business owners don’t know
the proper procedure for handling
these claims, which leads to a
Here are some helpful hints to get you
through the above situations.
Vehicle Accidents
Make sure all vehicles are supplied
with vehicle ID cards. You may also
want to have an accident report form
kept in the vehicle for the driver to
complete. The driver should call the
police, verify the other driver is OK
and offer to share insurance
information. He should not admit
guilt or offer to pay for any damages.
He should then report the accident to
his supervisor. It’s a good idea to have
one person handle the reporting of all
claims to your insurance carrier. This
will help prevent unreported claims
and the chance of being denied
coverage due to late reporting.
22
basis. Most people get up and walk
away uninjured, embarrassed but not
ready to file a lawsuit. However,
there are “professional” slip-and-fall
artists who are on the lookout for an
easy target.
If a customer falls at your shop, offer
to call an ambulance. It’s a good idea
to keep an “incident report” on file in
the event the customer files a claim
later—you may forget the details after
a little time has passed. The incident
report should note the date, time and
location of fall. It should also note if
medical personnel were called or if the
customer refused medical help.
Natural Disasters
Make sure emergency numbers are
kept off premises. These would include
your insurance company’s claims
Accidents and claims situations are
never happy experiences. However,
if you are prepared when the situation
arises, it does not have to be a
nightmare. ●
The St. Paul Travelers Companies and
Acordia of Indiana are respectively the
insurance carrier and agent for IRgA. IRgA
members are invited to contact Patty Sears
at Acordia to discuss how this program can
benefit your company. She can be reached at
866/441-3936, ext. 7640.
IN THE NEWS
New Facility for Triangle Reprographics
QUICK VIEW
Companies in
the News:
AGFA
Blaylock
Reprographics, Inc.
Consolidated
Reprographics
Graphic
Intelligence
Agency
Gretag MacBeth
The practice of eminent domain—much in the news of late—worked to one
shop’s advantage recently. Triangle Reprographics in Orlando, Fla., had to
vacate its home of 25 years to make way for a planned highway intersection. So
the company moved a block away to an historic Coca-Cola bottling plant in
downtown Orlando.
Triangle’s longtime customers SchenkelShultz Architecture and McCree
Construction renovated the 33,000-sq-ft space that combines a state-of-the-art
“open concept” printing facility with the building’s vintage elements.
“The move went remarkably well,” says co-owner Reg Garner. A team of 20
movers, several rigging companies, and technicians from Océ, Ikon, Vutek and
others, spent the night dismantling, moving and re-installing all of Triangle’s
equipment.
“Due to great planning on the part of everyone involved, our Internet
connection and network infrastructure was only down for a few hours and by
[the following] night, all equipment was in place and operational,” says Garner.
IDEAL
Lynn Imaging
Oracal USA
Founded in 1972 by Roger Garner, Triangle Reprographics is a full-service repro
shop with approximately 100 employees. The company is active in the IRgA
and the Southeastern Reprographic Association.
Thomas
Reprographics
Triangle
Reprographics
Thomas Buys
Blaylock, Vanco
Thomas Reprographics, Inc., of
Richardson, Texas, has expanded its presence
with the acquisition of two more
reprographics companies.
Thomas purchased all six locations of
Blaylock Reprographics, Inc., from Mark and
Nancy Blaylock. The deal became effective
July 1.
Blaylock Reprographics opened in 1986,
expanding to four locations in the
Dallas/Fort Worth area, one in Phoenix and
another in Tempe, Ariz. Chris Blaylock will
remain with Thomas Reprographics as the
assistant district manager in Dallas.
Thomas also acquired Vanco Reprographics
in Houston from Chris DeLaGarza, effective
July 31. Vanco offered traditional
reprographic services and supplies at one
location with six employees. DeLaGarza will
remain with Thomas Reprographics as a
salesman for its fleet graphics division.
Thomas Reprographics, Inc. now has more
than thirty locations throughout Dallas/Fort
Worth, Houston, Austin, San Antonio,
Phoenix, Tucson and Minneapolis.
Vanco
Reprographics
Western Graphtec
Lynn Imaging Opens Sixth Location
Lynn Imaging recently opened the doors on its sixth store in Kentucky.
Construction on the Downtown Louisville store began in 2004, under the
direction of Mike Carter, chief operating officer of Lynn Imaging.
The newest Lynn Imaging location celebrates growth, expansion and the
creation of a large format digital printing center for Downtown Louisville. The
ribbon-cutting ceremony included lunch and refreshments and was attended by
longtime partners, customers and friends of Lynn Imaging. Mary Krol, a
representative of Governor Ernie Fletcher, read a letter from the governor, who
was traveling in China.
Lynn Imaging has been serving
the A/E/C industries of Kentucky
and Southern Indiana since 1946.
Left to right: Mary Krol, Governor’s Office;
J.L. Lynn, president; Mike Carter, chief
operating officer; Rich Little, store
manager; Bryan Carter, account manager;
Amanda Schoonover, store manager;
Dottie Carter, human resources officer;
and Renee Metts, product manager.
Contex and Z Corp.
Announce Merger
The recent merger between Contex Scanning
Technology and Z Corporation is designed to
create color scanning and 3D printing
solutions for engineering markets, including
computer-aided design (CAD), geographic
information systems (GIS) and architecture,
engineering and construction (AEC).
Contex scanners digitally capture documents,
drawings and other 2D input in order to view,
edit, archive, convert, file or print the output
data. Z Corp. markets the world’s only fullcolor 3D printers. The combined company
will have annual revenue in excess of $100
million, distribution in more than 80
countries, and more than 400 employees.
“This merger is exciting because combining Z
Corp.’s 3D printers with our leading 2D
scanning and data lifecycle management
products delivers a complete solution for data
collection, storage, processing and output,”
said Steen Borg, CEO of Contex Scanning
Technology and CEO of the combined entity.
23
IN THE NEWS
NEWS BITS
New President at
Consolidated Reprographics
Oracal USA Announces
New Hires
New President for
Western Graphtec
Costa Mesa, Calif.-based Consolidated
Reprographics has chosen Keath
Lauderdale as its new president.
Jacksonville, Fla.-based
Oracal USA has hired
Natalie White as product
manager for its Graphic
Marking & Specialty
Films. She will develop
and implement marketing
programs for Oracal USA’s
line of vinyl graphic films.
She previously worked in
marketing and sales for
Leggett & Platt.
Yasutaka Arakawa has
been appointed to the
position of president and
CEO of Western Graphtec
Inc., a manufacturer of
plotters, vinyl cutters, color
printer, scanners, intelligent recording
instruments and data acquisition systems.
Lauderdale served as the
company’s vice president of
sales and marketing, and
has worked in the Orange
County reprographics
industry since 1978. He has
been part of the company’s management
team for the past 11 years.
In addition to its 45,000-sq-ft headquarters in Costa Mesa, Consolidated
Reprographics has locations in
Anaheim, Laguna Hills, Corona, San
Bernardino, Temeku Valley and Tustin,
Calif., as well as Phoenix-Tempe and
Scottsdale, Ariz., Las Vegas and a new
facility in Mexico City.
