PEiR Group Member "In The News"

We were really pleased to hear that Kevin O'Hea and our friends at Academy Reprographics in New Mexico have been selected as one of the "Best Places to Work" in "The Land of Enchantment!"

Academy was honored in a contest sponsored by the New Mexico Business Weekly Magazine, in which nominated companies were judged by their employee policies, culture, and compensation.

Academy was ranked No. 7 of what turned out to be thousands of applicant companies, scoring 93.79 out of a possible 100 points. Academy has 16 employees in its two Albuquerque stores.

"There are many great companies in the New Mexico, but this award speaks volumes about the caliber of our employees who thrive on the value of teamwork," Academy President and CEO Kevin O'Hea told Wide Format Imaging Magazine. "We work hard, play hard and have a passion for what is important to our customers."

The Best Places to Work in New Mexico is an annual awards program that pinpoints the top 40 companies in the state. The ranking was based entirely on the anonymous responses of company employees, who must have completed an online, multiple choice questionnaires that tabulated their level of satisfaction with their jobs, their confidence in the future prospects of the company, trust in co-workers, manager effectiveness, work engagement, compensation and whether they felt valued in the company.

Here's a PEiR Group "Congratulations!" to Kevin and his team for this very much deserved recognition.

The PEiR Group

The PEiR Group Team

Happy Holidays from your friends at the PEiR Group

PEiR Makes A Resolution For The New Year...

By Shaun Meany
The PEiR Group

It has been some year, hasn’t it? Peaks and valleys, twists and turns, and crocodiles waiting at every bend in the river for someone to make that one, critical misstep!

Many of you are actively looking for ways to reduce your costs in order to meet next year’s expected revenues and profits. This is a necessary exercise that every business owner (manager) needs to do if she/he hopes to survive. However, it is extremely important that you evaluate each area of cuts and to be sure that the cuts you make do not jeopardize your opportunities for the future; when the economy begins to climb out from the bottom of the economic cycle.

One obvious case in point where making cuts might actually backfire is your investment in technologies. More often than not investments in proven technologies can actually help you reduce costs and at the same time create opportunities for generating new revenues. An example of these technologies might be new printers like the KIP 80 or Océ Arizona 350 GT or the Colorwave 600. Another proven technology investment that can cut costs and grow revenues would be a web based document management solution – like PlanWell.

But technology is not the only area where prudent investments will turn to benefits in these challenging economic times. Take your investment in the PEiR Group. Every member has access to a host of valuable resources to help them manage their business for maximum profitability. Our vendor programs (over 44 vendors) are here to help you reduce costs in new equipment, supplies, freight and other reprographics items.

Our growing “best practices” library has information on how to charge for digital services, strategies for managing your business in a recession, how to sell digital services, develop an FM strategy, HR and Employee Benefits services, safety programs, and more. Of course, you have to participate and use these services. But if you do, you will actually cuts costs and, at the same time, keep up with the trends and practices that your peers are using to gain market share, and revenues, and ultimately reasonable profits – even in an economy like this one.

The PEiR Group is committed to helping our members succeed in the both the best and in the worst of times! A new service we began offering in 2008 was our one-on-one coaching. This personalized program allows you to work directly with our staff to discuss your particular company’s needs. Whether it is PlanWell training, Finance, HR, Sales training, Sales and Marketing strategies we will work to transfer our best practices to your company and its employees. Many of our members have already been the recipients of this new service – and it is paying off.

Think about it. Wouldn’t you think your architects, engineers and contractors are looking for ways to reduce costs and to do things more efficiently and effectively? Don’t you think they are looking at reprographic costs? Don’t you think they are trying to look at ways to reduce those expenses? I can assure you they are.

So what can you do now to position your company for the new environment that we can expect to unfold in the near future?

Your customers need to be reminded of the services you offer. They need to be shown the advantages of proven technologies and how these technologies can be applied to lower operating costs and at the same time offer opportunities to grow revenues and profits.

As the new year approaches and the crocodiles appear to be getting nastier – and hungrier – allow me to offer this personal commitment to all of our member in 2009: The PEiR Group promises to bring all of the considerable resources we have to offer to help its members meet the challenges of this new economy head-on, and to show you strategies that will not only help you survive but to actually thrive.

