The PEiR Group Launches New Web Portal

In our on-going quest to keep our members informed and up to date on the latest trends, opportunities, events and technologies that impact the reprographics industry we are pleased to announce the introduction of our new web portal.

Our new portal incorporates the latest technologies in web features and functions and will allow us to communicate in a more effective way. The new site is the same web address as before (http://www.peirgroup.com/) but with a whole new look and feel.

Notice you will see a user login on the right side and also a new feature called: My Profile. This new feature will allow all of our members to interact with the web portal as well as with others in the PEiR Group Community

We will be hosting several orientation webinars in the next few weeks; after we return from this week's IRgA Convention and The PEiR Group's Executive Conference in Palm Springs. For those who are adventurous and want to get to know the new web site now; we are sending out usernames and passwords this week. So, once you get your username please login and start playing around.

We are anxious to get your feed back; and to make it easy for you, there is a feedback link on the every page that will allow you to comment on the new web site and let us know what you think!

Best Regards


Shaun

PEiR Member In Print: Oregon StatesmanJournal Finds Our David Fox

You're a multi-talented bunch, PEiR has always known that, and periodically someone else discovers what we already know - as with this recent story on member David Fox in the Oregon StatesmanJournal.

David owns Fox Blueprinting Co. in Salem, Oregon and is quite a talented musician, serving as the front man for a San Francisco Bay Area punk band called "Coffee and Donuts" back in the day.

Fox has been at the helm of his namesake company since 1993, but has been in "the business" - the reprographics business, that is - for 23 years.

You're an interesting bunch, we've always said it!

INDUSTRY NEWS: ABI Index Slightly Up, Still Below Break Even Levels

The American Institute of Architects Architecture Billings Index (ABI), which measures the number of architecture firms with increases in billings minus the number with decreases compared to the prior month, registered 46 in October, up from 43 in September and a 14-month high, but still below the breakeven level of 50, the American Institute of Architects reported Monday.

Subindexes by practice segment, which are calculated as three-month moving averages, rose from 45 to 49 for institutional practices but were virtually unchanged for residential, commercial/industrial and mixed practices. The index is a rough indicator of future demand for building construction.

Canon/Océ Seem Upbeat About Their Deal

While the nuts and bolts of the transaction will take months to comprehend fully—for us, as well as for them! - as a group, the Océ team seems to be embracing the deal and thinking of the merger in terms of their complementary product lines.

Specifically, they told us that Canon loves their wide format BW and color product portfolio, and their sales reach, while Océ loves Canon's WF color products.

Earlier in the week, the Canon team sent us a letter officially notifying us of their plans to acquire Océ.

Canon’s EVP and General Manager of the Imaging Systems Group wrote, “We see this acquisition as a great opportunity to expand our offerings and better serve the end-users who are your customers… Through this transaction, Canon is looking to bring together our strong offerings in office MFPs with Océ’s outstanding production printing lineup, as well as match our strong LFPs for graphics with Océ’s strong printers for sign display. We believe the two companies are a good fit as both Canon and Océ have technology-driven business models and have corporate cultures that stress the importance of R&D.”

The proof is in the pudding, but it looks like mutual respect and enthusiasm are there for the moment.

CREST Foundation Awards $125,000 to 21 Scholars for 2009/2010 Academic Year

This year, the CREST Foundation helped keep college a high priority for 21 ambitious and committed kids by contributing $125,000 toward achieving their educational goals.

These students are children of our industry peers working at reprographics shops throughout the nation. Altogether, the parents of these young scholars represent a collective 326 years in the reprographics industry—that's an average of fifteen years in the business.

This year's student scholars are: Delane Bass, Adam Cook, Jacqueline Corrigan, Ben Deininger, Ericka Dutton, Emma Garza, Anna Goodrich, Michael Hamman, Kyndra Hankins, Nathaniel Hansen, Kelcey Heman, Alexandra Iorfino, Jodi-Ann Kong, Nancy Lopez, Charles Mann IV, Allison McGlamory, Randall Panacek, Jessica Romero, Kaitlyn Stephens, Sara Taylor, and Kelly Wise.