Agfa Hires Inkjet Specialist
Steve Cutler has joined Agfa’s
Graphic Systems team as the marketing
manager for the company’s new Sign,
Screen, and Display segment. He
will focus on the company’s large-format
inkjet printing solutions, including
the Sherpa Universal AM, Anapurna
100, inkjet media and ink and
universal printheads.
Cutler previously served as technical
design account manager for Charrette
and also worked in various positions for
Océ USA, Inc., IKON Office Solutions,
and ABDick Co.
Oracal has also hired Jeff Lancashire as
an associate product specialist in Product
Technical Support. His sign-making
experience and customer service skills
will support the company’s international
network of distributors and end-users
with product-related matters.
IDEAL Wins Contex Award
For the eighth consecutive year,
Rockville, Md.-based IDEAL.com has
won the Distributor of the Year award
from Contex Scanning Technology.
IDEAL features Contex large format
scanners in scan-to-print solutions
featuring the Seiko LP1010 printer.
IDEAL received their award at Contex’s
annual distributor meeting held in June
2005 in Lisbon, Portugal. “It’s been
another exciting year for IDEAL,” says
Jay Magenheim, president of
IDEAL.com. “We’re honored to be
recognized again by Contex.”
Arakawa previously served as the
company’s domestic sales executive in
Japan, where he helped develop new
markets and sales strategies. Arakawa
previously spent more than 15 years at
Aiwa Company Ltd. in the overseas sales
department, and he has extensive
experience working with the North and
South American markets.
The company has also appointed three
new product managers. Neal Baessler has
become product manager for the
company’s Cutter/Plotter division. He
has more than 16 years of sign industry
experience specializing in vinyl cutters,
flatbed cutters, pen plotters and printers.
Charlie Yang will be product manager
for the company’s Inkjet Printer line.
Yang has been with the company for
approximately two years and previously
held the position of Inkjet Product
Specialist. He has spent 10 years in the
digital color-imaging industry.
Hisashi Araki will take over as product
manager for the company’s scanner line.
He has been with Graphtec Corporation
for three years in the Sign and Apparel
Division, where he distinguished himself
with the honor of achieving top sales in
the domestic market.
Plan Express Makes Tennessee Fast50
Memphis-based Plan Express, Inc.,
recently made Business Tennessee
magazine’s Fast50 ranking of the
fastest growing private companies
in Tennessee.
“We have worked very hard to achieve
the level of growth necessary to be
selected for such a prestigious honor,”
said DeWayne Adamson, Plan Express’
24
CEO and founder. “With our recent
capital infusion we have already begun
to build the infrastructure necessary to
significantly increase our revenues
which should ensure we are a fixture
on the Business Tennessee’s Fast50
ranking for many years to come.”
To be considered, Fast50 nominees
must have been in business for at least
three years, generate more than
$750,000 of revenue, employ five or
more people, be independent and
privately owned (not publicly traded
or a subsidiary) and be headquartered
in Tennessee.
Business Tennessee is a statewide
monthly magazine covering business
and politics in Tennessee.
IN THE NEWS
GIA and Gretag Offer Digital Seminar
The Graphic Intelligence Agency and
GretagMacbeth are offering “Making
the Leap to Digital,” a training
seminar that will travel to 19 North
American cities.
The full-day seminars teach attendees
how to use the latest tools and
techniques for professional display
graphics. The program is designed for
new to intermediate level digital sign
makers, print service providers and
sign franchises, as well as anyone who
needs help transitioning from
traditional sign making or integrating
their digital workflow.
Covered topics include:
• Sign market opportunities
• Growing your digital business
• Fundamentals of digital technology
• Differences between aqueous, mild
solvent, solvent and UV-cure
• RIP tools and features to improve
your workflow and color
• Matching spot colors, including
printing vinyl colors
• Printing color signs and banners
with confidence
• Output and screen-to-print color
management
• Getting the most out of your media
• Finishing and mounting
Support for the events is being
provided by Onyx Graphics, Roland
DGA, Avery Graphics, Seal Graphics,
Sign Business Magazine and Digital
Graphics Magazine.
For registration details and other
information, call 888/439-4403 or visit
www.graphintel.com/dsm/.
Pick up from May/June
pg. 16
25
Just Like Family
Ensuring that non-family members feel vested
in the business helps build morale and goes
a long way towards retention.
By Scott Cullen
(Part three of our three-part series on family businesses in reprographics)
E
rnie Doud, president of
Doud Hausner and
Associates in Glendale,
Calif., a consulting
organization to family
businesses, tells a story
that illustrates the gap that sometimes
exists between family and non-family
employees with a family-owned business.
He was interviewing a key non-family
employee who worked in top
management for a fairly substantial
family business. During the interview
this employee told Doud, “I understand
I’m not part of the family and that
they own this [business] and it’s their
money. And I’m here to help them
make it. I also understand that they
can do with it whatever they want,
but when they bring their kids in and
start throwing lavish salaries at them
for no reason at all, it diminishes me.”
That’s not an unusual scenario and
one that can be found within familyowned businesses in virtually any
industry. But in the reprographics
industry, family businesses and
reprographics are often synonymous.
Although dangers like the one
outlined above are inherent in
many family businesses, many make
a conscious effort to ensure that
non-family employees are treated
fairly and equitably.
Consider Chicago-based Cushing &
Co. with its 85 employees, including
four permanent full-time
owners/siblings, and three fourthgeneration family members—one a
full-time sales rep and two college
interns. Here a conscious effort is
made to ensure that non-family
members feel like they are important
to the business. “We have ten senior
staff members—four family and six
non-family,” explains President Cathie
Duff, a third-generation Cushing. “We
reward long-term managers with a
bonus program and perks to reinforce
the sense that they are part of the
team running the company, which
they truly are.”
Although the overall operations of the
company has been handled by the
Cushing family for years and will
continue to do so in the future, there
are opportunities for non-family
members to move up in the
organization.
“I don’t beat around the bush about
the fact that it’s my family name over
the door, and my brother—nearly 14
years my junior—will take over in
three to five years,” says Duff. “But
just as my management team has always
had non-family members, so will his,
and there is room in a company like
ours to advance to senior management.”
Reg Garner, vice president of Triangle
Reprographics in Orlando, Fla., has
spent some 29 years with the company
started by his father and a partner in
1972. His two daughters work there
part time and his stepmother works
full time in marketing. The company
also has two non-family partners—one
serving as comptroller and the other,
director of operations.
“They are just as much a part of this
company as I am,” says Garner who
describes the company as “one big
family.”
He adds, “We spend more time here
than we do at home, and this should
be a pleasant place to work for
everyone.”
Creating a family atmosphere and
treating employees fairly is something
Garner’s father instilled in the
business from the get go. In addition
to the requisite Christmas party, the
company has a picnic each year for
employees and their families, a
company newsletter that recognizes
their employees and key milestones,
such as birthdays, and the owners
always make sure to send flowers when
employees or their immediate family
are in the hospital.
Triangle’s vision, purpose, and mission
statement punctuates the company’s
commitment to its employees. Its
purpose is to earn the trust of its
employees, customers, and community
through its dedication to fairness,
honesty, and respect for one another.
