The Growing Importance of IT Staff

Transcription

REPRO REPORT
The Growing
Importance
of IT Staff
Simplified Business
Planning…Step by Step
Pushing Sales Beyond
the Limits
Volume 23
Number Six
2004
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Features
6
REPRO REPORT
The Growing Importance
of IT Staff
Vol. 23 • No. 6 • 2004
By Scott Cullen
As the reprographics world shifts from
analog to digital, IT personnel have
become increasingly valuable. Learn
how to get the most from them.
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
10
Simplified Business
Planning…Step By Step
Editorial Committee
Reg Garner
Triangle Reprographics
Orlando, FL
By Wayne Cramer
With a few basic steps, you can be on
your way to a working business plan for
your shop.
26
Chuck Gremillion
A&E – The Graphics Complex
Houston, TX
Bill Schaberg
American Reprographics Company
Fairfield, CT
Dan Stephens
Georgia Blueprint Co., LLC
Atlanta, GA
Pushing Sales Beyond
the Limits
Navina Waterman
ReproScene
Myrtle Point, OR
By Navina Waterman
Reprographers are using training,
compensation and creative incentives
to build, reward and maintain their
sales staff.
Gary Wilbur
R.S. Knapp/Napco
West Lyndhurst, NJ
IRgA Board of Directors
Chuck Gremillion, President
A&E – The Graphics Complex
Houston, TX
Michael Shaw, Vice President
Central Blueprint Corp.
Great Neck, NY
Save the Date
IRgA’s 79th Annual Convention & Trade Show will be held
on May 11-13, 2005 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Visit
www.irga.com to learn more about this event and all the
IRgA has to offer!
Michael Carter, Secretary/Treasurer
Lynn Imaging
Lexington, KY
Robert Margolis, Immediate Past President
Crest Graphics
Farmington, CT
Bryan Thomas, Director-at-Large
Thomas Reprographics, Inc.
Richardson, TX
Malkon Baboyian
Océ Digital Document Systems
Boca Raton, FL
Mike Cully
AIR Graphics
North Quincy, MA
Betsy Kahn
Copycat Print Shop Inc.
Wilmington, NC
In This Issue
Sherman Sawtelle
KIP America, Inc.
Novi, MI
4
President’s Perspective
24
Association Highlights
16
Opinion Leaders
30
New! Business Book Review
18
Human Resources
31
Insurance Primer
19
Repronomics
32
Product Innovations
20
Hoek’s Corner
37
Classified Ads
21
Print I.T.
38
End of the Roll
22
In The News
Mark Sipes
Consolidated Reprographics
Costa Mesa, CA
Dan Stephens
Georgia Blueprint Co., LLC
Atlanta, GA
Gary Wilbur
R.S. Knapp/Napco
West Lyndhurst, NJ
Steve Bova, CAE, Executive Director
IRgA
Chicago, IL
© 2004 The International Reprographic Association
Write US
Send mail to: The Editor
REPRO REPORT
401 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 2200
Chicago, IL 60611, or to [email protected]
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
Reconnecting Our Industry – An Eye
Toward the Future
Chuck Gremillion
President
2004-05
embership in the IRgA has
been declining since 1999.
This obviously is a problem
that needs to be addressed, but as
my high school principal once told
me (more years ago than I care to
remember), “Half of solving a problem
is recognizing that one exists.”
M
that the root cause of all these issues has
been a feeling among reprographers that
they were “disconnected” from the
IRgA. What has occurred in the past
cannot be changed, but the IRgA can
learn from these hard lessons and
make changes. And we are. Let me
provide some specifics.
Based on this logic, your IRgA Board
of Directors is half way to solving this
challenge. However, part of finding a
solution is determining why membership
has been declining in the first place.
The Ship is Beginning
to Turn
The answer to why membership in the
IRgA has been declining over the past
five years is multifaceted. An obvious
place to look is the significant degree
of industry consolidation among reprographers as well as vendors. Also, we
have seen a large number of associate
members (vendors) leave this industry
as a result of changes in technology.
A Myth and Some
Realities
I also believe that there are some notso-obvious reasons why reprographers
may have chosen to not continue
their IRgA membership:
• The perception that the Board of
Directors was an elite group that
was out of touch with the rest of its
members (I believe this is a myth).
• The IRgA had forgotten who its
customers were and no longer created
value in membership to some.
• Many reprographers have joined
one or more of the affinity groups
because members felt that these
groups better served their needs.
• The Internet age has enabled
people to gain information much
more easily, possibly lessening the
dependence on an industry
association for such information.
All of these factors in some form or
another may have influenced industry
members when it was time to renew their
IRgA membership. I contend, however,
4
ReproReport.com • Number Six 2004
The IRgA Board of Directors just
approved its first break-even or better
budget in several years. Your association’s number one goal this year is to
stabilize, then grow membership by
becoming more inclusive, improving
communications with the industry and
enhancing membership value.
1. The IRgA will offer ways to make
members feel more included. For
example, members have been asked
to respond to a “call for volunteers”
to participate in various aspects of
the IRgA, including the convention,
REPRO REPORT and a new industry
branding initiative, to name a few.
One of the primary objectives this
year is to engage members in the
association. As each of us knows
from running our own businesses on
a daily basis, the best employees are
those who are engaged and who
actively participate. The same can
be said for any association, the
healthiest of which are filled with
active, involved members.
2. The IRgA will do a better job of
communicating to its members,
especially as it relates to association
activities and the actions and
decisions of the Board. This effort
has been in place since early
October with the introduction
of IRgA News Digest (see page 25),
which will be supplemented on an
as-needed basis with e-mail blasts
for important industry and
association announcements.
Poor communication from the
association in the past has fed the
perception that the Board is some
exclusive “country club” of elitists. I
can assure you that this is absolutely
not true. In fact, the Board is made
up of individuals such as yourselves
who run businesses similar to yours
and who volunteer to put in countless
unpaid hours on your behalf. The 12member Board currently is composed
of all types of members, from each of
the affinity groups along with
independents and two from ARC.
These directors also represent firms
from small to large, including two
supplier members. In short, the Board
of Directors is representative crosssection of the reprographics industry.
3. The IRgA will create more value for
industry members. Within the next
12 months, a newly designed, fast,
easy-to-navigate and content-enriched
Web site will be introduced, as well as
a new Industry Journal, online
seminar and a revamped Annual
Convention format that gives more
time to participate in both the
educational program and exhibits as
well as to network. Additionally, the
IRgA will begin work toward
branding the reprographics industry to
our key customers.
Just one idea gleaned or business
opportunity gained from any of
these vehicles most likely pays for
membership in the IRgA, and
possibly many times over.
Like many reprographics companies,
the IRgA has had its challenges in
recent years. Your Board of Directors
recognizes the challenges and is taking
action to turn them into opportunities.
We have been saying that the IRgA
is reconnecting with our industry.
However, we cannot do this alone.
We need your help through active
participation and membership. I
sincerely hope that all my fellow
members of the reprographic industry
will join me and do both. ●
Chuck Gremillion is president of A&E –
The Graphics Complex, Houston, Texas.
He may be reached at 713/621-0022 or
[email protected].
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The Growing
Importance of IT Staff
A Digital Reprographics World Means
Greater Reliance on IT Personnel.
By Scott Cullen
A
s the reprographics world has
transitioned from analog to
digital, IT personnel have
become increasingly valuable assets
within a reprographics organization.
Consider that most production
equipment these days is digital and
computers, servers and printers have
become critical devices to a company’s
overall business operations. Enter the
IT professional.
Steve Oakes, vice president of Triangle
Reprographics in Orlando, Fla., knows
first hand about the importance of IT
staff within his organization. That’s
because prior to1996 Oakes was solely
responsible for Triangle’s IT functions.
Triangle is a midsize reprographics and
color imaging house with 91 employees
and operating 24 hours a day, five days
a week. The company processes 350400 jobs per day. It employs two fulltime IT personnel plus a part-timer
who Oakes shares with the company’s color
imaging department.
Oakes has seen a lot of changes in the IT
function since the days when he was deeply
involved in that role. “Back then networks were
simpler and we didn’t have that many computers
or operating systems,” says Oakes. “The technical
expertise required today is much higher than it was in
1996 simply because we have more machines, and our
business is dependent on our computers, our network,
our servers and our printers, and our IT staff must be
able to respond quickly.”
Oakes believes internal staff is critical for
maintaining a stable network. “You must have a
stable network. The truth of the matter is there
are plenty of ways to design a stable network and
not spend a ton of money, but you need an
internal staff to do it.”
IT personnel are also critical at San Jose Blue in
San Jose, Calif., a company in business since
1930. Its services and hardware offerings
encompass small-format copiers, digital
reproduction of black & white and color, as well
as bindery and finishing services. Today San Jose
Blue has more than 2,500 clients throughout
California and over the Internet. It has 90
employees and operates 24 hours a day, six days a
week, processing an average of 500 jobs per day. The
company employs two full-time IT people—one
responsible for internal IT issues and another focused
on external IT issues.
Different Strokes
The role of an IT person differs from one reprographics
organization to another. Consequently, there is no one-sizefits-all approach. “In the small business world where
reprographers live, most of us are small to midsize
companies,” explains Oakes. “We’re owned by folks who
have been in the business for a long time and their idea of
what an IT person does is sometimes different from what
the IT world would define as a job for an IT person.” He
notes that larger reprographics firms often have the luxury
of having specialized IT staff with different individuals
handling specific IT functions, such as backups, firewalls,
routers, the mail server, etc.
At Triangle, IT has a truckload of responsibilities. “My IT
people support more than 70 different professional
applications, 104 computers with multiple operating systems,
8 servers, a high-end network, switches, firewall appliances
and backup devices,” explains Oakes. Triangle’s IT staff also
maintains its color management system as well as production
printers, scanners, and color processing equipment. They
also double as operators in the company’s color imaging
department. “We have a pretty elaborate color management
system that requires a lot of maintenance,” says Oakes. “Is
that a typical IT function in the big business world?
Absolutely not, but it is here at Triangle.”
“There are plenty of ways to
design a stable network and not
spend a ton of money, but you need
an internal staff to do it.”
Oakes thinks that running color imaging devices and largeformat black & white printers is typical of most
reprographic shops’ IT staffs. Although when a computer
issue arises, IT drops what they’re doing and deals with that
issue. “Our guys don’t spend all day long locked in a server
room monitoring packets from packet filters and reading
their logs,” says Oakes. “They don’t have the time to do all
of those things. And to be honest our networks and systems
are not running super-critical applications like banks or
large corporations, so some of those things aren’t necessary.”
Triangle’s IT personnel focus primarily on internal systems
but it’s not unusual for them to assist the company’s sales
staff in setting up the plotters and printers Triangle sells at
continued on page 8
7
customer sites. “But we try
and stay as far away from our
customers’ networks as much
possible,” says Oakes. “We
don’t supply IT services to our
clients, but our IT guys get
involved regularly with our
clients when they have
questions about sending files
or when working with our
online plan rooms.”
Steve Kuykendall, technical
services manager, is the sole IT
person at AccuGraphics in
Austin, Texas. When he
started at AccuGraphics 10
years ago everything was
analog. Once the company
added color equipment, digital
technology exploded as did his
responsibilities. Kuykendall
oversees everything the
company does IT-wise and
serves as the help desk for
internal staff and customers who
have difficult digital issues, primarily
dealing with files. His time is rarely
spent on production issues although he
occasionally deals with situations that
no one else in the company is qualified
to handle. For example, he recently
spent nine hours producing 300 files for
a customer. “That’s something no one
in the office could have done or done as
quickly,” says Kuykendall.
San Jose Blue’s internal IT person
handles the IT issues in all four of the
company’s current offices as well as a
fifth scheduled to open soon. He is
responsible for making sure the
company’s servers are functioning
properly and putting out any fires that
come up. He also manages all
hardware, software and system
backups. “We also do a lot of Web
programming, which is a little beyond
the typical scope of IT,” says Myles
Cowherd, president of San Jose Blue.
Because the operation runs 24 hours,
San Jose Blue’s IT staff members are
on call 24 hours, although they
typically work an eight-hour day. The
internal IT staffer has a workspace set
up at home which allows him to verify
San Jose Blue’s system remotely.
Ken Sandlin is director of information
technology at A&E The Graphics
8
Complex in Houston, Texas. It’s a
large organization with a 10-peson IT
staff. Sandlin’s department is
responsible for virtually all IT issues
within the organization. In addition to
internal IT staff, A&E works with
various consultants who are on
retainer and either guaranteed a
certain amount of hours, or A&E
purchases those hours in advance.
Sandlin says that this setup ensures
that consultants will be available
when needed and allows A&E to get
those services at a lower rate.
The Role of External IT
Some reprographic shops, such as San
Jose Blue, add value to their
traditional services by offering IT
services to customers who might not
be large enough to have their own IT
personnel. In those situations, IT
personnel visit the client location and
provide all the traditional IT services.
Other times, San Jose Blue’s IT
personnel assist sales reps on sales
calls. That’s because these folks know
how to respond to technical issues and
can talk the IT talk with a prospective
customer’s in-house IT personnel.
Steve Hinkel, who is responsible for
San Jose Blue’s external IT operations,
says that customers’ IT personnel are
looking for programs that don’t create
problems on their company’s networks
or result in added administrative tasks.
“They want everything locked down,
automated and foolproof,” says Hinkel.
Hinkel spends about 75% of his time
at client locations and the other 25%
providing telephone support to clients.
