And the winner is...ARC (American Reprographics Co.) - TA DAA!

In the spirit of the Golden Globe nomination announcements and because this the time of year when other companies, websites and organizations are compiling their own Best of 2010 we thought we would let you know that ARC BERTL (Business Equipment, Research & Test Laboratories) has won the best AEC project management and collaboration tool for 2010. This product has only been out for a few months now and it is quickly gaining traction in this community as the Go To solution for our industry.
Imagine being able to upload, share and mark up project documents in one location from anywhere you have an internet connection. Using PW Collaborate eliminates the need to use FTP, Email, 3 party Take Off tools separately by consolidating all of these tools to a cloud based system for everyone on your team to work together in real time.
To view all of the winners of this years BERTL Awards  - Click Here
To learn more about PlanWell Collaborate  - Click Here or contact Aaron Stock at (206) 437-9702

01-01-2011

You’re going to notice a new name and logo on our shops, business cards, and important documents in the near future. On January 1, 2011, Reprographics Northwest is going to adopt its parent company’s name, ARC.

As you may know, we merged with ARC in years ago to offer more service, products, and technology to our customers, and create greater opportunities for our local employees.

Since that time, we’ve added tremendous capacity in to our facilities. We’ve introduced innovative technology solutions to help you manage your projects and the way you manage your documents. We’ve also exchanged best practices and experience with hundreds of our sister locations throughout North America and around the world.

Not only have we brought the world to the Puget Sound Region, but we’ve also brought Puget Sound Region to the world!

While being a part of ARC is important to us, we have always had tremendous pride in serving this community. That won’t change. Our people and their commitment to you won’t change, either.

Please look for our new logo on important documents and presentations in the near future. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us. We’ll make sure to check in with your accounting department as well to ensure a smooth administrative transition. Our Tax ID will not change yet but we will let you know if and when any of these changes take place.

We’re excited to bring the name ARC to our region and we hope you will be, too.

Season for Giving

Susan Nathan (Seattle area Sales Rep) has organized a toy and clothing drive that will benefit Wellspring Family Services - http://wellspringfs.org
Wellspring is a non-profit organization that has been helping families in the Seattle and Puget Sound region since 1892.The need is always great for an organization like this but because of the recent economy and the holidays only two weeks away we are making the call out to our readers to ask for any of the following items that you may be able to donate to help Wellspring this holiday season. We can pick up your donations with your print orders or you can drop off your gift at any of our four locations (Seattle International Dist,  Kent,  Tacoma  or  Bellevue).

Here is a list of the suggested items:

•  Warm Jackets
•  Gloves & Mittens
•  New Socks & Underwear
•  New Unwrapped Toys
•  Diapers & Formula (Similac)
•  Shoes & Boots
•  Clothing (especially sizes 4T to Teen)
•  Pay-as-you-Go Cell Phones
•  Multicultural Books & Games

Thank you and have a wonderful holiday season,
RNW

Turkey Winners

Here is a list and some photos of this years winners -

Eastside: 

Sequoyah (Jeremy)

WHH (Chris)

Cascadia (B. Yakingtor)

City of Bellevue (Charlee H.)

Piedmont (Leo)

Cogdell Spenser Urdman (Kathy)

Heartland (Glenn)

Bazan (Spenser)

Novinium (Don)

Freiheit (Thomas)

Lydig (Rhonda)

Tacoma:

BLRB (Shane)

McGrenahan (Alisha)

Absher (Bill C)

Helix (Gina O)

Belay ( Michael D.)

Green Gassaway (Barb)

Parametrix 

Boe Arch (David)

Campbell Cox (Stephanie)

Special:

MulvannyG2 (?)   

BCRA (Maria)

Qwest Field (Daryl)

GGLO (Stacia)

Core Design (Jim O)

Seattle:

URS (Ted)

LMN (Chris G)

Sclater (Anita)

Notkin (Staci)

Walsh (Sophia)

Graham (Webb M)

Turner (Sandy)

AKS ( Joshua)

Lance Mueller (Patrick)

Vulcan (Lee Fulford)

Twist (Mark H.)

