WEEKEND MFP INDUSTRY NOTES
1-18-08
The following is a quick review of copier/MFP industry news from various trade publications.
A Canon dealer in Texas won a bid to supply DocuWare document management software and MFPS for 13 locations of Radiology Associates of San Antonio
Canon announced it has won several awards from Buyers Labs Inc.:
- “MFP Line of the Year” for overall quality of entire product line
- “Outstanding Segment 4 Monochrome” for imageRUNNER 3245
- “Outstanding Segment 3 Monochrome” for imageRUNNRE 3235
- “Outstanding Segment 2 Monochrome” for imageRUNNER 3225
- “Outstanding Segment 2 Color” for imageRUNNER C2550
Canon released a new b/w MFP, the imageRUNNER 5050n featuring:
- 50ppm top speed
- Scan speed up to 65ipm
- Comes standard with print controller offering PCL print driver (PostScript is an expensive option, as Canon outsources its print controller technology)
- Finishing options include stapling, booklet-making, hole-punch and z-fold
- Optional cover insertion
- Optional scanning (does not come standard with print controller)
- Optional fax board
- Maximum paper supply of 7,650 sheets
- Maximum paper weight handling of 110lb. index
Xerox scientist, Peter Kazmaier of Canada, received his 100th patent from the U.S. Government for technology that he hopes one day will lead to erasable paper.
Lexmark warned that its fourth quarter financials would be lower than expected:
- stock shares went down 11%
- restructuring charge of $45 million
- Layoff of 375 jobs
- 17% drop in revenue
- Company started as a spinoff of IBM in 1991
- Stock dropped to $28.35 per share
- Still has 14,000 employees
Drytac of Richmond, VA announced an off-line UV coater that supposedly works with production color systems that use polymerized toner. The VersaCoater offers a 20” width and a footprint of just 18 square feet. For info visit www.drytac.com
Digital Publishing Solutions magazine conducted a study of print for pay providers and found:
- document communications industry still growing at 12%
- 29% plan on buying a 60+ppm production color system in 2009
- 23% plan on buying a 80+ppm production b/w system in 2009
Fedex Office, formerly known as Kinko’s, announced results of a study of office workers:
- 58% believe it will be more important to find better work/life balance in 2009
- 86% plan on pursuing a better balance in 2009
- 49% plan on taking all their vacation time
- 42% will start a weekly to do list
- 41% will leave work at a reasonable hour
- 36% will take lunch on a consistent basis
Staples, the office supply superstore, announced results of study of business owners:
- 62% admitted that they were transforming into a “mouse potato” (i.e. constantly on the computer)
- 66% work and eat at same time
- 25% admit to eating breakfast during work
- 69% are constantly trying new things to increase revenues
- 47% are “intrapreneurs” (i.e. operates within the corporate structure pursuing innovative projects)
- 84% are confident they will survey the economic situation
- 51% are reducing their own compensation in 2009
- 38% are reducing their business travel
- 45% are advertising less
- 48% are using more viral and word-of-mouth marketing
- Over 50% are willing to forgo vacations to ensure job stability
Kodak announced it will buy the high speed scanner division of Bowe Bell & Howell:
- Bell & Howell owns some proprietary scanning camera technology
- Some models scan up to 48” wide documents
- Bell & Howell CEO was Marvin Isles
- Kodak technicians have been a subcontractor for Bell & Howell scanners to provide warranty service since 1991
Kodak announced it has now sold 9 of its Kodak-made NexPress production color systems to WMSG, a print for pay provider in Dallas, TX.
Kodak announced it has sold a NexPress 700 (which is actually a relabeled Canon imagePRESS C7000VP) to Full House Press, a print shop in Bel Air, MD. and Glenmore Printing of British Columbia, Canada. Both systems were bundled with Kodak MarketMover, which is a package to assist printshop owners in marketing and selling digital output.
The next trade show to show off the latest in new production print systems is the OnDemand Conference & Expo in Philadelphia on 3/30-4/2/09. Among the sponsors are Konica Minolta & Canon.
Xerox announced it has sold its first Xerox 980 to Ames, a print for pay in Massachusetts. If you recall, the 980 is the world’s first roll-fed color production system that uses “flash fusing”, meaning that it only uses heat, but no pressure to get toner to stick to paper. More details:
- 600x600dpi
- Top speed of 493ipm or 986ipm in auto duplex mode
- Selling price not announced
In a cost cutting move, Xerox announced it will let go of 50 employees from its plant in Wilsonville, Oregon. The plant employs 16,000, and was the former Tektronix Phaser color printer plant.
Oce’ announced its last quarter financials:
- Net income dropped 98%
- Profit down from 36.1 million euro to only 700,000 euro
- Sales were down 4.3%
- Stopped manufacturing some products temporarily due to high inventory levels
- Total revenue down 5.5% to 802 million euro
- CEO, Rokus van Iperen stated that company’s business was “severely” affected by financial crisis
- “We will pursue our strategy including exploring of opportunities to enter in to new partnerships”
- 280 jobs eliminated
- is considering allowing other firms to relabel its wide format and roll-fed systems
- Total liabilities of 2.5 billion euros
Microsoft announced that it will introduce a new operating system to replace Windows Vista, called Windows 7. Also, the company announced it will end support for Windows XP on 4/8/2014.