Most of his time is spent helping
customers with automated programs,
downloading drivers and downloading
accounting software for billing
purposes. “I help them integrate their
workflow and show them how to
download things,” says Hinkel. He
also works closely with some client’s
IT personnel on networking and
connectivity issues.
The Challenges
As the role of IT within the
reprographics industry has become
increasingly prominent, so have the
challenges. “Our big challenge is our
biggest problem,” says Oakes. “It’s not
having the time to address non-critical
issues in a timely fashion.”
Oakes explains, “In a typical office and
production environment where the
knowledge of computer users ranges
from novice to dangerous, we have lots
of little glitches that are non-critical
because it’s not a production machine
or it doesn’t interfere with office
personnel doing their jobs. As a result,
those non-critical issues get put off
regularly because IT staff is busy
handling critical issues.”
That said, Oakes is looking at ways of
addressing those non-critical issues.
“I’m attempting to work on it by
having our IT guys work the overtime
necessary to whittle down that list.”
Kuykendall also finds time a precious
commodity. “There are things I need
to check daily but because I’m so
busy, I usually do those checks
weekly,” he explains.
Kuykendall also cites the everincreasing need for new and improved
technology. “There’s never enough
money,” he says. “What I consider
critical is generally different from what
somebody else sees as critical. We’re in
the service business. In my mind
there’s not a reason in the world for
customers to bring us work just
because they like us. They either bring
us work because we can do something
they can’t do or we can do it faster
than they can. Or in some cases we
can do it cheaper and with less hassle
than they could do it. To do that we
don’t necessarily need to stay on the
bleeding edge of technology, but we
need to be on the leading edge.
That’s expensive.”
The big challenge for Sandlin and
crew is keeping up with technology.
“Storage is always an issue as is getting
files into the building from our
customers,” notes Sandlin. “We’re also
trying to find new technology-based
ways to bring customers to our shop.”
For A&E, that involves the ability to
handle customer’s digital files or
preparing files for digitizing, and
storing files on the A&E network so
that customers can access them.
Finding the Expertise
Training and Education
Some reprographics firms hire from
outside, others groom their IT
personnel from within.
Oakes maintains that in a small
business, IT personnel must be experts
on virtually all computer-related
issues, but he acknowledges that it is
often impossible for one person to
possess that much knowledge. “It’s a
real challenge,” maintains Oakes.
Oakes has tried both ways but found
that when he hired from outside, the
IT person, although knowledgeable,
was difficult to work with because he
had preconceived notions on how
everything had to run. “That’s also
one of the flaws of using outside IT
services,” cautions Oakes. “They want
to come in and build you a network
like Wall Street has, but a small
reprographics business doesn’t need all
of that.”
Oakes now believes the internal route
is the best option. “For many years
we’ve hired top-end folks for our color
imaging business,” says Oakes. “Half of
our business is color imaging and
requires people with a strong
knowledge of computers. Some of
those folks were taking classes and
working on certifications, so I began
using those folks—the ones who
showed personal initiative in obtaining
their own training outside of work.”
“But you just can’t pick anybody,”
cautions Oakes. “It has to be someone
with the aptitude and who has shown
the initiative to go out and get outside
training. They’ve really got to be a
geek. They’ve got to love this kind of
stuff and love it enough to work on it
when they’re not at work.”
When asked what skill sets Sandlin
looks for in IT staff, his answer is
surprising. “Strangely enough it’s not
technical knowledge that we’re
looking for but the intangibles,”
explains Sandlin. “We’re a customer
service-oriented company and are
looking for people with the right
attitude who fit into our department
and are trainable. If we find a person
who is the right fit and has the right
attitude we’ll make sure they get the
skill set to do the job.”
He believes education is key for
expanding the knowledge base of IT
personnel. “My staff spends most of
their day working on issues that come
up,” says Oakes, “but when they have
spare time I allow them the time to sit
in front of their computer doing
research, learning about new
technologies.” Oakes also sends his IT
staff to classes to brush up on their
skills or acquire new skills, at the
company’s expense, and encourages
them to take classes on their own.
Education is another area where
Kuykendall is stymied by a lack of
time. Fortunately, he’s adept at
figuring things out for himself. “I find
myself trying to keep up with new
technology an awful lot,” he explains.
“Often I find myself fooling with
things until I figure out how to make
it work properly. I pride myself in
being able to fool with something for
an awfully long time without actually
breaking it. Sometimes I find myself
taking six hours to fix something that
someone with more training could do
in less time. But it’s very difficult for
me to be gone for two or three days in
a training class.”
Risks and Rewards
A&E’s Sandlin is well aware that
competent IT staff members are
valuable commodities in the job
market. “Those people who are highly
hirable, like network administrators,
we know we aren’t going to keep
forever,” concedes Sandlin. The best
Sandlin can do with some of these
folks is give them challenging jobs, set
goals and give them incentives. “You
also have to pay them at the market
rate so there is no reason to leave
because you’re not paying them right.”
both have stuck it out logging some 30
years cumulatively at San Jose Blue
between them. “Hopefully we are able
to give them a good package through
“If we find a person who is
the right fit and has the right
attitude we’ll make sure they
get the skill set to do the job.”
compensation and creativity,” says
Cowherd. “IT people want to be
challenged and we try to keep them
working on creating new packages—
communications, FM tools, all this
type of stuff.”
By paying for the outside training as
Triangle does and encouraging
certification, Oakes understands that
there’s a risk of losing these people
once they get certified. The best way
to keep them he says is by paying
them competitively. “We understand
what that means,” says Oakes.
He believes compensation is an area
where many small reprographics firms
make mistakes. “They either go low
end and just hire someone who knows
a lot about computers and get what
they pay for, or they go high end with
someone who is just about to pass
their MCSE,” says Oakes. He notes
that as soon as they get the
certification, they get an offer from a
big company for $70,000-$80,000 and
leave because many firms aren’t
willing to plunk down the bucks to
keep competent IT staff.
“IT personnel are expensive, but
absolutely necessary to have on staff,”
maintains Oakes. ●
Scott Cullen is a freelance writer and editor
who has written on imaging technologies and
office equipment trends and issues since 1986.
Similarly, San Jose’s IT personnel are
often wooed by other companies, but
9
Simplified Business
Planning…Step By Step
By Wayne Cramer
O
ne of the most difficult things
for any business owner to do
is to create a viable business
plan. Many consultants and authors
have built their careers on completing
business plans for companies due to
the ambiguity surrounding the format
and content of a business plan.
This article aims to take some of the
mystery out of business planning. A
few basic steps can get you on your
way. In fact, often the hardest part of
business planning is getting started.
Most of us either continually put off
this type of project or look for a
consultant to do the “chore” for us.
However, it is a mistake to assign the
project to either one person internally
or to an outside entity—no one knows
your business like you do, and the
planning process is a chance for your
management team to take ownership
of your company’s future.
Business owners generally write
business plans for one of three reasons:
1. To obtain start-up funding or get
a loan on an existing business
(i.e., to satisfy the lenders of the
reasonableness of the risk);
2. To prepare to sell a business (i.e., to
aid in the valuation of the business
and act as a marketing piece), and;
3. To create a working roadmap to
improve the performance of an
existing business, often called a
strategic business plan.
This article will focus on the last
reason, creating a strategic plan.
For smaller businesses or individual
operating units of larger businesses,
the process works best by creating a
multipart plan that focuses on the
operational side of the business. This
plan should include strategic as well
as tactical considerations and, most
importantly, clear, measurable action
items. It should also include comprehensive sections on areas such as
budgeting, accounting practices and
procedures, sales and marketing,
productivity and quality processes,
performance standards, and
compensation.
The easiest and most effective business
planning method is to break the
project into manageable parts and assign
each component to a member of your
management team. This method
accomplishes some key goals. First,
you get the project on track. Second,
you create opportunities to enhance
the participation and development of
your key personnel. Third, you create
a diverse perspective of your business
for your plan. Finally, and most
importantly, you create buy-in from
your managers, which develops a much
greater likelihood of plan acceptance
and implementation. After all, if they
work on it, it becomes their plan.
One final note: Because business
planning is an ongoing discipline and
not a one-time event, your business
plan needs to be a dynamic document.
the importance of understanding their
complexity—such as the market
ambiguity between products—becomes
evident. Knowing your market and
your customers is essential to successful
planning. You must understand how
your customers perceive your products.
For example, think about large-format
B&W output from hard copy vs. that
available through your online service,
or small-format B&W hard copy vs.
archived Docutech output—very
different processes but identical in
appearance to the end user.
Also, be particularly aware of differing
customer perspectives on your
products and services if you serve a
large geographical area and/or
customer base. As these subtleties in
No one knows your business like you do, and the
planning process is a chance for your management
team to take ownership of your company’s future.
The best format is a loose-leaf binder
that can accommodate change easily.
You want members of your leadership
team to frequently refer to, review
and amend this document as your
company and market evolve.
Business Planning
Defined
The best business plans are simple and
concise. The longer and more complex
a plan is, the less likely that it will be
read and used.
A practical operational business plan
will answer three questions:
customer perception become apparent
to you, you can define the differences
in product complexity and build value
in the mind of the customer. This is
particularly important in the current
market where national competitors are
creating a commodity perspective of
reprographics products with national
pricing, free pickup and delivery, and
low-cost or even free online digital
services. Equipment manufacturers
also enhance this commodity
perspective by trying to place the same
equipment you use into your
customer’s office, emphasizing rockbottom unit costs and easy operation.
• What do you intend to sell?
Business Planning Goals
• To whom do you intend to sell it?
The goals for your business plan
should be clear, concise and kept in
focus at all times. They should also
be challenging but attainable and
clearly measurable.
• How will you beat your
competition?
Every consideration in your business
plan should relate to these three
questions. As you consider these points,
continued on page 12
11
Business Growth
Clear Vision and Direction
Any business that’s not growing is
losing ground to the competition.
Planning for growth means having a
clear understanding of where you
stand in your markets. Many
businesses use historic perspectives to
set growth goals, e.g., 10% over last
year. This is a mistake and can be
defeating for your team. For example,
Understanding your organizational
purpose and philosophy is vitally
important to setting your company
goals. In other words, will you be a
loss leader, a premium provider or
somewhere in the middle? Having
a clear purpose will help you build
partnerships with customers and
vendors. Furthermore, having a well
that. As you define your company’s
needs, you will develop career paths to
accommodate business growth.
Developing these career paths for your
team members will spread loyalty and
a sense of personal investment in your
company, as well as stimulating
positive customer relations.
The Planning Process
The first steps in completing the
actual plan are straightforward:
Any business that’s not growing is losing ground
to the competition. Planning for growth means
having a clear understanding of where you stand
in your markets.
some companies expected substantial
sales growth in the seriously declining
economy of the last few years. This is
simply unrealistic. Instead, focus on
increasing profitability and market
share in difficult times—you can show
growth by gaining market share that
will accelerate as the economy improves.
This will help your staff maintain a
positive outlook.
Increased Profits
Use the planning process as an
opportunity to increase profits through
improved customer relations. Many
companies set gross revenues as the
primary baseline for business growth
and stability. However, shifting your
team focus to evaluating customers
(and vendors) on their willingness to
partner with you—emphasizing mutual
success and collaboration rather than
adversarial relationships—will pay
dividends over the long term.
12
defined business philosophy will
bring clarity of purpose to your
employees. A lack of consistency
about your vision can confuse your
employees and customers, having a
negative impact on growth.
Alignment and Team
Building
Business planning provides an
exceptional opportunity to development your management team. As
team members participate, you gain
clarity and alignment of organizational
values and purpose. The plan should
also consider personnel needs as growth
evolves, stimulating organizational
development and loyalty.
Remember that the biggest variable in
your business is most likely human
nature—your employees want to know
what’s in it for them. Your business
plan can be a great way to convey
First, designate a leader. If the
principal manager of the business has
a forceful personality, this may not be
a good choice. You want a free
exchange of ideas and information,
and you will need a good facilitator to
make this happen. A well organized
member of your leadership team slated
to move up within your firm may be a
good choice to lead the planning
process. In any event, the project
leader will need to be diplomatic yet
capable of holding team members
accountable to task and deadline.
Assign the planning project team based
on knowledge of your business and your
market. Specific information about the
reprographics industry is limited, so
much of what you gather will be based
on informed estimates of competitors
and customers (both current and
potential). You will need to rely on your
leadership team for this knowledge.
As you progress, be flexible and
informal to facilitate the exchange of
information and to keep your focus.
Finally, remember that people drive
your business, and we all need and
want recognition and respect.
Plan Configuration
Your operational business plan should
contain the following sections. Keep
these as brief and clear as possible:
Business Summary
A general overview of your business—
what will be sold to whom and by
whom, your area of operations, general
costs and sales projections over the
term covered by your plan. This
section need only be a few paragraphs,
prepared by the principal leader of the
business and agreed upon by the
planning team.
waste, re-work and department gross
profit. Those managers will share
responsibility with your purchasing
manager for controlling inventory
turns. Your sales manager will be
responsible for top line growth.
Remember, this is a team effort with
shared responsibility and success.
Effective business measurements
include:
In-depth Business Analysis
• Sales per employee (Annualized)
This section includes historical
overview of the performance of each
product line of your business and its
principal customers. Derive from this
analysis the current trends in your
business and project developments
short-, mid- and long-term. The
collective experience and knowledge
of your team will play key importance.
Compile this information graphically,
using Lotus or Excel for each product
line as well as for gross sales and profit.
