• Where: Irvine
• 12-month sales: $2.1 million
• Two-year growth: 259%
• OC workers: 22
• Business: Reprographics, 3D modeling, software
Irvine-based ProRepro Inc. wants its clients to do what they do best: their business.
The reprographics, 3D modeling and virtual reality software and product company aims to serve as a sort of technology partner to businesses.
The company ranked No. 10 on the Business Journal’s 2010 list of fast-growing private companies with sales growth of 259% for the two years through June 30.
For the 12 months through June, the company’s sales were $2.1 million, up from $585,000 for the same period in 2008. It counts 22 workers in Irvine.
Clients include engineering companies, architecture firms, aerospace and manufacturing companies such as LPA Inc., Bernards Construction and Pan Pacific.
“Our clients want to focus on their core businesses,” said Cindy Kennedy, president of the company. “We bring them the newest technology to enhance their capability and their ideas and their work for their clients. Instead of spending money and energy on trying to figure out the best technology for their company, they outsource to us the technology aspect of their business.”
ProRepro does everything from reprographics equipment, such as copiers and printers, to equipment that turns out 3D plastic models for companies to show their clients. It also sells and offers training for Autodesk—a 3D design and engineering software.
Becoming an Autodesk software reseller nearly six months ago was a big deal because Autodesk hadn’t added a reseller in the area for a very long time, Kennedy said.
“It’s had significant impact on our sales,” she said.
Cindy and her husband, Tom Kennedy, started ProRepro in late 2006, one of several technology-related businesses they run.
Cindy Kennedy is the corporate backbone of the two, with stints at Xerox Inc. and others. Tom Kennedy is the entrepreneurial spirit of the companies and the driving force behind them, she said.
The couple met at an industry event back in 1989.
Much of their success can be attributed to their relationships with clients, Cindy Kennedy said.
“We are a unique company in that we focus on partnering with our clients as opposed to selling to them,” she said. “What we do is we spend our time improving our clients’ workflows and processes.”
ProRepro also brings the tools to clients.
“We will bring staff on site, provide facility management—copiers, printers and run the software—and take stuff off of people’s plates so they don’t have to worry about ‘is my network OK?’ Or ‘do I have the right printer or copier?’ Or ‘if I upgrade my network, will it work with my printer?’” she said.
Kennedy offered an architectural firm as an example.
“Is the firm going to hire three to four people just to figure out what technology it should have in the company?” she said. “It’s like my car: I don’t want to know what’s going on in my engine. I just want to drive it. We allow clients to stick to their core businesses.”
The company has seen tremendous growth by referrals, according to Kennedy.
This year is looking good again. It should be another 200% growth year at minimum, Kennedy said.
“We try to cap it at around 200% year over year because it can be difficult to staff and support any more growth than that,” she said. “Our major focus is that the most important tenets of our company are achieved and that we don’t go beyond what we can provide in terms of excellence in service.”
In some ways, growth is a double-edged sword, Kennedy said.
“The challenge is to meet the demands of growth with staffing, and not just placing people but building a family at our company,” she said. “We give employees stock ownership in the company—we want to have a family environment. We want people who want long-term careers. It takes us about a year to train them.”
The company also is big on philanthropy and its role in the community. It was named OC’s “International Green Reprographer of the Year” in 2010.
ProRepro runs a recycling program for clients and it gets involved in plenty of charities, including Project Playhouse, which benefits HomeAid Orange County.
“We’re giving a different message than others in our industry,” Kennedy said. “We’ve been at different events lately where we’ve had clients come up to us with other people and say, ‘You have to do business with them.’”