Similarly, two items in its mission
statement also underscore this
commitment: “to always remember
that our people make a difference”
and “to recognize and reward our
people for their accomplishments.”
The Eye of the Beholder
The way a family business treats its
employees is often in the eye of the
beholder. “Many of our clients tell us
how they have a lot of non-family
employees and some key non-family
employees, and that they try to make
them feel just like family. Of course
one of the reasons we’re there is
because there’s a lot of disharmony in
the family,” laughs Doud. “So you’ve
got to wonder how good a deal that is.”
No matter how you slice, dice or
julienne it, the reality is that even the
most trusted, longstanding employee is
not part of the family and knows that
they’re not part of the family. Doud
maintains that treating people
equitably and fairly and not giving
family members high-profile privileges
that would not accrue to other
employees is important.
“How do we conduct ourselves as
family members, and do we or do we
not recognize these boundaries, or do
we or do we not choose to honor
them?” asks Doud. “I think that’s
vitally important. It’s far more
important than inviting people to
Christmas dinner or whatever the
family might do socially. Because the
social part is understood to be different,
the business part shouldn’t be.”
like outsiders. First is minimizing the
discrepancies between the way
employees are generally treated and
the way one treats family employees.
“It minimizes the impact of what’s
really a bit of a barrier that everybody
knows is there—family,” says Doud.
He also recommends that a family
business set rules, particularly in
business-related matters. “Creating a
boundary between a family and a
business—understanding that you’re
never going to separate them—that is
defensible that says you are an
employee of this business and you get
no special privilege from your family
membership,” suggests Doud.
they have a stake in the family business
yields an array of benefits. “Pride in
doing a good job is absolutely the most
valuable thing that my employees bring
to the table,” says Duff. “I want them
to be proud of the work they do and of
the company that they represent. This
is energizing, reduces turnover, and
helps create teams that work well
together.”
Another issue, particularly with key
employees who are counted on to
ensure a good return on investment is
how they are rewarded for their
efforts. Some companies offer longcontinued on page 28
Making It Work
Duff believes in finding ways to
constantly reinforce their positive
behaviors and broadcasting that praise
in positive ways throughout her
company. “A friend of mine in the
industry says ‘Praise in public, criticize
in private,’” she adds. “The other
thing is keep them visible
representing you.”
At Cushing non-family
employees often participate in
off-site training, attend
regional trade shows. The
appropriate employees also
represent the company at
industry functions or
conferences. “It’s important
that they realize that they are
a part of a company that is
serious about their development
and that feels that they can
represent themselves and their
role in the company well,” says
Duff.
Making non-family
members feel as if
Doud says that there are a couple of
components that are important to
ensure non-family members don’t feel
27
time employees small percentages of
stock, but Doud frowns on that
practice. “Unless you are building the
company for sale or to take it public,
giving non-family members stock in
the business is one of the worst things
you can possibly do,” opines Doud.
He says that this may seem like a good
thing from an emotional level, but
practically speaking it creates a few
problems. Often it is restricted stock,
which means it’s subject to a buy/sell
agreement. “What are they going to do
with it?” questions Doud. “Chances are
at the end of the road, if that’s all
they’ve got, you’re going to have to
buy it back from them at some point
in time.”
Another issue is valuation. “How do
you value the shares?” ponders Doud.
“You’ve also got an
issue of disclosure
because most families
are private about their
finances—even their
business finances. And
a lot of stuff between
the gross margin and
the net profit is
engineered to
minimize profit. So
what you’re doing is
benefiting the family
but not doing much
for the non-family
shareholder.”
PerformanceBased
Incentives
Instead he recommends
setting up a
performance-based
incentive system. The
premise is that if
everybody in the
organization does their
job, the company expects a certain
return. If everybody does better and the
company enjoys a better return, the
company should share that with the
employees who helped create it. “It’s not
just if we feel good about it we give
everybody a Christmas turkey in dollar
form,” says Doud. “But let’s tie
everybody’s reward to performance.
Some people take that down through an
organization, others like to leave that a
little closer to the top.”
This makes employees feel as if they
have a proprietary interest in the
results of their effort by letting them
share in a portion of the returns above
what is expected. “That’s a simple
model and you can do that without
encumbering the family or
encumbering the employee with
ownership,” adds Doud.
That’s what Triangle Reprographics
does, as does Air Graphics, a
reprographics house with three
locations in the greater Boston area
and one in Portland, Maine.
At Air Graphics the focus is on
employee retention. “One of the ways
we retain employees is make them feel
as if they are part of the business,” says
Mike Cully president. Cully who owns
the business along with his brother
Kevin and a third partner. The
company employs more than 60 people
at its four locations.
Several years ago Cully hired a
consulting firm to create an incentive
plan for employees at every level in
the organization. Employees are rated
in five different categories although
ultimately the measurable targets they
are responsible for are sales dollars per
branch. “The more sales dollars they
bring to the branch, the more money
we return to them,” explains Cully.
Bonuses are handed out quarterly and
it’s up to the branch manager to
decide how the money is distributed.
Each day throughout the quarter
the company presents employees
with a progress report showing them
where they are in terms of reaching
their goals.
“This has worked well because
employees feel as if this is their
business,” notes Cully. Another thing
that Cully does is promote from within
whenever possible. “Attrition can be
quite frequent in this business because
there isn’t always a career path for
many of these folks.”
Triangle also rewards employees with
bonuses that are based on the
profitability of the company. “Because
it’s based on profitability we educate
employees on what profit is and how
we lose profit by unnecessary overtime
and waste and all the other things that
impact it,” says Garner.
An Inherent
Appreciation
Doud counts many family businesses as
his clients and firmly believes that by
and large, many are doing the right
thing in the way they treat their nonfamily employees. “In general family
businesses are far more aware of and
far more appreciative of the
contributions of their employees than
business in general,” states Doud.
When asked why, he simply says,
“Because it’s a family.” Doud then
adds, “Families care about each other
and when that caring translates into
the business, what you get is a natural
unpretentious and genuine
appreciation for the contribution of
everybody in the business.” ●
Scott Cullen is a freelance writer and
editor who has been writing on imaging
technologies and office equipment trends
Treating people equitably and fairly and not giving
family members high-profile privileges that would not
accrue to other employees is important.
28
Digital Services:
An International Perspective
A sampling of how repro shops around the world are dealing with—and charging
for—scanning, archiving, indexing and other data management services
By Andrea May
M
aking pictures of pictures was a more
straightforward operation when you could hold
the original document in your hand. Now, a
picture is converted into bits and bytes of electronic
memory and then reproduced as a digital array of dots.
Digital services are a whole class of deliverables that stem
from the need to convert data from analog to digital and
back again. The beauty of electronic information is that it
can be stored, altered and transferred more easily than
paper. The bane of electronic information is that storing,
altering and transferring this information is more tricky,
costly and time-consuming than copying an original off the
old glass. Three IRgA international member firms share
their experiences with digital services. ●
Formerly the managing editor of REPRO REPORT, Andrea May is a
freelance writer who earned a journalism degree from Ohio University in
Athens, Ohio. She can be reached at amayirga@aol.com.
