BIG DEMAND FOR ARCHIVE SCANNING

One Million scans achieved in record time!

Our Repropoint branch in Portsmouth acts as the scanning hub for our organisation and they were over the moon to learn that they had just completed their one-millionth drawing scan!

Our scanning project started nearly five years ago and that means that on average, we have completed 200,000 scans a year, or nearly 800 per working day since – good going in anyone’s language!

Tens of thousands of that 1m + scans have been completed by us for just one customer, Broadway Malyan – the international architectural practice. Many of our architectural, engineering and construction customers are waking up to the numerous advantages offered by the mass scanning of their drawing archive; and it’s not just the potential cost-saving of off-site storage that is attracting companies to this. For instance, the following article appeared in ‘Repro Report’ – the news magazine of the International Reprographics Association.

“When the levees around New Orleans gave way during Hurricane Katrina last summer, thousands of businesses saw their assets sink into the muck. Architects and engineers, many of whom assumed they would be helping rebuild the city, thought their drawings were lost forever. Customers of Ridgway’s however, were in for a pleasant surprise. The company had moved digital files of its clients’ work to a Ridgway’s location in Houston. With a few clicks of the mouse, the Ridgway’s in Baton Rouge- which had survived the storm – was able to access those fi les and get them into customers’ hands.

“Our customers were literally in a crisis position,” says Jerry Zulli, Vice President of Ridgway’s Southeast Division. “They were up against tight constraints to begin the rebuilding process and needed their print jobs completed as soon as possible.”

“Our job was to provide our municipal customers with the tools they needed to get their jobs done,” Zulli says. “We’re proud to have helped facilitate the process of rebuilding and restoring a great city.” So, whilst we don’t expect too many ‘Katrina’ style hurricanes in southern Britain on a regular basis, nonetheless, the risk of losing a drawing archive to flood or fire remains a real one.

Mike Cox, the Building Services Manager for Broadway Malyan, headed up their scanning project which got under way some eighteen months ago. The advantages of devoting some time, effort and cost to such a project, far outweighed the downside, as far as Mike was concerned. “For a start, whilst I won’t tell you how much we saved in off-site storage costs – believe me, it was considerable.”

Cost savings and greater effi ciency Mike goes on, “In line with standard practice, we have to offer our clients a twelve year maintained archive service. Now, along with our partners at Repropoint, we can store up to 2,500 drawings on one CD. We retain a back-up CD and Repropoint hold a further copy in their secure vault. That’s peace of mind!”

On top of this, all drawings can be quickly and easily accessed. Copies can be printed off for client amendments or alterations and then re-stored with great effi ciency.