Shaun's Corner "Sell Technology Not Print"

I was in Up-State NY and Boston last week to meet with several of our PEiR members and their AEC customers to learn about the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for our industry in 2010.

One thing is abundantly clear: While opportunities to sell customers printing services appear to be declining, the opportunities to approach customers with technology solutions are huge and growing. The days of throwing bodies (labor) at problems are long gone. Every AEC company recognizes the need to use computers and software applications to improve productivity and efficiency.

Whether they use AutoCAD, Microsoft Office, Timberline, Prolog, Primavera, SharePoint or whatever, they are all accustomed to budgeting for technologies. They simply need reminding to extend that technology review to their reprographics services. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the bidding process.

The contractor community, has a limited number of funded projects in the works. As a result, contractors are required to do a lot more bidding to win a project. The bidding process used by many contractors is oftentimes very inefficient, and as a result, can create technology sales opportunities for those reprographers who can demonstrate the value of their bid communications and document distribution services.

In an effort to keep costs down and in some cases to keep their doors open, many contractors are trying to cut any costs associated to pre-construction activity, in order to survive. Remember, contractors don’t make money by bidding, they SPEND money. To stay in business, they need to make the bidding process as cost effective as possible. To most, that means reducing costs in bid set printing by eliminating them entirely, or passing printing down to subs by simply distributing their bid documents digitally.

That’s where we need to turn into technology promoters.

Solutions like PlanWell/BidCaster and Sub-Hub can offer better document control, productivity improvements, bid response tracking and better security than ANY analog-based solution. Contractors are still opting to use less sophisticated digital distribution methods (technologies) like FTP and CD’s because they do not understand the savings that your technologies can offer.

Reprographers who are struggling to get GC’s to pay to use their document management solutions need to remind themselves that they must explain to their customers that the technologies they (reprographers) offer actually help solve problems and create value.

Some reprographers are still lucky enough to be printing bid sets for government projects particularly in markets that require bids to be distributed in paper. Others claim that bid set printing is declining so fast that they (reprographers) are finding that they have more print capacity than the market is demanding. I could not help noticing at some shops, production devices and personnel were sitting completely idle. Such circumstances demand a different approach to remain relevant to our customers and viable as an industry.

Don’t lose the chance to help your customers to increase productivity and reduce costs with the technologies you can offer. You may need to price the technologies a bit different but I think you will find that you will have a better chance of getting your customers to accept the costs.

Shaun’s Corner “Innovate 2010”

Happy New Year PEiR Group Members:

2009 was a year that really tested our managerial skills. In talking with PEiR members all over the world, there was no escaping the plight of the Great Recession of 2010. Many of you stated that you have never experienced such dramatic changes in your industry, and at the same time, been confronted with such challenging business decisions.

Having weathered the storm, I hope you have learned some good lessons and will use these experiences in planning for your future.

2010 has the prospects of an economic recovery. We are beginning to see indications that the decline in construction employment is flattening and that there is projected growth in some sectors of the industry. Many of you have realized the need to diversify and are seeing the merits of that decision. I also think that many of you realize that change is something that we all have to embrace and that we need to continue to adapt our business offerings to remain relevant to the clients we serve.

With that being said, I would like to start out the New Year announcing the PEiR Group theme for the upcoming year "Innovate 2010". The idea is to show our customers that Reprographers are leaders in innovation. It is more important than any time in our history that reprographers demonstrate to their customers that they are a creative and valuable resource.

But how do you go about doing this? This is where the PEiR Group can help!

While it's up to you to do the actual innovation, the PEiR Group can help you explore what you should be looking to change; new ways of adding value to your offerings, and help you communicate your value more effectively.

Let's face it, your customers are being bombarded with new technologies every day, but do they really understand how these new technologies are going to be useful? Those of us who can explain how new technologies can be applied to solve real business problems (innovation) have opportunities to build our businesses.

To accomplish these objectives, The PEiR Group has planned the following list of activities and events for 2010.