NEW ZEALAND
Neville Newcomb Reprographic Centers, Auckland
Digital Services
In 1994 Neville Newcomb Reprographic Centers rolled
out some nominal digital access fees for plot file
conversions and PDF file transfers. These digital service
fees netted less than 1% of gross sales revenue. In
response to market pressures, the digital access fees were
eliminated in all but the most complex areas such as
handling complicated large files. “I suggest to you that
inside five years very few of you will be able to charge a
meaningful fee for digital access of plans or graphic
printing,” predicts Director Mark Newcomb. Although,
Newcomb clarifies that he does see a future in data
management fees.
Pricing Formula
Initially A/E/C customers were charged a setup fee of
$70.53 (USD $50) as well as a small monthly fee to
defray Océ Reprodesk service file access costs. The
pricing formula for the monthly digital access fee was
value-based rather than the more commonplace costplus-profit pricing strategy. While labor cost estimates
factored into the pricing, management felt customers
would not value the access enough to charge a price
that would recoup the cost of implementing an
30
archiving/data management system, employment of IT
professionals and other expenses associated with
supporting a backup server and Web site. The digital
access fees break down by customer type was: A/E/C
customers paid $4.24 NZD (USD $3), graphic arts
customers paid $7.05 NZD (USD $5) and general
office customers paid $8.46 NZD (USD $6). These fees
were charged regardless of the printing volume.
Customer Reaction
The setup fees were quickly abandoned due to an
overwhelmingly negative customer response. The
reaction to the individual job digital access fees was
mixed. Architects were more accepting, presumably
because they passed costs down the line, while the
graphic arts customers objected to the digital download
fee from the get-go. Contributing to the problem,
employees were inclined to discount or remove the
digital access fees to keep customers happy.
A plan room delivering complete document
management solutions is next on the horizon.
Newcomb is researching the Australian product
Aconex and a customized version of Planwell.
SPAIN
Cianoplan, Getxo, Bizkaia
Digital Services
Customer Reaction
Scanning and saving files became a necessary step in
the printing process with Cianoplan’s purchase of
large-format digital equipment in 1995. That same
year, Cianoplan purchased a PC equipped with a CD
burner. As a result, clients began paying scanning and
CD burning fees. Today, the shop’s digital service fees
span the basics like sending and receiving e-mails to
more complex services such as indexing. While
precise figures were not available, Cianoplan IT
Manager Pablo Perez estimates that digital services
fee revenue was less than 15% of gross sales revenue.
Cianoplan services a predominantly A/E/C customer
base as well as large format color and design studio
customers.
Digital services are routinely delivered to fulfill
customers’ printing needs. Selling copies of project
plans and specs remains the core business. For this
reason, if a client orders a CD bid set but opts to do
their own printing, the customer will pay more than
double for the CD than another customer who orders
the CD bid set and drawings. While most digital
service charges were passed along to customers
without much fanfare, CD burning charges often
causes customer flare ups.
Pricing Formula
Since upgrading from dial-up to broadband Internet
connectivity, sending and receiving e-mails is now
charged per megabyte rather than by the minute.
Cianoplan also has a three-tiered pricing structure for
burning CDs. CDs storing less than 150MB cost 5,30
euros (USD $6.45), greater than 150-400MB cost
7,11 euros (USD $8.65) and anything more cost 8,86
euros (USD $10.74).
Scanning charges vary according to the printed paper
size. Price for automatic scanning of one A4 size
original is 0,18 euros (USD $0.22) and one A3 size
original is 0,16 (USD $0.19). Manual scanning for
A0, A1 and A2 is 2,62 euros (USD $3.19).
Indexing charges, billed as file manipulation, are
perhaps the most complex digital services to deliver.
Pricing begins with a 15-minute minimum charge at 7
euros (USD $8.40). The breakdown of Optical
Character Recognition (OCR) scanning charges are
as follows: Session opening at 2 euros (USD $2.43),
price per sheet and cost of CD. Scanning fees are
waived if the customers partner with Cianoplan by
bringing in their pendrive or USB device. This saves
labor costs by avoiding the reading and recording
hassles diskettes and CDs are prone to causing.
“Charging for CD burning is a nightmare,” says Perez.
“The problem is that some customers order only the
CD so we don’t get any profit from the project. To
avoid that, we charge 30 euros [USD $36.48] for the
CD. But we charge 12 euros [USD $14.59] for the CD
if the customer buys the whole package—the CD and
the paper. To burn a CD is a time-consuming task
that we really don’t want to do. We don’t have a
solution to this problem. If we lower the price of the
CD we may lose money in the operation and probably
in the whole project selling area. If we don’t lower
the price, we may lose customers who get angry
because they say they can buy a CD for 0,30 in the
store.”
Reprographers’ skill sets have expanded beyond
printing to data management. But it matters very
little to customers worldwide. Ask them what they
want, and this is what they will tell you: Deliver the
goods in whatever size, medium or format I need.
Because of digital computing, pictures now range in
size from A3 to megabytes and are reproduced on
CDs and in plan rooms. Without standard electronic
formats, data is received and converted as plot, .tiff,
.vic and PDF files. As a result the business of making
pictures of pictures continues to challenge
reprographers around the globe.
31
AUSTRALIA
Don Kibble Drawing Supplies, Queensland
Digital Services
Reprographics’ evolution from a labor- to capital-based
industry offered Don Kibble Drawing Supplies a
competitive advantage over smaller copy shops that
owned and operated only basic machinery. An
investment in an Océ 9700 resulted in the creation of
a digital service revenue stream. Archival CD scanning
and distribute-and-print scanning services became
their first fee-based digital services.
Pricing Formula
Nominal, but profitable, digital service charges are
incurred by the customers when little or no printing is
required. This pricing strategy serves as a way to
combat rising unit costs as a result of decreased print
volume. Zeroing in on the right price for a new service
is always a challenge. Being an early adopter of
cutting-edge technology, it wasn’t possible to base
pricing on industry competition. However, the owners
did learn what some of Océ’s customers in other
industries were charging. This provided a jumping-off
point. It was fairly straightforward to estimate the labor
and CD material costs associated with delivering
digital scanning services. The services were priced
inexpensively to encourage high-volume, repeat
business. For example, the cost is $4 AUD (USD
$3.20) a scan for a hundred scans or fewer and $2
AUD (USD $1.60) a scan for more than a hundred.
Scanning services generate about 1% of the $1 million
AUD (USD $800,000) net sales.
32
Delivering these ancillary services provides an
opportunity to market and sell their full range of
capabilities adding a few more percentage points to
income. Don Kibble Drawing Supplies services a large
construction industry customer base deriving 70% of its
income from large format mono copies, A3/A4 color
and black and white copying.
Customer Reaction
A simple exercise proves the value of a digital archival
repository. Ask clients to calculate the rental or storage
fees to archive paper drawings in house or at an offsite
storage facility. Many customers are shocked to learn the
dollar figure says Danny Kibble, co-director of Don
Kibble Drawing Supplies. A digital archival repository is
cheaper, safer and offers more convenient access. Kibble
recalls customers readily valued these new services: “The
ability to store files and destroy old plans that are space
consuming is a concept that just grows with acceptance.
