Picture It First!

Computerised Mount Cutters, Computers, other gadgetry.
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SquareFrames
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Joined: Mon 23 Feb, 2004 9:37 am
Location: Dromore, Co. Down, Northern Ireland
Organisation: Dromore Picture Framing / Down School of
Interests: Reading, relaxing, and funnily enough, its hard to stop thinking of framing
Location: Dromore, Northern Ireland
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Post by SquareFrames »

Hi Frameus,

The company 'Artpool' you refer to is also called Blink Red which I refrerred to in an earler posting for this thread, I think I even listed their website link! I was unaware of the cost per month, but you live and learn, and they use all Arqadia's mouldings and mountboards.

http://www.blinkred.com/gallery/static/home.asp

Last Thursady whilst over in London, I, along with a few others, were given a demonstration of a new pricng programme that will soon be on the market in the UK. Nothing spectacular, its as comparable as any on the market today, but the first one I have seen with 'Intercativity' Meaning that, as your price, you can see what the end product is looking like...very simple aspect!

What made this different was the fact that it has the ability to hold each and every moulding available on the market today, obviously you tailor it to suit yourself, and also you have the abilty to go to the company's website and download any suppliers price increases / decreases, etc., at the click of a button.

The only draw back I could forsee is this:.......if we use more than one supplier for moulding / mountboard, as most of us do, and say a customer wants a 2 inch Gilt mould, and you price as normal and then go interactive, how many 2 inch Gilts will we have on our system? How much longer do we spnd with a pontential customer for the same amout of money. Do we take a decision to show only one or two samples, or go through the whole 2 inch Gilt range? A small thing I know, but to some this is time that should be spent framing.

To make best use of this system you have to take a quick digital photo of the customers work, add it into the system and then start to mount and frame, this can also be saved in the customers personal file for future use and orders. When it comes to taking a digital photo of a childs school photograph, what about legal aspects of this in the UK? What about the moral aspects? But again not a huge hurdle to over come.

This syetem is not yet available in the UK, as no UK manufacturers orsuppliers are on board, but apparently this is changing as we speak, as the chap has appointments to see quite a few this week and last. Even the Users Manual wasnt of any use as its wasnt even in English, but again it was being translated as we spoke. Apparently if you were to put on all the major moulding / mountboard suppliers / manufacturers products, available in the UK, Hard Drive space taken up...approx 10-12MB, although by keeping customers photographic details, there comes a time when HD space would eventually run out.

Steven
Someone Once Said 'Knowledge Is Power'
Down School of Picture Framing http://www.downschoolofpictureframing.co.uk
Ireland's Only Accredited Training School
GCF Examination Centre
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More So
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Joined: Tue 26 Apr, 2005 11:29 am
Location: South

Post by More So »

What made this different was the fact that it has the ability to hold each and every moulding available on the market today, obviously you tailor it to suit yourself, and also you have the abilty to go to the company's website and download any suppliers price increases / decreases, etc., at the click of a button
.

Estlite has had thes ability for years.
You will never get the last word on a belligerent buffoon
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SquareFrames
Posts: 380
Joined: Mon 23 Feb, 2004 9:37 am
Location: Dromore, Co. Down, Northern Ireland
Organisation: Dromore Picture Framing / Down School of
Interests: Reading, relaxing, and funnily enough, its hard to stop thinking of framing
Location: Dromore, Northern Ireland
Contact:

Software

Post by SquareFrames »

Hi More So,

Not using Estlite in my workshop I was unaware of this aspect. Having said that, I do support John and Estlite through my Framing School and have a basic set up on my computer to show the students, but thats as far as it goes........sorry for any misguided optimism!!!

Steven
Someone Once Said 'Knowledge Is Power'
Down School of Picture Framing http://www.downschoolofpictureframing.co.uk
Ireland's Only Accredited Training School
GCF Examination Centre
Accredited Valiani Demonstration / Training Centre
Framing Norah
Posts: 145
Joined: Fri 18 Feb, 2005 4:03 pm

Post by Framing Norah »

SquareFrames wrote:Last Thursady whilst over in London, I, along with a few others, were given a demonstration of a new pricng programme that will soon be on the market in the UK. Nothing spectacular, its as comparable as any on the market today, but the first one I have seen with 'Intercativity' Meaning that, as your price, you can see what the end product is looking like...very simple aspect!
Sounds a bit like a system (Danish?) that I've heard about that's trying to gain a foothold in Europe, however at €38.00 a month I can't see it being a massive hit, no matter how good it is.
FN
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SquareFrames
Posts: 380
Joined: Mon 23 Feb, 2004 9:37 am
Location: Dromore, Co. Down, Northern Ireland
Organisation: Dromore Picture Framing / Down School of
Interests: Reading, relaxing, and funnily enough, its hard to stop thinking of framing
Location: Dromore, Northern Ireland
Contact:

Software

Post by SquareFrames »

Hi FN,

Havent heard of the Danish system, this works on the same principle, you lease it, not buy it, the uploads / downloads are free, etc. Like I said, the only part I personally liked was the interactivity section, but still had my reservations about that, i.e. offering a client far too much choice, spending extra time with a client for the same original quote, etc.

On a more personal note, I think there are some framers who will like this system and have it installed, basically as a show piece for their POS counter or those fortunate to have more than one POS position. I heard the other day of a framer with 6 POS positions, a large establishment by all accounts, I have 2 positions but am striving to cut that back to one to gain better control and professionalism in my workshop, no other reason.

Having said that, fair play to those that have more than one POS position, it looks great and I would think so impressive and professional when you can actually show a customer what their piece is going to look like before they have left the shop. I also think that if that is the case, someone may need to be employed specifically for this job, to be taking orders and having the time to show clients through every differing moulding / mountboard scenario, I know I would not have the time to do this with every customer.

Whether this system or any similar system catches on or not in the UK, is up to individual framers and to what ends it meets for them, and to what any company offers.....but progress has to be made, and at what cost? Where do we as high street framers draw the ever thinning line of either spending more time framing, or more time designing, there has to be a happy medium. I for one, as I am sure most are reasonably happy with the customer system / set up we have at present, of course there are times where we need to spend extra time with customers and are quite happy and willing to do so, there are also times where we feel we have spent far too much time with customers only to end up with what they wanted in the first place, that is down to us as individuals.
I am happy with my pricing programme at the present, its not to say I wont be this time next year, or in 2 years, I may feel the need to progress into this type of system, I may not, I have no idea whats around the corner, we may basically need this type of system keep up with consumer demands, who knows?

Steven
Someone Once Said 'Knowledge Is Power'
Down School of Picture Framing http://www.downschoolofpictureframing.co.uk
Ireland's Only Accredited Training School
GCF Examination Centre
Accredited Valiani Demonstration / Training Centre
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