The U.S. Patent Office announced that for the 16th year in a row, IBM is the top patent holder for 2008, by receiving 4,186 patents.
IBM announced it will be raising the price of its desktop printers.
Hewlett Packard announced it has received awards from Buyers Labs Inc.:
- “Color Printer Line of the Year”
- “Outstanding Achievement Award” for its CM8060 Edgeline color inkjet MFP
EFI announced it won “Best” awards from the Business Equipment Research & Testing Laboratory (BERTL) for its Graphic Arts Package and Command WorkStation software which are part of the Fiery print servers.
IKON, now a division of Ricoh, announced it won an FM contract with a large multi-state law firm. Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobsen LLP has offices in New York, Washington DC, London, Paris, Frankfurt, Hong Kong & Shanghai with 650 attorneys.
The Printing Industry of America announced results of a new study in how printed direct mail pieces survive the U.S. Postal service, comparing output from a production toner color system and that from a traditional offset press:
- percentage of tears was roughly equivalent between digital and offset produced mailers
- 25.3% of output from offset press arrived with significant damage
- 7.2% of output from digital system arrived with significant damage
- All output was identical, with heavy coverage on 6”x9” postcards, and no UV coating
Results of a study on value of direct mail conducted by Direct Marketing News:
- 50% enjoy reading their mail more than reading e-mail
- 85% review USPS mail daily
- 94% took action on an offer they received in a direct mail offer
- 75% responded to less than 11% of the offers received
- 30%-66% said that direct mail coupon usage would increase
- 78% prefer to receive coupons in the mail versus e-mail
- 65% said they are examining mail more closely to find coupons
- A direct mail offer prompted 37% of customers to business with a vendor for the first time
- 70% of respondents renewed their relationship with a vendor due to a direct mail piece
- Up to 44% donated money due to an appeal from a direct mail piece
Toshiba announced it will buy the hard drive division of Fujitsu for $450 million. This division’s most common product is a 2.5” drive for notebook computers. (further investment by Toshiba in a business outside of MFPs on a division of Fujitsu that was losing money)
Toshiba announced that is eSTUDIO 2330C, 2830C, 3530C & 4520C color MFP series has won some awards:
- Better Buys For Business “Editors Choice”
- BERTL “Best” award
- BERTL “Exceptional 5 Star Rating”
- BLI “4 and a Half Star Rating”
Sony announced it will report a loss for the first time in 14 years. The company will close 5 of its 57 plants to cut costs.
Sharp announced it is now shipping its new color laser MFPs, the MS-4100N, MX-4101N & MX-5001N, featuring:
- 4 tandem OPC drum design
- Uses pulverized toner infused with wax
- Does NOT offer true 8 bits per pixel imaging
- Built-in retractable QWERTY style keyboard
- 8.5” high resolution, touch screen LCD control panel
- Support the optional Sharp OSA embedded software feature
- Textured exterior with chrome accents
- Built-in print controller offers only a 800MHz processor
- PCL print driver standard (PostScript is an expensive option as Sharp outsources its print controller technology)
- Optional fax board
- Auto duplex standard
- Maximum paper supply of 5,600 sheets
- 100 sheet document feeder on the MX-4100N
- 150 sheet document feeder that scan both side of original at same time on the MX-4101N and MX- 5001N
- Optional card swipe authentication
DocuWare announced it won a bid to supply document management software to Porter County, Indiana.
Zoran, maker of print controller technology, in its latest financial report, claims to provide technology for:
- Xerox
- Samsung
- Hewlett Packard
- Sharp
- Epson
- Ricoh
- Okidata
- Oce’
A Zogby poll on color printing revealed:
- 53% think that color printing is a luxury
- 35% said cost is main reason why they do not print in color
- 82% would print in color if it cost the same as b/w
- 39% said they do not recognize the value of color in their documents
- 28% said they print presentations in color
- 25% said they print graphs in color
Street pricing seen in the print for pay market:
- Xerox 700 Digital Color Press w/Xerox controller/LCT/stapling finisher for $58,000. Color clicks for $0.049 and b/w clicks for $0.0129. Single click 11”x17”
- Canon imageRUNNER 110 w/controller/stapling finisher for $50,000. B/w clicks for $0.005. Single click 11”x17”
- Ricoh PRO 1106EX w/Fiery/LCT/stapling finisher/bookletmaker/hole-punch for $41,000. B/w clicks for $0.0035. Single click 11”x17”
Acacia Research, a firm that buys obscure patents, announced it has forced Dell & Lexmark to pay license fees for a patent it owns pertaining to network multifunction printer technology. The dollar amount was not released. Other companies that have already settled with Acacia are; HP, Samsung, Oce’, Brother, Epson, Muratec, Okidata, Panasonic & Toshiba. Acacia reports that its total annual collections are up 45% to $13.8 million per year.
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