Pricing of the service has also been well received. We
often hear comments how it seems too cheap in relation
to the usefulness of the concept of digital files.”
The capability to scan drawings, upload files to a
centralized location and digitally distribute plans on
demand offered significant time and cost savings for
A/E/C customers. The distribute-and-print model was a
green light that revved up the speed of business. In a
digital world, it no longer makes sense to stand by the
plotter drinking coffee while your original drawings
print out or to slow down the bid process by waiting for
plans to be shipped to an out-of-town subcontractor.
PRODUCTINNOVATIONS
Cooley DreamScape
Wall Coverings
Cooley Digital Products has released
DreamScape decorative vinyl media
for digital printing. DreamScape is an
inkjet vinyl wall covering that can be
used as a residential or commercial
wall covering for borders, murals,
indoor sign displays, and trade show
and indoor banners.
The media use a vinyl compound
formulated for maximum output from
solvent- and eco-solvent-based
printers. The embossed surface can
mask some print artifacts like micro
banding, allowing a printer to print a
lower resolution at higher speeds.
DreamScape is designed for easy
installation and removal, using
conventional heavy-duty wall covering
paste application materials and
techniques.
DreamScape is available in 12 different
textures, in 20-oz. weights. Standard
widths are 54" by 100 yards, with
custom sizes of 30", 48", and 60"
widths, in rolls of 25 and 50-yard rolls
available upon request.
For more information, visit
www.cooleygroup.com.
Vector Multi Purpose Paper for laser
and inkjet printers, high-speed copiers
and plain-paper faxes is a 20-lb. sheet
available in several standard sizes.
xpedx has also created the Digital
Paper Selector guide to help users
match papers and printing equipment.
The guide is available from your local
xpedx office. For more information,
visit www.xpedx.com.
PLP OpCenter Software
PLP Digital Systems recently debuted
the OpCenter solution suite
productivity management software.
OpCenter shows the status of every job
on every printer at every location so
production staff can see at a glance
what’s working, what isn’t and what
deadlines are at risk.
OpCenter’s Job Board monitor shows
employees and production managers
the job and printer status in each
office, allowing managers to
collaborate by exchanging jobs to run
on under-utilized equipment.
OpCenter also offers the Dashboard, a
Web-accessible program providing
information and production control for
executives at home or on the road.
Other features of the software include:
• Start time and finish time
New Paper Line
from xpedx
xpedx has created the Vector line of
coated and multipurpose papers to
provide high-quality, low-cost digital
printing media. The cut-size papers
are precision sheeted and can be used
in laser and inkjet printers, plain-paper
fax machines, high-speed copiers, offset
presses and direct imaging presses.
• Tracking job and printer status on
any PLP PlotWorks controller
• Tracking job status on any Repro
Desk controller
• Monitoring printer warnings
including low toner, paper jams and
hardware failures
• Tracking media status by roll
and paper size.
Learn more at www.plp.com.
Vector Coated Laser is a 90-bright,
blue-white paper for mid- and highvolume production printers with copy
and laser applications. It’s available in
gloss or dull finishes for color or black
and white projects.
Vector DI Coated Offset is a smooth
87-bright media and is available in
gloss and matte finishes for vibrant
four-color prints on equipment
including Ryobi and Heidelberg
DI presses.
“Make a Stand”
with Drytac
Drytac’s Make-A-Stand Graphic
Production Kit is designed for one-off
displays, allowing users to create a
finished graphic banner without
buying complete rolls of print media
and laminate films.
The kit includes a 10' roll of Drytac’s
Printable Eclipse, a 6-mil, white
polyester backing film. The film was
developed specifically for banner
stands, prints on most aqueous thermal
and piezo inkjet printers, and features
an embedded blackout layer for
100% opacity.
The kit also includes a 20' roll of
Drytac EmeryTex overlaminate, a 5mil, scuff-resistant, pressure-sensitive
laminating film with a non-glare finish
(pressure-sensitive or HeatSet
adhesive). The end result is a durable
graphic that stands up to handling,
rolling and shipping, and hangs flat
and straight.
The Make-A-Stand kit comes in 36"
and 50" widths. For more information
and specs, see www.drytac.com.
IDEAL/Contex
PUMA Scanner
The new IDEAL/Contex PUMA HS
36 Color Scanner is a tri-camera,
600dpi optical color and monochrome
scanner with a built-in Linux processor
and an iJET panel that enables the
setup and activation of full scan-toprint and scan-to-file options directly
at the scanner.
QUICK VIEW
Companies in
Product
Innovations:
3P Inkjet Textiles
ColorGATE
Contex
Cooley Digital
Products
Drytac
Ibena
IDEAL.com
InteliCoat
Onyx Graphics
Paradigm
Imaging Group
PLP Digital
Systems
Rose Displays
When used with the Seiko LP1010
printer and IDEAL ScanOS or IDEAL
PrintOS, the PUMA HS 36 provides a
fast front end for high-speed
monochrome scan-to-print
applications. Its color scanning speeds
and image quality also work for large
format color inkjet scan-to-print
applications.
Sihl USA
VUTEk
xpedx
The scanner also features:
• Up to 3"/sec full color and 12"/sec
monochrome scanning
• Optical resolution of 600 dpi with
software enhancements to 1200 and
9600 dpi
• 48-bit color for photorealistic
vivid colors
• 16-bit gray tone capture for
reproduction of grayscales
• Four wheel-drive for effective grip
and a smooth feed
• Accuracy Lens Enhancement
Technology (ALE) for 0.1% +/- 1
pixel precision
33
PRODUCTINNOVATIONS
Visit www.ideal.com for more
information.
pigmented inks as well as solvent, ecosolvent or UV-curable inks.
Scanning Arts Software
from Paradigm
Universal heavy FR (IQ-IJ101) is a 7.1mil substrate that fulfills the fire
protection requirements of Germany and
the US. It is available in sizes of 17" to
60" widths on 100' rolls with a 3" core.
Universal light (IQ-IJ103) is a 6.3-mil
fabric available in 150' rolls.
3P recommends the Universal line for
point-of-purchase display, signage
application and banners. More
information at www.3p-inktextiles.com.
Onyx Workflow for Wide
Format Production
Scanning Arts scanner control software
from Paradigm Imaging Group was
designed for use with the Graphtec line
of large format scanners.
Scanning Arts is a turn-key, large format
multi-function system now available as
standalone software to serve applications
including facilities management, CAD,
GIS, archiving, reprographics and digital
printing. The software is fully compatible
with Graphtec large format color
scanners, including the CS400,
CS500 and CS600 series, as well as with
the Graphtec JW1000 printer series and
other popular large format inkjet
printers.
Scanning Arts provides optimized
default settings for a variety of original
document types including maps,
drawings, blueprints, photos and posters.
Advanced users can define their own
settings to tailor the process to their
specific needs.
The software also features accounting
and job tracking for cost management.
Scanning Arts is compatible with
Windows XP Professional operating
system and performs best with a Pentium
4-based system. More details are
available at www.paradigmimaging.com/
3P Universal
Polyester Media
3P InkJet Textiles AG’s Universal heavy
FR and Universal light substrates are
matte-coated polyester fabrics
compatible with all aqueous dye and
34
and outdoor and indoor signage, is
available in 46" widths and does not
need to be laminated.