Their parents work at: A&E The Graphics Complex; Ace Blueprinting; Acme Blueprinting; Blair Graphics; Camelot Consulting, Inc.; CAD Copy; Capitol Blueprint; Consolidated Reprographics; Cushing and Company; Duncan-Parnell, Inc.; Dunn Blue; HB Digital Arts & Blue Print; Imaging and Printing Corporation; Peninsula Digital Imaging; Plan and Print Systems, Inc.; Reprographic Consultants; Ridgway's; MBC Precision Imaging; SBD Reprographics; Technigraphics, Inc.; Triangle Reproductions, Inc.

In less than two years, 31 children of reprographics industry employees have received $225,000 from the CREST Foundation to help fund their college educations. This remarkable accomplishment is due entirely to the generous donations of individuals, reprographics companies, industry vendors and financial institutions.
The Foundation gratefully acknowledges KIP America, Oce, Xerox, Canon, Wachovia, Drytac, HP, National-Azon, Spiral Binding, Stone Tapert, National City Commercial Capital, as well as several financial institutions and nearly 20 individuals and family trusts. Without their continued support, these scholarships would not be possible.

This year's recipients were chosen by the CREST Foundation's Selection Committee, whose members include industry veterans Bill E. Thomas, Mike Carter, Cathleen Cushing Duff, John Deermount, and Miguel Garcia.

Report From Rhode Island: ERRA/SRA Addresses Challenges - Comes Up With Solutions, Shares Insight

By Shaun Meany
The PEiR Group

I attended the joint ERRA/SRA convention last week in Newport, RI. The turnout was lower than last year's gathering but the meeting was worthwhile for those of us who decided to attend.

The highlights, for me, were some good educational sessions along with the networking opportunities afforded by my many meetings with industry leaders.

The Keynote Speaker, Jessica Cox, set the tone for the convention with her "Don’t Let Adversity Stand In the Way of Success" messaging. Jessica is truly an amazing person. Born without arms she gave a straightforward, "take no prisoners" talk about her life and how she had overcome what many of us might think was impossible. Jessica drives and has actually gotten her pilot's license. If you think you're up against adversity in this challenging economy Jessica's message hits home. Think about those without work, or prospects, or who may never be in a position to own their own businesses. And then think about Jessica!

I also enjoyed the Construction Industry Forecast presented by McGraw Hill’s Robert Singerline. The outlook for 2010 is expected to be better than 2009 (thank God!) and there are definite bright spots ahead in 2010.

Singerline sees an increase in construction ahead for all all areas of the country in the coming year. South Atlantic, South Central and the West are all expected to see double digit growth. It is important to keep in mind that even with so rosy an outlook the industry is down so low that these positives really do not translate into big numbers - especially when compared to 2006 when construction was at its peak. Residential construction should signal the early stages of a recovery. Next year, Singerline says, there will be continued growth in government projects along with some institutional and non-building construction.

Other sessions I attended but will not delve into deeply (at least in this blog post) focused on Construction Project Delivery Methods and Integrated Project Delivery (IPD). Construction is evolving and new methods (processes and contracts) are being adopted by owners, designers and contractors to maximize productivity and return on investment for stake holders. Check back to POV again for more information about these trends and what they might mean for you and your business.

There's a lot more to consider out there, lately, and I've been reading all of it. In a recent FMI report it was noted that: "As the construction industry responds to the changing economy, technology is expected to emerge as a leading factor that will alter the industry over the next five years. Although maintenance technologies such as GIS and GPS were rated among the least important factors to corporate owners this year, by 2014 technologies such as integrated project delivery will become significantly more important. Other influential factors changing the industry today include globalization, social norms, economics, politics and environmental concerns."

Whew! It's time to get ready and develop a plan to participate with these new initiatives or we might miss the boat!

No reprographics conference can be held without time for entertainment and socializing and Newport was no exception this year. The Newport "Mansion Crawl," where attendees visited incredible getaway “cottages” of the rich and famous, was fun - but humbling!