As you post and graph the information,
trend lines become apparent.
• Total sales (Daily & Monthly)
As you conduct your business analysis,
review your indicators and determine
their adequacy. Beware of the spreadsheet addict: Measuring everything to
infinity will be counterproductive, so
limit the number of indicators used to
those agreed upon by your team. Keep
in mind that tracking and understanding
trends is far more important than
individual monthly numbers. Above
all, do not fixate on one key indicator.
I have seen numerous leaders get hung
up on gross sales or gross profit to the
exclusion of important signals
generated by other indicators.
As the business principal, you should
survey all of your primary indicators.
However, give each manager just the
relevant measurements for which he
or she can directly influence outcomes.
For example, profit center or operations
managers will focus on managing
• Top 25 / 50 customers
• Inventory turns or DSI (days sale in
inventory)
• Time from invoice to collection or
DSO (Days Sales Outstanding)
- Note that DSI+DSO=the time
from purchase of material to
payment for finished
product…you finance product cost
over this period
• Fixed costs
• Variable costs
• Break-even point
• Gross and net margins by product line
• Material costs
• Scrap and waste
• Unit cost by product line
• Average selling price by product line
• Re-work percentage
• On-time delivery percentage
• Delivery unit costs
(Since this is an operational plan, I
have purposely excluded measurements
that have more relevance to the financial
health of your business.)
Market Analysis
Your key customers and vendors are
good sources of future market
information. Meet with them and get
information on their business plans for
the next three to five years—what
needs relevant to you as a vendor do
they see arising from their growth and
change? (This can also be a key selling
opportunity for you.) Have at least
one customer-partner and one vendorpartner that you frequently discuss
shared issues with as common
stakeholders. Information derived
from such relationships is invaluable.
Derive secondary sources of market
information from a customer poll by
questionnaire conducted in person
(with your largest customers), by
phone with secondary customers and
by mail, e-mail or fax with third-tier
customers. This poll can also generate
sales opportunities and help develop
customer partnerships. Finally, you
can obtain good information on
industry trends by polling repro firms
throughout the country. Although
Once you determine where you are placing your
business on the pricing spectrum, you understand
the emphasis that you will need to place in selling
value. Position price and sell yourself accordingly.
13
there may not be complete overlap
with your specific market, you can
obtain solid information of evolving
trends and translate that into relevant
local information.
more information, but to get your
leadership team familiar with and
relying on your financial statements
to make informed business decisions
and actions.
Your shop should have an independent
marketing and sales plan. But if you
are just starting the planning process,
you can postpone development of
those components and add depth to
this section of the operational business
plan. Regardless of how you address
marketing issues, consider your pricing
philosophy, which should be derived
from your purpose statement. In other
words, once you determine where you
are placing your business on the pricing
spectrum, you understand the emphasis
that you will need to place in selling
value. Position price and sell yourself
accordingly. Please remember that the
stronger your partnering relationships
are with your customers, the easier it is
to sell on value instead of price.
Analysis of the Competition
Your competitors are not going to
share their proprietary information
with you. But you can learn about
them though a casual survey—call
them and ask what products and
equipment they have, their pricing
and specials and what area they serve.
Willing customer service personnel
can be a font of information.
Your customers (especially your
customer-partners) can provide good
information on competitors as well.
One rule of thumb for determining
gross revenue of a reprographics
company is to establish the number
of full-time equivalent employees the
company has and assume $90,000 of
sales per employee.
Economic Information
Understand the direction of the general
and industry-specific economy of your
market, including areas such as new
construction projects, regional major
business sectors, top businesses and
industries and emerging business sectors.
The best source for this information is
the Federal Reserve, which regularly
compiles and publishes in-depth
information specific to your region on
their Web site (www.federalreserve.gov).
Other good sources are chambers of
commerce and professional
organizations, such as the IRgA.
Financial Analysis
If your business is more complex,
include financial statements for the
past three years and develop projections
based on information derived in the
prior steps. The key here is not just
14
Summary, Conclusions
& Action Plan
Keep this simple—bullet points are
best. Some of this section may be
painfully obvious, but you need the
information to create perspective for
your company’s future direction.
Points will probably vary from the
general (e.g., projected economic
growth for the region is expected to be
3% over the next twelve months) to
the specific (e.g., cease photo
operations and outsource the service
by June 1). Be certain to assign each
action to a responsible manager with
expected outcome and due date.
Monitoring Progress
It’s a fact that most business plans end
up in a desk drawer to be reviewed at
the end of the year, if at all. To be
successful, business planning has to
have an impact on your organizational
culture and become a discipline that
you follow regularly. Keep the
published document brief, give your
people meaningful targets and hold
them accountable. There are few
absolutes regarding human behavior
but one of them is most certainly that
if you do not recognize and reward
desired behavior, it will stop.
As you go through the planning
process, you are sure to encounter
related business issues that deserve
review, such as employee
compensation, work standards and
accountability. Do not become
overwhelmed. You already have a feel
for most of these issues, and you can
address them once you complete your
initial plan.
I recently made a presentation on
business planning to a large group,
which then asked me for forms and
checklists to complete a business plan.
If I could do this, I most certainly
would. However, I’m convinced that
planning is a process unique to each
business. For a business plan to be
meaningful, it must be created
primarily by the people who are
responsible for making it work. ●
Wayne Cramer maintains a consulting practice
focusing on human resource management and
business planning issues for small and midsized businesses. He welcomes all questions
and comments and can be reached at
[email protected] or 415/244-6575.
OPINIONLEADERS
Forty Years of On-the-Job Training
In REPRO REPORT issue 5, we introduced our new regular question and answer
column to facilitate sharing intellectual capital among IRgA members.
This month’s column features Charlie Hackworth, president of
Hackworth Reprographics in Chesapeake, Virginia. In more than 40
years in the industry, Hackworth co-founded the Reprographic Services
Association, spent three years on the IRgA board, and served as past
president and current treasurer of the Southeastern Reprographic
Association (SRA).
RR: What new direction do
you see for your business in the
next 12 months?
CH: We have expanded our business
into sales and service of equipment with
the addition of KIP America Digital
Printers and HP DesignJet Plotters.
RR: Do you think you will always
be in the printing business, or
do you see your business going
in some substantially different
direction in the next 10 to 20 years?
CH: I think we will be always be in
the printing business. We have seen
some loss of business as we sell
equipment to our existing customers,
and that eliminates some printing.
However, some of those customers
continue sending us their large print
requests. We do have five digital
printers in-house and many jobs are
received through the Internet.
RR: With all the new technology
in our business, how do you go
about finding competent people
to help you run it?
CH: It’s a difficult process. We find our
drivers generally through newspaper
ads. Requesting DMV reports eliminates
a lot of candidates but gives us the ones
with clean records. We do promote
from within as well as advertise our
openings asking for candidates with
some experience in digital printing.
We receive recommendations from our
16
friends in the industry, and even some
folks working for our competition apply.
RR: How has the shift to digital
technology impacted your labor
costs in the past five years?
CH: It has made our labor costs go up.
Our employees have had to go from
the traditional blueline process to
operating computers. This has required
more expertise from their standpoint as
they now manage two or three jobs at
a time. It has also required hiring
people with more than the traditional
High School education.
RR: Has the digital revolution
made your business more
profitable or less profitable?
CH: We’re profitable, but we are
continually holding down all the
expenses possible. We are constantly
researching product pricing, looking
for the best deal. Taking nothing for
granted, our business is truly seasonal
so we are marketing in areas not usual
for the reprographic industry.
RR: What’s the best change that
you’ve made in your business in
the past five years?
CH: Hiring better personnel. We’re
able to remain competitive with
personnel that have better credentials
and in some cases actual work
experience in our field. It’s not a
simple process; we constantly keep
our eyes and ears open.
RR: What’s the worst mistake
you’ve made in your business in
the past five years?
CH: Training—we haven’t done as
good a job as we should have.
Insurance companies are requiring
specific training for drivers as well as
production personnel. We never
thought of having driver education as
often as we now do. We have quarterly
training by our local sheriff’s office on
defensive driving as well as daily
vehicle inspection. Our employee
meetings are done more frequently and
some type of training is included. Our
production area is constantly being
reviewed by management to institute
new procedures and techniques.
RR: What one business problem
would you like to discover the
solution for in the next three
months?
CH: How about quality control! We
have had this problem for years—one
employee sees the final product
differently from another, or the work
order was interpreted differently
because it wasn’t written properly and
someone assumed that the job should
have been done this way. Our
production manager is constantly
reviewing the orders as they go out,
and it has reduced the redo rate, but
most important, our customers seemed
pleased with the work.
OPINIONLEADERS
RR: What is the most important
new thing that you have learned
about running your business in
the past 12 months?
CH: We focused more on equipment
sales and service as we expanded into
new territory and other areas of the
industry. We have found that in order
to have qualified service personnel,
more training in the tech schools is
necessary as well as credentials such
as MCSE certifications.
RR: How has your management
style changed in the past five
years? Why?
CH: I’ve delegated more responsibility
to other people. We have developed
the business into six areas, and it has
become almost impossible for one or
two people to manage everything.
As an example, the level of expertise
needed in the Digital Color Solutions
Department requires people who
know color management, calibration,
digital and extensive computer skills.
That alone lets me out—give the
department responsibility to someone
who knows it!
RR: What is the single greatest
challenge that you have faced in
running a family business?
CH: Me! I grew up in a different era
than the people we currently employ.
Graduating from high school in the
late ’50s meant doing one of two
Hackworth Reprographics, Chesapeake, Virginia.
things: getting a job or going into the
Armed Services. College wasn’t an
option, as our parents didn’t have the
money. So many of us went into the
service and then got a job.
My career has been in the supply and
printing industry for over 40 years.
Everything I have learned in the
reprographics industry has been OJT
(On the Job Training). Selling
surveying equipment meant learning
how to operate the instruments like
an engineer or surveyor, so you learned
from those folks, or selling slide rules
meant being trained by a college math
professor or going to Southeastern
Blueprint and Allied Industries
conventions and sitting around a table
with your peers doing “show and tell.”
Our management team consists of
Dorothy, Charles II and me. Charles is
vice president and general manager
and has all the department managers
working with him. Dorothy has the
responsibility of finance management
and is the chief financial officer, and I
work with the sales force.
RR: It’s 2010. Describe a typical
day in your shop.
CH: No clue—I don’t plan on being
there unless I stop by and pick up my
weekly retirement check!
I would hope that the business would
continue to grow as it has over the
years. Our biggest interest is not being
Charles Hackworth in his office at Hackworth Reprographics in
Chesapeake, Virginia.
Number One, just being the best in
everything we do. We’ll probably have
more folks working at home or from
remote locations using laptops and cell
phones to direct and manage.
I would hope that we would continue
to trust in what the Lord has planned
for us. We have found that our faith
has been the strength that has carried
us through the tough times as well as
the good. It’s His plan, not ours, that
makes us successful!
As a side note, this industry has been
very good to Dorothy and me. We
have raised two sons; have two great
daughters-in-law and four grand
children, Charles III, Alexis, Morgan
and Mason. I have had the opportunity
to travel all over the country. I have
been able to help start an industry
association (RDS, now the Reprographic
Services Association), I served as
president of the Southeastern Reprographic Association and as treasurer
for the last eight years, as well as three
years on the IRgA Board of Directors.
I have been honored to receive many
awards and am grateful for my many,
many friends.
Knowledge of this industry, I can
give back. The friendships are mine
to keep forever—those I don’t have
to give back! ●
17
HUMANRESOURCES
Protecting Your Investment
By Debra Thompson
R
ecently I have seen the trend
of reprographic owners and
managers hiring outside
salespersons. These owners and
manager recognize that the key to
higher overall sales is an individual
dedicated to the difficult task of
cultivating and harvesting new
customers. The job requirements for
this position are difficult because it
demands not only a high level of
intelligence but also a great sales
personality—the ability to have great
relationships with customers and also
with the entire company staff.
If you take the necessary steps
to take care of your employees,
you will not have to worry
about testing the validity of
your non-compete agreements.
In the hiring services that we provide,
we have been reviewing lots of resumes
and interviewing lots of candidates.
We have also been following our process,
which includes Wonderlic assessment
testing (which I discussed in issue 5
of REPRO REPORT), prescreening,
reference checking and personality
profiling. The results are always
interesting. But one comment I often
hear during interviews is certainly
bothersome. When I ask what strengths
the applicant would bring to the job,
many candidates say that they will be
able to bring their existing customers.
This is a clear disadvantage to having
an outside salesperson, because he or
she knows your customer base and has
established strong relationships with
18
those customers. Owners and managers
recognize this risk in bringing on a
salesperson. If they take that risk
and later learn the salesperson is not
producing, then they are afraid to fire
that salesperson for the same reason.
In the past, owners have tried to build
some protection using non-compete
agreements. These were legal sounding
documents that the employee signed,
thereby agreeing not to take any of
the proprietary information such as
customer lists and not to work for a
competitor within a specified radius
of the present owner. Many owners
felt confident that they were protected.
The truth hit them when the employee
left and took or at least attempted to
take customers to the new place just
down the street: The non-compete
agreements were not enforceable
in the courts and became worthless
documents.
However, not all is doom and gloom.
