"Shaun's Corner "First Quarter Update

Dear PEiR Members

I recently decided to get more active with the construction industry and have joined both the local and national American General Contractors Association (AGC). I also have been meeting with a wide assortment of members from the construction industry, both General Contractors and Sub-contractors, to learn how we reprographers can become better equipped to serve this particular industry.

In pursuit of this goal I attended a variety of local and national construction events to learn more about the needs and challenges of the construction industry.

One such activity was a workshop called Successful Negotiating in the Construction Environment offered by the local AGC Chapter of Northern California.

This workshop was developed by the AGC to help their members learn a more systematic approach for negotiating. It was interesting to learn that the culture of the construction industry expects almost everything to be negotiated. Sub’s and GC ‘s are constantly negotiating during all phases of a construction project. I learned that, as reprographers, we must be prepared to negotiate whenever working with representatives of the construction industry.

Last week in Orlando, I attended the National AGC Convention where approximately 1,000 industry representatives met to discuss the future of construction and their plans for stimulating construction projects and increasing construction jobs. It was a pertinent topic given that today, estimates suggest the construction industry has 29-30% unemployment.

As an exhibitor at the convention (we were showing PlanWell and Sub-Hub) it was clear that many attendees were finally realizing that they are in a new era. Some, if not most, of these professionals have never experienced a down-turn of this magnitude in their entire careers. Several GC’s who stopped by the booth claimed that they have not had to hard bid (vs. negotiated bid) for more than 20 years. Today they have been forced to do so, just to survive. Many GC’s stated they have lost bids when they have bid at or slightly below their real costs.

When you are calling on the construction industry, it is important to be empathetic, but also resourceful. It you explain ways that your services can help keep costs down and reduce errors there are opportunities to be had.

Despite the industry challenges I did hear of some sweet spots in the industry. Civil Construction is doing well ( mass transit, urban rail, superfast trains, airports, waste water, nuclear power, wind, and solar ), as are Data Centers.

Color also seems to be on the minds of construction companies. Applications for color are growing exponentially. Since the future will be more design-build and focused on integrated project delivery, projects will need to be rendered in realistic color, bid documents will contain more photos, and drawings and schedules will require more color to communicate well.


On a side note, I also got to talk with reprographers themselves in my travels to the Midwest, Northeast and Southeast. Many have indicated that their investments in LF and SF Color seem to be beginning to pay off. As a matter of fact, more than a couple of reprographers have told me that this month’s sales projections (March) are tracking for one of their best sales months in years. Most explain the up-tick in sales to their efforts to market color to both the AEC and Non-AEC markets.

While it’s early in the year to start saying things are looking up, keeping your ear to the ground will serve you well throughout 2010. Whether the reprographics industry manages to crawl out of the recession this year or next, knowing what your customers are dealing with and where the opportunities are will serve you well.

PEiR Group 2010 Executive Conference Agenda and Registration

Mark your calendars for May 21-22!

The PEiR Group is proud to announce our 7th Annual Executive Conference to be held at the Renaissance Palm Springs Hotel.

In an effort to support and strengthen the reprographics industry the PEiR Group Executive Conference will be held in conjunction with the annual IRgA Convention (May 19-21).

The PEiR Group's Executive Conference will begin at the tail-end of the IRgA Convention and will be exclusive to our members and vendor partners.

Please click here to access the registration form; and here for the agenda
This year, we are offering an Early Bird Special. Register between now and April 1st for only $199/person. Since we are hosting this conference in conjunction with the 2010 IRgA you should book your rooms as soon as possible as space will be limited.

I believe this year is one of the most important times in our history that every member make a sincere effort to attend this years conference. Never has our industry been in more need of the sharing of good ideas and fellowship. We at the PEiR Group will do everything in our power to make sure the time you spend away from your business will be rewarded with valuable content and networking opportunities.

I look forward to seeing you in Palm Springs! Shaun

PEiR Group Executive Conference Keynote Speaker

Paul Stout is a construction project manager, estimator, LEED Accredited Professional, facilitator, seminar instructor, and the AGC of America's 2009 National Instructor of the Year. He brings more than twenty-three years of practical, hands-on construction experience to the arena.

From Laborer to Project Manager, Paul advanced through the ranks to learn the industry from inside to out. This progression of personal and career growth included lab, supervisor, and management for hundreds of projects. He was a crew Foreman or Project Manager for more than ten years. Paul has managed projects from the position of both Subcontractor and Prime Contractor (GC).

At our upcoming Executive Conference Paul will share ideas on how reprographers can approach construction companies with new products and services that will drive productivity and save costs!

PEiR Group/Canon 2nd Qtr Programs & Promotions Webinar

Topic: PEiR / Canon - 2nd Quarter Promotions

Host: Richard Reamer

Date & Time: April 8, 2010 2:30 pm (Eastern Daylight Time)

To register for the online event

_______________________________

1) Go to here

2) Click "Register"

3) On the registration form, enter your information and the click "Submit"

To attend this web seminar, you must enroll prior to the day of the event by clicking on the link above and entering your information.

Once you have enrolled, you will receive an email message confirming you enrollment and instructions that will include a password (imagePROGRAF1) to join the event.

_______________________________

For assistance

_______________________________

You can contact Richard Reamer at rreamer@cusa.canon.com

Océ Accepting Applications for its Third Annual "Green Reprographer of the Year" Award

Oce' is now accepting applications for "Green Reprographer of the Year" Award. Applications are being accepted now till April 16th, 2010.