ZGF (Michelle Mills)

Weber Thompson (Monica)

BTA (Ben)

Vulcan (Lee Fulford)

RNW goes to the birds for the 35th time

 It is the last Friday before Thanksgiving which means the shop locations are a buzz with employees preparing baskets, and sales staff loading their cars to deliver turkeys to our holiday drawing winners.

Each year RNW gives away one turkey for every year that we have been in business, this year we turn 35 which means we are delivering thirty five (20lb) birds to thirty five lucky customers that will not have to purchase their holiday bird this year. So don't be alarmed or call the police if you a pilgrim or a turkey walk into your office today carrying your prize bird it is only Ann Eng (turkey) our Seattle Production Manager or Valerie Laird (pilgrim) our Director of Sales I have posted some pictures bellow so you will recognize them if they come into your office today.  

We are so grateful that we have been able to serve the Puget Sound Region for 35 years now and even though next year you will know us as ARC the only thing that will change is our name. 

Congratulations to our all of the winners of this years drawing and everyone have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.

35th Anual Turkey Giveaway

Once again Reprographics Northwest is celebrating our many years of service to our customers with a Thanksgiving Turkey giveaway!
In the Reprographics Northwest tradition we are giving away a plump thanksgiving turkey for each year we have been in business. 35 winners will be drawn to win this year on November 17th.
Please complete and submit the entry form online by clicking the link bellow. Turkeys will be delivered on Friday Nov. 19th.

35th RNW Turkey Giveaway Entry Form
(enter as often as you like)

Want to learn more about PlanWell Collaborate?

 Here is a video that explains what PlanWell Collaborate is designed to do - Contact us if you have any questions or would like a demo.

On Special - Color prints on All Weather Paper

Now that we have entered the fall / rainy season here in the northwest you may want to consider having your color prints made on our Rite in the Rain all weather writing paper using our Oce Colorwave machine. This machine uses a wax based ink which will not smear or dissolve when it gets wet. This combination of wax ink and all weather paper makes for a beautiful and very durable print.  From now until November 30th we are offering this print combination for $1.00 per square foot! Thats right a dollar per square foot! 

To take advantage of this special offer you can mention this post when placing your order or print out a copy of our Google Coupon and while you are there feel free to write a nice review about why you love Reprographics Northwest.

PlanWell Collaborate Launch Date 09-15-10

Today American Reprographics launched its cloud based document management tool called PlanWell Collaborate.

PlanWell Collaborate features include:

Outlook Integration: Work entirely inside Outlook, reducing training and ensuring faster project starts
Project Dashboard: Quickly view project status, tasks, documents and more from a single screen
Team Networking and Notifications: Easily capture, view and catalog team communication in real time for better and faster communication
Direct Publish: Upload files and large documents quickly and easily with tracking and automatic updates  to project participants
File Viewer: Quickly view and markup any file without software; revision tracking is automatic
Check In/Out and Change Control: Track and control access to documents
Project Calendar and Tasks: Get summary or detailed information from real-time calendars on deadlines, milestones and tasks
Project Images: Track site progress and activity with project images for team members, stakeholders and clients

General Availability:
PlanWell Collaborate is available as software-as-a-service (Saas) for individuals, project teams and business enterprises of all sizes. Standard pricing is set at $25/seat per month.
For more information or a 30-day free trial, visit http://www.planwellcollaborate.com/, or call Aaron Storck at (206) 624-2040.


Email Scam - Selling URLs or Addtional Web Address of Your Domain Name

Be aware that there is an email scam that is targeted to people that own or run websites. The email warns you that an overseas company is interested in buying all of the available extensions of your domain name (.net, .ca, .eu, .asia ETC) and to protect yourself and your company you can buy these domain names through their company and overly inflated prices.  Although it is not a bad idea to protect your brand by securing these domain names you can purchase them for a much lower price by buying them from the same company that you purchased your original URL from in the first place.
Here is a copy of the email we received -
____________________________________________________________________________

Dear Manager,


We are a professional intellectual property rights consultant organization, mainly deal with the global domain name registration and internet intellectual property rights protection.

