Saturday, May 31, 2014

Participate in the IRgA Survey!

All Reprographics companies are encouraged to participate in the IRgA Q1 2014 Business survey.

The survey is not limited to U.S. reprographers, it’s for reprographers worldwide.

Link to Survey:


Additional comments about The Reprographics Industry Hall of Fame

One of the primary reasons why the Reprographics 101 Blog was established was to educate and inform our industry’s younger and new participants.  With the hope that education and information will inspire!

When Reprographics 101 began, there was very little activity going on the IRgA web-site and that situation continued until the Reprographics 101 Blog began being published on the IRgA web-site beginning July 1, 2012.  On June 1st, 2013, Ed Avis took over as Managing Director of the IRgA, and, since then, the amount industry-relevant information published on the IRgA web-site has increased dramatically.  (Side note: continued kudo’s to Ed Avis for his efforts with the IRgA and its web-site.  I, for one, am not surprised by his excellent authorship, interviews and management; anyone who read previous industry publications Ed was involved with, Plan & Print and Modern Reprographics, were familiar with Ed’s intelligence, energy, insights and publishing prowess.)  In addition, the IRgA discontinued having conventions for two (perhaps it was three) years.  The most recent IRgA Convention was not heavily attended (in comparison to past IRgA Conventions.)

In establishing The Reprographics Industry Hall of Fame, one of our goals – if not our main goal – is to inform our industry’s younger and new participants about those who achieved, and, in many cases, those who continue to achieve, significant success in the reprographics business, or significant success on the vendor side of the industry, or spectacular (and, in some cases, ground-breaking) achievement in technology development (whether equipment or software.)  If our industry’s younger and new participants know about our Hall of Fame inductees - who they were with, what they did, what they managed to achieve, etc. - then, hopefully, they will be inspired “to step to the plate and give it their all.”

As we mentioned, The Reprographics Industry Hall of Fame will not just recognize “reprographers”, but people who developed equipment and software technology that proved to be either spectacular (in a “revolutionary” sense) or that drove significant change (with respect to how reprographers operate and/or what they offer.)  If anyone knows the names of the HP team members who were responsible for the design/development of the first HP DesignJet plotter, we’d love to include the names of those people in the Hall of Fame.  And, if anyone knows the names of the OCE team members who were responsible for the design/development of the OCE 9800, we’d love to include the names of those people in the Hall of Fame. 

One final mention about those inducted, or to be inducted, into The Reprographics Industry Hall of Fame.  Individuals inducted achieved, and, in many cases, continue to achieve, significant success in the reprographics business.  They are the “power players” in the reprographics industry.  They are the “movers and shakers” who propelled, or who played a significant role in helping propel, reprographics businesses to notable-size market-area, regional, nationwide and/or international players. 

If you want to nominate someone, please access the nomination form at this link:


When you consider nominees, please keep in mind that those who’ve made, or are making, significant contributions to the IRgA are recognized (and honored) by the IRgA’s prestigious Bukovsky Award.  The Reprographics Industry Hall of Fame is about recognizing the achievement of success in the business of reprographics.  There will, of course, be overlap – there are, already, Hall of Fame inductees that have in the past received the IRgA Bukovsky Award, but, as we’ve said, receiving the IRgA Bukovsky Award is not a consideration, at all, for induction into the Reprographics Industry Hall of Fame.

Thank you,

Joel Salus

Publisher, Reprographics 101

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

The Reprographics Industry Hall of Fame – List of Inductees

Regarding The Reprographics Industry Hall of Fame that I announced in a blog-post on May 25th, updates to the Hall of Fame, including individual profiles of inductees, will be added/posted as they are received/reviewed/written/completed.


For the “List of Inductees”, go to the right-hand side-bar on the main page of Reprographics 101; clicking on the “link” will bring up the list of those inducted into the Hall of Fame.  And, within the list document, there are further links to access individual profiles.  (All of these documents are stored in my GoogleDrive library.)

If you want to nominate someone, access the Nomination Form that's linked to the blog-post of May 25th.

Monday, May 26, 2014

Jose Sardina is Wide Format Channel Manager at Xerox Corp

Special mention of a reprographics industry mover and shaker.

After 29 years on the reprographics and graphic imaging services side of the industry, Jose Sardina, one of the nicest, most personable guys you could ever meet, moved over the fence and is now on the vendor side of the industry.

In January (2014), Jose joined Xerox Corp as its Wide Format Channel Manager.  Jose was a long-time fan of Xerox’s wide format systems – this, over a period of many, many years – and it’s kind of a natural to see him join Xerox Corp’s wide-format business.

