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ABC Imaging Locations
ABC Imaging Locations
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ABC Imaging President Medi Falsafi
ABC Imaging President Medi Falsafi
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ABC Imaging Production Hub
ABC Imaging Production Hub
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Peeq Grand Format Division of ABC Imaging
Peeq Grand Format Division of ABC Imaging
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ABC's online planroom, BPOL
ABC's online planroom, BPOL
By Ed Avis
ABC Imaging, a diversified reprographics firm headquartered in Washington, D.C., has enjoyed a steady string of successes during its 33-year existence, ranging from development of a proprietary integrated software system to substantial international expansion.
Now the company is laying the groundwork for a potentially major development: a program to create a nation-wide network that aims to redefine the industry.
“We want to redefine the playing field,” says Medi Falsafi, ABC Imaging’s president. “By the middle to end of this summer, we are contemplating having our integrated software packaged and sold to other reprographics firms, enhancing industry competition.”
Falsafi’s plan goes beyond selling a software system – he envisions a network of firms that use the ABC Imaging name and integrated systems, and have their billing and other administrative functions centrally handled.
“If I can give these reprographics companies new tools to operate their businesses, and have the owner of the company still running his firm, my competitor will be crying!” Falsafi says. “Simply put, it will create a new and improved playing field.”
Accidental Beginning
Falsafi started ABC Imaging in 1982 almost accidentally. He was an architect working for a firm in Washington, D.C. when the recession of the early 1980s wiped out the firm’s business. Suddenly unemployed, Falsafi looked for a new opportunity. He saw some used diazo equipment advertised in a local paper, and, remembering that he had run that equipment in his architecture office, took a second mortgage on his house and launched American Blueprint Company.
“It was supposed to be temporary, until I got another job,” he says. “But I got some customers, bought a motorcycle for deliveries, hired an employee, and it just kept growing.”
By 1986 he added an offset printing division, and a year later opened a retail storefront in the D.C. suburb of Alexandria, Virginia. Today the company has 34 locations, including in London, Dubai, and Shanghai.
“I’m not a very smart business man, but it’s my personality that if I do something, it has to be done exactly right. I think that has propelled our success,” he says. “And not being afraid of change. We try to predict where the market is going to go, and move forward in that area.”
Digital Leap
A major turning point occurred in 1998. Topel Digital Solutions, a family business run by brothers Blain and David Topel, had invested heavily in Océ 9800s. Falsafi had only minimally invested in digital reprographics by that time -- diazo was still going strong, and the increased monthly “nut” required with a digital printer was daunting. But Falsafi knew that the future was digital, so he acquired Topel.
“They had five 9800s, and the overhead was tremendous,” Falsafi remembers. “But once we acquired them, a lot of overlapping expenses went away. We distributed the machines among our locations and gave our customers the option of staying with diazo or switching. We gave them the pros and cons of each.”
An important result of the move to digital printing was the development of an online planroom. Launched in 1999, Blue Prints On-Line (now called BPOL) grew out of the company’s desire to keep all of the mylars and other master prints properly organized.
“We had file cabinets on top of file cabinets – it was a nightmare,” he says. “So we put all the print files into the computer, and when needed something, we just took the tiff file and printed it. That went well, and made our life easier. The customers liked it as well, and then we started giving clients access to it. That eventually evolved to what it is today.”
On-Site Services
Another important growth area for ABC Imaging during that time was on-site services (facility management, or FM). That business filled the need of clients who needed some in-house services, especially those who had multiple offices and didn’t want to manage the equipment themselves.
An important element of a successful FM, Falsafi realized, was total integration of the services. For example, many FM customers also ordered larger sets of prints from an ABC Imaging office, and sometimes walked into the retail locations with jobs. Keeping all of those separate transactions straight was complicated, which led to another major development that has powered ABC Imaging’s success: the creation of a proprietary software system to integrate all operations.
Proprietary System
The proprietary system involved a great deal of in-house programming, but it has paid off.
“For the past 20 years I’ve had from 5 to 20 fulltime programmers working on the system,” Falsafi says. “The system integrates all of our operations, from order entry to billing to payables to purchasing to sales management, everything you want. That has been one of the reasons for our success. If you have one location, you can bill by hand. But if you want to run a global company from one location, you need to have the systems and the people in place to do that.”
Not only does the system seamlessly connect all 34 ABC Imaging locations, but it also integrates the firm’s 600 FM locations spread across 150 cities. The integration makes the job of securing new clients easier, because the salesperson can offer the services of a national company to clients anywhere, even in cities without ABC Imaging offices.
“If the customer wants to truly decide based on good and bad, usually we come on top,” Falsafi says. “What we can’t fight is if our competitors have relationships with certain individuals. We cannot break through those, obviously. But in long run the people usually change, and then we can get those accounts.”
Falsafi reports that during the recession, when many other reprographics firms closed or merged, ABC Imaging’s sales never dropped more than 7 or 8 percent from historical highs. That’s not to say that volume from given customers didn’t drop – in fact, per-customer sales dropped 60 to 65 percent – but because the company was aggressively finding new clients, overall business was rather stable.
“Over the last few years we have let our competitors breathe a little bit as we updated and enhanced our systems. This year we are back on focusing on sales,” Falsafi says. The key selling point is that software system. “We are the only ones who truly have real time, integrated systems. If you print three copies in your FM, five minutes later you can walk over to your billing portal and the job is there. Other companies don’t have that.”
Grand-Format Printing, 3D Printing
ABC Imaging has not limited itself to traditional reprographics work. It also has succeeded with grand-format printing and 3D printing.
Six ABC Imaging locations have equipment capable of printing material up to 15 feet wide, and they create signage for major brands such as Louis Vuitton and Coach.
“Right now one-third of our business is grand format,” Falsafi says. However, he does not feel grand-format is a growth area. He believes digital signage, such as monitors that can show video or quickly flip still images, will eventually take over the grand-format market. But ABC Imaging won’t give up that business without a fight – Falsafi envisions ABC Imaging offering those monitors themselves.
A non-traditional area that ABC Imaging is seeing growth in is 3D printing. The company was an early adopter – they have offered the service for the past decade – and recently hired industry veteran Phil Magenheim to run the 3D business.
“For the first 10 years customers didn’t really embrace the 3D printing, but for the past year or two interest has increased.” Falsafi says. “I think the future is really bright.”
Falsafi says that when materials for 3D printing improve, the business of manufacturing items, rather than just prototypes, should become a reality. In the meantime, though, creating models for AEC clients still comprises 70-80 percent of the firm’s 3D output. “We’re just beginning to explore other areas,” he says.
Leveling the Playing Field
All of that growth and diversification means ABC Imaging is one of the largest reprographics firms in the country, and that means it faces competition in many markets. Falsafi hopes to more effectively compete by persuading other reprographics firms to tap into his strengths and form a network of sorts.
Falsafi says the plan, which will not be ready for implementation until this summer, is to offer his proprietary software to other firms. The other firms can choose the level of involvement – they can just use the software to integrate their own business and otherwise remain entirely separated, or they can incorporate the ABC Imaging brand along with the software and have ABC handle billing, payroll, and other administrative services.
ABC Imaging would earn revenue by providing the software and services, of course, but Falsafi also sees the plan as a way to create a larger overall footprint.
“We will then be a name to reckon with,” he says. Falsafi asks that interested reprographers stay tuned for more information this spring.
Spreading the ABC Imaging software and methods is not only good for business, but it also suits Falsafi’s desire to help the reprographics industry, he says. “I think it’s time to give back to the community. The other firms will make us stronger, and we will make them stronger.”