On August 31, 2010, we formally received an application from Hongbao (Hong Kong) Investment Co., Ltd,

They want to apply for registering the following domain names and Internet keyword:


Domain Name :


repronw.asia


repronw.cn


repronw.com.cn


repronw.hk


repronw.com.hk


repronw.eu


repronw.de


repronw.ru


Internet Keyword :repronw
During our preliminary investigation, we found that these domain names' keyword is fully identical with your trademark. Therefore, we need to confirm with you, whether you consigned Hongbao (Hong Kong) Investment Co., Ltd to register these domain names with us or not? Or, is Hongbao (Hong Kong) Investment Co., Ltd your business partner or distributor? If you have no relationship with this company, we assume that they have other purposes to obtain these domain names.

Currently, we have already suspended this company's application temporarily due to the seriousness of this issue. In order to avoid the vicious domain name grabbing, please let the relevant person make a confirmation with me via telephone or email as soon as possible. Thank you for your support to our work!

Best Regards

Edward Fan


Auditing Engineer


Asia Domain Name Registration Limited


http://www.asiadnr.net


4A, Units 20/F, Far East Consortium Bldg.


121 Des Voeux Road, Central, HongKong


Tel:+852-6517 0670


Fax:+852-3069 6940


Email:edward@login-idc.hk

NW Contractors Network Office gets a face lift

 

I have been working out of this office for about 3 months now and I was not able to see out into our lobby because the window had been boarded up with a piece of foamcore that had been mounted to the window with an industrial strength adhesive.  We nearly broke the window removing it and the solvents made our heads swim a bit but thanks to Sean Eaton and Patrick Kay the new window cling is installed and I think it looks great. The best part is it does not feel like I work out of a supply closet anymore, I can see out the largest window in my office.  NW Contractors Network is cruising right along and now that I have some official signage I need to make it work.  If you are a contractor looking for bid projects, stop in and see me in the Seattle location and I will show you what we have been working on.

 The website is: http://www.nwcontractorsnetwork.com

TA-DAAAA!

PlanWell Moves to a Subscription Model on August 1st 2010

This change will not affect users of EWO or Public Planrooms, these services will continue to be free.
________________________________________________________________________
As our customers continue to adopt our technology solutions to improve efficiency, expanding our infrastructure in our technology centers has become a necessity. And this expansion has caused additional operating costs. This affects you because in the past the print orders you have placed with us on the PlanWell technology platform has completely subsidized the expense of our technology development and support capabilities. This model is no longer viable.

Effective Sunday, August 01, 2010 you will be required to purchase individual seat licenses for Users of PlanWell.

Seat Licenses will cost:
          $10 per month for a PlanWell Standard User ($120 per year)
or
          $20 per month for a PlanWell BidCaster User ($240 per year)

Data Storage will cost:

$20 per month for users requiring data storage on the PlanWell network. ($240 per year)

Even if you use PlanWell via telephone orders, it is imperative that you sign up for an account so you can access your company projects stored in PlanWell.

These new monthly usage charges can be invoiced for project reimbursement. Please contact Customer Support to assist you with specific invoicing needs.

In the next few months you'll see exciting new additions to PlanWell that will further enhance and support your digital workflow. For more information on PlanWell logins, please go to www.repronw.com  

Again This change will not affect users of EWO or Public Planrooms these services will continue to be free.

PlanWell on the iPad?

April 3rd was a big day for gadget fans and geeks alike as they waited for the release of the first iPads from Apple. I have been exploring the advantages and disadvantages of working in the cloud the idea of a portable device that accesses my content from anywhere is a really great concept but there are plenty of naysayers that think the device is nothing more than a big iPhone.