There is another approach to the noncompete agreement which does seem
to be enforceable in the courts. It
contains all of the usual language
about protecting the information,
agreeing not to take proprietary data
and not working for a competitor
within close proximity. One new
feature that the agreement contains
is a provision that the employee
receives compensation for signing the
agreement with a specified payout as
part of their paycheck. In most cases,
this is about $250 monthly, and it is
defined on the paycheck as reimbursement for the non-compete. It may be
paid monthly or rolled into quarterly
payments depending on how the
agreement is structured. As with any
legal issues, consult with your attorney
to ensure that whatever approach you
take will be legally binding.
But let’s face it, enforcing a noncompete agreement is a sign that you
have already lost. You lost a valuable
employee and you are facing the
potential loss of customers who may
be loyal to that employee. The best
solution is to create an environment
where the employee will want to stay.
Become an employer of choice, the
kind of business that attracts and
retains top performers because it is
the kind of place where they want to
work. If you take the necessary steps
to take care of your employees, you
will not have to worry about testing
the validity of your non-compete
agreements. According to the latest
study by the Society for Human
Resource Management, the top five
areas of importance to employees today
are benefits, compensation, safety in
the workplace, job security and the
flexibility to balance work/life issues.
By addressing these concerns for your
employees, you will maintain positive
relationships with them and reduce
your risk of losing them because they
are unhappy.
So, while it is possible to create noncompete agreements which may be
enforceable in the courts, you will
have much better success if you create
a work environment that rewards and
recognizes the accomplishments of
your employees, a work environment
that they want to be part of and that
they will stay with over the years. Your
investment in becoming an employer
of choice will be a lot less than the
attorney fees you will pay enforcing
your non-compete agreements. And
most importantly, as an employer of
choice you build the competent,
stable, well-led workforce that provides
the competitive advantage that you
need and works the miracles necessary
to maintain customer loyalty. Try it,
you will like it. ●
Debra Thompson, president of TG &
Associates, is a speaker and consultant
specializing in human resources in the graphics
industry. You can reach Thompson toll-free at
877/842-7762 or [email protected].
REPRONOMICS
Setting Up Shop: New Location Necessities
By Brett Scully
I
n my last article (REPRO REPORT
issue 5), I described opening a new
shop as a way to increase your
revenue and market share. I went over
the prep work needed to open the
shop, like studying the market and
investigating different real estate
options. Now we’ll dig into signing
the lease, budgeting for equipment,
staffing and return on investment.
As I mentioned in the last article, the
ideal lease would be a “gross” lease,
where you don’t have to pay real estate
tax increases and other expenses.
However, an ideal situation would also
allow you to have the lessor build out
the property and amortize the cost
over the first five or so years. This
way, you can hire an architect and
have the landlord deal with getting
to your specifications.
Next on the list is budgeting for gear
to run the new shop. Let’s start with a
$200,000 investment. Ideally, the
revenue shaved from the main office
would likely add capacity to those
existing machines in the shop. If
possible, this excess gear can help
equip the new shop. For instance, the
main shop has three GBC punches,
where maybe only two are really ever
needed. This minor step can help save
capital expenses for the new shop as
well as getting the most out of all gear
in the firm. After exhausting the gear
swap scenario, it’s time to allocate
capital to new large- and small-format
boxes and a host of ancillary purchases.
The first things to look for are large
format printers/scanners. Figure at
least one big box to start, as well as
a secondary box to cover when the
primary is down. A more liberal
investment would be two big boxes
to start, figuring that growth over the
next 18 months should fill capacity
of both units. I would budget about
$65,000 each, or $130,000 total, for
this setup.
The next boxes to buy are the small
format copiers/scanners. Nowadays,
this is one of the easier and more
economical purchases of the whole
shop. Plan for two small-format digital
copiers at about $15,000 each, or
$30,000 for the pair. By now, the beef
of the budget has been taken care of
with the $160,000 in large and small
format printers. From here, the devil is
in the details for correctly allocating
the $40,000 still to spend.
I think one of the best bangs for your
investment buck come in the form of a
35 CPM color copier. Figure on
$15,000 to comfortably get you into a
box that can pay for itself with a
couple of months’ printing. Computers
and furniture come next. You’ll need
three or four computers in the new
shop, which will run you around
$5,000. Five new wood tables will set
you back about 500 bucks each, for a
total cost of about $2,500. Phones,
desks, and shop and office supplies are
last on the list, and tend to eat up the
budget fairly quickly.
For your new shop’s staffing strategy,
once again look at reusing “gear” from
the main shop. For instance, if the
main shop gave up $30,000 a month in
revenue to your new shop across town,
the main shop may even be heavy by
three or four people. So, why not try to
swap a couple staffers from the main
shop—maybe a driver, a production
worker and an administrator? Then,
the new shop only has to fill a net of
one or two new people.
After the ribbon-cutting ceremony is
over and the shop is open at least six
months, you must look at how the
reality compares to the forecasts of
increased revenue and market share of
the firm as a whole. At our firm, we do
not like to venture into a new shop
unless it has potential to at least
double the revenue currently being
done in the particular area. So in our
example here, the new shop should
aim to generate $60,000 a month in
revenue from its current base of
$30,000 per month.
Now finally comes the ol’ ROI. Well,
if the company can achieve an 18-24
month goal of $75,000 per month, and
Ideally, the revenue shaved
from the main office would
likely add capacity to those
existing machines in the shop.
If possible, this excess gear
can help equip the new shop.
do it with a crew of seven or eight, the
realistic net profits from the venture
could be approximately $15,000$20,000 per month, or almost a quarter
million a year. Now, you don’t have to
be an ROI rocket scientist to see that
$250,000 profit on a $200,000
investment is a good return! ●
Brett Scully is CEO of eBlueprint Holdings of
Cleveland, Ohio. You can reach Scully at
[email protected].
19
HOEK’SCORNER
Sour Cream on the Side
By Doug Hoek
M
Doug Hoek
y wife, Jeri, and I frequent a
local Mexican restaurant
called the Beltline Bar,
located in a large facility designed to
resemble an adobe hacienda. The
décor, however, is so poor that one
might easily think the building was
just an old warehouse with some
stucco thrown on the walls in the
empty spaces between the plastic cacti.
There’s probably a Beltline Bar-type
place in your town. I have visited
similar spots in Denver, San Diego and
Fort Meyers, and they are all alike:
Find somewhere to park, wade through
a crowd of others waiting, get your
name on the list, wiggle your way to a
spot by the bar and start listening as
the list is slowly read over the
crackling PA system.
Usually by the time they get to your
name you have eaten so many chips
and salsa (I order mine with onions and
sour cream) and consumed enough
sangria that dinner is no longer needed.
You take your table only because you
are tired of standing, and you end up
taking most of your wet burrito (I order
mine with onions and sour cream)
home in a Styrofoam box that ends up
“Oh, I get it,” I said. “If we order it, we
have to pay for it.”
In the car on the way home I said to
Jeri, “We should do that at our
“You do not do that now —
charge people for what they order?”
sitting in the refrigerator until it’s
thrown into the trash a week later.
business— charge people for stuff
they ask for.”
During a recent pilgrimage to the
Beltline with our good friend Gary
from California, Jeri had fajitas, Gary
and I each had a pork burrito with
double cheese (and onions and sour
cream), and we shared an appetizer of
chips and cheese with a pitcher of
sangria. And, yes, we did take a couple
of Styrofoam boxes home; they are
sitting in the refrigerator now. Nancy,
our favorite waitress, served us with
her usual smile and graciousness.
Jeri looked at me in a questioning and
confused way. “You do not do that
now—charge people for what they
order?” Gary was chuckling in the back
seat. He knew where this was going—
Gary is a reprographer, too.
“Well, yes and no,” I said. “We do
pretty good charging for the normal
stuff, but not for the sides. We give
the sides away too often.”
“Hey, Nancy, what is the deal with
all these little charges for sour cream?”
I asked.
Next time you go to your favorite local
joint, check out the bill. Then when
you go to work the next day look at
some of the bills generated in your
business. Check for the “sides” you
might be giving away: file conversion,
file storing, file renaming, color
checking, FTP services, font and image
correction, delivery, and onions and
sour cream. ●
“Well, let me see,” she replied. “You
had sour cream with your chips and
cheese while you waited, then you had
Doug Hoek is the president of Veenstra
Reproductions in Grand Rapids, Mich.
When Nancy brought us the bill, for
some reason I looked at it and noticed
“sour cream … $0.50”. Then, further
down, there it was again, and again,
and again, and again—five times.
20
more with your chips here at the table,
then you and your friend had some
with your burritos, and Jeri had some
with her fajitas, too. That makes five
sides of sour cream.”
PRINTI.T.
A Letter to Online Plan Room Developers
(Or, Memoirs of a Second-Generation Repro-brat)
By John Marquardt
T
he road to marginality for
reprographics began with
digital plotters—late ’80s,
early ’90s. I don’t think we saw it at
the time, as resistance to bringing
that technology into our shops was
slight. When the Océ 9400 hit, the
implication of having access to
machines that didn’t stink or require
outrageous ventilation and dangerous
chemicals stored under pressure
became punctuated as clients bought
these machines en masse.
Moreover, the systems shipped with
the Apprentice job-control software,
which allowed the clients to become
more production oriented. The
clients could really start receiving
files rather than paper, but they were
so entrenched in their ways they used
this technology to replace their
analog engineering copiers.
Around 1995 I sat in a hotel room
with Richard Dinsmore, whom I
consider the father of the online plan
room, and looked at his Bidview
program. At that time it had a
modem-based system. The system had
an easy-to-use text-based interface
that presented users with choices: A.
Download Plans; B. View Plan
holders; C. etc…. Were it not for the
state-of-the-art C4 CADMail system
we had (insert sarcasm here), we
would’ve been impressed. We told him
that it was nice, but everything was
on, or going to, the Web and if he
came back in time with something
Web-based, we’d be interested.
To our surprise, he did and we were
impressed. Web-based Bidview was
really nice for the time. We liked and
used it, but the whole time we were
pretty nervous about the implications.
He had built take-off software, so the
ability to download plans was in
Bidview. He wanted to do what was
possible, not what would drag out the
ability for repro shops to make profits.
This ability could be tracked and
billed, or even just turned off, but
seeing it made it real. The idea of
selling users on Bidview, posting their
projects and having subs download
plans and then give them to their
buddies or share them with a Builder’s
Exchange was always nagging. When
talking with our sales staff about what
Bidview could do, we would find
ourselves leaning over the table,
speaking in hushed whispers like our
clients not only were listening, but
that they might figure out that it was
possible to use the Internet to get
their files directly.
In 1999, ARC acquired our company.
ARC saw the need for developing an
online plan room and was starting
down that path. Bidview was limited
and not at all suited to a large
enterprise like ARC with dozens of
independent operating divisions.
However, it was usable and would get
them started, so they bought it from
Dinsmore and relabeled it PlanWell
1.0. In the interest of full disclosure, I
was the point man for the PlanWell
1.0 rollout of 21 ARC division Web
servers hosted on site at Engineering
Repro Systems in Minneapolis.
From the moment the first largeformat LED plotter was put into a
repro shop, everyone in the industry
was aware of where it would
lead…eventually. Revenue from
printing will continue to decline.
There may be bubbles of activity due
to advancements like faster, cheaper
plotters or increases in certain types of
construction, but over the long haul
reprographers will continue to see
print volumes fall much like drafting
machines and sepia-paper sales
tapered. The smart reprographics firms
(and their customers) will derive more
and more revenue from online and
various digital services.
need plan rooms to help us out. There
was a great turnout at the 2004 IRgA
convention, and unlimited discussion
on plan rooms developed by
companies with a stake in this
evolution, but from different angles—
to the point where they hardly
compete with each other. As nice as
these are, they’re not nearly as good as
they need to be or as they could be.
Why the rush? The technology to do
more is out there and so easily
accessible that our clients are moving
on without us. They waited patiently
for us to evolve and provide a
We have a chance to work
our way into a position to
evolve, and I think we need
plan rooms to help us out.
solution, but they know what’s
possible—not what will keep
reprographics in the loop—and they
have a lot of help from companies that
want reprographics gone.
To you plan room developers out
there—innovate and stretch the tech.
Our customers have caught on, and
they’re fearless. ●
Formerly the I.T. manager for Engineering
Repro Systems in Minneapolis, John
Marquardt is an industry speaker and educator. You can reach him at [email protected].
This is all, of course, a ways off. We
have a chance to work our way into a
position to evolve, and I think we
21
IN THE NEWS
Digital Photo
Printing Market
Booms
QUICK VIEW
Companies in
the News:
Albinson
Reprographics
Chicago Diazo
Consolidated
Reprographics
Dieterich-Post
Dietzgen
I.T. Strategies
Lyra Research
Mimaki
Océ
ReproMAX
Sihl USA
As digital cameras grow in popularity,
so will the market for printing digital
photos, according to a new report. In
Consumer Photo-Printing Market:
Where Digital Photos Will Be
Printed, Lyra Research predicts that
revenue from photo prints captured
with digital cameras will increase
from $6.6 billion in 2002 to $15.1
billion in 2008, a 12% compound
annual growth rate.
With both commercial and home
printing options available, where
consumers will choose to print their
digital photos could become a key
issue in the market. The report
examines consumer behavior as well
as the important trends driving the
photo-printing market.
The complete report can be
downloaded in .pdf format from
www.lyra.com for $2,495—it includes
digital camera shipment and revenue
forecasts through 2008 and
suggestions for businesses on tapping
into this booming market.
Wide Format Inkjet Market
Growing at 9%
According to a new study by I.T. Strategies, the wide-format inkjet graphics
market generated total manufacturers’ revenues of $6 billion in 2003 and is
expected to grow to $9.4 billion in 2008, a compound annual growth rate of 9%.
