MetaPrint Abacus is a Print Cost Recovery Software that Provides Improved Tracking, Ease of Use and Reporting
The new enhancements include integration with imaging equipment fom industry-leading manufacturers.
American Reprographics Company (NYSE: ARP), the nation's leading provider of reprographics services and technology, today announced a new release of MetaPrint Abacus(TM), its print tracking and cost recovery software. The new release enhances user experience through user interface improvements, upgrades to administrative tools, and close integration with imaging equipment from industry leading manufacturers Oce, KIP and others. MetaPrint Abacus has been in use since 2007, and has an installed base of more than 20,000 users in hundreds of locations around the United States, Canada and China.
"The upgrade is seamless from a user perspective," said Jon Styrlund, ARC's Product Manager for Abacus. "Most of the enhancements in Abacus improve specific functions without disturbing existing usage patterns or the workflow of the product. Instead of having to navigate screens or learn new procedures, our customers will notice how much easier it is to set preferences, configure devices, or edit usage data."
By way of an example, Mr. Styrlund noted that several of ARC's larger customers manage thousands of projects around the world at any given time and print hundreds of thousands of documents during a month. Users editing multiple print records can now utilize improved grouping, project searching and updating tools within the Abacus Manager, saving time and reducing costly data entry errors. "These are the kinds of enhancements that add value not only to the product, but also improve our customer's project management processes," said Mr. Styrlund.
MetaPrint Abacus has also been integrated into several of the industry's most advanced reprographic imaging equipment from Oce and KIP. Using an on-board touch screen, users can track walk-up printing and copying done on Oce Plotwave 300's, TDS450 & TDS700's, and the full line of KIP IPS devices including the KIP3100 multi-function system, KIP5000, KIP7000 and KIP9000 wide-format digital systems. Billing data from the on-board interface is automatically integrated with tracking information from other devices on the user's network. Consolidated accounting reports can be generated quickly and easily.
Additional enhancements include:
Compatibility with a wide variety of operating systems including the new Windows 7(R), as well Windows XP(R), Windows Vista(R), Windows 2008 Server(R) and Apple's Macintosh OS X.
Improved project search, data editing and reporting capabilities
Convenience and accessibility improvements to allow MetaPrint Abacus to work in concert with most network security protocols
Improved compatibility with Bentley ProjectWise InterPlot(TM), Xerox Fiery(TM), HP DesignJet printers, Canon MEAP systems, and Ricoh ESA
For more information about MetaPrint Abacus and other applications from ARC, contact Jonathan Styrlund at 925-949-5100, Niro Perera at 925-658-0217 or visit www.abacuspcr.com.
About MetaPrint Abacus(TM)
MetaPrint Abacus keeps track of printing activity on a network. When a computer user sends a file to a printer on their own network, or to a printer on a WAN, MetaPrint Abacus queries the user via a simple pop-up window to assign a billing or job code to the print job. The codes are stored and used to enhance cost recovery when billing jobs, and can also be used to determine the quantity and type of jobs being printed, the frequency of use and type of printers utilized by a workforce, gauge material consumption, and help manage inventory for print supplies
Reprographics Northwest has been reconized with a 
If you are a contractor and you are searching online for your next project you may want to follow Reprographics Northwest on Twitter. In this current economy it is important to find every opportunity that is available to keep the work coming in.
The Reprographics Northwest website is being completely rebuilt; Most of our customers are aware that we update our website and post blog pieces every month but this change is being implemented at the ARC (American Reprographics Co.) corporate level and all 300+ ARC divisions are going through these website updates as I write this. The new website will contain much more information than the old site; the new site will contain the blog posts under the News tab, PlanWell EWO and Enterprise will still be available on the home page. If you are a customer that works with other ARC locations around the country or in other countries then you will notice that the other divisions are adopting a nearly identical website layout. The intent of this is simply ease of use to our customers; as ARC continues to expand its footprint into the global market place it is important that our customers are able to find what they need and place their orders correctly to any ARC location. The new RNW website is scheduled to go live on May 1st and we want to make sure that they transition goes as smoothly as possible. If you experience any problems or find that the new website is missing something that you need, feel free to contact our webmaster to have your issues addressed.
Reprographics Northwest has acquired another new tool for our growing sign and banner division. The Swiss made Zund Cutting system comes with a variety of different tool heads and inserts whih can be attached singularly, or in combination, for projects that require kiss-cutting/through-cutting, cutting/creasing/scoring, cutting/routing, and other functions. This devices can process materials such as vinyl, film, paper, carton, corrugated and foam boards, multi-layered materials (including some containing non-ferrous metals), and all types of hard and soft plastics, such as styrene, acrylics, polycarbonates, and more. Maximum substrate thickness is usually around 2 in. A vacuum system secures the material during cutting. Watch the video to see it in action. 