Next year the ERRA and SRA will formally merge into one organization. They'll be meeing under their new charter on November 3-5, 2010 in Norfolk, VA.

Beautiful part of the country, I hope to see you all there.

BIM & IPD 101: First Of A Series - "The Nail In The Coffin"

By Shaun Meany
The PEiR Group

Over the next few weeks I will be posting a series of articles to Point of View dealing with the impact BIM and, later, IPD (Integrated Project Delivery) will have on the future of the reprographics industry.

There is no doubt that the design and construction industry is embracing these technologies in their attempts to drive down costs and increase productivity. One such technology that is quickly being adopted by architects, engineers and contractors is Building Information Modeling (BIM).

And the following chart may best explain the reason behind this push:

What Is BIM?
BIM is a business management process that uses software to design and develop scaled 3D models of a structure’s components and systems, including material quantities and properties. It can be used throughout the building’s life-cycle — from estimation to construction to operation — to track progress and maintenance.

Why It's Important:
I am sure many of you have heard of BIM and most probably you have customers who are working with it in some capacity or another. If your design consultants are using Bentley Architecture, Graphisoft ArchiCAD, VectorWorks ARCHITECT and Autodesk's Revit and Architectural Desktop they are working with BIM.

But what you might not be aware of is that BIM is rapidly replacing traditional 2D CAD. A recent report by McGraw Hill reported the following statistics:

• Half of the industry is now using BIM or BIM-related tools - 75 percent more than in 2007.
• The U.S. West Coast leads BIM adoption with a 56 percent rate, far ahead of the Northeast (38 percent). Canada closely resembles the North American average at 48 percent.
• Current BIM users of all skill levels expect to double their application of it on projects over the next two years.

So, if you know your design companies are moving towards BIM what can you conclude about your contractors? Yep, they’re moving in the same direction, maybe not as fast but they, too, see the huge benefits of using models to test and plan implementation of building projects.

What can you do as a reprographer to help your customers who are using BIM technologies? Here are a few things:

1. Let them know you understand what BIM is and that you are interested in helping them take advantage of its capabilities.
2. Demonstrate reprographics services that complement BIM technologies - e.g. Color perspectives. 3D Model Printing. FM solutions.
3. Let your clients know that you can host their models in your document management systems.
4. Attend local workshops to learn what challenges users of BIM are facing.

BIM is the new CAD of the 21st century. You must be aware that it has the potential to dramatically change the future of the reprographics industry. For many reprographers BIM will be just another technology to understand and to adapt to.

For those who refuse to adapt and move forward with technology, it may prove to be the proverbial nail in the coffin.

There IS Strength In Numbers - Especially When You're About To Go "Belly To Belly!"

By Rick Ysunza
The PEiR Group

Besides being a lot of fun it was great to see the interaction among PEiR members at our Executive Conference in Las Vegas last March. It was a fun dynamic, with a lot of great ideas and success stories bouncing back and forth.

Something that came out of that meeting for me is a simple tale of numbers equalling strength. We are now more than 150 member companies across the country - and internationally. I couldn't help but wonder if any of you were tapping into the strength of those numbers, picking up the phone and asking a colleague a hundred or three thousand miles away how things were going in their market.

There's a list of more than 450 names in our PEiR Group contact roster. You may want to take advantage of that and call. Your peers are a great resource and have a wealth of knowledge about survival in this at-time crazy industry.

I picked up the phone recently for a quick talk with P.J. Vidani of Green Bay Blue. Always fun to talk with, P.J. eagerly shared some of his secrets - including his "belly to belly" approach to pitching prospective customers - standing there and talking with them firsthand to determine their needs.

P.J., and others, also talked about "taking off the AEC hat" and seeking out non-core opportunities these days. Needs are shifting but business is still business, some people may have a different perception of what it is you do - you may have to take some time and explain it to them.

There will be lots of time to do this at our next Executive Conference but nothing is stopping you from reaching out right now and getting a few ideas from your fellow PEiR members. It may not be "belly to belly," but it's the next best thing!

