Thank goodness I've kept the old blog site alive. In recent months there's been quite a bit of chatter about A4 MFP's Most of those talk tracks center around A4's MFP's have less service calls than A3's MFP's, along with the lower cost of A4 MFP's vs A3 MFP's. It's also true that probably 80-85% of all clients do not have the need to print, copy or scan 11x17.
However what most don't chat about is the cost per page of A4 MFP's compared to A3 MFP's. Typically an A4 MFP will have a higher per page cost than your same speed A3 MFP. Depending on how many pages are produced on the MFP, one can make an argument that A3 MFP's will cost less in the long for the total cost of operation.
Thus a client that prints/copies 5,000 black pages per month and has a cost per page of .006 would have a monthly cost of $30.00 for the 5,000 pages and let's say $120 a month for the A3 MFP lease. Thus a total of $150 per month.
Running the same volume on the A4 MFP has a cost of .018 per page (black). The cost to print/copy those 5,000 pages would be $90. The monthly lease for the A4 MFP would be around $60 per month. Total cost of $150 per month.
Based on the above scenario (just one I pulled out of my head) the cost is the same for both devices. Depending on where your cost per page falls and where your monthly volume is would dictate which device saves money.
The break point with the above scenario would be to lead with A4 under 5,000 pages per month and A3 for more than 5,000 per month. Again it's just one scenario with A4 vs A3.
Many years ago I stated that A4 could take over A3 placements if and only if the manufacturers wanted it to happen. I'm talking about all manufacturers of printers and copiers. The problem is that the manufacturers don't want it to happen right away. The manufacturer who would win The War for A4 is the manufacturer that would develop an A4 MFP with the cost per page model of the A3 MFPs.
I'll admit that my world is pretty small here in the New Jersey market place. However, it is one of the most saturated markets in the US. Mega dealers, regional dealers, dealers and every direct branch under the sun will surely test your worthiness. But at least here in NJ I have yet to run across A4 MFP's coupled with the cost per page of A3 MFP's.
Right, back to the original plan. Below is a blog I posted on the old MFP Solutions Blog site in 2008!
"MFP Wars" Hi Speed A3 Devices vs A4 Devices (2008)
Back in the 80's when Minolta launched the 350Z, it was a unique system in that it could scan 11x17, but could only copy letter and legal. The selling advantage was that you could reduce your 11x17 documents down to a more manageable paper size. Why can't this be done today?
When are manufacturers going to step up to the plate and delivering real savings to customers. How about designing an A4 system that has a per page cost that is equivalent to A3 devices, and also giving customers that ability to scan 11x17 if needed.
It seems like Samsung and HP are driving A4 devices, while the likes of Xerox and Muratec are relabeling. Can or will Ricoh, Canon, Toshiba, KonicaMinolta or Kyocera design an A4 device for the ages that will copy, print, scan and fax with the traditional cost of A3 devices.
Love to hear from others on this.
This is from 2008! It's eleven years later and for the most part the cost per page model for A4 devices has not changed. Why is that?
Maybe it's more what Ray Stasieczko spoke about at ITEX 2019. The manufacturers are thrilled with the levels of profit that they won't change for fear of losing profit and not paying dividends to their shareholders. The more I think about the model and the number of manufacturers one can only think that maybe all of the manufacturers are colluding with each other to keep the current A4 cost per page model higher than A3's. Naw, that would never happen right?
-=Good Selling=-
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