The market is becoming increasingly competitive as new product categories,
such as eco-solvent and flatbed printing, compete with aqueous printers. The
study divides the inkjet market into three primary technology categories—
aqueous, solvent and flatbed wide format ink jet printers—and forecasts
revenues for hardware, media and ink.
• Total hardware revenues will increase from $1.3 billion in 2003 to $1.4 billion
in 2008. As a portion of total market share, hardware revenues will decrease
from 22% in 2003 to 15% in 2008 as hardware prices decrease.
• Total media revenues will grow from $2.4 billion in 2003 to $4.1 billion in
2008, an 11% growth rate. Increasing use of specialty media such as vinyl,
fabric and canvas will drive revenues from 39% in 2003 to 44% in 2008.
• Total ink revenues will grow from $2.4 billion in 2003 to $3.9 billion in 2008,
a 10% growth rate fueled by the growing installed base of printers.
Mark Hanley, president of I.T. Strategies, notes, “Some may look at the market
as mature, and in some ways it looks like that from a vendor’s point of view.
The market has an unusually rich capability to grow through diversification
and customized value creation. It is made up of many highly valuable, unique
applications which have yet to be fully exploited, and further growth will also
come from the 75% of high-volume display graphics that are still analog printed.
Some large part of this is also available to digital printing. The way I see it, the
wide format market is far from mature.”
The complete report can be viewed at www.it-strategies.com.
Dietzgen Buys Chicago Diazo,
Allies with Sihl
Nashua Corporation’s Dietzgen Division recently acquired Chicago
Diazo Corporation of Elk Grove, Illinois. The purchase expands
Dietzgen’s customer base and service capability in Chicago and the
Midwest. Dietzgen will provide local distribution and delivery using its
own delivery service. The company has recruited a new Midwest sales
representative to help with the transition.
Don Michalek, president of Chicago Diazo, says, “It was most
important that we have a smooth transition of our longstanding and
loyal customers to a financially strong supplier committed to the
industry, to customer service and to quality. After looking at all our
options, Dietzgen was the very best choice.”
Dietzgen also recently formed a strategic alliance with media
manufacturer Sihl USA, a subsidiary of Sihl AG Switzerland. The deal
allows Dietzgen to sell and distribute Sihl color graphics products in
the reprographics market. Sihl’s media lines—including photo papers,
backlit and display films, sign and banner vinyls and solvent media—
will be available at www.dietzgen.com.
22
Océ-USA CEO Resigns
Ronald E. Daly resigned from his position
as member of the board of executive
directors of Océ N.V., CEO of Océ-USA
Holding, Inc. and his other positions within
the Océ Group effective September 1, 2004.
Jan Dix succeeded Daly as CEO. Dix is
member of the board of executive directors
of Océ N.V. and senior executive vice
president of the Strategic Business Unit
Digital Document Systems.
Michel Frequin, former executive vice
president of the Strategic Business Unit
Wide Format Printing Systems, will succeed
Dix as executive vice president of Digital
Document Systems. Tom Egelund, former
executive vice president of Royal Philips’
Medical Systems Division, has been
appointed as executive vice president of
the Strategic Business Unit Wide Format
Printing Systems.
IN THE NEWS
NEWS BITS
Half a Century at
Dieterich-Post
Keith LeNoue was a 17-year-old
professional baseball player when he
took a part-time job with Monterey
Park, California-based reprographics
firm Dieterich-Post. Fifty years later,
LeNoue is still working for the company,
which recently held a luncheon to
honor his half-century of service.
“Keith is a unique individual in this
day and age of transient employees,”
said Dan Bruich, president. “He has
had other opportunities but chose to
stick with Dieterich-Post. He is one
of the finest people I have met in my
life and a dedicated and loyal
employee who deserves the best life
has to offer.”
“It’s a great company,” LeNoue noted.
“I’ve worked at every department
they have here except accounting,
and it’s been a good trip for me. The
people here are just excellent.”
LeNoue has moved on from baseball
to golf, and the Dieterich-Post sales
team presented him with a new set of
clubs to mark his golden anniversary.
Consolidated Opens
Second Phoenix Office
Southern California-based
Consolidated Reprographics (CR)
has opened a production facility in
Scottsdale, Arizona, its eleventh
location in the Southwestern United
States and its second in Arizona. This
location expands CR’s coverage from
Phoenix and Tempe to include
Scottsdale and the surrounding region.
CR also operates nearly 100 staffed
and unstaffed On-Site Service
Centers in Arizona, California,
Washington, Nevada, Utah,
Colorado, Florida and New York. The
company is a member of American
Reprographics Company (ARC), the
largest supplier of reprographic
services and technology in the world.
Albinson Reprographics
Acquires ProColor
Albinson Reprographics, LLC, has
acquired Professional Color Services
(ProColor) of Minneapolis from
Howard Hanson. ProColor is a longtime provider of traditional
professional color photographic
services as well as digital
photographic and inkjet services. The
company, which employed 43 people,
will relocate from its current location
in downtown Minneapolis to
Albinson’s Glenwood Avenue
location this January.
According to Albinson Chief
Executive Officer Bryan Thomas, the
acquisition moves the company closer
to the goal of being a one-stop
reprographics shop for Minneapolis.
New Marketing VP for
Océ Business Services
Océ has appointed
Elizabeth Halaki to
vice president of
marketing for Océ
Business Services, Inc.
(OBS). She will be
responsible for overseeing all aspects
of the company’s marketing.
Halaki’s career includes more than 20
years in senior management,
marketing and business development
positions in information technology,
management consulting and
advertising. Most recently, she was
Senior Vice President of Marketing &
Business Development at Identrus
LLC, a global identity trust system
offering digital authentication and
payments solutions.
ReproMAX Adds
Technology Director
ReproMAX has hired Tanner L.
Bechtel as director of technology. He
will be responsible for driving the
new ReproMAX strategic
technological direction, guiding new
technologies for the global
ReproMAX Printing Network and
assisting partner companies in the
United States, Canada and Europe.
Previously, Bechtel served as chief
solutions architect at SCORE
Technology. His experience also
includes a stint as chief development
engineer and director in the
manufacturing, construction and
consumer goods industries. Bechtel’s
extended family is involved in the
AEC industry as executives,
engineers and tradesmen.
Urmano Joins
Mimaki USA
Mimaki USA has tapped Steve
Urmano as its new marketing
manager. Urmano has more than 20
years’ experience in the sales and
marketing of digital color imaging
products. He comes to Mimaki from
Colorbus, where he served as vice
president of sales and marketing. He
has also worked for Pantone Asia,
Kodak Digital Imaging, Sony
Electronic Photography &
Publishing, and Canon Digital
Photography.
23
ASSOCIATIONHIGHLIGHTS
With REPRO REPORT, Membership
(in IRgA) Has Its Privileges!
W
hen asked what they value
most about the IRgA,
members most frequently
put REPRO REPORT at the top of
their list. And for good reason—the
magazine is the most tangible and
visible benefit of the IRgA, being
delivered in color with solid editorial
content to members six times a year.
However, that value is diminished when
the most distinct and highly touted
membership benefit is given away to
others for free. Members can legitimately
argue that this is not fair. For several
reasons, and largely due to an outdated
database that was replaced one year ago,
the REPRO REPORT circulation list
was composed of both IRgA members
and non-members. Some people simply
were not removed from the membership
rolls when they did not to renew their
membership in the association. In other
words, they continued to receive
REPRO REPORT for free.
A good database is an association’s
lifeblood just like good customer
service is a reprographer’s lifeblood.
Duplicate records and records with
invalid addresses have been removed
from the IRgA database. Hundreds of
records have been updated with
accurate information, giving the
association a clean list of reprographers
and industry suppliers.
New Members
Active
New England Reprographics
& Supply Inc.
West Yarmouth, Mass.
Suburban Graphics, Inc.
Las Vegas, Nev.
QPS-USA, Inc.
Miami, Fla.
DesignPresentation
Associates
New York, N.Y.
24
Just Digital!!!
Bronx, N.Y.
eBlueprint-Market Street
Akron, Ohio
Associate
Ratio America
Racine, Wisc.
Nu-kote International, Inc.
Franklin, Tenn.
Beginning with the January/February
issue, REPRO REPORT will be
delivered only to those who support
the IRgA through membership or paid
subscription.
More Issues to be Sent
to Member Companies
Until recently, the IRgA offered up to
three subscriptions to each member
company, with the option to purchase
subscriptions for additional employees
for $30 per year. The IRgA’s Board of
Directors recently decided to increase
the number of subscriptions offered to
member companies, thereby making
the magazine available to more
people—qualified reprographers or
industry suppliers.
Active member companies now receive
between four and 10 subscriptions of
REPRO REPORT, based on the
company’s size. Additional subscriptions
continue to be available for $30
annually (see chart below). Associate
members receive between one and 10
issues, also based on company size.
The rationale is that the larger the
company, the larger the dues, and the
more people who will want to receive
the magazine.
It’s a Wrap – Join or
Subscribe
Each IRgA member company has been
asked to provide the names of the
employees who are to receive REPRO
REPORT based on the number of
subscriptions available to them
according to their company size.
Therefore, it’s possible that your
company is an IRgA member but your
name might be removed from the
circulation list in January.
If your copy of REPRO REPORT has a
wrap around the cover, it means that
this is your last issue. We hope you
have come to realize what a great
value the magazine is to you and your
business, and that you’ll use the form
Active Membership
# Employees
Subscriptions
1-19. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
20-34. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
35-49. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
50-99. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
100+ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
International . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Associate Membership
# Employees
Subscriptions
1 .........................1
2-49. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
50+ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
to have your company join the IRgA
or subscribe to the magazine.
If your magazine does not have a wrap
cover, it means that your association
membership dues are paid in full and
you will continue to receive REPRO
REPORT as long as your company
remains a member. We sincerely thank
you for your membership in the IRgA,
and we hope you enjoy receiving
REPRO REPORT.
A Bonus!
While REPRO REPORT is a vital part
of the IRgA’s commitment to its
membership, it also serves as an
important membership recruitment
vehicle and access to the industry for our
supplier members. Two of the six issues
of REPRO REPORT will be offered as
bonus issues sent to IRgA members as
well as potential members to
demonstrate the value in the association
year-round. Bonus issues sent to nonmembers will contain a wrap around
cover with a request to join the IRgA.
Of course, REPRO REPORT is one of
the many advantages of belonging to
the IRgA. The magazine gives you the
edge your company needs to stay
competitive in today’s changing
reprographics market. That, in itself, is
value that can’t be quantified!
ASSOCIATIONHIGHLIGHTS
Updating Your
Employee Handbook?
IRgA Can Help
Is it time to upgrade your employee
handbook? Or perhaps you need to
create one for the first time? The
IRgA can help.
The IRgA Employee Handbook
Sample Guide includes handbooks
from five IRgA member companies
demonstrating industry best
practices.
One CD of the new handbook will
be sent free to each member
company. Additional copies can be
ordered at www.irga.com. The
member cost is $49.
New to Your Inbox: IRgA News Digest
In October, the IRgA unveiled a new electronic newsletter to replace
REPRO REPORT Weekly. This new html publication, IRgA News Digest,
will arrive the first Wednesday of every month to all reprographers and
industry suppliers in the IRgA member and prospective member
database, as well as to anyone else who wishes to receive it.
The Digest will serve as a portal to timely industry and association
news—a high-level introduction linking to full articles, industry
research reports and relevant Web sites. Each issue contains news
about what’s happening within the IRgA, plus industry news briefs,
profiles and a “sneak preview” of a feature article that will appear in
upcoming REPRO REPORT magazine.
The Digest is dynamic, highly readable and graphically appealing
publication that adds value to our industry and connects you with
the information you need.
If you have any questions or feedback on this new e-publication,
contact us at 800.833.4742 or [email protected].
IRgA Partners with Enterprise
to Cut Fleet Costs
Download Industry
Journals FREE
In partnership with Enterprise Fleet Services, IRgA members may now
realize up to 15% savings in their fleet operational expenses. This new
membership benefit is just another way the IRgA is working to make
your businesses more profitable. Enterprise Fleet Services, a division of
Enterprise Rent-A-Car, manages commercial fleets for businesses with
fleets between 15 – 125 vehicles. Enterprise will analyze IRgA members’
current fleet operations and customize the right fleet programs specific
to the needs of your business.
IRgA members can now download
the IRgA Industry Journals, each a
$99 value, FREE at www.irga.com in
the Member Network—Publication
Download Center:
Enterprise Fleet Services aims to reduce overall fleet holding costs. Services
include acquisition, funding, aftermarket equipment, maintenance programs,
fuel management, fleet card program, risk management and driver safety,
corporate rental, registration, disposal and reporting.
To participate in the program, companies must be active IRgA members.
If you have not already done so, renew your membership to keep benefiting from the education and access to an extensive network of
reprographers that IRgA membership offers. Other membership benefits
include: REPRO REPORT; discussion forum; membership directory;
Mounting and Laminating Educational Series; industry journals; Salary
Survey, Benefits Survey, and Operating Ratio Study; and Annual
Conference and Trade Show savings. For more information about the
Enterprise Fleet Services program, call toll free 877/233-5338 or visit
the company’s Web site at www.enterprise.com/fleets/.
Industry Journal Vol. 1: Business
Strategies. Get the tools to handle a
wide range of financial and operational
issues confronting your business.