That’s my promise. My resolution for the New Year.

By the time we’re done with them those crocodiles will be running for cover, we’ll be stronger for coming through tough times together, and we’ll all be able to look at the future squarely in the eye and say: “We’re ready for you.”


With best wishes for 2009,


Shaun

PEiR Group Webinars...

Sign-up for Educational Webinar’s

In an effort to bring maximum value to our members, the PEiR Group will be hosting a minimum of one Webinar each month on issues pertaining to the reprographic industry. To kick off this campaign, The PEiR Group will present two Webinar’s in January 2009.

Sign-up for the Webinar’s are below:

Document Management Webinar
Date: Thursday Jan 8, 2009
Time: 10am Pacific Time

Click HERE to sign-up:

Agenda:

• What is Document Management?
• EDMS (Electronic Document Management System)
–Components and Features
–Benefits
• How to Position Your Company as a Document Management Solutions Company
• Target Industries and Applications
• Q&A


Financial Management Webinar
Date: Thursday Jan 22, 2009
Time: 10am Pacific Time

Click HERE to sign-up:


Thank You!

Shaun Meany
PlanWell and The PEiR Group
shaunm@planwell.com
925-658-0215

Calling all PEiR Members!

PEiR Group Note: Great response, folks, thanks! So many of you have gotten back to us we overloaded the survey function! We appreciate your time and will be adjusting this so we can continue to hear your thoughts. Thank YOU!

In an effort to make the upcoming Executive Conference in March even more valuable to our members, we’d like all PEiR Group people to participate in a short, 10 question survey.

And, just to show you we know your time is valuable, we're giving everyone who responds a $10 Starbucks Gift Card.

You can find the survey HERE.

Many of you have already taken the time to respond to us and we’re grateful for that - we look forward to hearing from the rest of you… and seeing you all in March!

"Oh, The Weather Outside is Frightful..."

By The PEiR Group

Tough winter weather conditions made life miserable for delivery people and shop owners this week as a pre-Christmas blitz of icy cold and snow blasted the Northwest, Midwest, and north-eastern portions of the nation.

A blustery winter storm front left a trail of slickened roads, darkened power grids and downed trees as it moved from Seattle into Maine.

Reprographers in the affected area kept generators close at hand, cautioned their drivers to be extra careful while on the road and did everything they could to make it “business as usual” for their customers. Two feet of snow fell in the Northwest, with Boston seeing similar amounts and a second front bringing more snow early this week.

Hard-hit towns from Ohio to Michigan took unusual steps to keep their roads open, in one case using a donated shipment of garlic salt donated by a local pizza manufacturer to extend dwindling reserves of road salt.

Apparently, the “garlic combo,” worked just fine.

If your shop was affected by this sub-zero cold snap, drop in a “comment” below and tell us how you fared.

Charles D. "Chuck" Hayes, 1956-2008

Point of View and the PEiR Group would like to extend their deepest sympathies to the family of Chuck Hayes, a leader in our chosen industry and the sort of man who left an indelible impression on you if you were lucky enough to meet.

PEiR Group President Shaun Meany said Chuck "was the guy I went to to learn about FMs" and Chuck was lecturing on that very subject as recently as last year, when he spoke at a PEiR Group conference.

Chuck will be missed. We join countless others around our industry in sending our best wishes to his family.

First "PlanWell U" Gets An "A" From Attendees...

By Shaun Meany
The PEiR Group

Last week we had the pleasure of hosting the first-ever PlanWell University for PEiR Group Members.

Members flew in from all corners of the country to attend this intense two day, hands-on school. Joining me as instructors for what we quickly dubbed "PlanWell U" was veteran mentor Dan Davis, PlanWell Trainer Ross Gage, PlanWell Manager and Director of Technical Support Arvind Saxena and Demetrius Wallace respectively, as well as PlanWell Training Consultant, Roberto Roque.

We used a combination of lecture and hands-on assignments to deliver the training and there was a definite buzz as "students" grouped into project teams to tackle their assignments. We centered on a fictitious civic center project that was going out to bid. It required that each team post the project’s bid documents to a separate GC’s planroom. Students learned how to create their own projects and add drawings, specs and project users. After completing the project set-up they were required to send project notifications to subs using both the package notification and BidCaster features. Many of the students commented that they had never seen the full workflow before - creation of the project at the shop level, logging in as a project user and performing the various PlanWell functions (placing orders, updating the project address book, creating packages and sending notifications).