• PEiR Group Meetings
  
  • May 21-22: PEiR Group Annual Executive Conference in Palm Springs
    
  • October 14-15 PEiR Group Color Sales & Technology Conference at the SGIA Convention in Las Vegas
    
• Weekly Technology Demonstrations and Training
  
  • PlanWell, SubHub, ishipdocs, Abacus, MetaPrint (sign-up here)
    
• Bi-Monthly Best Practice Webinars
  
  • See Above
    
• Member Visits (if interested please let me know) (shaunm@planwell.com )
  
  • January/Feb/March (NE, MidWest, SW, SE)
    
  • Others to be Announced
    
• Conventions
  
  • March 24-26 AGC Annual Convention in Orlando
    
  • May 19-21 IRgA Annual Convention in Palm Springs
    
  • October 13-15 SGIA Convention in Las Vegas
    
  • Oct/Nov Reprographics Industry Regionals
    

More details will be sent out on each of these activities but please mark your calendars appropriately.

We have plans to announce some additional vendor programs (currently 43 vendors) and new exciting and innovative technologies later in the year as well, so please check out the PEiR Group or read our emails for the latest news and updates.

Again thank you for all your support and please let us know if you have ideas for innovation we should be exploring with you.

Best Regards

Shaun Meany

Shaun's Corner: Building Information Modeling And Our Future - Making The Most Of Opportunity

If you're reading Point of View religiously, and we know you all are, you know I've been tackling the weighty subject of BIM (Building Information Modeling) and its impact on the future of the reprographics industry.

Reprographers have expressed their concerns on the sustainability of the reprographics industry, and rightly so, as more and more AEC companies begin to adopt BIM 3D software. AutoDesk's Revit Architecture, Revit Structural, SolidWorks and Bentley Systems are all up and running and in the marketplace. I believe there are some valid reasons for concern. But I also believe that BIM has its challenges and, as result, will create opportunities for those reprographic companies positioned to overcome them.

Here's a nice little video primer on BIM... check it out. Click here:

Let’s look at the design industry. Sure, every design company could buy BIM software, spend whatever limited resources (time and money) are required to train their staff and generate beautiful 3D models. But in reality not every design company has the budget, skills or the time to learn BIM. Early adopters will embrace BIM, but the rest of the market will lag a number of years behind. So, in the short term, most designers will produce and distribute documents in 2D and reprographers will continue to print and/or electronically distribute print-ready information to the construction industry.

Design firms that do adopt BIM completely will expand their mix of documents by including both 2D and 3D content. The opportunities created for reprographers in this situation are extensive. BIM models will render realistic images which reprographers will print in color - in both small and large format.

Models have been and will remain an important aspect of architectural design. The traditional (analog) model building approach is labor intensive and requires a unique fabrication skill set. It is usually a very lengthy and expensive process. Since traditional models are handmade “one-off’s” it makes it practically impossible for a design company to build multiple variations of designs for owners to review. Another shortcoming of traditional models is that they are difficult to archive and preserve for future use.

Design competition can be extremely fierce in the best of times. Design firms are doing whatever it takes to secure new business. Creating models can help designers compete more effectively by communicating a designer’s concepts in a realistic medium. But not many designers can afford to have traditional model makers on staff. They are now looking at BIM software to render their models on 3D printers. We see this as an opportunity, as there will be increasing demand for 3D printing services from those reprographers who make the investment in 3D printers.

There are other opportunities for reprographers who help their clients in the move towards BIM. Companies embracing BIM will need access to BIM software, in-house 3D printers and special training for their designers. Some reprographers are already recognizing these needs and have begun to sell, train and support BIM software and workflow solutions.

Using BIM for design does not always mean that BIM models will be available during all phases of the project life cycle. A lot of it depends mostly on the type of project delivery methods the owner contracts with the designers and builders. With the design-bid-build project delivery process we have seen significant reticence by many designers to share BIM models (due to avariety of issues: contract terms, deliverables, ownership of intellectual property and risks). Projects that contract using design-build or the latest delivery method IPD (integrated-project-delivery) are more collaborative and more likely to share BIM models throughout the project life cycle.

In my next blog posting I will share my thoughts on how construction companies are embracing BIM and IPD and the opportunities that will present themselves for our industry - if we are smart enough to take advantage of them.

Keep reading, and writing - we like hearing from you!

Regards,

Shaun