Industry Journal Vol. 2: Facilities
Management. Six leading industry
peers offer shop owners their valuable
insights for investing in the promising
and rapidly growing market of FMs.
Industry Journal Vol. 3: Small
Format Imaging. Seven industry
leaders explore small-format imaging
opportunities and offer insight on
sales and marketing expansion,
production and finance issues,
technology and more.
Industry Journal Vol. 4: Large
Format Technology - soon to be
released in 2005!
Contact IRgA headquarters at
800.833.4742 if you need assistance
logging onto the members-only section.
25
Pushing Sales
Beyond the Limits
Reprographers
Reprographers Use
Use Training,
Training,
Compensation
Compensation and
and Creative
Creative Incentives
Incentives
to
to Build
Build and
and Motivate
Motivate Sales
Sales Staff.
Staff.
By Navina Waterman
Reprographers with a wide variety of
experience all agree on one fact—increasing
sales is a good thing! Effectively managing a
reprographics sales department to obtain the
best results can be challenging. It starts with hiring,
but training, measuring and providing incentives are
all equally important.
A good salesperson must have a combination of skills—
personality, sales knowledge, people skills and the
ability to learn. In our business, it’s all about relationships,
so a great deal of patience is also required, and this
quality must be carefully cultivated.
Finding Top Talent
Kent Long, Dallas District Manager for Thomas Reprographics (TR), says he is
resigned to going through three or four reps to get a “keeper,” and he finds that
referrals work out better than cold hires. However, Long says that while there are
exceptions, hiring from inside the industry hasn’t worked out very well. Usually it
becomes clear that the reason why the rep left his previous job is also a reason he
won’t stay long with TR. The company also has a policy against “poaching”
competitors’ reps, preferring to keep competition at a professional level rather than
turning cutthroat to everybody’s detriment. At the same time, Long finds it helpful for
a potential hire to have experience in some aspect of the printing industry, even if it is
marginally related.
Unlike many reprographers, Chuck Hayes of OCB Reprographics in Irvine, Calif., has
found that some of his best sales reps actually started out in other positions within the
company—including drivers, production workers and customer service reps. These
people bring the knowledge and culture of the company to the sales positions, helping to
create a program devoted to teamwork.
Potential reps obviously must exhibit the qualities needed for the job, but those who
meet the qualifications and have a strong desire to move into sales are given that
opportunity. Some find that sales is not as easy as they may have imagined and end
up deciding to go back to another position at OCB. Even so, this fluidity within the
company helps foster understanding and teamwork and contributes to OCB’s high
retention rate.
Michael Vagnoni of National Reprographics’ (NRI) Washington, D.C., office has
spent a considerable amount of time on both sides of the fence, having been in
sales for 22 years and a sales manager for the past six years. When he hires,
Vagnoni cares more about a candidate’s personality, demeanor and sales ability
rather than industry knowledge. The rep needs to be a “natural.”
Vagnoni has a few stock questions he asks in his initial interview. For
instance, he will create a situation and ask the candidate how she would
handle it. Then, as the potential hire starts to explain, he attempts to
purposely distract her onto a different track. Vagnoni believes that the
ability to continually bring the conversation back to the topic at hand
is a premier quality to look for in a rep. It’s also useful to have a
potential hire go on a few calls with an experienced NRI sales rep,
and then get that rep’s feedback. He says he’s found out the hard
27
way: “Hiring the wrong person can
cost a fortune.”
Training Techniques
Once hired by NRI, a new rep
undertakes an intensive training
period, mostly in different
departments. It’s critical for her to
watch and understand workflow, so
she also spends a few days following
specific jobs throughout their entire
life cycle. While in training, the new
rep meets daily with Vagnoni and
various managers who question her
about the previous day to assess how
much is being assimilated.
The next step for the new hire is to
spend time out in the field with
experienced reps, and finally to
understand required paperwork. Once
on her own, an NRI rep typically
starts working with existing customers.
Vagnoni doesn’t expect substantial
new account activity for about three
to six months.
In his pre-reprographics lifetime Dan
McNamara of Metro Repro in
Greenville, S.C., managed a large sales
force for a big corporation. Since he is
still a certified trainer of the Wilson
Learning sales methodology, he
incorporates much of this previous
NRI measures by activity. If a rep’s
activity level is good, then it is
possible to help him work out other
problems to improve results. Vagnoni
stresses the importance of seeing solid
appointments in the rep’s planning
calendar every week. His theory is that
a commitment is needed from a client,
and the first sign of a commitment is
to agree to a face-to-face meeting.
Vagnoni looks carefully at expense
reports—not necessarily to rein a rep
in, but to make sure that a rep is
spending enough and spending it in
appropriate places. Vagnoni also
believes a sales rep must be creative,
rather than administrative. If a rep
does all the paperwork perfectly and
on-time, he may not be the best in the
field so an appropriate balance must
sometimes be found.
Measurement-based
Compensation
Vagnoni points out that if all a rep is
doing is courtesy calling, then he is
really a “maintenance rep.” While
some maintenance is needed, in order
to make sure your reps are going
aggressively after new business, the
compensation structure must be set up
properly to reward that activity.
In the beginning reps can be so gung-ho they
overestimate what is attainable, so some mentoring
is required to help them establish a realistic plan.
account to an appropriate degree. For
instance, you don’t want your reps
calling too often on an account that
brings in $100 a month or ignoring
one that brings in $50,000 a month.
McNamara uses the average cost to
make a sales call to help his reps figure
out how many calls are appropriate for
each type of account on a yearly basis.
They create a skeleton schedule for
the entire year based on this planning.
He stresses that planning is essential
for many aspects of sales.
For compensation, McNamara believes
that a basis plus commission is
necessary. He finds that if a
salesperson is on 100% commission,
then the tendency is to become
primarily interested in a sale today
without caring enough about the longterm relationships which are so
essential in our industry. He has a
couple of rules for his sales people:
When they are with a client, they
must never talk about what is in it for
themselves, and they can never
complain.
McNamara sets sales expectations
bases on sales from existing accounts
the previous year, requiring salespeople
take care of their old accounts as well
as find new ones. He has set
commission levels depending on
different levels of sales. If a salesperson
reaches the highest level, he receives
that highest commission level on all
his sales, not merely those sales
exceeding the basic requirement.
Strategies for Improving
Performance
One Penny More
knowledge into training and retaining
good people in reprographics sales.
McNamara uses an eight-week
training program, during which he
particularly likes to have a rep-intraining wait on walk-in customers
over the counter. He then makes joint
calls with the rep and they continue
to work on selling skills until both are
confident the new rep is ready to go
out on his own.
28
A rep’s activity must ultimately be
profitable. NRI sales associates are
given some leeway in pricing but have
definite points beyond which they
cannot go without a very good reason
and appropriate approval.
Once in the field for Metro,
McNamara looks carefully at weekly
call reports and makes sure he spends
time one on one. He wants to make
sure a rep is actively involved in each
At a previous company, Vagnoni
instituted a “one penny more”
campaign. He plastered posters
everywhere and used humor to get the
point across that if every rep got “one
penny more” per unit for every job,
the results would be exponentially
positive for everyone. He says it’s too
easy for a rep to think that the way to
get a job is to simply cut the price.
The average selling price went up
quickly after Vagnoni launched this
simple campaign.
A Simple Plan
Mark Gerick of Ridgways/ARC in
Houston has each of his sales reps
create a business plan, which must
include specific goals and the strategy
and tactics needed to attain them.
These plans must fit with overall
company plans, of course, but
ultimately this strategy gives the reps
ownership—there are no questions
about unrealistic goals being foisted on
them from the outside. It also allows
the reps to figure out from the
beginning what they need to do in
order to meet personal financial goals.
Gerick notes that the program’s
objectives must be defined, measurable
and time specific. An example: By
December 31, I want to increase sales
by $250,000 over the previous year.
The strategy then needs to be explicit,
which for this example might include
sending flyers, making x number of
cold calls, etc. The tactics could be
the timing, determining the content,
determining who to call on and how
to follow up.
Gerick reports that in the beginning
reps can be so gung-ho they
overestimate what is attainable, so
some mentoring is required to help
them establish a realistic plan. He
cautions managers to be careful not to
set up a new rep for failure.
He monitors the sales plans on a
monthly basis to see if his reps are
meeting their objectives and helps
them figure out how to attain the
needed results if they are not. Reps
who consistently can’t meet their goals
don’t stay with the company for long.
Team Sales
For the past year and a half, Thomas
Reprographics has been experimenting
with a sales team concept for its color
business. Each team consists of three
reps with a team leader who helped
hire the other two. Long says this
resulted in some of the best hires TR
has ever made. The concept is that
team members’ complementary skills
help overall results. For instance one
team member might be good at getting
new business, another might have
strong people skills to handle
particular problems, and the third
might be a great organizer. Each team
also has a customer service rep (CSR)
in production who oversees quality
and timeliness for the team.
Long’s idea is that the team should
make more money than each member
would individually, and a percentage
of that increase goes toward paying for
the in-house CSR’s salary. By having
the CSR, the reps can spend more
time out in the field getting new
business instead of spending time
following jobs through production.
From a management standpoint, Long
says they are still evaluating the
program but he has been impressed so
far. The teams have established
tremendous camaraderie and it has
definitely increased individual
responsibility. For instance if one
member doesn’t fill out the right
paperwork, it hurts the entire team.
The members share a commission
based on the sales of the entire team.
They still each have individual goals
and certain sales levels which must be
met, so each can also get a personal
bonus—or a personal penalty—in
addition to the group compensation.
Galloping Growth
Hayes has experimented with different
programs over the years and ultimately
arrived at the “horse race” to create
excitement, interest and results in OCB’s
sales department. While the horse race is
all about new sales, it also requires reps
to keep up with current customers.
OCB’s reps must meet a base requirement—depending on their customers’
average sales from the previous year
and company-wide goals—before sales
are commissionable and before they
can be applied to the horse race.
The company runs both monthly and
quarterly horse races. Those reps who
meet their base requirement get to
enter, and only “new customer” sales
count. OCB sets aside a certain
amount of money each month for the
race and pays the top three places—
win, place, and show—on the
percentages in excess of base. The
quarterly race winner takes all.
Accounts are considered new for 90
days for race purposes but are good for
one year for commission purposes. A
rep who wins regularly can take home
a substantial amount of extra income.
All the reps are aware of how
everyone else is doing, creating a lot of
excitement and friendly rivalry.
In order to encourage particular types
of sales, OCB may increase the
percentage of commission for a
specific department. Hayes also has
one sales rep who only sells docutech
work. This rep receives a certain
amount of commission based on that
department’s total sales. This
encourages cooperation. Because he is
the expert in this area, it is not
unusual for him to make a two-person
presentation with another rep, helping
that rep close a sale.
While OCB is a large company, Hayes
feels that smaller companies could use
many of the same incentive plans with
slight modifications. The important
thing is to keep cooperation and
interest levels high. If a rep is happy
and bringing in new business, it clearly
benefits the whole company.
These sales managers share several
common threads in their successful
strategies for managing sales
departments. All have tried different
strategies over time to refine one that
works for their company. Each program
tries to balance maintaining existing
customer bases while simultaneously
encouraging reps to obtain new
business. All create a situation where
the sales reps have personal as well as
professional interest in success, and all
contain important components
designed to promote teamwork. ●
Navina Waterman managed a reprographic
shop for several years in the 1980s, held
various technology and marketing positions
with ReproCAD for 10 years and has been
an independent reprographics consultant for
the past four years. She can be reached at
[email protected].
29
BOOKREVIEW
My Favorite Business Book
For our new regular feature, REPRO REPORT talks to industry leaders about the
books that inspire and challenge them in their businesses.
This month’s subject is Ross Banks, president of Ford Graphics LA
Division, which currently has seven branch operations within Los
Angeles. He started his reprographics career eighteen years ago as a
sales representative. Banks is past president of the Western
Reprographics Association.
“It isn’t what the book costs; it’s what it will cost if you don’t read it.”
Jim Rohn
RR: How many business books
do you normally read in the
course of a year?
RR: Did this book change
anything about the way you
think about your business?
RR: What were the results of
those changes? Were they what
you expected them to be?
RB: Three to six.
RB: YES! It made me realize that even
though we have production errors, don’t
always accomplish the goals we set out
to achieve and at times have incidents
of decreased employee morale, overall
we are a good company. After reading
the book and sharing it with my
management team we agreed to set out
on the journey to develop our company
into a great company as measured by
the standards within the book.
RB: We launched this program one
year ago. It will take many years of
focused commitment to become a
great company. However, our sales
have increased substantially, and we
have employees who, after twenty
years of service, have new energized
attitudes about the company,
customers and themselves and feel
rejuvenated. Our re-dos have
decreased, and we have become a
much more progressive management
team instead of one that is reactive.
RR: What’s the best book on
business that you’ve read recently?
RB: Good to Great: Why Some
Companies Make the Leap, and Others
Don’t, by Jim Collins (HarperBusiness).
RR: What two or three “good
ideas” from that book stick out
in your mind?
RB: Collins challenges you to look
at your own business from a much
different perspective. After reading
the book, you will realize you and your
business are much more complacent
than you think, and your business
probably lacks progressive strategic
planning necessary to continue to grow.
The book raises the benchmark in
which to view and measure your
company, vendors, customers and the
businesses that you purchase products
or services from.
