The cubicles in G.R.I.M.M. Copy Plot & Digiprint in Berlin offer customers a comfortable, private workspace.
If you have self-service workstations in your shop, you’ll recognize the situation Elke Mann saw in her reprographics shops in Berlin. Customers crowded around insufficient counters, hovered over each other’s projects, and grew tired waiting their turn.
So when Mann and her co-CEO Mathias Goldstein expanded one of the four locations of the business, G.R.I.M.M. Copy Plot & Digiprint, they used some of the new space to remedy that situation: They created eight private, comfortable workstations for their customers, many of whom are students at a nearby technical school.
Here is a description of the new innovation in Mann’s own words, from an article in the magazine of motio, the German reprographics association:
"We are all familiar with the normal copy shop. The machines stand side by side, and the customers barely have room to lay down their documents. Copying confidential documents is nearly impossible without your neighbor glancing over and seeing them. Contracts, financial documents, and legal documents lie there in clear view of the person at the next machine. Customers need to stand, and there are limited computer workstations.
"In our new concept we’ve changed this situation. We’ve oriented the space in a cubicle system, like you find in an office. Each workspace forms a small cubicle, surrounded by a wall. Each cubicle is a self-contained workstation, with a large table, a computer workstation (naturally with an Internet connection), and a copier/printer that outputs in color and black-and-white.
"So our customers can work undisturbed. They don’t need to stand, they have enough space, and they can spread out confidential documents.
"Our first customer survey about our concept has shown that this new type of copyshop will be widely accepted."
Are you doing something like this in your shop? Or do you have another innovative idea you'd like to share with other IRgA members? Please write about it in the comments space below.