You can still walk into Lynn Imaging on Old Vine Street in downtown Lexington and make a single paper copy of a document for 15 cents. Old-school. But this family-owned, multi-generational business founded here in 1946 has evolved into much more than a simple copy shop — it has become a wide-ranging construction information management company.
The decision-making that brought this about didn’t happen overnight and success was far from assured. The impetus was the Internet’s disruptive effect on the printing industry around the turn of the century.
“It had been doomsday for printing companies for a lot of years so we shifted to the Planroom concept because sharing information over the Internet was the future — what we wanted to do,” said Shelby Lynn Marshall, the owner’s daughter and business development director. “We wanted to be in the middle of all that information, to stay in our customers’ work flow.”
So they developed the Planroom. It works like this: If a project manager in Paducah needs to attract the right contractors at a competitive price, Lynn Imaging’s online Planroom makes it happen. It allows developers and managers to invite bids from multiple contractors all at once. The contractors enter the virtual room and download or print plans in order to bid on work.
With this Web-based system, that project manager sends notifications to the contractors, tracks their communications back-and-forth and inspects various bid documents that are submitted. In short, it simplifies the management of project information, saving time, effort and money.
Founded by Jack and Marcella Lynn as a blueprint supply business, the couple’s son, J.L., and good friend Mike Carter, bought the business in 1982. In addition to J.L.’s daughter Shelby, two of Carter’s children also hold positions with Lynn Imaging, as do other family members.
“It’s kind of neat to work with our dads and look at the future and talk about what’s next, then trying to be ahead of it,” said Marshall. Lynn Imaging has Planroom contracts with the University of Kentucky, where many major construction projects are underway or in the planning stages; Western Kentucky University; Kentucky Department of Transportation and other state agencies; Metro Louisville government, Metropolitan Sewer District in Louisville and Louisville Water Company, to name a few.
In addition, the company still offers high-speed digital printing, along with electronic data storage and cloud solutions. It also operates Monster Color, which creates high-quality graphics, signage, posters and banners. Work produced there can be seen at Rupp Arena or Commonwealth Stadium, among many locations. A third company business line is the sale and servicing of office equipment and supplies.
The company is also developing proprietary software it calls eCommunication. It assists customers in managing the construction phase by helping parties view details and reports, submittal logs, change orders, pay applications and more. It can even serve as the record through the life of the building itself.
“With eCommunication, we saw an opportunity to develop software to help our customers with their information management during the building phase of the project,” said Marshall. “We studied the actual construction process.”
Marshall says eCommunication cuts down the time needed to notify and agree on the inevitable changes to plans that crop up during construction.
“You can see how that process could be time consuming and expensive,” said Marshall.
The recession was another transitional time for Lynn Imaging as it sought new directions. “We
looked at it as an opportunity. We saw that our marketing and advertising dollars went a lot further because that’s where many businesses had cut during the recession. We reinvented ourselves with this software,” said Marshall.
She said the company is looking to the future, with an eye on digital storage and facility management. But, Marshall noted, copying is still a major aspect of the business. “We’ve been reading for 10 years how copying is going to go away,” she said, “but it’s still a big part of our business.”