It also discusses at length work
environments that promote and breed
accountability, discipline and
creativity while creating work
environments that promote rigorous
management practices. But the book
stresses the fact that you cannot be
ruthless. Management must remain
humble and work as part of the team.
30
RR: Did this book change
anything about the way that you
actually conduct your business?
RB: Yes, from the book we launched a
new continuous improvement program
which we call “Good to Great.” We
purchased copies of the book for all
our managers and explained to them
what our objective/mission is. We met
with all of our employees to explain
the book. We related it to the retail
establishments they do business with.
We hired a management consulting
firm to help us identify and correct our
management principles and practices
that are counterproductive to
achieving our mission.
RR: Would you recommend this
book to other reprographers?
RB: YES! This book as been such a
life-changing experience for me and my
associates and has even impacted my
interaction with my family. I evangelize
about it to anyone who will listen. The
book is also available on CD.
The book has changed me as a person,
and has impacted positively my
employees, company and my family
because it started me on a path to look
at myself, my business and my life in a
different perspective. ●
Would you like to share your favorite
business books with your fellow reprographers?
Contact Amy Carlton, managing editor,
[email protected].
INSURANCEPRIMER
Is It Time for Your Insurance Check-Up?
Just as most people dread the annual
visit to the doctor, they also dread
dragging out their business insurance
policies to review. Though probably
not as important as that visit to the
doctor, it is important to keep a
handle on your insurance program.
The time to find out you don’t have
proper coverage is not after a claim
has already occurred.
Here is a quick checklist to help make
the process less painful.
Property
• Have you purchased any new
equipment this year?
• Did you tell your agent about it?
• Did you sell any equipment that
didn’t get replaced?
• Did you tell your agent about it?
This would save you premium dollars.
• Remember to use replacement
cost when inventorying equipment.
Most insurance policies give
replacement cost, special form
coverage. This is the best coverage
available and what you would want
in the event of a claim.
• Check the deductible on the policy.
Increasing deductibles is a good way
to save premium and avoid
“nuisance claims.” It only makes
sense to raise the deductible to
$1,000 if you wouldn’t turn in a
claim for under that amount.
• If you’re leasing equipment to other
locations, get certificates showing
coverage from the lessee or
purchase coverage from your
insurance carrier.
• Reprographers also need specialized
coverage such as equipment
breakdown and computer coverage.
Liability
• Most reprographers should qualify
to be insured on a combined
property and liability policy. By
purchasing a package policy the
general liability is included with the
property coverages on the package.
• Make sure all your locations,
including warehouses, are scheduled
on your package policy.
• Many times, Printers E&O can also
be added. Printers E&O provides
professional coverage that general
liability normally does not cover. It
is relatively inexpensive and is well
worth the premium.
• If you are offering employee benefits
such as a 401(k) plan or health
insurance—add Employee Benefits
coverage to the package policy.
• The purchase of an umbrella
policy that gives additional limits
of liability (anywhere from one
million and up) is also well worth
the premium. The umbrella policy
should extend over the Business
Auto and Employers Liabiity
(Work Comp) policy.
• Employment Practices is also worth
the investment and has been
addressed in past columns.
• Other coverages to look at for
the print industry are Copyright
Infringement and Web Site Liability.
Work Comp
• Rates for Work Comp coverage
are based on classification of the
employee, state, experience mod
and loss history. The classification
is based on job description. In
reviewing work comp policies,
always check to make sure that
the classification is correct. Many
states allow the use of the “quick
print” class for all employees.
However, some states still break
out employees who drive or do
clerical or sales work into other
classifications. Generally, the driver
class has the highest rate and
clerical has the lowest.
• The experience mod is set by each
individual state and based on loss
history and premium paid. The
state goes back four years and drops
the most current year. In other
words, a policy renewing 10/1/04
would not be rated on the 10-1-03
to 10-1-04 policy year. It’s a good
idea to have a review of any work
comp losses prior to renewing and
also to discuss the projected
experience mod for the coming
year. This helps with budgeting
your future insurance premiums.
• Review payrolls to make sure you
won’t be hit with a large audit
after the policy renews. It is much
better to “pay as you go” than
make one large lump-sum payment
at audit time.
Business Auto
• Review with your agent the autos
that should be scheduled on the
Business Auto policy. Rates are
based on limits of liability, garaging
locations, deductibles on comp and
collision and of course losses.
• It’s a good idea to review motor
vehicle reports on all new hires
prior to hiring if they are going to
be driving for you.
• Usually, larger cities with more
traffic are going to have higher
rates. If salespeople are driving their
vehicles home to smaller
communities, make sure the
insurance carrier is rating for the
smaller community since it will
probably have the lower rates.
• A good way to prevent claims and
save premium dollars are to
a) Implement a vehicle
maintenance program,
b) Provide proper training to all
new employees, and
c) Allow enough time for deliveries.
By investing some time in reviewing
the above coverages, you can prevent
uninsured claims and save premium
dollars. Insurance costs are a large
expense for most businesses. Make
sure you’re getting exactly what you
need and paying a fair price for it. ●
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.
31
PRODUCTINNOVATIONS
KIP Starprint 7000
The KIP Starprint 7000 printer
features four media rolls, 300-lpi
horizontal and vertical resolution,
maximum output of 36" x 75' and
speeds of up to 32' per minute. The
printer is 100% toner efficient,
QUICK VIEW
Companies in
Product
Innovations:
CDMSi
Fisher Textiles
Hexis USA
IDEAL
Kapco Graphic
Products
KIP America
Océ
Onyx Graphics
Scanvec Amiable
Seal Graphics
Americas
Sericol, Inc.
Sihl USA
Vision Graphics
VUTEK
Xerox
reducing toner
consumption and costs. KIP’s image
smoothing technology inserts
additional image data between dots
for sharper grayscales, diagonals and
curved lines.
The Starprint 7000 has an embedded
Powerprint controller and integrates
with other KIP products to create a
fully integrated digital printer, copier
and scan-to-file system. It is
compatible with all KIP scanners,
Powerprint software and selected
finishing systems.
A full product brochure is available at
www.kipamerica.com.
Kapco Optically Clear
Adhesive
Kapco Graphic Produtcts’ new
Optically Clear Double-Sided Adhesive
is designed for applications on widows,
glass or clear boards where transparency
is a must. This permanent/removable
mounting film allows users to change
out graphics easily. It’s available in 38"
to 60" widths.
For more information, visit Kapco’s
Web site at www.kapcographics.com.
Fisher Textiles’
Solvent Fabric
Xerox Adds FreeFlow
Products
The new Solvent Inkjet line of fabrics
from Fisher Textiles is compatible
with Vutek, Nur, Mimaki, Roland and
Mutoh printers.
The Xerox FreeFlow Digital Workflow
Collection of software and hardware
now boasts four new software products,
including a “digital storefront” that
lets print shops use the Web to
streamline job ordering and
management. The additions—Process
Manager, Print Manager, Web Services
and Makeready—reduce manual steps
and reduce errors in job ticketing, page
layout, editing and proofing.
The product line
includes SI 7800 Poly
Oxford, a 7.8-oz 100%
polyester woven fabric
for long-term outdoor use
available in 60" and 120"
lengths, and SI3000 light
polyester, a 3.0-oz 100%
polyester fabric. This
material’s edges are
ultrasonically cut to
eliminate fraying and head
strikes. It drapes well and is
appropriate for flag
applications.
For more information, visit
www.fishertextiles.com.
Onyx Workflow Gets
Pantone Approval
Onyx Graphics has been approved to
integrate Pantone Color definitions
into the latest versions of Onyx
Workflow software. This capability
gives Onyx users a fully automated
Pantone Color function, saving time
by eliminating manual input. Users
can now process print jobs with
Pantone spot colors, and the software
will automatically match output as
closely as possible.
This new feature extends to all of the
more than 200 large- and grandformat printers supported by Onyx
Workflow software, including photo
imaging printers. Additionally, the
Onyx Media Manager application
shows users how to match Pantone
Colors on each printer, ink and media
combination, reducing inaccuracies in
the final output and increasing
printing efficiency.
Visit www.onyxgfx.com for more details.
Process Manager lets users pre-build
workflows and automates prepress
tasks from file preparation and
production to the final review.
Makeready offers complete document
prepress in a WYSIWYG
environment. Web Services features a
customizable interface that allows your
customers to submit jobs in a secure
Internet environment. Print Manager
allows users to monitor all printers
from a single interface and provides
remote access to digital printers to
submit jobs and reprint files.
These software products make
integrating digital printing into JDFbased workflows easier, using a
common set of software instructions
to guide print jobs through their life
cycle with consistency and uniformity.
Several upgrade options are available
for Xerox DigiPath production
printing software customers.
See www.xerox.com for more details.
Seal Adds Texture to
Print Guard Line
Seal Graphics Americas has added
“woven” laminating film to its Print
Guard UV line.
Seal Print Guard UV Texture Canvas
is a heat-activated vinyl film that
gives a canvas-like surface texture to
prints without using a canvas transfer
process.
This 11-mil film adds rigidity to prints
and protects against dirt, oils, water,
handling, abrasion and UV damage.
Print Guard UV Texture Canvas
bonds with an acrylic adhesive and
32
PRODUCTINNOVATIONS
can be used to laminate inkjet,
photographic and lithographic prints.
The laminate comes in 25", 38", 49"
and 51" rolls, in lengths up to 200
feet. It can be applied using a heated
roller laminator, vacuum press or
dry-mount press.
More information is available at
www.sealgraphics.com.
CDMSi Repro Software
Upgrade
CDMSi, maker of online construction
and engineering document
management software, has enhanced
its X2PM and X2WI products.
X2PM (project management) offers
improved order notification, record
sorting, “current set” and addenda
updating for reprographic companies and
their user customers. X2WI (Web
interface) has upgraded order tracking
and management capabilities with added
client order information and “alerts” that
signal sub-contractors who have not
purchased the latest project updates.
Enhanced file views show drawings at 0°,
90°, 180° and 270° and auto-rotate
images that have been scanned to fit
paper and printing specifications.
For more information about CDMSi
and online demonstrations of X2PM
and X2WI, visit www.cdm-intl.com.
Hexis Inkjet Media
Hexis USA has introduced two new
inkjet media products. The V870PE, a
6.8-mil self-adhesive polyethylene film
for outdoor pigment inks, is designed
for both piezo and thermal inkjet
printers. When combined with Hexis
cold laminating films, prints can last
outdoors up to two years.
The V209TH is a 2-mil high-gloss
vinyl for use with thermal transfer
printers including the Summa DC3
and GerberEdge. The media features a
solvent based acrylic adhesive and a
clear polyester liner that resists rapid
temperature changes. When
laminated, the V209TH has an
outdoor life of up to eight years.
Visit www.hexisusa.com for more
information.
ScanDEX-IX Software
IDEAL has expanded its ScanDEX
software line with ScanDEX-IX, a
browser-based document distribution
companion to ScanDEX Pro that
moves paper, film and aperture card
archives to a digital print room.
ScanDEX-IX users can scan, store and
index images in a database with an
unlimited number of fields for easy
retrieval. The software can also
archive to CD and DVD, and it
supports many native document file
formats, including CAD, Office and
Imaging formats. ScanDEX-IX can be
upgraded to Enterprise Document
Management and Plan Room
Applications.
ScanDEX-IX supports the entire line
of IDEAL/Contex, Vidar, Océ, GTCO
Calcomp wide-format scanners as well
as ISIS and TWAIN scanners.
Users can also run multiple
scanners on a single
workstation to accelerate the
archiving process.
The suggested retail price for the
VarioPrint 2110 will be $89,000. Visit
www.oceusa.com for more information.
AquaSEAL Automated
Liquid Coaters
Seal Graphics Americas is relaunching
its AquaSEAL automated liquid coating
systems with the new AquaSEAL 2600
and AquaSEAL 3300.
The coaters apply AquaSEAL waterbased clear-coats to solvent and light
solvent based digital prints on rolled
media up to 102" and 129" wide,
respectively. Each coater can run two
similar rolls of printed media
simultaneously with separate tension
on each roll.
The new machines feature the
AccuCure process control system that
monitors the surface temperature of the
Check out a free evaluation
version of ScanDEX-IX at
www.ideal.com.
Océ VarioPrint 2110
Océ’s VarioPrint 2110 digital
multifunctional system is now
available in the United States. The
system’s advanced features include: tab
printing and interposing from all four
paper trays; oversize printing; mixedstock processing; and the ability to
combine analog and digital documents.
coated media
as it exits the infrared
dryer. The AquaSEALs
can apply clear-coats at
speeds up to seven feet per
minute. Coating thickness ranges from
27 to over 81 microns (wet), and a
Meyer bar ensures smooth, even coating.
The VarioPrint 2110 can produce up
to 105 prints or copies per minute,
regardless of the media type or job
complexity. The system is geared for
shops needing 150,000 to 350,000
images per month, but the monthly
duty cycle can go as high as one
million impressions per month. The
system has a 4,000-sheet capacity, and
an optional three-tray or four-tray “duo
tray” can double input capacity
without adding to the machine’s
footprint. Users can also add Océ Scan
Logic software to the VarioPrint for
scanning hardcopy originals and
converting them to PDF or TIFF files.
The AquaSEAL 2600 has a base list
price of $38,500, and the AquaSEAL
3300 has a base list price of $47,500.
For more information visit
www.sealgraphics.com.