Scott Schamens of Badger Blueprint Wins PEIR Group Drawing, Scott Gets Hotel Accommodations For The Next Conference!

The PEiR Group thanks all those who completed the PEiR Group Conference Survey recently. As we mentioned, everyone who filled out the survey form would be entered in a drawing for hotel accommodations at our next conference.

We held the drawing on Monday Nov. 19 and the lucky winner was Scott Schamens of Badger Blueprint in Waukesha, WI.

Scott, who didn't know his response would automatically enter him in the drawing, says he was "surprised" to find out he'd won and that PEiR would be taking care of his lodging when we get together next:

"I’m not one to respond to surveys very much and I did not read all the details... I have enjoyed going to the conferences (as they push) me further to learn about the business and what is happening on the technology side," he was kind enough to write. "I feel you have been a great value to me and do want to go and get something out of it. That is why I responded, I want to help out when you ask for input in order to keep the quality going."

Thanks, Scott! We appreciate that. You're a winner in so many ways!

Shaun Meany is reviewing all of the suggestions you were all kind enough to forward and will make an announcement soon as to where and when our next conference will be held.

HP T1200 Design Jet Promo - Click On The Graphic!

Shaun And The PEiR Group Visit Chicago - City Of "Broad Shoulders"

A couple of weeks ago I went to Chicago to attend the Print '09 Trade Show. Talking with a couple of attendees, I learned that there was a significant downturn in attendance this year. Nonetheless there were over 10,000 attendees and probably just as many vendors, and everyone was ready to do business.

All major manufacturers of printing devices were there to show off their latest technologies. Heidelberg, Agfa, Xerox, Océ, Canon, EFI, HP and a host of others displayed a variety of new digital devices and workflows (see Shaun's video, left).

One manufacturer, Agfa, demonstrated a new inkjet press called the Dotrix Modular. This revolutionary printer is capable of printing at 75 lineal feet per minute at widths of up to 24 inches. Watch the video for a demonstration of this exciting new Piezo Inkjet Technology that might someday be available for our reprographics industry!

This year, Print ’09 included a Large Format Pavilion where HP, Océ, Canon and Epson showed their latest products. HP was well positioned at the show, demonstrating their Designjet Latex Technology which is targeted for environmentally responsible outdoor print applications (signs, car wraps and textiles). According to HP, the performance of these printers is comparable to low-solvent printers. HP Latex inks are made with water and are really safe and green when compared to other traditional ink technologies. Keep your eyes open for the announcement of HP’s new 42 and 60 inch models; you might want one of these in your shops!

One message that came through loud and clear at the show was that commercial printers are busy diversifying their businesses. Just as many of you are beginning to expand your services into non-AEC markets, off-set print shops are beginning to offer POP and other large format graphic applications, as well. Info Trend research indicates that 33 percent of offset print providers are planning to add or upgrade their large format printers .

Where is printing going? I see a convergence of the various printing sectors: off-set, reprographics, sign-shops, quick printers and Print on Demand. To be successful in digital printing in the future one will require capital, the right mix of digital technologies (hardware and software) and services coupled with market and application expertise.

Okay? What do you think of my amateur video? I promise to get better!

Regards,

Shaun

PEiR Group Conference Survey - Click The Link And Take The Survey!

The PEiR Group is preparing to schedule its 2010 conference schedule and we would like to have members give us some input as to our approach.

Now's the time to let us know what you want us to address in the coming year!

Click HERE to access the survey.

Webinar Alert: PlanWell DataBridge for Prolog Users

The PEiR Group will be hosting a webinar on the new PlanWell DataBridge for Prolog - a recently released application that seamlessly links the two powerful online planrooms.

When:

October 20, 2009
Time: 11:00 a.m . Pacific
Sign-Up Here

What are the key features that PlanWell Data Bridge offers your GC’s who use Prolog?

• Synchronized Project Information
– PlanWell project content flows into Prolog
– PlanWell updates Prolog with document information
– PlanWell automatically creates links in Prolog to PlanWell documents
– Creates a more complete project archive in Prolog

• Synchronized Bid Packages
– Bid packages, and documents distributed and managed by PlanWell
– BidCaster usage keeps address book current
– PlanWell provides a broadcast status report/Bid Call Report

• Synchronized Contacts
– Synchronized address book for PlanWell and Prolog

What are the Benefits to the GC Using PlanWell DataBridge with Prolog?

