Plan & Print lays foundation for future with technology center

DeWITT — A technology center at Plan & Print Systems, Inc. is part of a blueprint the company is using to adapt to changing client demands.

The firm, which is headquartered in a 15,000-square-foot building at 6160 Eastern Ave. in DeWitt, is finishing work on the new technology center, which will help it show hardware and software to clients. The center will allow Plan & Print to keep up with clients who are increasingly interested in having their own printing equipment, according to the firm’s president and co-owner, John Lipari.

“Years ago we would just print piles of paper here on the floor and then distribute them,” he says. “Now what we’re doing is taking in the digital information, managing it, and we’re not only distributing it in print, but we’re distributing it digitally.”

Plan & Print provides reprographic services, such as reproducing plans for architects, engineers, contractors, and surveyors. In the last three years, its clients have become more interested in having access to their own large-format printers to produce copies in their offices or on jobsites, Lipari says.

Clients like the idea of reducing the amount of paper they use and store, he adds. And many cooled to the idea of shipping physical documents when gasoline prices spiked to about $4 per gallon earlier this year, he says.

Regardless of the reason for client interest, Plan & Print has stepped into the role of equipment dealer. It placed reprographic equipment on a client’s floor for the first time in 2003 and has been increasing rentals and sales ever since. A quarter of its business is now sales and service of wide-format reprographic hardware, Lipari says.

That’s where the new technology center comes into play, he continues. The 450-square-foot room will hold equipment from different manufacturers for clients to examine.

“We’re going to teach them how to use the software as well as the equipment,” Lipari says. “They can come in and try out the software, see the technology and how it’s going to fit into their office environment.”

Work started in May to transform a conference room into the technology center. The center is set to open in mid-July. DeWitt–based Oliva Cos. is performing renovations, which include new carpeting, windows, paint, and air conditioning. The work will cost just over $5,000 and Plan & Print will fund it from its cash flow, according to Lipari.

Plan & Print is not playing catch-up with new market trends, Lipari contends. The company is trying to be in front of them with new offerings such as iPlanTables — touch-screen workstations large enough to display wide-format blueprints without panning or scrolling.

iPlanTables currently run between $7,800 and $14,900, according to Lipari. Clients have shown interest but are hesitant to invest in the equipment because of its high price, he adds.

“They know that we’re out here with new technologies and new solutions,” he says. “Hopefully next year, the year after, if the price goes down, we’ll be ahead of the game.”

Plan & Print will also debut a new website in July. It will make it easier for customers to make purchases for their wide-format printing systems, Lipari contends. Plan & Print’s current website has that capability, but the new site will be more efficient and user friendly, he adds.

Plan & Print has produced about $3 million in annual revenue in each of the last three years, he says. He expects it to generate a similar total this year.

Lipari owns Plan & Print and its DeWitt building along with his brother, Frank Lipari, Jr., who is the firm’s vice president. The company employs 22 people, up from 21 in April. It hired a new graphic designer at the beginning of May.

Even as it steps up its technology offerings, Plan & Print is maintaining its expertise in paper copies, John Lipari says.

“For years people looked at us as a blueprint or a copy center,” he says. “Plan & Print has always separated ourselves by understanding the information that we copy.”