Sericol Inca
Columbia Turbo
Sericol Inc.’s new flatbed UV digital
piezo printer, the Inca Columbia
Turbo, can print at speeds up to 1,725
square feet per hour. Features include
minimal set up time, on-press proofing,
33
PRODUCTINNOVATIONS
no waste edge-to-edge printing and
direct-to-substrate printing with no
overcoating, mounting or laminating.
The Columbia Turbo uses Wasatch 5.0
RIP software and Sericol’s Uvijet UVcurable digital inks to print on
substrates from paper and board to a
wide range of plastics.
The new line includes VG-Vision SP
for ScotchPrint electrostatic printers,
V-Jet Vision Solvent for Arizona,
Mimaki, Vutek and Durst Rho printers,
V-Jet Vision for HP Designjet, Encad
NovaJet and Mutoh machines, and VJet Cling for Designjets, ColorSpan,
Encad, Roland, Arizona, Mimaki,
Vutek and Durst Rho printers.
Visit www.sericol.com for more
information.
For more information, visit
www.visiongraphic.com.
VG Vision Window Films
Vision Graphics has a new line of
perforated films. VG Vision films for
window graphics feature 70/30
perforation patterns, meaning 70% of
the material is retained and 30% is
removed, giving graphics more “pop.”
The films provide outdoor durability
for three to five years.
34
IDEAL Aperture Card
Blow Back System
To replace aging aperture card readers,
IDEAL Scanners and Systems has
developed the Aperture Card Blow
Back System, which converts aperture
cards to paper drawings for
engineering, manufacturing or
scientific use. The system can perform
a range of tasks, from printing 36" wide
hard copies of cards to creating digital
copies and searchable databases.
The scanner can rasterize large-format
drawings stored on aperture cards and
can read Hollerith code for automatic
scaling and file naming. The printer, a
CAD graphics machine, can print 567
sf/hr monochrome in superdraft mode.
See www.ideal.com for more details.
Solvit Media from Sihl
Sihl USA’s new Solvit media line has
been specially designed for solvent
wide-format printers. The Solvit line
features paper, backlit films, canvas,
Tyvek, and polypropylene media.
The line includes: TriSolv Premium
Paper, a heavy poster-weight paper
PRODUCTINNOVATIONS
with a glossy finish for photo prints;
TriSolv Standard Paper Blue Back, an
opaque paper featuring light block on
the back side to reduce shine through;
TriSolv Standard Paper White Back, a
mid-range weight paper with a satin
finish; Optilux Backlit Film, a 6-mil
polyester film with a translucent
inkjet-receptive coating; Optilux
Window Film Easy Tack, with the
same features as the Backlit Film, but
with a repositionable adhesive; Picasso
Canvas, a 16.5-mil cotton/poly blend
canvas that can be stretched and
framed without cracking; tear-resistant
Tyvek Banner, a strong, lightweight
(10 mil) substrate that can be
grommetted, taped or pocketed; and
Syntisol PP-Film, a tear-resistant,
semi-gloss polypropylene film.
For more details, see www.sihlusa.com.
ColorBurst RIP for VUTEk
Pantone-certified ColorBurst RIP
software is now available to drive all of
VUTEk UltraVu solvent and PressVu
UV ink jet wide-format printers. The
new system lets all VUTEk printer users
standardize their color processing
algorithms and functionality. The new
RIP may also be used to drive nonVUTEk wide-format printers.
ColorBurst is a PostScript Language
Level 3-compatible RIP available for
both Windows and Mac OS X operating
systems. It uses ICC profiles for color
correction and features a range of
productivity tools. The RIP will come
standard with all VUTEk wide-format
inkjet printers and is available as a free
upgrade for current VUTEk customers.
To download the RIP, log onto
www.vutek.com.
Flexi and PhotoPRINT
for the Mac
Scanvec Amiable has released its Flexi
and PhotoPRINT products for
Macintosh OS X. The software
features easy-to-use Mac-style
interfaces and the robust features of
PhotoPRINT or Flexi.
Flexi and PhotoPRINT for Mac
include full design control, RIP, Color
Management and Print & Cut. The
products include pre-built workflows
and features designed for the
signmaking industry. Flexi is for design
and production on the Mac OS X
platform, and PhotoPRINT allows
users to RIP and print to large format
digital printers directly from Mac OS
X work stations.
More information is available at
www.scanvecamiable.com.
Continue the Partnership…
Membership in the IRgA is an Ongoing Experience.
hen asked to renew your membership, say
YES, and reap the benefits detailed here
for another year. Then, step up your
involvement in the work of the association and
see the impact…for you and your company, as
well as the organization.
W
Contact the IRgA Headquarters at 312/245-1026
or [email protected] to volunteer your services.
There’s no telling how great the IRgA can be
when each partner contributes.
REPRO REPORT Weekly
REPRO REPORT
IRgA FORUM
ANNUAL CONVENTION
MOUNTING & LAMINATING SEMINAR
EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK
JOURNAL SERIES
SALARY SURVEY
35
S E E
Y O U
I N
Las Vegas!
International Reprographic Association
79th Annual Convention & Trade Show
◆
May 11-13, 2005
Caesar’s Palace
Las Vegas
◆
Visit www.irga.com about this event and all IRgA has to offer.
CLASSIFIEDADS
REPRO REPORT shall not be held liable for the accuracy and/or warranties of equipment, supplies and services advertised in this publication.
Guidelines
Classified advertising in REPRO REPORT is provided as an exchange service to members and non-members of the International Reprographic Association.
Listings are $.50 per word for members and $1.50 per word for non-members. Please e-mail your classified ad to Erin Beekhuis at [email protected].
• Minimum/maximum word count –
Final word count will be determined
by the editor.
• Box numbers – For position-wanted
ads, advertisers may request a blind
box service at an extra $25 per ad.
• Payment – Full payment must
accompany each ad.
• Acceptance – REPRO REPORT
reserves the right to accept or reject
ads at the editor’s discretion. Ads are
accepted in the following categories:
Positions Available
Merchandise Mart
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
[email protected].
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
[email protected].
WANTED: $1,000 Reward for information
leading to the purchase of an Océ 9800.
Contact Tom McNew, DIGITAL ES,
800/749-1138, [email protected].
Engineering copier parts and
supplies for use in Calcomp, C-4,
Dietzgen, K+E, Kip, JDL, JRL Systems, Mita,
Océ, Regma, Ricoh, Visual Edge and Xerox.
Image Products of California carries toners,
developers, photoreceptors, cleaning
blades, fuser rollers, pressure rollers, fuser
webs and much more. IPC carries both
OEM as well as IPC (our own private label)
brand products. Make IPC your one-stopshop and call us at 800/221-8831,
714/282-5678 or fax us at 714/282-5680,
or visit www.imageproductsca.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.
positions available, position wanted,
equipment wanted, business
opportunities and services/equipment
for sale (ie. Merchandise Mart).
• Number of ads – Acceptance of ads
will be on a first-come, first-served basis.
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.
FOR SALE: 6- Xerox 8855s; 3 Xerox Max
200s; please call Brett Scully,
eBlueprint.com, 216/281-1234,
[email protected].
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.
CLC 5100 w/Z7000 Fiery RIP! Only 10
months old. Call JP Teti, 800/357-3776;
[email protected]
Opportunities
Midwest blueprint firm interested in
acquisitions or investments from 50%
to 100% in blueprint and related companies
with sales of $3 million to $10 million.
Looking for mostly financial and strategic
planning involvement in ventures. Will pay
annuity for operationally strong firms in any
financial condition. Contact Brett Scully,
eBlueprint.com, at 216/281-1234;
e-mail: [email protected].
National Reprographics Inc. is looking for
acquisitions within the reprographic and
digital color industries. Interested in wellmanaged firms of any size located in larger
metropolitan markets. Contact Doug Magid
at [email protected] or (212) 366-7063.
Plan Room Sales Specialist.
IDEAL.com, a leader in Plan Room
technologies for Reprographics and AEC
firms, is looking for sales professionals to
help sell Plan Room Products. The
successful candidate will have a proven
sales track record and a good understanding
of the Reprographics and AEC industry. Fax
resume attention: Phil 301/203-0183 or
email [email protected] (Subject:
Plan Room Sales)
Leading Denver reprographic firm looking
for an experienced sales representative.
The ideal candidate will have a recent
successful track record selling in the
reprographic industry. A base salary, plus
commission, bonus, health, life and 401k.
E-mail resume to [email protected] or
fax to 303/297-8885.
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
[email protected]
Progressive Atlanta based reseller of high
level Reprographics systems is seeking top
executive sales person with a proven
track record in software sales. Base salary
plus very attractive commission plan
offered. Benefits include health & dental
plans, 401k, two weeks vacation plus five
days sick leave. Some national travel
required. Candidate must be a self-starter
and able to embrace the company's very
strong customer satisfaction and loyalty
pursuit. Email resume to
[email protected]
ReproReport.com • Number Five 2004
37
END OF THE ROLL
Here’s the Plan…
D
Steve Bova, CAE
Executive
Director
uring the past year, you have
heard the IRgA talk about
rebuilding, rebranding and
reconnecting the association with its
members and those within the
reprographics industry. We’ve done a
lot of behind-the-scenes work to lay
the groundwork for the future of the
association:
• Transitioned the IRgA office from
Oak Brook, Ill., to the full-time
management services of SmithBucklin
Corporation in Chicago;
• Convened a meeting of the four
major industry affiliated groups, as
well as the trade press, to begin to
rejuvenate relationships;
• Engaged in an intensive day-long
strategic planning session with IRgA
Board members, past presidents,
regional association officers, affiliate
group leaders, independent reprographers and industry suppliers from
across the country;
• Continued to produce the association’s
membership services, with dramatic
improvements to the design and
content of REPRO REPORT magazine;
• Completed a successful Annual
Convention and Trade Show in
Hollywood, Fla. The 998 participants
represented more than double the
attendance of the 2003 event.
IRgA
Mission
The mission
of the IRgA
is to serve
member firms
by providing
service,
benefits and
information
which improve
member
profitability
and the
industry image.
It provides a
forum for the
exchange of
information.
38
The foundation for our future is now
set; it’s time to move the association
forward. Chuck Gremillion, in this
month’s President’s Perspective on
page 4, outlined some of the immediate
goals to be accomplished in IRgA’s
2005 fiscal year (August – July). What
follows is a summary of the IRgA’s
strategic plan that addresses the most
critical issues facing the industry the
next 36 months.
The IRgA’s Strategic
Initiatives:
Create a Brand/Identity
for the Industry
The IRgA’s foremost goal is to work to
establish a brand for the reprographics
industry. Addressing the need to
diversify one’s business, A.H. Mathias,
an IRgA founding member, once said,
“As long as there is a blueprint/reprographics/large format display niche in
the marketplace, it seems reasonable to
exploit our reputation and participate.
However, it would be folly to put all
one’s eggs in one basket and not
develop alternative sources of income!”
While reprographers cannot be all
things to all people, we must work to
protect our core business and at the
same time look for new opportunities
to diversify.
Discussions are ongoing with IRgA
regional association leaders, affiliate
group leaders, the trade press and vendors
to establish a consortium to develop
our industry’s brand. With assistance
from a branding expert, a logical first
step is to engage reprographers and
their customers and seek their views
about the reprographics industry. The
information gleaned would help to
determine action steps to form a new
branding strategy. This is an enormous
project, and one that is essential.
Increase value of the IRgA
It is essential that the IRgA create
value for industry members, both
reprographers and suppliers. Chip R.
Bell, co-author, Magnetic Service:
Secrets of Creating Passionately Devoted
Customers, said, “It’s not about price,
it’s about value. There’s always
someone who’s willing to be the
K-Mart of the industry. Organizations
need to find a way to communicate
the value, the benefit, other than just
an economic one. For me, that value
includes [more than] the extra stuff I’m
going to get. The most important part
of the value is the experience I get.”
A significant part of this strategy was
described in Gremillion’s President’s
Perspective column. Improvements are
being made to existing communications
vehicles (Web site, magazine and
electronic newsletter), as well as the
Annual Convention and Trade Show.
Also, the IRgA is looking into new
strategic partnerships to offer member
savings, and exploring the feasibility
of broadening its education to
include webinars—a combination
telephone/Web seminar using the
Internet for visuals.
Become the knowledge
repository for the industry
According to Donald A. Norris,
Strategic Initiatives Inc., “Knowledge
management will become the only
sustainable competitive advantage for
associations in the future.” With this
reality in mind, the IRgA plans to use
the power of technology to become the
premier industry knowledge repository
where information, products and
services can be easily found and
disseminated to all those involved in
the reprographics industry.
The first step is a major redesign of the
website (www.irga.com) into a more
dynamic, user-friendly, content-rich site.
Once completed, content will be updated
daily, integrating the IRgA membership
database in real time. There will be a
number of additional performance and
user upgrades to attract users to the
website. Ultimately, we would like to
identify the core competencies of
reprographers and share best practices
for achieving those competencies.
The Independent Voice
of the Industry
The Communications Committee,
led by Bryan Thomas, is ensuring that
the IRgA’s strategic plan continues to
evolve as the industry and the association
evolves. While the association will
continue to produce its current
programs and services, including the
Annual Convention, the plan is to
become the reprographic industry’s
independent voice, bringing the
industry together under the common
thread of a recognizable brand,
becoming an organization that
creates value through membership,
and becoming an association that is
recognized as the industry’s knowledge
repository of need-to-know
information, available 24/7/365. ●
Steve Bova, CAE, is executive director of the
International Reprographic Association. He may
be reached at 800/833-4742 or [email protected].

The Growing Importance of IT Staff

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