• Eliminate redundant data entry and reduce labor and administrative costs

• Experience dramatically increased productivity throughout the project management cycle

• PlanWell will index your drawings for you – getting them into Prolog then takes just a click of a button

• Dynamically updated packages are imported during the indexing process

• Sub-Contractor information is kept up to date as drawings are distributed through PlanWell

• Updated sub-contractor information may then be synchronized with Prolog

• Leverage digital workflow to generate more bids and win more jobs

• Dramatically increase team productivity by seamlessly sharing data between PlanWell & Prolog.

I look forward to seeing you at the October 20th webinar.

Sincerely
Shaun Meany/President
The PEiR Group

PEiR Group EasyPrint Program - Support For The PlotWave 300 Now Available

We are pleased to announce the availability of PlanWell EasyPrint™ support for the Océ PlotWave 300!

You can now order the firmware upgrade for the following PlanWell EasyPrint enabled printers:

 Océ TDS450
 Océ TDS700
 Océ PlotWave 300*

*Requires a separate software/hardware kit, which can be ordered at no charge. See below for the part numbers.

FAQ’s

Q: What components are in the Océ PlotWave 300 EasyPrint kit?

A: The kit contains the following: metal post and mounting brackets to attach the touch screen monitor to the PlotWave; touch screen monitor; cables; firmware CD; and installation instructions.

Q: How much does the PlanWell EasyPrint integration cost?

A: Océ does not sell PlanWell EasyPrint software so they are not charging anything for this integration, not even the hardware interface kit required with the Océ PlotWave 300. They have simply made 3 of their printers EasyPrint compatible.

Q: How do I order PlanWell EasyPrint software/hardware kit?

A: The part numbers to order the TDS firmware upgrades and the PlotWave software/hardware kit are below. Contact your Océ sales rep who can either add this part to your new machine orders, or add the kit as a component to an existing machine in the field.

Océ PlotWave 300 Kit
9718037 – PlotWave 300 Easy Print Software/Hardware Kit

Océ TDS450 Kit
9718038 - TDS450 Easy Print Software Kit
4986354 - TDS450 Easy Print Enabler license

Océ TDS700 Kit
9718038 - TDS700 Easy Print Software Kit
4904999 – TDS700 Easy Print Enabler license

If you have any additional questions regarding these integrations, please contact your Océ sales rep.

I’ll take Manhattan! - Shaun Visits The Big Apple, Gauges The Future

By Shaun Meany
President, The PEiR Group

Last week I traveled to the Big Apple to meet with some of our members and attend Canon’s ImagePROGRAF Reseller Roundtable. I took some time to walk this great city and see for myself if "the city that never sleeps" was awake or not in terms of new construction around town.

I was surprised to see so many open lots with nothing being built on them. Reprographers in Gotham tell me that many projects had been put on hold for a variety of reasons - the biggest and most obvious one being a lack of funding.

It floored me. Here I was in the financial center of America and things were basically standing still. An exaggeration, maybe, but it was a matter of perception - the financial capital of the world finally appeared to be asleep.

The Canon Roundtable was interesting, an event Canon hosts in conjunction with the US Open Tennis Championships in Queens, NY. It was great to meet with some of Canon’s top resellers and learn what they are doing to be successful in their respective markets during these challenging economic times. Canon let us in on some of their new market share statistics and they confirmed that Canon is serious about large format.

They are, it seems, quickly taking market share from HP and Epson in the aqueous inkjet large format market space.

Back out on the town, I had to resist the urge to hold a finger in the air to see which way the financial winds were going to blow. We're in a waiting game, I think, but there is an underlying sense of optimism that things will pick up once money starts flowing again.

PEiR members are struggling with the reality that they can't be focused solely on AEC - still. This confuses me. You don't have to look far to see that the people who are doing the best in these stagnant times are the ones who are out there hustling new business, owners networking and mining every last dime out of connections made at social networking functions and pre-established business contacts.