Ibena is also distributing the new fireretardant Ahlstrom Banner, available in
36" to 54" widths and compatible with
either water-based or solvent-based
inkjets, including Mimaki, Mutoh,
Roland, Zünd, Vutek, Gandinnovations,
Océ Arizona, and Scitex. Applications
include indoor banners, booths,
decoration, exhibit display panels, POP
displays, posters, lightboxes and
decorative suspended ceilings and
require no lamination.
For more information on both products,
visit www.ibena.com.
VUTEk PressVu UV
320/400
VUTEk has added to its PressVu UV
family of UV-curing flatbed and UltraVu
solvent roll-to-roll printers.
Onyx Graphics has upgraded its Onyx
ProductionHouse, PosterShop and
RIPCenter software. Version 6.5 includes
performance improvements of up to 30%
plus an Ink Usage Tracking to estimate
ink usage before a job is run. The new
version remains fully compatible with
color output, printer drivers and media
profiles developed in Version 6.0. The
upgrades have been optimized to run on
Intel Pentium 4 and greater platforms.
The PressVu UV 320/400 is a 400-dpi,
four-color UV-curing flatbed printer
starting at $299,000. It can handle rigid
substrates up to 1.75" thick and 126"
wide, and prints up to 1,000 sq. ft. per
hour. It also features roll-to-roll
capability.
More information is available at
www.vutek.com.
The suggested list prices for new users
are $4,995 for Onyx ProductionHouse,
$2,995 for Onyx PosterShop and $1,195
for Onyx RIPCenter.
Users of Version 6.0 can download
the upgrade from the Onyx Graphics
Web site at www.onyxgfx.com. Users of
versions 5.5 and 5.6 can upgrade
to version 6.5 by purchasing a
Product Upgrade, which ranges from
$395 to $995 depending on the software
package.
New Ibena Media Need
No Lamination
Ibena has added to its dpi-tex line with
paper-backed PES FR mesh fabric, a 2.1oz coated substrate compatible with
solvent-based and UV-curable printers.
The fabric, suitable for banners, flags,
Drytac AutoScroller
Banner Stand
Drytac’s new scrolling banner stand
uses eye-catching moving graphics.
The scrolling message design allows
PRODUCTINNOVATIONS
the AutoScroller to deliver twice
the content in the same space as a
static stand.
The free-standing AutoScroller, powered
by a motor concealed in the base, rotates
a continuous 160" graphic loop. The
spring-loaded stand is recommended for
trade shows, museums, hotel lobbies,
sports venues or other public spaces.
Graphics for the AutoScroller can be
made with standard inkjet printers and
finishing processes. The aluminum
and chrome stand, designed for longterm use, offers a clean look that
emphasizes the graphic message. The
AutoScroller measures 78" x 33.5",
operates on standard 110v power and
plugs into any outlet.
More information is available at
www.drytac.com.
Two New Graphtec
Plotters
Graphtec has introduced two new
engineering class CE3000Mk2 series
cutting plotters, including features that
have previously only been available with
higher-end machines. This entry-level
series is designed for new sign businesses
that want quality and reliability without
a large investment. The CE3000Mk2-60
measures 24", and the CE3000Mk2-120
measures 48".
Features include maximum cutting
speeds of 24ips (CE3000Mk2-60) and
39ips (CE3000Mk2-120) with a
maximum cutting force of 300g and
450g respectively. A user-friendly menu
navigation system features eight groups
of preset conditions for pre-programmed
job-specific plotter setups. Tri-port
connectivity (USB, parallel and serial)
makes the CE3000Mk2 series
compatible with virtually any computer
configuration.
Find product specs and more
information at www.graphtecusa.com.
Charrette Duratex
Solvent Printer
Charrette has added to its Duratex
Solvent line with the Duratex SP-87X
87" wide solvent inkjet printer. The new
six-color solvent printer can print up to
400 square feet an hour with printing
resolution up to 1440dpi. The printer
also comes standard with two 500ml
refillable ink cartridges per color.
The SP-87X’s Duratex solvent inks are
backed by the Avery Graphics ICS
Performance Guarantee when used
with specified Avery Graphics brand
solvent media.
www.charrette.com or call
800-367-3729.
Océ TCS400 Supported by
InterPlot Driver Pack
The Océ TCS400 integrated large
format color print, copy and scan system
is now supported by the InterPlot
Driver Pack from Bentley Systems, Inc.
The InterPlot Driver Pack is part of
Bentley’s Digital InterPlot, a plotting
solution capable of electronic plot
creation, storage, and network and
Internet distribution.
Ideal CopyMate 18
Flatbed Scanner
The new IDEAL/Contex COPYmate 18
Wide Format Flat Bed Color Scanner is
designed to scan all types of originals,
including documents up to C size and
media over half an inch thick, such as
books, delicate originals and fine art.
The COPYmate 18’s embedded iJET
technology lets users scan and make
copies directly to any computer or
printer on the LAN, or directly to an
attached USB printer. It is designed to
meet the requirements for the GIS, fine
art reproduction and historical document
preservation markets. Other features
include: flatbed for delicate documents;
patented Auto Lens Enhancement
(ALE) for increased accuracy; scanning
resolutions up to 9600 dpi; 48 bit color
for photo-realistic vivid colors; and 16
bit gray tone capture.
www.ideal.com.
Digital InterPlot is ideally suited for
shops creating multiple, complex plot
sets from Bentley’s MicroStation
software and are looking to streamline
workflow, improve internal productivity
and use color in large format technical
document output.
Paradigm Adds Display
Products
Digital InterPlot and the Océ
TCS400 work together to provide a
productive, user-friendly large format
color printing system.
Paradigm will now feature a wide variety
of pop-up packages and exhibit stands in
sizes ranging from tabletops to 20 foot
pop-up packages, panel systems, banner
stands, exhibition furniture, lighting,
cases and much more. The new products
are easy to use and can be set up in a
matter of minutes. The displays are
manufactured in the United States and
come with a lifetime warranty.
The use of color is also an added plus
for AEC and GIS firms that need to
quickly and accurately convey high
precision maps, line drawings and
photographic images at a glance. Users
of the combined system no longer have
to rely on hand-drawn revisions with
color markers.
Bentley SELECT subscribers who
already have the InterPlot Driver Pack
can download the most recent version,
which includes the Océ TCS400 driver,
from the Bentley SELECT Web site
(www.bentley.com) free of charge. New
users can order the InterPlot Driver Pack
from either Bentley or Océ
(www.oceusa.com).
Paradigm Imaging Group has added
several pop-up, panel displays and
tabletops to its line of banner stands and
custom printed banners.
Features of the new line include:
lightweight and compact materials;
quick assembly without tools; package
pricing that includes display, lights and
case; available with or without graphics;
and flexible, durable, easily reconfigured
solutions.
Visit www.paradigmimaging.com for
more information.
35
PRODUCTINNOVATIONS
ColorGATE Free Upgrade
ColorGATE is offering a free
downloadable update for its Version 4
products, PRODUCTIONSERVER4,
PHOTOGATE4 and PROOFGATE4.