Prior to joining Xerox….. Jose joined Miami-based T-Square in 1985, where he served as Vice President of Sales, and, later on, as President.  T-Square was acquired by ARC in mid-2006, and Jose stayed on with ARC until October 2012.  Subsequent to ARC, Jose joined Thomas Reprographics in Austin for a bit more than one year, departing Thomas in January 2014.

I had the distinct pleasure (if not honor) of working with Jose for a brief period of time back in 1997.  And, I stayed in touch with Jose after that.  Jose is a born leader, extremely intelligent, has a proclivity to debating issues (which is a good thing!), and, as a Sales team leader, he is aggressive, tenacious and insightful.  During his long career in the reprographics business, Jose was a valuable mentor to many people.

Best of luck and success to Jose in his gig with Xerox Corp.


Sunday, May 25, 2014

Announcing the establishment of “Reprographics 101” Reprographics Industry Hall of Fame

A few months ago, the IRgA announced the three newest recipients of the prestigious IRgA Bukovsky Award.  That award goes to people who make (or, in the past tense, who made) a significant contribution to the IRgA.  For the most part, one has to serve (or have served) as an Officer or Director of the IRgA (or on various IRgA committees) in order to be considered for that award.

With great pleasure and high expectations, I’m now announcing the next project for the Reprographics 101 Blog ….. the establishment of …..

 The Reprographics Industry Hall of Fame.” 

Why?  While it's certainly nice to see people rewarded for their contributions to the IRgA, there are a whole host of other industry people who, in their own way shape and form, had (and, for those still active, are continuing to have) a profound impact on the reprographics industry. The  Reprographics Industry Hall of Fame will recognize those "movers and shakers who've had a significant impact on, or who've played a significant role in, shaping the reprographics industry business and landscape, regardless of whether or not they made any contributions to the IRgA.  The Reprographics Industry Hall of Fame will not be limited to people in the U.S; the Hall of Fame is intended to be “worldwide.”

(As revised):  To be eligible for consideration as a Hall of Fame inductee, each person must meet two or more of the following criteria:

 - He/She grew a company, from small to much larger than the average reprographics business, and, in the process, their company became a multi-country or nationwide or multi-regional or regional or dominant-specific-market-area enterprise.

 - He/She developed and/or introduced to the reprographics marketplace technology, either software or hardware or both, that had a dramatic impact on the reprographics business and industry.  Note that the inductee may have been a reprographer or a vendor.

 - He/She founded and/or managed an industry association group, whether non-profit or for profit, that proved to have a significant impact on the reprographics business and industry.

- His/Her approach to being in the reprographics business represented a unique or special development.

- His/Her contributions to others, as a mentor and educator and sounding board, whether or not they actually knew that they were considered a mentor, had a profound, significant impact on the careers of others in the reprographics business.

- He/She put forth, over a long-term basis, a significant effort to communicate industry relevant information for the benefit of reprographers …. in an effort to help reprographers develop/grow their businesses.

Note:  A person’s significant contributions to the IRgA are not considered relevant for the consideration of induction into The Reprographics Industry Hall of Fame, as that is what the IRgA Bukovsky Award is all about. Also, one does not have to be an owner or partner of company in order to be eligible for induction into the Hall of Fame.  (There are several industry Sales VP’s and CFO’s who have had a dramatic impact on the growth of the companies they are, or were, associated with.)

Induction into The Reprographics Industry Hall of Fame will not be an annual event.  Induction will take place on an on-going basis, as nominations are received, considered and voted on.

All former and current reprographers are invited and encouraged to participate in nominating people for induction into The Reprographics Industry Hall of Fame. 

At the link you’ll see immediately below, I’ve posted (in my Google Drive library) the form to be used for submitting nominations for The Reprographics Industry Hall of Fame.  If you are going to submit a nomination form, please “download” the form, complete it, and submit it via e-mail to joel.salus@mac.com


About participation.  Well, given the fact that most will not even consider participating - - in any project or effort - - I don't have high hopes for widespread participation.  But that does not discourage me!  I’ve already compiled a list of close to 50 people who I feel should be inducted in The Reprographics Industry Hall of Fame.

Committee to evaluate nominations and to select inductees.  I have not yet reached out to anyone about participating on the evaluation “committee”; that will be my next step; for now, I’d like to get the nomination process rolling!

Thank you,

Joel Salus
Publisher of “Reprographics 101”