In our planning we knew we would have students with various levels of PlanWell experience. In order to ensure that each team would be successful, we were careful to assign both experienced and inexperienced users to each team.

Feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Many wanted more hands-on time but also were mindful that the school was developed to cover the complete project workflow and that we had to move along pretty fast to cover all of the material.

In addition to learning how to use PlanWell in the production and users environment we had a chance to take the students over to the PlanWell Data Center and show them the resources behind the PlanWell product.

When the "teachers" can say they had a good time you know you've had a successful session, and we heard just that from trainers and students alike. We'll be adding comments from class evaluations taken after the session, look for them in the "comments" section we'll post at right and find out what your colleagues are saying.

All in all, we enjoyed the experience, felt that everyone benefited from the experience and saw the glow of appreciation and greater understanding on the faces of those who attended.

It was great for us, too. We're so glad you were all able to join us!

Looking forward to more of the same,


Shaun Meany
The PEiR Group

Scholarships for "Children of the Industry"

By The PEiR Group

After an awful lot of hard work, too many phone calls to count and the generosity of several of the biggest names in our industry, the CREST Foundation is set to announce 10 recipients of its first scholarship awards later this month.

In all, the Foundation will award $100,000 to assist qualified, deserving students across the country.

More than 50 applications for the 2008/2009 academic year were received from every region of the United States following the launch of the Foundation earlier this year. The applications represent the children of employees from firms belonging to the IRgA, as well as the WRA, CRA, ERRA/SRA, ReproMax, PEiR Group, and RSA.

Applicants were ranked and scored based on academic achievements, financial need, extra awards, honors, work, relevant experiences, a personal essay, and references.

CREST Foundation (Children of Reprographics Employees Scholarship Trust) awards are funded by the generous donations of individuals, reprographic companies, industry vendors and financial institutions. This year’s recipients were chosen by the CREST Foundation’s Selection Committee whose members include industry veterans Bill Thomas, Mike Carter, Cathleen Cushing Duff, John Deermount, and Miguel Garcia.

Announcements for the 2009/2010 application process will be made in January 2009.

For more information, visit the CREST Foundation website at www.crestfoundation.org, or contact the Foundation by clicking HERE.

Océ Fast-Tracks Aspiring Authors

By The PEiR Group

Who hasn't harbored the fantasy of holing up in their office with a great idea, a pot of strong coffee, and a desire to see their name in print?

Getting published is tougher than ever, these days, but a bit easier for 45 middle and high school students from 15 different School District of Palm Beach County schools - thanks to Océ.

The students participated in the third annual Océ Future Authors Project summer writing workshop, where they compiled poetry, short stories and essays into a book they named, "Confessions of a Teenage Author."

Océ used their VarioStreama 8000 printers and PRISMAa workflow software to print the book.

Océ created the program in partnership with the Palm Beach County school district and with support from local backers. During the eight-day workshop, the students learned about writing, editing, and digital book publishing. Certified teachers provided instruction, with additional insight provided by Océ executives and published authors, Margaret Ahnert, James O. Born, Jonathon King, Ray Gosa, Sally Ling and Dr. Laurence Miller.

Océ executives predict that digital book printing and publishing technology will open up more opportunities for aspiring writers. "Digital printing technology for books is revolutionizing the industry and fueling trends like self-publishing, creating exciting opportunities for new talent - like these young, aspiring authors -to pursue their dreams," says Océ Vice President of Marketing Services Sheryl Pattek.

Canon Golden Eagle Spiffs Increase for December 2009

Member Alert from The PEiR Group:

Canon has increased the Golden Eagle spiff amounts for all 36" and larger model printers for the month of December.

October and November sales will receive the original point values.

There are some great deals to be had out there right now and we'll do our best to bring them all to your attention. Let us know if we can help in any way.

Otherwise, give Frank DeMartino at Canon a call at (847)571.0005.

PlanWell University Draws A Crowd

Early photos of last week's "PlanWell University" in Fremont, CA.

