5th Annual Frame Shop Technology Poll - Nov 2007

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Mike Labbe

Mike Labbe

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5th ANNUAL GRUMBLE TECHNOLOGY POLL & DISCUSSION - NOVEMBER 2007

A survey that compares how we've applied technologysuch as matcutters/cmcs, pricing/POS systems, visualization, internet access, websites, etc A brief comparison of backup procedures and computer security.

Closed - thank you for participating
techsurvey.gif

One question asks how many UNIQUE VISITORS your website had for October 2007. If you track such things, it will be useful to have this info in advance.

It will be interesting to compare the results of the past 5 years.
Your input and discussion are greatly appreciated!

RESULTS from previous surveys: LINK TO RESULTS

-If a vendor mass emails customers encouraging them to participate, their product will be disqualified
-One entry per shop or IP permitted
-This survey is intended for framers.
-Your poll selections are anonymous, although discussion is public and encouraged.
-The results represent only a small sample of the industry, and should NOT be used as a planning tool or business plan.
-This survey is purely for entertainment and to stimulate discussion about important issues.
 
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What is "digital saw guide technology" - simply a digital readout, or actual control of the stops?
 
What is 'X10'?

We used a visualization program when they first came out. It was frustratingly slow. Even more frustrating was the time it took to complete sales because customers want to see more examples. It is a busy shop and there is no way to give that much time to each customer. We get customers standing in line, how do others with visualization programs handle situations like that? More than one station?
 
jframe said:
What is 'X10'?
Click to expand...

X10 sends commands (over the electrical wiring or wirelessly) to remotely turn devices on or off. In its simplest form, it has boxes that look like lamp timers. They plug into the wall, and a device plugs into the box. (there are also light switches with this built in) Then you can have a controller that lets you manually turn things on and off, or with a built in scheduler/timer.
lm465setup_step2.gif

In our shop, we heavily use X10. It automatically turns on/off the perimeter lighting around the building, the store roof signs, the open sign, the Framevue camera, pc monitors, store music amplifier, store lighting, display case and track lighting, cctv screen, etc. It also kills power to fitting table, drymount press and compressor when we are closed. (Just in case we forget to turn everything off) It's fairly inexpensive (about $10 for each device) and we're controlling it from a small USB connected device to the pc. (The pc is only used to program the schedule, then it takes over from there and can be disconnected.

It knows exactly what minute sunrise and sunset are, and adjusts the on time daily to compensate (for signs, etc).

www.smarthome.com
www.x10.com

Thanks for participating!
Mike
 
jframe said:
What is 'X10'?

We used a visualization program when they first came out. It was frustratingly slow. Even more frustrating was the time it took to complete sales because customers want to see more examples. It is a busy shop and there is no way to give that much time to each customer. We get customers standing in line, how do others with visualization programs handle situations like that? More than one station?
Click to expand...

I have found it useful for corporate quotes and quick photo projects in the shop, but on busy days we can;t offer it because there is just no room. We try to use it as much as possible and would use it more if the color were better. That is our main issue right now. We have a beta test version of the new IF software but I am told we are still crashing. My managers are doing the evaluation and passing the feedback to Wizard.
 
Hey Mike,

I notice that you’ve posted this poll on the “Framers Forum (UK)” and the PFM site.

Can I vote again, or is that cheating?

(I really love these polls!)
 
While some other forums and magazine blogs were invited to participate, it's "home" is right here on the grumble.

Nah it'll still know, regardless of how you get to the poll. The answers are being collected by a third party, as we did last year. The company actually conducting the poll is in the UK, and they have anti cheating technology to eliminate multiple votes from the same pc (via a cookie) or ip/router (via IP). Only they know the ip's, but at the end they'll give me the totals for each question and answer. (sans the ip's that identify the voters)

Then I get to compile it all into the format we have used for the past 5 years. This is my favorite one, being a computer geek and all :) Some of the same alarming results come back every year (unsecured wireless networks, no backups, etc); but it improves just a bit each year. If nothing else, it brings awareness to these topics and gets folks thinkin!

