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Print ArticleMinilab 2000
High Flying Think Tank To Orlando
Lots to Ponder on the Eve of PMA 2001
By Jerry Lansky
February 2001
In the old days, there were only two places I could go where I
was totally incommunicado. (Well, actually, there is a third, but
it's somewhat indelicate to talk about that in a family
publication.) No one could find me or call me or ask me or
anything. These moments of quiet, anonymous bliss would occur when
I was either in my car or in an airplane.
In the car I could listen to whatever radio station I wanted to,
drive faster than I should and even eat fries and a milkshake. No
one to bother me and my thoughts were my own. Some of my best ideas
were germinated in this environment.
Alas, the cell phone has now invaded the car and the options have
dwindled down to just one, the airplane.
Back 'then', we had stewardesses, not flight attendants. Drinks
were a buck, we got free macadamia nuts and a rack to hang our
coats. To say the meals and leg room were great, would be a lie,
but compared to today's offerings, they were great.
If nothing else, an airline trip remains the last bastion of
opportunity to dwell on one's thoughts in some solemnity - that is,
if you can ignore the knees of the passenger behind you as he tries
to impale your lumbar. And, yes, there is still the anonymity on an
airplane - unless you happen to be traveling to Orlando about
February 10, with half of the plane filled with your competitors -
friendly or unfriendly.
With that in mind, I contacted a number of minilab owners to find
out what their private thoughts might be as they speed along at
30,000 feet toward the sunny (???) and warm (???) environs of
Orlando. Needless to say, the subjects were varied and one even
confessed that his major thoughts would be devoted to how he can
find a buyer for his business. (So that you don't spend any time
trying to figure out which of the below lab owners told me that,
I'll tell you that I've not used his other quotes here.)
Pondering Digital
Was there a common thread that ran through the comments of the
various owners? Yes. I think Jack Baluski summed it up for many of
them when I asked what he'd be pondering on his plane trip and he
said, "Digital - end of conversation." Jack owns Dover One Hour in
Toms River, NJ, and has been doing the lab thing for 19 years. "I'm
still having fun."
Not that Jack is a newbie to digital. He already runs an Agfa
MSC-300 with DPU and Pixtasy and has three work stations, one of
them running in conjunction with his studio. That's pretty digital
already. "My next piece of equipment will be all digital," though
he's not sure if anybody has what he feels is his next level
system. Sounds like a good opportunity for the right salesman at
the show.
Others will also be focusing on digital. Sid Davidowitz, owner of
two successful Moto Photo labs in Northern New Jersey and a
consultant to Moto, said, "I'll be thinking about which digital I'm
going to buy." He specifically wants to see the Fuji Frontier 390
which is being introduced at the show. This is the third Frontier
in the Fuji family claiming a throughput of 2,300 4R's an hour.
Bring your checkbook, Sid. It has a list price of $210,000.
Sid feels strongly that to be competitive in the digital business
it will be necessary to be able to print from digital files onto
photo paper, at around 25-cents a square foot, not dye sub media at
$2.00 per sq/ft.
Brian Noble, Noble Industries, Hingham, Mass., successfully runs
five stores, two of them equipped with labs. On the matter of
digital minilabs, Brian said, "The equipment is so whiz-bang, but
so expensive." He already has two Agfa MSC300's, one of them
equipped with a digital processing unit so he's not a newcomer to
the digital business.
While he admits he's waiting for the Agfa D-lab.3, his special
concern about digital equipment is the generally lower production
rates. He said, "These digital units can do everything, but they
can't get everything done." Factored in his decision to go digital
will be a return-on-equity test.
Bernie Grossman, owner of Abbey's One Hour, Beachwood, Ohio, a
Cleveland suburb, said that at first he and his wife Lynn were not
going to attend the convention "but we didn't want to miss the
technological changes." He said, "We need a front seat to what's
going on."
Bernie operates a Noritsu 2301 that looks like it just came out of
the box. I know because I saw it. What will he be thinking about on
the plane: Trading in the 2301 for a Noritsu model 2611, a sort of
digital/optical hybrid. One of his goals at the convention is to
see how the software really works on the system. The lower payments
interest him as well. Don't crowd the guy, folks, "we're making no
decision at the show."
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