Issue
1
The
New & Improved Cabinet Range now available from The
Microfilm Shop
The
Microfilm Shop - 1996 Model
AIIM
1996 ...Now The Rain Has Gone
Personality
Profile - Paul Negus, The Microfilm Shop, UK
The New & Improved Cabinet Range now available from The Microfilm Shop
Modular Organisation Unit
For many years The Microfilm Shop has sold the very successful MO1 unit. It therefore gives us great pleasure to introduce a new and improved version. This new MO unit, although similar to the original in design, has undergone much research and development thus offering many new features and fittings. The MO unit itself, is a high capacity filing and storage drawer designed to hold all types of micrographic media, diskettes, data cartridges, CD-ROM's, video tapes etc. By simply adding, subtracting, dividing or multiplying the units, you can create your own MO system to cope with department expansion, contraction, division or amalgamation. Units can be free standing, on castors or placed under desks and can be fitted together securely, one on top of the other or side by side thus giving you ultimate flexibility.
Each unit is constructed from a high impact, antistatic polystyrene, thus giving great strength, low weight, elegant appearance and easy closing.
The drawer is fully extendible allowing ease of access to all media and is available with a wider variety of internal fitments which enable it to be adapted to suit changing needs
at different times. There is a also a new large holder at the front of the drawer for indexing and identification which helps to give the unit its new, modern appearance.
The outer dimensions of each unit are 178mm (7") high x 386mm (15") wide x 400mm (153/4") deep. The weight of an empty unit is 2.8kg (6.17lb) and is two tone grey or black & grey in colour.
Aperture Card Tray
This removable metal tray can hold approx. 2,500 aperture cards and will fit into either the ARCHIVE10 or the TMS Range of cabinets (2 per drawer).
Each tray weighs approx. 800g (1.76lb) and has a handle at each end which allows it to be carried around with ease. Positioned on the base are two rubber strips which protect the tray from scratching work surfaces etc. The overall dimensions of 225mm (83/4 ) x 550mm (211/2") give approx. 520mm (201/2") of storage space. Each tray comes complete with 2 metal follower blocks.
RCC Microfilm Fire Safes (VDMA approved)
The RCC Range of Microfilm Fire Safes has been tested to the latest criteria at the Braunschweig Institute in Germany (VDMA) which provides the most stringent tests in the world thus ensuring maximum security. Built out of a revolutionary new combination of materials which has allowed the safe walls to be made thinner, they have one of the largest inner capacities available on the market allowing maximum media storage space. They are available in 2 different sizes (two tone grey only):- The RCC 3 weighs 540kg (1190lb) and has exterior dimensions of 1780mm(701/16") high x 780mm (3011/16") wide x 740mm (291/8") deep. The RCC 4 weighs 330kg (728lb) and has exterior dimensions of 1130mm (441/2") high x 780mm (3011/16") wide x 740mm (291/8") deep.
For more information, including a copy of the quality certificate and full media specification please contact us.
Metal Storage Cabinets
The Microfilm Shop has a complete range of metal storage cabinets available in a wide selection of colours and sizes. The BMH Range - Available with either 2, 4, 5, 7 or 10
drawers. Each drawer holds either 2 rows of jackets/fiche or 3 rows of film. Choice of colour: Two tone grey, sand & stone, coffee & cream, beige or standard grey. The TMS Range - Holds either 2 rows of aperture cards, 3 rows of fiche/jackets or 4 rows of film per drawer. For sizes and colours available see BMH Range above. ARCHIVE10 Range - A
heavy duty version of the TMS Range (see above). Only available in two tone grey.
The Microfilm Shop - 1996 Model
Four years ago The Microfilm Shop initiated a major expansion and reorganization aimed at becoming a major manufacturer and supplier of microfilm consumables worldwide within five years. This was based on the belief that microfilm has a strong long term future.
This reorganization is now complete and has involved six main phases:
1) Introduction of a new management structure designed to run and construct our larger organization. This has involved new personnel, much management training, new upgraded computer and the obtaining of IS0 9002 covering all the above facets.
2) A doubling in size of our office, warehousing and manufacturing facility to 12,000 sq. feet by adding a new tailor made unit. This has also enabled us to get all our warehousing and manufacturing under one roof for the first time, in non-rented property.
3) Attracting extra sales by increasing the size of our sales team both home and abroad. Plus adopting the sales strategy of "one world, one market" for microfilm supplies. Whilst
retaining a strong UK sales team we now have offices in France, Holland and Germany and a UK based Export Dept. supplying over 60 countries worldwide.
4) Establishing our own in house Technical Publications dept. that produces the most comprehensive microfilm supplies catalogue available anywhere. This major publication sets out all our products and comprises over 150 pages including technical information and prices. It is updated every three months and is produced in English, French and German.
