Thursday, July 5, 2012

Leon H. Porter – In Memoriam

Leon Horace Porter, a veteran reprographer who, considering mergers and acquisitions, worked for the same company for 50+ years, passed away a few days ago in his hometown, Washington, D.C. The sad news of Leon’s passing was brought to my attention by Derrick Williams, a long-time business associate and friend and former co-worker of Leon’s.

Leon started his career in the reprographics industry, in 1956 or 1957, at Max Scher Blueprint Co. in downtown Washington D.C. When Max Scher Blueprint merged with Rowley’s Blueprint Service (forming Rowley-Scher Reprographics), Leon continued on with Rowley-Scher. Rowley-Scher’s name was later changed to Reprographics Technologies Inc (RTI). When RTI was acquired by Darras McCord, Leon continued on with RTI. When Darras sold RTI to American Reprographics Co (ARC), Leon continued on with ARC (it was still called RTI at that time.)

Leon was a veteran of the U.S. Army, having served in Germany sometime around 1962.

Leon was a teammate that everyone could always count on. No matter what the production demands were – nights, weekends, holidays, you could always count on Leon to pitch in. John Scher Zeller, ex-President of Rowley-Scher Reprographics, worked with Leon for nearly 27 years, and I know that the news of Leon’s passing was very sad news for John (and, I’m sure, for anyone who had the pleasure of knowing Leon.)

There is no question in my mind that you would be hard pressed to find anyone with the exemplary work-ethic Leon Porter had.

May he rest in peace.

Link to Memorial Service document:

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B81al4kFAU9Jc0ZWNkNFaDZ3NzQ


Tuesday, July 3, 2012

C2 Repro Expands Capabilities With Acquisition of Robins Signs

June 12, 2012 18:46 ET

Expansion of C2 Will Enhance Service and Grow Its Color Product Offerings

COSTA MESA, CA--(Marketwire - Jun 12, 2012) - C2, the largest privately owned reprographics firm in Southern California, announced its December 2011 acquisition of Robins Signs, a sign company serving Southern California since 1910. The values and stability of the 100-year-old company perfectly complement the good old-fashioned service model that C2 was founded upon.

Former Robins Signs customers will benefit from the availability of additional products and services. C2's clientele will find a wider depth and breadth of digital capabilities and color & sign production. Combining the expertise of a century in business with C2's state-of-the-art technology and color specialists make C2 a powerful one-stop shop for sign production and installation.

Robins Signs President Bob Burandt will continue to lead and operate Robins Signs, doing so as part of C2's color product offering, within the C2 headquarters.

"Bob's leadership has contributed to the longstanding success of Robins Signs, and that's something we couldn't just replace," says Gary Crisp, President of C2. "He's great with customers, and his expertise and dedication to customer service are important assets that we know will benefit all of us as we move forward as a single company. We've always considered our people to be at the core of our success, and Bob is a shining example."

The expansion brings C2 the additional equipment, vehicles and personnel to further develop its capabilities as a full service sign and installation provider. C2 previously delivered architectural renderings, marketing materials, construction and trade show signage under its C2 Color Studio Division. The division is now able to produce and install any form of non-electrical signage including: vehicle graphics, dimensional signs, parking signage, menu displays, vinyl cut lettering, sight signs (Braille), ADA signs, fleet graphics, dimensional lettering, safety signage, trade show graphics, banners, exhibits and displays, back-lit displays, monument signs, lobby signs, warehouse signage, equipment identification, window graphics, POP signs, wall graphics, city pole signs and street banners.

"We've always prided ourselves in the premier quality of our work and consistent service, and that's what kept clients coming back during more than a century of service," says Burandt. "Robins Signs and C2 really enhance each other's brands. We're embarking on an exciting new chapter in the business, and I'm enjoying the experience of being a part of that."

Gary and Julie Crisp founded C2 in 2002 and made its staff and customers a priority from the beginning. Their successful approach led to rapid growth resulting in seven (7) offices in Orange, Los Angeles, San Diego counties and the Inland Empire -- a feat accomplished by outworking and outperforming competitors.

ABOUT C2: C2 is the largest privately owned reprographics firm in Southern California, with production offices in the Orange County, Los Angeles, San Diego and Inland Empire areas and hub stores in Costa Mesa, San Diego, Ontario and downtown Los Angeles. Founded by Gary and Julie Crisp (the two "C"s in C2) in 2002, the firm provides premier reprographic services to the legal and courtroom, AEC (architect, engineer and contractor) and commercial business-to-business markets. The company's C2 Color Studio, C2 Business Solutions, C2 Legal Solutions and C2 Reprographics divisions are known for exceptional customer service. For more information, visit www.c2repro.com.

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Hot Off The Presses – Conductive Ink

Very interesting article in the Business section of the New York Times today.

This article is about “conductive ink” – fascinating stuff.

I’ve placed copy of the article in my Google Docs library:

Link page 1

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B81al4kFAU9JNXhSWXZOQnBETjQ

Link to page 2

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B81al4kFAU9JbEg4WXd5TGc3SWM

Service Point Solutions - First Quarter 2012 Financial Results Report

On May 13, 2012, we posted information about a Press Release Service Point Solutions issued on May 11, 2012, about its Q1 2012 results. If you care to look back at that previous post, here’s a link to that post:

http://reprographics.blogspot.com/2012/05/service-point-solutions-sps-issues.html

Yesterday, when I visited SPS’ web-site (www.servicepoint.net), I found that SPS had published its Q1 2012 financial-results-report; that report is now posted in my Google Docs library and can be accessed with this link:

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B81al4kFAU9JZzZMZzBqc3JSdDA

Please note: I found only a Spanish-language version of the Q1 2012 Financial report. BUT, numbers are numbers; you don’t need to know Spanish to understand the numbers in the report.

For Q1 2012, Service Point Solutions reported:

Sales – 54.843 mil Euros

Net Loss – 1.671 mil Euros

I’m wondering if these results provoked the senior management changes SPS recently announced?