For details go here.

You Posted That On Your Facebook Page?!

I read an article from one of my colleagues the other day, Kari Fairbanks, who wrote recently on the use of Facebook, and how a post that we might consider personal can cast a shadow over our professional lives.

She wrote:

“I joined Facebook initially to see if there was a way to blend it into the workplace. My friend list includes many company employees and competitors’ employees I’ve gotten to know over the years. I quickly found myself embarrassed and disappointed with many posts made by people I consider to be in a position of leadership.

Here are a few examples:”

• “Tough day. No one listens. Cough, cough. I may be sick tomorrow.”
• “Have worked 32 of last 36 hours. No respect and no appreciation.”
• “What do you do when the execs won’t listen?”

“The second quote above was made by a competitor’s VP! Do you think he thought about the competitive advantage I have knowing he is overworked and feeling unappreciated?”

Kari also made it clear that while comments like these are harmful enough, they were hardly the worst examples.

In light of this, she wrote, “If you opt to tweet [on Twitter] or make posts on other social networking programs [MySpace, LinkedIn, etc.], consider the manner in which you are presenting yourself; especially if you have readers or friends who are your employees, customers, or competitors. Your statements have an effect on morale and – as in the case of the disgruntled VP – they can also affect our business and competitive position.”

If you don’t want to censor your own posts on a Facebook page, consider adjusting your privacy settings. There are a number of ways you can tweak the settings by page, status, wall, photo collections and even by category of friends. Check out this third-party link on adjusting your settings, or Facebook’s own user instructions here. (It’s important to remember that Facebook and other sites change their privacy policies and tools with some regularity, so check your profile now and again.)

If you don’t purposefully change your preferences, the default settings expose your posts to just about anyone with a internet connection and a basic understanding of search engines – they don’t even have to be a member of Facebook.

Social networking sites have changed the way we communicate with each other, and are clearly here to stay. But just because its’ “Social” networking doesn’t’ mean it won’t be used for professional reasons, and just because it’s a personal expression doesn’t always mean it’s private!

Sub-Hub: New Updates with Turbocharged Productivity

We all know that more people are competing for fewer projects these days, so making sure your process is as efficient, fast and effective is critical.

Late last year we upgraded our Sub-Hub bid communication tool with tools that turbocharged productivity, make last minute changes easy and fast to implement, and create more ways for your bid or bid management efforts to payoff.

Three new features are attracting the most attention as more and more contractors sign-up for te service.

1. Self-publishing - Create your own projects and upload documents directly from your computer; no outside intervention, document indexing, or handling is necessary.

2. Total flexibility in document format - TIFF, PDF, DWF and more; flexible document formats allow you to use almost any take-off tool and costing application; it also makes simple exchanges, RFI's or other collaborative activities involving marked up documents easy, fast and efficientl

3. Upload/Downloads - Posting documents to your project, or downloading drawings for review and bidding is fast, clean and simple.

Sub-Hub allows anyone to send or receive bid notifications from a private address book via email or fax, and share documents in an easy-to-use and effective online application. You can visit the Sub-Hub website by click on the link here. To find out more about how you can use Sub-Hub, or for a demonstration, contact the PEiR Group at 925-658-2000.

Canon imagePROGRAF Support Announcement

Effective February 1, 2010, Canon U.S.A. began working with a new nationwide on-site service partner for imagePROGRAF repairs. This partner, Pitney Bowes, has more than 1,200 technicians in the field, of which over 300 are trained on Canon's imagePROGRAF products.
The Pitney Bowes technicians can respond virtually anywhere in the U.S. to service and imagePROGRAF large format printer.

The attached letter was sent to those end customers who were on record as having experienced an on-site visit in the past. The letter was sent to them via e-mail, when addresses were available, or by U.S. Mail.

For your reference, the letter is attached. Please click on the link: Support Announcement.

PEIR Group Educational Webinar April 22

The PEiR Group is hosting an educational webinar on April 22nd at 10:00 am Pacific Time.

Subject: New Revenue Opportunities - Outsourcing CAD and other Digital Services.

Click here to sign-up for the webinar.

Justifying Digital Services Webinar

Are you able to get your customers to accept your charges for digital services? If not, then you should plan on attending our webinar "How to Justify Charging your Customers for Digital Services"!

Having the right technology and the right marketing strategy to justify charging for the digital services is the key.

Who should attend?

• Sales Reps
• Customer Service Reps
• Plan Room/Document Management Managers
• Owners/General Management
  

Webinar Details:

• When: Thursday March 11, at 12pm Pacific
• Duration: 45-60 minutes
  

Sign-Up Here:

Crest Foundation Scholarship Fund Now Accepting Applications

Funding College Opportunities For Our Children

The mission of the CREST Foundation is to fund and award scholarships to children of reprographics industry employees who wish to pursue a better education, but who lack the financial means to do so. This foundation provides opportunities for the reprographics industry to unite for the benefit of the children of our long-term employees who provide so much value to the industry.

General Eligibility Requirements:

1)Student must have a parent currently employed by a reprographics company for at least five years
2)Be a US citizen or legal permanent resident
3)Must apply for federal financial aid using the FAFSA (Free Application For Student Aid)
4)Be enrolling on a full-time basis at a college or university
5)Have a minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA
6)Provide recommendations from at least 2 qualified adults

Online applications for the 2010/2011 school year will be available from March 1, 2010 through May 31, 2010. http://www.crestfoundation.org/

Awards for the 2010/2011 school year will be made in the Fall of 2010.