Others are streamlining their pricing model, removing every last barrier that would make a customer say "Hmm, I dunno..." and offering "Read the Meter" solutions charting a company's use of services at the beginning of the month and end of the month and billing them once for everything in between.

It's clean and it's working, particularly as businesses are watching every penny and can't afford to spend more time than they have to accounting for them.

There are some other trends developing in the market... we'll talk about them in the days to come.

In the meantime, stay in touch and let us know how you're doing.

Regards,

Shaun

Prospecting In The "Days of '09" - Sometimes, You Have To Toss The Little Nuggets Before You Find The Big One

By Rick Ysunza
The PEiR Group

As a salesperson out there prospecting for business these days, I have found that the comparison could be made between us and the old miners of yore - armed with pick and shovel and searching for the elusive Mother Lode.

What would you do if that first pan gave you a tiny, yet shiny return? Would you be excited? You're darn tootin' you would. And you'd probably go back to the same spot and dig up another pan full to see if you could wheedle away another tiny fleck.

But that's not how the successful miners did it back in the day. They were looking for larger nuggets, signs that they were on to a larger vein, and they would work their pans until they yielded three good-sized nuggets, then five - and then, if they were lucky and persistent, they shouted "Eureka!" when they finally hit it big.

My message here is drawn from this approach: don't be so enticed with those initial, glinty successes that you fixate and forget to focus your prospecting efforts where you can get the most return with a decision maker further up the line.

There's a payday at the end of the vein for those who aren't afraid to pass over smaller flecks of success and follow the signs to the "Mother Lode" we all seek.

Good hunting!

Rick

“Bid Services, Can I Help You?”

By Shaun Meany
The PEiR Group

For the past two years the PEiR Group has been promoting bid communication solutions and some of the opportunities technologies like BidCaster and SubHub can offer General Contractors with their Bid Processes. Some of our members understand this area of opportunity. Many do not - or just don’t see how it can benefit their customers and their own businesses.

I have talked with several reprographers who understand the bid process, have embraced our bid technologies and have enjoyed new sales as a result.

As our industry continues to evolve, many of the traditional services that you have grown to depend upon for sales and profits simply will not be demanded in the same volume as before. As the construction industry begins to crawl out from under its current cloud many of your customers, like General Contractors, will be looking to change the way they do their business processes; particularly the pre-construction or bid process.

When it comes to the bid process (often considered an overhead activity) most GC’s want to reduce expenses and boost productivity. Reducing bid set printing is one of the most obvious areas that GC’s focus on when trying to reduce expenses. There are two primary alternatives that GC’s tend to choose for reducing their printing costs: (1) send out cd-roms (2) post drawing and specs to a FTP site. While both these methods will reduce printing costs for the GC, neither approach improves productivity for the subs and suppliers. Sure, the documents get to their intended parties fairly quickly, but there are still inefficiencies (and costs) that could be controlled more efficiently with bidding solutions like BidCaster and SubHub.

Let's look at distributing bid-sets on cd-roms. The cd-roms still have to be mastered, duplicated and distributed (by mail, pick-up or express couriers). Any updates to the documentation must also go through a similar distribution process.

The next time a GC asks you to create a bid-set to be distributed via cd-rom here are a few questions you may want to ask: Why are the music and video industries moving away from cd/dvd media? How do you (Mr. GC) plan to update your subs when changes take place? How long does it take to update and notify plan holders of addendums? As you already know, with plan rooms like PlanWell or SubHub the documents are always up to date. Changes can be made real-time and anyone who has access will know what the current documents to bid upon is.

The same applies to FTP sites. It may sound simple for a GC to upload documents to a ftp site and send out instructions on how to download the documents. But when you look at this process in more detail FTP actually creates more headaches than it alleviates. First, the sub needs to know about ftp. Second, the sub needs to know a user name and password. Often the same user names and passwords are used by everyone who want access to the FTP site quickly breaching security. Third, how does the GC track who has documents? If a sub just wants to look at a document he has to download it and then view it. This can take a considerable amount of time if they have a slow Internet connection.