5) Increasing our in-house manufacturing capability so that we can supply larger quantities of supplies on a "just in time basis".
This has involved:
a - Rehousing and doubling our jacket manufacturing capability.
b - Tripling our ability to duplicate fiche by buying a top of the range Photomatrix Autoload Duplicator with collator to add to our existing equipment.
c - Introducing a new Type 'M'Cartridge and doubling our total Type 'M'Cartridge assembly.
d - Upgrading existing and adding new injection moulds to increase production of Spools, Boxes and C-Clips etc.
e - Doubling our capacity to stripe 105mm Roll Diazo and produce 375 stripe and colour combinations.
f - Expanding and totally refurbishing our film processing and duplication laboratory.
6) Nothing holds together without the correct financing being
in place. The company pursued a policy of manufacturing
efficiently whilst selling at gross margins that enabled
us to obtain good levels of business and still invest in
our future.
Today
we live in our own building, have fully purchased all our
plant and equipment for the future and have a good solid
financial situation that will enable us to expand our business
using only our own resources.
In
Conclusion:
We
believe in our future, we have worked for it and invested
in it! We would like you to believe in it too. If you require
more information or would like to visit us - You only have
to ask.
Forget
Disks, CD-Roms, Microfilm lasts 500-1000 years.
Nashville
Tenn.
When archivists at the mormon church need to store precious
genealogical data they don't grab a computer diskette. Nor
do they turn to CD-Roms.
They
bank on microfilm, an old, reliable way of storing data
that for long term use is still the answer for many organizations. "We plan to have them last 500-1000 years. That's why
it's on film" said Eric Erickson of the Morman Church,
which has its data on 2 million rolls of microfilm. The
nations records managers are realising it's cheaper to store
records on microfilm than on computer devices that rely
on hardware and software which change every five to 10 years.
Storing
and retrieving records was a hot topic here last week during
the Association of Records Managers and Administrators Convention.
"Users
find if they store something on any kind of a computer memory
today, like optical disc and CD-ROM they have to restore
it every five to 10 years" said Russell J. Burkel,
founder of Eye Com Systems Inc. of Hartland, Wisc. "The
problem is basically people don't speak digital. If you
store things in non-human, non-reliable form, you're then
hardware and software dependant. When your hardware and
software dependant, you need devices called bit stream interpreters
to return this to human readable form".
Burkel
is on a committee aiming to raise the consciousness of potential
microfilm users. He is also a part of an Association for
Information and Image managements micrographics task force. "Paper still accounts for 94% of the long-term records
storage market. Microfilm is about 4% and electronics is
about 1%", Burkel said.
The
Federal Government is the nations biggest user of microfilm.
The National Archives and Library of Congress account for
much of that.
The
Mormon Church, one of the worlds largest microfilm consumers,
face several archiving obstacles, including gathering the
information in the first place. The church has archiving
operations in Latin America, Europe, South Africa, China
and India in addition to the United States. The church stores
records inside a steel and concrete lined vault inside a solid block of granite in Salt Lake City's Little Cottonwood
Canyon.
Like
banks, insurance companies and other organizations that
keep long-term records, The Mormon Church does have occasion
to combine new technology with old. "Computers are
useful for quick access to recent information, but for the
older records, organizations return to microfilm",
Erickson said. "That creates a hybrid system and imaging
companies replied with imaging systems that can put microfilm
in digital form that can be accessed by computer. After
six months or a year, the information is then erased electronically
but retained on film".
"The
hybrid breathes life into the microfilm. You digitalize
it, bring it up and send it out into a network ,"Canon's
Robert Stankard said during the ARMA conference. "We
all realised at the same time that microfilm is still viable".
AIIM
1996 ...Now The Rain Has Gone
I
went to AIIM in Chicago for the first time in 3 years, starting
on April Fool's Day so right from the beginning I felt at
home. Again I went with my son, Paul, who takes over the
helm of The Microfilm Shop in 3 months time. You can get
quite a good perspective from a 3 year time gap and by going
with someone born in the computer generation.
My
main impression was the size - it was a smaller show this
year and in a smaller hall. Even then it was not totally
full, with plenty of room available for more companies to
show - but they did not.
The
microfilm area was nice and small but there were many more
microfilm companies outside the set area than inside. The
overall impression was that microfilm exposure has increased
and that the electronic side has decreased.
There
was microfilm shown by Kodak (more later), Agfa, Fuji, Canon,
Minolta and many others but none at all by Bell + Howell,
Photomatrix or (the biggest microfilm company in the world)
Anacomp. Don't ask, because I don't understand it either.