The new release, version 4.05, Build
195, focuses on Speed Screen, a raster
technology that increases productivity
within production environments of
large format inkjet output.
Rose Displays
Adjustable Cable System
Rose Displays Ltd. has introduced an
Adjustable Cable System that allows
visual display managers to change
display heights and create multi-tiered
hanging displays in minutes.
The ColorGATE Speed Screen
stochastic raster technology increases
speed and efficiency up to 400%
compared to the ColorGATE Crispy
raster. The respective updates of
Version 4.05, Build 195 for
PRODUCTIONSERVER4,
PHOTOGATE4 and PROOFGATE4
are available for download for
customers with client login at
www.colorgate.com/colorgate.rip/en/do
wnload/updatezentrale/updates/.
The Adjustable Cable System solves
the problem of varying ceiling heights
in different environments without
custom-ordering cable lengths for each
location. With the Adjustable Cable
System, the cable can be wrapped
around Rose’s Spider Rings—clear,
grooved plastic disks that affix securely
to the cables with each wrap. Each full
wrap shortens the cable by 3", and
each Spider Ring can accommodate
up to ten wraps for 30" of adjustment.
Multiple rings can be used to further
shorten the cable. In addition, the
Spider Ring technology means that
signs hang level every time, and the
rings can be easily moved from
line-of-sight for a clean look.
The Adjustable Cable System also lets
visual display manager change the
height of their graphics as often as
they like. For additional information
or to request the latest catalog, call
1-800-631-9707 or visit
www.rosedisplays.com.
36
Sihl WeatherPro Media
Sihl USA has released two new
WeatherPro substrates. Contempo
Vinyl is an economical coated vinyl
featuring Sihl’s PermaTack proprietary
water-based permanent adhesive.
Contempo offers sharp colors with
reduced ink limits on a matte,
waterfast coating and is compatible
with dye and pigment inks (piezo and
thermal). Suitable for unprotected
outdoor applications (up to two
months), Contempo works with hot
and cold laminates for longer-life
signage. Its strong, flexible PVC base is
perfect for uneven surfaces, and it
comes in 100' rolls. Contempo costs
25% less than Sihl’s CLASSIC vinyl.
Expo Polyester Fabric Banner is a
light, US and European fire-certified,
tear-resistant, flexible banner material.
Compatible with dye and pigment
inks, Expo can be used outdoors for
up to three months without
lamination, but takes liquid laminates
well. Its fabric, weave-like structure
is especially desirable for indoor
exhibition use. For more information,
see www.sihlusa.com.
InteliCoat Adds to
Media Line
InteliCoat Technologies line of Magic
media for aqueous inkjet printing
systems now features Magic DMPG
190 C2S, a two-sided heavy-weight
coated matte presentation paper
designed specifically for two-sided
media and proofing applications. The
9.2-mil paper offers high opacity,
bright white appearance and an
optimal color gamut. Full-color images
print cleanly and crisply, even with ink
saturation levels up to 200 percent.
DMPG190 C2S is available in 36",
42" and 50" widths. More information
and free samples available at
www.magicinkjet.com.
CLASSIFIEDADS
REPRO REPORT shall not be held liable for the accuracy and/or warranties of equipment, supplies and services advertised in this publication.
For information about placing ads, contact Erin Beekhuis at ebeekhuis@irga.com.
Merchandise Mart
Digital ES has the industry's largest inventory of
used wide-format copiers, printers and plotters.
All major manufacturers' machines in stock. Available
as full refurbs or "as is where is," from our dock or
delivered and installed, 20 years plus in the business.
We speak your language. Call us 800/749-1138 or
mcnew@digital-es.com.
Océ 9476 plotter/ copier in "scan to print and plot"
configuration. Large quantity, available for immediate
delivery. Good meters. Coming off Océ service, each
unit has Océ "service letter." These are great machines
for sale to end-users or expansion of FM operations. Call
Tom McNew at DIGITAL ES 800/749-1138 or
mcnew@digital-es.com.
Engineering Copier Parts & Supplies for use in
Calcomp, C-4, Dietzgen, K+E, Kip, JDL, JRL Systems,
Mita, Océ, Regma, Ricoh, Visual Edge & Xerox. Image
Products of California carries toners, developers,
photoreceptors, cleaning blades, fuser rollers, pressure
rollers, fuser webs & much more. IPC carries both
OEM as well as IPC (our own private label) brand
products. Make IPC your one-stop-shop and call us at
800/221-8831, 714/282-5678 or fax us at 714/2825680, or visit www.imageproductsca.com.
Engineering parts for the complete line of Xerox,
Kip and Océ systems. OEM parts at a quarter of the
price of the manufacturer. We have been supplying
the large-format industry for over 10 years and carry
over 1,000 parts and supplies. Call Reprographic
Technology today for a competitive quote on your
engineering parts. Call 888/746-1802 or visit
www.reprographic-intl.com.
Laminators: New and rebuilt AGL, Orca, Falcons and
Seals rollers recoated – Service all brands.
We purchase/trade/finance/lease/train. Tehan & Co.
800/283-7290.
We repair Skrebba staplers. (factory
authorized service agency) Model 23, 117 and
all current models. Contact Zack & Associates Inc.,
847/462-1460 or FAX 847/462-1580.
Laminator Service. Are you paying too much for
service? 15 years experience on Seal/GBC/AGL—
replacement rollers. Tehan & Co. 800/283-7290.
Design Presentation is a leading provider of raster
to vector CAD conversion services.
Contact us for a free trial: 646-792-2093
contact@designpresentation.com .
SEAL IMAGE 6000 laminator, single owner, new
unused 62" roll face main rollers. Very good
condition, 30 day warranty. 800-283-7290. Hot/Cold
application. US$12,500.00. Can email photos.
Positions Available
Georgia Blue Imaging, a 94-year-old
Reprographics company with 5 metro Atlanta
locations is looking for sales professionals to call
on existing and new accounts. We are a full service
company and specialize in plan room services. Your
experience in the Reprographics Industry is a must.
Please e-mail your resume to bholfels@gablue.com.
NGI, a fast growing provider of reprographic &
digital imaging solutions, is seeking Sales
Executives for our Atlanta and Washington DC
markets. Successful candidates will build customer
relationships, assist with proposal development,
close sales and gain market share. Must have a
proven sales record, strong self-initiative & exc
communications skills. Base salary + commission.
Benefits include health/dental/life insurance,
401k, paid vacation and more. Email resume to
NGIresume@tampabay.rr.com.
Leading Midwest Reprographics firm is seeking a
highly skilled Sales Manager to lead an existing
reprographics sales team in the A/E/C market, and to
assist in the expansion of sales in the large format
color market; for its operations in the Kansas City
area. A proven track record in the industry will yield an
attractive salary plus incentive based compensation.
Full compliment of benefits and relocation costs may
be included. If interested, please send your resume to:
IRgA Box PA, 401 N. Michigan Ave. Suite 2200,
Chicago, IL 60611 or email info@irga.com with
subject: Positions Available - Box PA.
V.P. of Sales & Marketing—for aggressive, rapidly
growing, multi-city, multi-state, reprographics &
imaging organization, based in southeastern U.S.
