January 2010
The real cost of print management for most companies is commonly invisible. Our experts can help you take control and reduce print costs up to 30% per year.
According to research from IT consultants Gartner Inc., up to 3% of your annual revenue is spent on print activities.
Effectively managing this activity can save up to 30% annually on your print services. Why?
- Print is a typically uncontrolled budget item, largely off the radar of high level accounting or operations management.
- Given the complexities of print fleet management, most print networks are inefficient. Multi-function printers are rare, printers are not replaced until they malfunction, and a wide range of printer brands increase IT administration and ink/paper costs.
- The real cost of print is hidden. Color printing, single-side printing, the steep support costs of using multiple manufacturers, and the high energy costs of older printers all work silently against a company’s bottom line.
How do you take control? Let our experts conduct a no-cost print infrastructure analysis to see how much you can save.
Click here for more information, or contact us by filling out this information request.
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January 2010
Forecasts seem to be in style at the beginning of each year, and while many are interesting, they’re often forgotten by the time spring rolls around.
In Greening Our Built World, a new book on sustainable building practices, author Greg Kats has suggested that half of all non-res buildings will be green by 2015.
Such rapid growth would represent a surprising change as green building was not considered anything close to mainstream just five years ago.
Based on a study done by Kats, senior director and director of climate change for New York-based Good Energies, the book – and several stories picked up by the media – claimed a few other surprising facts about building sustainably.
The study found that green building cost only about two percent more to build than conventional buildings, yet reduces energy consumption by an average of 33 percent. The level of energy savings at such a low cost is a potentially huge factor in the way we live and work considering that residential and commercial buildings together account for nearly 50% of American energy consumption.
If you’re looking forward to designing or building in a more sustainable way in the future, consider that more than two years ago, our company embraced a set of sustainable practices to support you in your efforts.
Digitally downloading plans, selective printing and distributions through PlanWell and BidCaster, recycled paper use, and digital shipping are just some of the ways we can help you “green” your design practice or construction project.
Check in with us to find out more, visit our GreenPlan website, or contact us here to receive more information.
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January 2010
If your firm does business in China, you know that it’s often difficult to understand the culture, language and business practices well enough to determine the quality of a vendor or service provider you’re working with.
Photo: UDS President Mr. Pei shows off UDS’s recently acquired ISO 9000 certificates.
Globally recognized quality certifications can help find the right partner, and that’s why we’re pleased to announce that our sister division, UDS received their ISO 9000 quality certification in December.
UDS is an ARC joint venture with the Chinese technology giant, Unis, and offers reprographic services, on-site services, technology integration and equipment and supplies throughout mainland China.
Three primary locations serve as the hub of our operations in China – one in Beijing and two in Shanghai.
Customers can either utilize our services in-country, or coordinate the printing and delivery of documents from the U.S. and other countries using ishipdocs, our digital shipping service. Talk to your sales rep, or request more information here.
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January 2010
We all know that more people are competing for fewer projects these days, so making sure your process is as efficient, fast and effective is critical.
Late last year we upgraded our Sub-Hub bid communication tool with tools that turbocharge productivity, make last minute changes easy and fast to implement, and create more ways for your bid or bid management efforts to pay off.
Three new features are attracting the most attention as more and more contractors sign-up for the service.
- Self-publishing – Create your own projects and upload documents directly from your computer; no outside intervention, document indexing, or handling is necessary.
- Total flexibility in document format – TIFF, PDF, DWF and more; flexible document formats allow you to use almost any take-off tool and costing application; it also makes simple exchanges, RFI’s or other collaborative activities involving marked up documents easy, fast and efficient.
- Upload/Downloads – Posting documents to your project, or downloading drawings for review and bidding is fast, clean, and simple.
Sub-Hub allows anyone to send or receive bid notifications from a private address book via email or fax, and share documents in an easy-to-use and effective online application. You can visit the Sub-Hub website here. To find out more about how you can use Sub-Hub, or for a demonstration, contact your local sales exec or request information here.
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January 2010
The holy grail of killer workflows in the building community has shifted considerably over time. Once thought to be CADD, later it was 3D visualizing, which sort of morphed into building information modeling (BIM), and right alongside it, came integrated project delivery.
Even the people who are the greatest advocates of these panaceas sometimes disagree on what’s what, but often that’s because these systems are somewhat speculative. In other words, it’s hard to find someone who has actually used the thing in question.
As if in answer to that conundrum, a new publication from AIA California Council and AIA Integrated Practice Discussion Group takes a look at real-world, completed building projects that used Integrated Project Delivery (IPD).
According to the AIA website, “The projects studied show the successful application of IPD in a variety of building types and scales and in diverse regions of the country.” They also claim that this is the first installment of an ongoing evaluation of the procedure and it will be supplemented in the future.
Curious? We were, too. You can download the publication from the AIA here.
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