Mike
 
David N Waldmann said:
What is "digital saw guide technology" - simply a digital readout, or actual control of the stops?
Click to expand...

I would say controlling the stops.. most of the production saw guides I've seen have a barcode scanner that sets the cut length for the current profile and frame dimension (as you probably already know being in that business.. :) )
 
mike, x10 ?----

if you use it on your drymount press it handles 220v, yes? I ask this as your pic shows 'normal' 110 outlet.. how does the system 'know' the discrete addresses of all your seperate devices?
 
Our Seal 500t drymount press is 110v. X10 has 220v devices as well. There are probably 30-40 different types of devices that work with that system.

Each controller has 2 settings. A letter code and a number code. example:

A 1
A 2
B 10
C 4
etc

Each one can be set with a unique ID so it can be addressed individually, or you can even set multiple devices with the same ID; so they reply at the same time.

This is just one example of automation. There are other systems out there, similar to this one.

There is also a downside to this stuff, and it may not be for everyone. The remote commands are usually transmitted through your electric wiring, at a special frequency. In some cases, it can only communicate with half of your electrical panel. (every other breaker) The reason:: Two 110v transformer legs feed into your panel from the pole, to make the 220v. Sometimes the signals wont jump from one line to the other. In this case, an inexpensive device is needed to re-transmit the signals to the other side. It's a box that plugs into a 220v socket.

Mike
 
Just a reminder:

This is the final day to tell us about how your shop has applied technology. If you have not participated, please click the link at the top of this thread.

The 5th annual frame shop technology survey results will be compiled and posted Saturday.

As always, thanks for participating. Discussion welcomed.

Mike
unclesam2b.gif
 
OK Mike, Where are the results?

Dave
 
It takes a few hours to crunch the numbers, and it has been delayed a bit - because we have had a busy morning at the shop. We also did a large software upgrade today, and i've been distracted a bit by that :)

159 folks participated this time.

Mike
 
Do the results include geographic location? It'd be interesting to know how popularity skews across different continents..
 
It doesn't, unfortunately. Based on the products chosen, I suspect a very large portion of the participants are USA based.

We don't collect any personally identifiable info about the participants. The company hired to conduct the survey has the IP addresses, for anti cheating purposes, but they don't share them with us.

I'm still working on the numbers, between customers. I posted about half of them a few mins ago. I'll finish the rest tonight from home.

Have a great weekend all
Mike
 
The results are in and have been compiled:
http://www.custompictureframing.com/poll_results.htm

Feel free to comment or discuss.

Some things I found interesting: (A taste of this year's results)

-I think it's great that wireless encryption went from 56% in the past to 90% this year. It should be 100%, but we're heading in a better direction :)

-96% of us have Internet @ work.
(61% DSL, 24% cable, 9% wireless, 5% dialup, 1% FIOS)

-67% of those surveyed have a CMC

-68% of those surveyed use a commercial POS system
(15% use charts or books, 9% use a spreadsheet, 5% use a db app)

-44% of those surveyed use a visualization system
(33% considering one, 23% not considering)

-59% of folks with manual cutters use tabletop units, 18% wall mounted, 6% hand held

-Only 42% do daily backups, and only 9% have offsite backups!
(37% use flash drives, 20% CDR, 16% ext HD, 10% another pc, 6% remote, 4% zip, 4% Inet, 1% floppy)

-74% of those surveyed have a website for their shop. Rated 35% effective.

-56% of us created our own sites

-22% have a coupon/promo on their website

-Only 80% have a/v protection

-96% use Windows PCs, 13% use Macs, 1% Linux. (some have a mix)
 
I found it interesting that while Lifesaver had the largest usage as POS (probably a result of Lifesavers offer for the past couple years), visualization software was dominated by IF. That's probably the result of the switch from PIF to Framevue - at least that's what I guess.
 
At least a couple folks use Linux. In fact, this forum is hosted on a Linux machine which is in a frame shop :)
 
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