Repro Optimism Slips
By Ed Avis
Paul Straits, owner of Vesco Reprographic in Montgomery, Illinois, says plan printing has been dropping in volume at his shop for years, but other work has picked up.
“Our planroom is getting less effective, and construction documentation printing is much lighter,” Straits reports. “But we’ve replaced that by leasing and selling equipment. We sell to contractors, schools, universities, government. They want to be able to print 24/7. I’ll have customers who I have printed for for 20 or more years and they’ll buy a printer now. Now we sell them paper, ink and maintenance.”
That mixed bag – business down in some areas but up in others – reflects the general experience of reprographics shop owners today, according to an APDSP survey in mid-January.
According to the survey, the majority of shop owners – 54 percent – are somewhat optimistic about how their business overall will fare in 2020. Another 14 percent are very optimistic, which the question interpreted as “I think business will be substantially better than 2019.” On the other end of the spectrum, only 8 percent of respondents feel their business will decline in 2020. The remaining 24 percent feel business will remain the same.
Those numbers are close to the figures from the 2019 version of this survey. In that survey, 16 percent were very optimistic; 58 percent were somewhat optimistic; 24 percent felt business would stay the same; and 3 percent were pessimistic.
Digging Deeper
Not surprisingly, optimism for traditional reprographics work is slipping. Nobody is “very optimistic” about that work, and 28 percent are “somewhat pessimistic” or “very pessimistic.” The biggest group – 43 percent – feel traditional repro will remain the same in 2020, and the remaining 29 percent are “somewhat optimistic.”
When that question was asked at the beginning of last year, 38 percent said they were “somewhat optimistic” or “very optimistic” and only 10 percent were “somewhat pessimistic” or “very pessimistic.” That’s a downward shift of 18 percentage points.
“Each year I have seen a decrease in architectural printing from my base,” says Bob Kesten, owner of New England Reprographics in Yarmouth, Massachusetts. “They have gone out and bought their own systems to print, so it takes me out of the loop….Who gets a call anymore for 100 sets or 50 sets? You just don’t get that anymore. It’s just the way the industry has gone.”
However, respondents to the survey were much more optimistic about their non-plan-printing services to the traditional AEC market. Work like scanning, construction signage, and other ancillary business is evidently growing – 30 percent of respondents are “very optimistic” about that work and 54 percent are “somewhat optimistic.”
Lynn Imaging in Lexington, Kentucky has done well with its non-plan-printing AEC work, says Glenn Norvell, the company’s CFO.
For example, the company has succeeded with permanent signage related to construction projects.
“We’ve always been involved in the front end of construction projects, because we distribute the plans and specs, so we know what’s coming,” Norvell explains “And we can look into them and see if there’s a sign package. And if we see that, we become a bidder in a lot of cases. We just did a couple of significant jobs at the University of Kentucky in past year.”
Norvell’s firm also has succeeded by monetizing the downloads from its planroom. He says the company improved its planroom system during the Great Recession to strengthen the download service.
“So we’re losing printing business, but we’re not losing distribution of plans and specs to the bidders,” he says. “There’s value in providing that service.”
Color is Growing
The one area that respondents to the survey were consistently optimistic about was services to non-AEC clients, including large-format color printing for clients such as ad agencies and retailers. Forty-one percent of respondents said they are “very optimistic” about that work and 53 percent are “somewhat optimistic.” Those results top last year’s survey by 1 percentage point and 8 percentage points, respectively.
Kesten says New England Reprographics has expanded its large-format color work for museums and marketing companies.
“I not only own this business, but I’m also producing,” he explains. “So when I get a color job, I turn around most times in one day. Other vendors can’t compete with that.”
One of Kesten’s key clients is a museum honoring John F. Kennedy on Hyannis. He recently did the printing for a display about JFK Jr., including printing, mounting and installing images made from articles from Kennedy’s magazine, George.
Lynn Imaging also has succeeded with large-format color recently, Norvell says.
“Our Monster Color sales the last six months of 2019 set records, and we have no reason to believe we’re going to back out,” he says. “About four years ago we started doing permanent signage. That has helped us grow our work in the healthcare world, and we do work for a lot of non-profits and churches.”
Norvell says the company has even considered entering the signage installation market.
“Installation requires some significant investment in equipment and trade skills,” he notes. “For example, you need an electrician on staff. So we’re not quite ready to make that leap yet.”
Does Repro Follow Construction Trends?
Another question on the survey tested the assumption that reprographics work closely follows trends in construction. Traditionally, that has been in the case. But with a drop in plan printing overall, are construction trends still important to a reprographics firm?
According to the survey, the connection is still strong, but slipping a bit since last year. Forty-one percent said the link is strong, and 44 percent said the link is there, but not quite as strong as in the past. The remainder, 15 percent, said they don’t see much correlation at all anymore.
In 2019, 42 percent said the link was still strong; 55 percent said the link was there but weaker; and only 3 percent saw no correlation any more.