If you've called The PEiR Group about PlanWell recently, you've probably talked to one or more of these "PEiR Pros."

From Left: Nicole Sisneros, John Bidwell, and PlanWell training consultant Roberto Roque.

Look for our story, and more photos of the gathering in Fremont, on these pages. And thanks for coming!

Lone Star Repro Wins "Service Provider of the Year" Honors

The PEiR Group sends its heartiest congratulations to Bob Mockert, Jr. and the team at Lone Star Reprographics in San Antonio, honored as "Service Provider of the Year" for the third year in a row by the local chapter of Associated General Contractors.

Lone Star Reprographics, Inc. has been in operation since 1986 and attributes its success to the firm's commitment to customer service and satisfaction.

The San Antonio chapter of the Associated General Contractors honored Lone Star Repro and other recipients of its annual construction awards during an AGC gathering early last month.

Jay Young, Lone Star's "One Man Marketing Division," says business continues to roll along in their part of South Texas, despite the market downturn.

"There's no secret recipe to it," he says. "We work hard to serve our customers and they appreciate what we bring to the table. Relationships are key to what we do. We've been at this for 22 years, we're a small shop, but our approach to the business works for us."

The Holidays: A Good Time To Say “Enough”

By Shaun Meany, The PEiR Group

Put down the newspapers for a bit. Rise above the Doom and Gloom. We’re in a new market environment, guys, without a doubt, but good things are happening within the industry and hope for better times looms on many fronts.

I’m a realist, but enough is enough. The Holidays may be a good time to put our collective foot down and say – loud and clear – that while times are indeed tough, the era will belong to those among us who plan accordingly and continue to come up with the innovations and business practices it will take to see us through.

This “mentalidad,” or committed way of thinking, has taken root. I’ve seen it as I travel across the country, talking with business leaders and those in the trenches.

The presidential election is over and the country holds its collective finger in the air, waiting to see which way the wind blows. I say, let’s grab the bull by the horns and push forward, as a nation, just as we have done successfully for decades.

Everywhere we look we see projections of where our business is going, not many of them positive, and that tone is reflected during conversations with some among us. But I don’t want to talk about that anymore. I want to change perception and start talking positively as America calls upon the “best of the best” to help lead this country and alter its policies for the better.

You can accept the negative spin to what’s happening or reposition your thinking and take a more positive approach. And many of you are doing that this Holiday Season, taking a proactive stance and preparing your company to meet what’s ahead of us in the coming year.

The key right now: ratchet down expenses, get rid of deadwood, reduce inventory, cut your maintenance costs and find ways to bill for services you may have been giving away.

Success outside of AEC is rampant, and it is coming to those who look for it. The goal is to stay close to the customer, find new ways to market ourselves to meet the customer’s needs. At the end of the day there’s still a trillion dollar industry out there, those of us bent on getting our fair share of it will take the necessary steps to do so.

Along with my best wishes for this Holiday Season please accept my pledge for a renewed relationship between The PEiR Group and your business. We’re starting a number of new services we know will be of value to you in the weeks to come and will give you more details on these pages as we move ahead.

Best wishes to you and to your businesses and families this Holiday,


Regards,

Shaun Meany

Industry Self-Analysis From The UK

By The PEiR Group




British printers believe that attracting more business in the coming year will be the key challenge for the reprographics industry.

Results of a British Association for Print & Communication (BAPC) association survey won’t come as much of a news flash for U.S. counterparts, but it does demonstrate that our colleagues overseas are looking for ways to identify and overcome challenges for the looming New Year.

The “attract more business” finding echoed the results of a similar sampling conducted last year, but the perceived remedies jumped dramatically in importance as UK printers are driven to find immediate solutions to a drop in their business.

Improving staff performance, reducing operating costs, and boosting productivity and efficiency all shot up the BAPC list this year as printers struggled to match output and input costs in 2009.

Last year's number two, retaining existing business, dropped to number 10 in the list while last year's number three, fighting falling margins, fell to seventh place on the list of top concerns.

"This survey shows that printers are worried about the economic climate in 2009," Sidney Bobb, BAPC chairman, told PrintWeek. "It is interesting that improving staff performance is so high this year - to do this, printers will need to invest in training."