We
had dinner one evening with Paul Montgomery of A&P International
and Bill & Nita Thomas of Micro D. Like me, three old
luddites doing "very nicely thank you" in an
industry that's far from dying. However, both those companies
are looking to ARMA
(Association of Records Managers & Administrators) for
future shows and not AIIM. The overall view being that AIIM
isn't doing a lot for microfilm and, by the look of it,
not a lot
for electronic imaging either. The big guys (computer companies)
are moving to computer shows: Now there is a surprise. Again
Paul, thank you for dinner and all three of you for your
good company and conversation.
There
were two pieces of equipment that caught my interest at
the show. One wasn't there, but one definitely was.
The
first was from a CD ROM manufacturer who claims to be coming
out with a full CD ROM System for $1,000. That's right folks £650 in real money. How many reps can you afford on
the GP from £650 unit sales?
The
second was on the Kodak stand called "Document Archive
Writer Model 4800". You can put most/many/all optical
discs into it, press a button and it produces a complete
copy on "Archive Storage Media". It can convert
Tiff images, selectively archive images or reformat images
in a new order or common groups. It does all this at 4800
lines per second.
Why
should luddite Negus be interested in this electronic box?
Well, I'm not really, but I am very interested in the Archive
Storage Media it produces! To get information from
this "Media" you have to put it in a microfilm
reader - because Archive Storage Media is the new name for
microfilm. "The more things change the more they stay
the same".
The implications for this machine and ones likely to follow
it are immense, both for the electronic and the microfilm
industries.
The electronic guys can offer the following:-
-
An archivally permanent back up. Capable of being scanned
into any system now or in the future. Or, even read by the
human eye using the bottom of a beer bottle. (or water
bottle if you are TT). - 100% ability to migrate information from a really old optical system (i.e. 5 years of age) to "any" new one. Compatibility is no longer an item to worry about
- You can escape entirely if you want to (did I really say that, sorry).
The microfilm guys can offer the following:-
- Sales of readers and reader/printers.
- Sales of microfilm supplies (4 cheers for Kodak).
- The chance to say "I told you so" (5 cheers for Kodak).
- The opportunity for bureaux to film hard paper records as a bolt on addition to the main electronic/optical system that realises that Archive Storage Media is really quite "with it". (6 cheers for Kodak).
- The opportunity for microfilm system sellers to get orders for off-line archive storage systems from customers who need to keep their records on site.
- A new burst of life for COM Bureaux.
If
someone has a large mature CAR System (either microfilm
or optical) and are fed up of
putting lots of films, discs or jukeboxes into the system
to get a complete record together, they have an alternative.
Push it all through the 4800; get all file X's records from
year one to the present, pushed out all together on Archive
Storage Media. Then cut it up and stick file X in its own
user friendly microfilm jacket.
I
was flying so high and fast that I beat the 767 back to
Birmingham Airport by 15 minutes.Moral of the story - Christmas
has come early this year.
The
main problem for the microfilm industry has been a lack
of education about it to the right people. i.e. the computer
(so called) whizz kids and lots of line managers who have
never heard of microfilm and are unwilling to listen to
information about its benefits, this has been compounded
by the lack of reps out there selling microfilm systems
and the lack of belief by their bosses. The attitude has tended
to be one of "Why put on more reps when the sales are
not there?".Well maybe they were looking for the sexy
customers and ignoring the rest. One thing is certain now, a large
door has been opened: Kodak is going through it first, why
not follow them and, as we say in Nuneaton, "Get your
boots
full".
Now
all customers new to microfilm will be queueing up to learn
about Archive Storage Media and companies like Kodak will
be lining up to sell it, together with all the relevant
goodies, and good luck to them.
Why
is it, when the cavalry comes over the hill, it's always
the bloody Americans? But then again, they started it by
supplying the electronic Indians in the first place. Have
a good future folks.
John
Negus,
The Microfilm Shop
P.S. Having read the article again it reminded me of picture shows when I was a kid. They kept showing them on a continuous loop (a bit like real life really). If you went in half way through the movie, you left when you got to the bit where you came in. Well, I am leaving the show in 3 months and I think I have at last got to the bit where I first came in. I hope you enjoy the show this time round folks - it's great; and has a happy ending.
Paul Negus, The Microfilm Shop, UK
Paul Negus is the Managing Director of the Microfilm Shop and has been with the company for 6 years having worked his way through every department during this time.
He is 28 years old and has been married to his wife, Belinda, for 3 years. Prior to joining the company, he spent 3 years at Cardiff University where he obtained his degree in Businesss Economics. This was followed by a year travelling all around the world on his 'Grand Tour'.
This international experience helped Paul start up The Microfilm Shop's export department which now accounts for 20% of the groups turnover and services customers in over 60 countries worldwide.