I am dating myself here but when people were first introduced to the idea of a cell phone there were naysayers as well. I remember my parents saying "if I need to make a call I can just pull over and use the pay phone, why would I need a phone to carry around with me?" When is the last time any of you used a pay phone?

The iPad is betting that the data you currently store on a laptop or desktop machine will eventually be moved or copied to a web server or cloud. This way you do not have to be in front of or connected to the machine you store your information on you can simply access the server that it resides on and utilize the data from anywhere you can get an internet or cellular signal.

This is where PlanWell is going to be perfectly positioned to take advantage of this type of a technology on the iPad platform. The PlanWell website contains a user interface that makes it easy to navigate, view, and order prints or download files. For contractors in the field having a device like this is the equivalent of being able to carry around every document that has ever been created for the project that you are constructing; and with a few clicks or gestures you have the answers you need.

I am doing some tests on the platform now and will post again with my results.

Happy Computing,

Learn about iShipDocs

UPDATE: We have just added some addtional locations where we can have your documents printed and deliverd faster and more affordably than the traditional print and ship method. Watch the video bellow to learn more.

1. Indonesia – Jakarta, Tangerang



2. Bahrain – Manama


3. Qatar – Doha


4. Turkey – Istanbul


5. Taiwan – Taipei


6. Germany – Berlin, Dresden, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Jena, Koln, Munnheim, Munchen, Rostock, Stuttgart, Weimar, Wermelskirchen

A note to all drivers.......

Bioprinting

I had just heard a piece on this the other day on NPR about using printing technology to map and create organs and other replacement parts for the human body. This means that we could have a digital blueprint of our vital organs on file and they could simply create an exact duplicate of the replacement part before they begin surgery.

Click Here to see a video of the process as it is today.

PlanWell Will be unavailable...

Starting Friday – 02/26/10 at 7:00pm PST - Until - Sunday – 02/28/10at 10:00am PST.
Customers that use PlanWell to place orders will be unable to do so during these hours.

I'M ON A BOAT!!!

So this rather handsome and rugged truck stopped by the Seattle branch today for a last bon' voyage before being driven down to the Seattle docks to be loaded onto a barge heading for Alaska!

So why would we need to send a giant truck with RNW branding all over it to to Alaska you ask?

Because we opening a brand new location in Anchorage, AK!

This is the Sasquatch of the RNW fleet - a 2007 Dodge Ram 4x4 and it comes fully equipped with a giant V8 engine, oversize wheel, giant studded tires, a search light and a signature RNW vehicle wrap. This truck will ensure that whatever conditions we face making deliveries in and around our 49th state we are prepared to deliver. Here is the address of our new location -

2739 C Street MAP

Anchorage, AK 99503

Contact: Wayne Cox

Phone: 907-720-5800

Fax: 907-720-5801

BTW - Wayne said that he saw a moose walk through our parking lot the other day - Awesome.

Love is in the Air......

Here is a photo of Ann Eng our production manager being serenaded by 4 sweet gentlemen from a singing telegram group. The only way this could be more embarrassing for her is if some jerk put it on the company blog. Sorry Ann this was too sweet not to share.

Happy Valentines Day Everyone.

Print Service in Sweden

ARC has now expanded its reach deeper into Europe by adding another print provider in Sweden called Arkitektkopia. This firm is based in Stockholm but has 28 other locations throughout Sweden.

By using our iShipDocs delivery method we can quickly have your projects delivered anywhere in the world while saving you money in shipping costs. iShipDocs is priced to compete with the typical print and ship method; you can also reduce your carbon footprint because we do not need to use cars and planes to have your printed materials delivered.

Why spend your time selecting an out of area print shop, setting up an account and hoping that they take care of your order correctly. Our network of shops must adhere to the print standards you have come to expect from us along with real time tracking. With iShipDocs you submit one order and pay one invoice all you have to do is submit a EWO order to us with the address you want it sent to and we do the rest.