Successful candidate must have the energy, drive and
passion to continue and accelerate growth well into
the future. A thorough knowledge of the A/E/C
reprographics & imaging services industry and market,
superior sales management skills, outstanding
customer-relationship-building skills, and a history of
demonstrated success is required. Candidate must be
highly organized, results oriented and perform as a
true team player. Extraordinary compensation and
benefits package, including plan for equity
participation, medical, dental, life, short/long term
disability, and 401k. For the right person, this may be
a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Respond in
confidence to NGIresume@tampabay.rr.com.
Reprographic Managers Leading reprographic
company in the San Francisco bay area is
currently seeking qualified candidates for color,
digital services and management positions. Fax
resume attention: Diane 415-495-2542 or email
diane.sutton@bps.com.
BLAIR GRAPHICS, a fast growing provider of
reprographic & digital imaging solutions, is
seeking Sales Executives for Southern
California market. Successful candidates will
build customer relationships; assist with proposal
development, close sales and gain market share.
Must have a proven sales record, strong selfinitiative & excellent communication skills,
Base salary + commission. Benefits include
health/dental, 401k, paid vacation and more.
Email resume to alopez@blairgfx.com.
MBC Precision Imaging, dealers for HP, Xerox,
Oce and Ricoh wide format equipment, is
seeking an experienced Field Service
Manager to work from our Columbia, Maryland
headquarters. Position requires five + years field
service management experience with mechanical
equipment and software, exceptional
communications skills, and talent with new
technologies. Duties include supervising staff,
training end-users, performing field service and
equipment installations, providing
troubleshooting assistance, and monitoring parts
stock. We offer a competitive salary, company
car and health, dental and retirement plan with
matching funds. Please email your resume to
jhazzard@mbcpi.com.
C.T.I/Valueline is looking for 1 outside sales
pro for the desirable Orange County sales area.
We are the largest pure distributor of A & E media
in California (no equipment and no repro). Just
media and supplies to the end user. Base plus
commission plus medical. Opportunity for 6
figure income for the right sales professional.
Confidential replies to cdavis6730@aol.com
Opportunities
Large Format Dealer Opportunities with
Mark Bric Display: (www.markbric.com/usa)
Preferred Dealer opportunities still exist in
several cities and metro areas throughout the
United States. Our world-class display hardware
includes Mark Bric BannerUp®, SnapUp®,
Flexiframe®, and more. Our high levels of product
quality, brand recognition and customer service
make us the only display products partner you’ll
ever need for your large format color output—from
inkjet posters & banners to Lambda photo-quality
trade show graphics to rigid sign boards on your
new flatbed printer—our hardware covers all your
needs. For immediate consideration, please
contact Anita Clarke (aclarke@markbric.com) at
Mark Bric Display—800-742-6275.
Midwest blueprint firm interested in acquisitions
or investments from 50% to 100% in
blueprint and related companies with sales of $3
million to $6 million. Looking for mostly financial
and strategic planning involvement in ventures.
Will pay cash/annuity for operationally strong
firms in any financial condition.
Contact Brett Scully, Lakeside Blueprint, at
216/281-1234; e-mail: bscully@eblueprint.com.
National Reprographics Inc. is looking for acquisitions
within the reprographic and digital color industries.
Interested in well-managed firms of any size located
in larger metropolitan markets. Contact Doug
Magid at doug@nrinet.com or (212) 366-7063.
For Sale – Long established Southern California
based Reprographics Company. Sales are over $2
million with two locations. Qualified buyers only
please respond to Doug Souders (Financial Consultant)
at soudersinc@msn.com (480) 460-3829.
37
END OF THE ROLL
The Industry Rules
A
Steve Bova, CAE
Executive
Director
ll of us are blips on the screen,
passing through a moment in
time in the reprographics
industry. Even for third-generation
businesses, the art of reprographics has
existed far longer than any of us has
been alive. Our industry has had its
ups, downs and ups; it has weathered
many storms, some of them even
perfect, and has withstood the test
of time.
Many people have come and gone,
some by their own volition and others
reluctantly.
Likewise, many companies have come
and gone, and some have come back
again. Others have merged,
consolidated, re-emerged and
diversified their focus.
Equipment manufacturers have taken
turns offering the most advanced
products to the industry, in a virtual
game of leapfrog over time.
Technology certainly has had a major
impact on the advancement of our
industry, but it serves as a means to an
end, not as an end itself. Technology
enables but it can sometimes disable
(e.g., e-mail).
In the end, we are all people
with a common passion.
We are merely players passing
through the game, hopefully
with respect and, as our legacy,
leaving it as a better place.
Affiliated organizations have emerged,
merged and evolved. So have the
regional associations.
38
More than once, there have been
rapidly growing companies with visions
of controlling the industry. They, too,
have come and gone. Same goes with
family businesses. Many have come
and gone, and still many others have
survived the test of time.
The IRgA has had its days of glory, its
days of weakness, and more recently its
days of rejuvenation. This cycle, too,
will continue over time.
We all play our part. Nobody is larger
than the industry!
Parts is Parts
Because no single part can determine
the fate of the industry, we must rely
on the actions of each other to
collectively influence, but not
determine, our industry’s fate.
Together, we are the sum of our parts,
each one being an essential
contributor.
Like an engine, all of the parts are
necessary for the engine to run. Each
part, in some way, is dependent upon
another. So runs the reprographics
industry’s engine.
Equipment manufacturers cannot be
successful without buyers of their
equipment. Reprographics companies
cannot be successful without
equipment, competent people or
customers. People in our industry
cannot be successful without jobs.
Technology would not matter if the
industry became obsolete. The IRgA,
regional associations and affinity
groups cannot exist without their
member companies or their people.
We are all interconnected!
For the Love of
the Industry
Using a sports analogy, we have
learned as much from our competitors
as we have from our teammates and
coaches. In order to learn from our
competitors, we need to talk to them,
to engage them.
During the game, your teammates will
try as hard as they can to beat your
opponent, fair and square. After the
game, we are gracious in victory or
defeat. And we always shake hands.
Always! In fact, don’t we often go out
after the game, enjoy a cold beverage
and talk about the game among each
other, often along with the
competition?
In the end, we are all people with a
common passion. We are merely
players passing through the game,
hopefully with respect and, as our
legacy, leaving it as a better place.
Nobody is bigger than the game, and
nobody is bigger than the industry!
The more I speak with IRgA members,
the more I learn. I have also learned
that there are nearly as many differing
views about our industry as there are
people. While there are many brilliant
minds and equally as many success
stories, nobody has the “silver bullet”
answer to mastering our business.
There may be some trade secrets, but
all reprographers—even the brightest
and most experienced—can learn and
profit from each other. That’s because…
Nobody is larger than the industry! ●
Steve Bova, CAE, is executive director of the
International Reprographic Association. He may
be reached at 800/833-4742 or sbova@irga.com
All of us must rely upon and trust each
other in order for the industry to
realize its true potential. We cannot
allow one non-performing part to slow
the industry engine.
Nobody is larger than the industry!

SELL LIKE A CEO SELL LIKE A CEO

Transcription

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