Here's something to ask your GC’s: Why do subs want a digital file?

An important component of bidding is tracking who is interested in bidding and who is still kicking the idea around. CD-Roms and FTP sites do not track who is interested in bidding the project. Sometimes this is the most critical information that a GC needs to know. Does he have coverage of all trades required on the project and if not how can he get more bids before due day?

More than at any other time in our industry’s history, it is vital that reprographers begin to market services beyond mere printing - and bid communications offers a perfect opportunity.

There are two approaches that you can consider with bid communications:

1. Offer bid communication software tools such as PlanWell Bidcaster or SubHub that your GC's can learn and deploy.
2. If your customers don’t want to take on learning a new system there might be an opportunity for you, the reprographer, to provide “Bid Services“ as an outsourced service.

One very progressive reprographer I've talked with recently said they've introduced a new department in their business called Bid Services and they've put a person with construction industry experience in the manager's position to make sure things run smoothly.

Either way, be it with BidCaster, SubHub or a dedicated Bid Services department, you will be offering intelligent choices that can address your GC’s needs, help them reduce costs and increase productivity. It’s a win win for both you and the customer!

Turning Hospital Ceilings Into Cathedral Windows - How About You?

Not too long ago our John Bidwell, no stranger to the dentist's chair, mused about how cool it would be for reprographers to contact their area dentists and hospitals and work on adding a soothing mural to those sterile surfaces.

Well, one reprographer did just that recently, using their 350GT to turn out these pastoral landscapes for a cancer treatment center in their area.

The result? Instantaneous approval from staff and patients - who are much more relaxed when visiting and who comment often on the soothing qualities of the ceiling murals.

How about you? Have you run a job you're particularly proud of, lately? If so, contact us and we'll feature it in an upcoming Point of View!

Housing Market Stirs - More Hammers Swinging

It's a tough call, trying to pinpoint the precise time our industry recovers from the most serious economic malaise since World War II, but there are increasing signs of life from the sectors we serve.

Toll Brothers Inc.'s stock jumped Wednesday after the luxury homebuilder posted its first annual increase in signed contracts in four years.

New home contracts rose 3 percent from the third fiscal quarter last year, and the number was up a surprising 44 percent from the second fiscal quarter this year. Toll told the Associated Press that demand was so robust the company has been able to scale back the incentives it offered to get buyers in the door.

Toll sold 792 homes, generating $461.3 million in revenue for the three months ended July 31. Revenue was down 42 percent from the same period last year because home prices have declined and Toll has fewer communities around the country.

"Although some of our markets are still stuck in the mud, many are improving," Robert Toll, the company's chairman and CEO, said in a statement.

Other major builders - including D.R. Horton Inc., Pulte Homes Inc. and Centex Corp. - all recently reported better earnings for the first half of the year.

POV "New Product" Advisory: Drytac Introduces Flexible UV Curable Liquid Coating

Drytac®, a leader in liquid coating technology, has a new UV curable clear coat for use on applications requiring maximum flexibility.

InstaCure SuperFlex is a high gloss coating flexible enough to form around rivets and stretch into compound and complex curves. It is also thermo-formable.

Tests show that InstaCure SuperFlex has the ability to stretch up to six times its original size, allowing manufacturers of fleet and vehicle graphics to benefit from the low cost and high speed applications made possible with high UV curable liquid coaters.

INSTACure SuperFlex contains a proprietary blend of acrylate and non yellowing urethane UV curable polymers to give coated prints flexibility. The coating develops a tough exterior finish that is scratch and abrasion resistant and able to withstand the rigors of commercial truck washes using standard commercial cleaners.

“With coating costs as low as 6 cents per square foot and speeds of up to 60 linear feet per minute with our new roll to roll attachment, customers can now not only compete, but for the first time in a long time, make significant profits in this industry with this product application," says Jim Tatum, Drytac’s liquid finishing division manager.

Something to consider if you do auto wraps!


The PEiR Group