WEEKEND MFP INDUSTRY NOTES
3-15-09
The following is a quick review of copier/MFP industry news from various trade publications.
- InfoPrint, the division of Ricoh that was formerly a division of IBM, announced it will open three large demo rooms to showcase the new high speed color inkjet printing system, the InfoPrint 5000. Centers will be in Boulder, CO, Shanghai, China and Germany.
- Ricoh now shipping an optional EFI Fiery print controller for some of its color laser MFPs. The Ricoh E5100 is now available for the Ricoh Aficio MP-C4000 and C5000. The Ricoh E3100 is now available for the Aficio C2800 and C3300.
- More details on the new Ricoh C900 production color system:
- While advertised as offering vacuum paper feed, this is not included as part of the optional RT-5030 large capacity, 13”x19” paper deck, even though this is the paper supply that handles the heavy 110lb. cover stock.
- Currently, coated stocks are not certified
- The optional RB5000 ring bind unit only punch holes, and then puts in rings, but does not use actual 3 ring binders. It also will not work with tabs.
- Uses pulverized toner instead of polymerized toner
- Uses fuser oil to affix toner to the paper (this is necessary as there is not enough heat and pressure generated to get toner to stick to paper)
- Ricoh’s CFO, Zenji Miura, revised the company’s earning goals:
- Lowered operating profit target by 32%
- Cut sales target by 8%
- Currently, operating profit is 45% less than a year earlier
- Ricoh CEO, Shiro Kondo said; “We are determined to do our best under the new target”
- Ricoh announced a $976 option that will allow some of its color laser MFPs to be able to print from IBM AS400 mainframe computers.
- Canon announced it has replaced two Xerox iGen3 production color systems. Go To Digital, a printshop in Laurel, MD, replaced the two Xerox units with two new Canon imagePRESS C7000VP systems.
- Canon announced that it is lowering its profit target for 2009 by 75% due to declining demand for its products, and the loss of DANKA and IKON distribution. It does however expect revenue to grow by 6% in 2010. Chairman, Fujio Mitarai, stated that “We will continue to aim for the top 100 status, but we are not sure if e can achieve that in 2010” in regards to his quest to make Canon one of the 100 largest companies in the world.
- Canon announced it has placed other imagePRESS C7000VP production color systems, this time at Ron’s Printing Center in Longmont, CO, and Copresco Printing of Chicago, according to Dennis Griff, Senior Director for Production Print for Canon.
- Canon has launched programs to aggressively assist its dealers go after the IKON/Canon machines in field:
- “Canonball” program provides a check to end user to cover up to 9 monthly IKON lease payments to make it easier to upgrade to a new Canon from the Canon dealer.
- “Double Stretch Your Dollar’s program provides up to $8000 to upgrade a Ricoh product to Canon
- Competing against the Canon imageRUNNER 3045? Remember these weaknesses:
- Comes standard with only 512MB RAM
- Can only upgrade to a maximum of 768MB RAM
- Hard drive only offers 20GB of space
- A PostScript print driver is an expensive option
- Does not offer XPS printing (can not print from new version of Microsoft Windows Vista)
- Hard drive overwrite does not come standard
- Optional fax board does not come with any RAM and does not have any battery backup
- Optional finishers have maximum paper capacity of only 2,000 sheets
- Paper drawers can handle a maximum of only 20lb. bond paper
- Stack sheet bypass can not handle any thick stock and only holds 50 sheets of paper
- document feeder can hold only up to 50 originals and can not feed thick stocks
- top scan speed of only 45opm
- drum yield is only 85,000 copies
- print controller’s processor is a slow 300MHz
- The paper drawers do not having sliding guides, as they must be removed and replaced.
- The paper drawers do not have paper size sensors, so requires programming by end user
- A study of office workers conducted by Gartner, found that 70% of all copy jobs actually started at a desktop printer first.
- According to Kodak, over 114,000 tons of paper were used for printing in Washington DC in 2008.
- Kodak sold a NexPress S3000 production color system and a NexPress M700 (relabeled Canon imagePRESS C7000VP) to InfoCision, a printshop in Akron, OH.
- Notable Solutions Inc. (NSI), maker of AutoStore document management software, received $5 million from the Edison Venture Fund venture capital firm to grow its business.
- While Toshiba lost 280 billion yen in 2008, the Nikkei English News predicts that the company may break even in 2009.
- Toshiba in Japan, refused to consider a union’s pay hike demands for its factory workers.
- Competing against the Toshiba eSTUDIO 453, a 45ppm b/w unit? Remember these pointers:
- Unit comes standard with only 256MB RAM
- Even with spending more on options, unit can only have a maximum of 512MB of RAM
- Hard drive offered only has 40GB of storage space
- The document feeder is an option, and does not come standard
- Customers must pay extra for hard drive overwrite data security and data scrambling
- Optional fax board has no RAM, and has a maximum resolution of only 400dpi
- The optional finishers can not handle more than 2,250 sheets of output total
- Does not offer features like image insert, image overlay, image repeat and OHP interleaving
- Offer maximum paper supply of only 3,700 sheets
- Top scan speed is only 50opm
- Drum and developer yield is only 150,000 copies
- The paper drawers do not having sliding guides, as they must be removed and replaced.
- The paper drawers do not have paper size sensors, so requires programming by end user
- The LCD control panel is monochrome, and not full color
- there is no scan preview on the control panel
- no compression for scanned jobs
- the print controller, can not RIP and print at the same time
- toner cartridge yield is only 21,000 pages based on 5% coverage
- Toshiba announced that it will build a Solid State Drive (SSD) plant in the Phillipines with production hoped to begin in 2012.
- Kyocera announced it has received Microsoft Gold Certification for its printer manufacturing division.
- Hewlett Packard announced it will offer an optional HP Common Access Card solution for the LaesrJet M3035, M4345, M4730, M5025, M5035, M9040 & M9050 printers and MFPs.
- An HP dealer in Pennsylvania won a bid to provide managed print services to the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper. The contract was for 5 years, and includes a fleet using 5 different types of HP products.
- Hewlett Packard announced it has placed an Indigo 7000 production color system at Nu Graphics Inc. of Boston, Mass.
- According to IDC, worldwide MFP/printer unit sales decreased 17% year over year. Total predicted placements in 2008 were 32.6 million, and revenue fell 13% to $15 billion in the fourth quarter. The company predicts sales will bottom out in 2009, and start a recovery in 2010.
- Another win for Acacia Research, who acquires obscure patents, and then chases firms for licensing fees. This time, EFI, maker of Fiery controllers, agreed to pay a licensing fee because Acacia now owns a digital halftone screening patent.
- EFI also announced it would close offices in Australia, England, France & Italy to reduce costs.
- Douglas Lindle of Elwood, IN was arrested for making fake currency on a color copier, after trying to use a fake $20 at a local gas station.
- Ciara Neil, Corgin Olerud, Joe Sasso & Bryan Walker were arrested in Oregon after they attempted to pay for Girl Scout cookies using fake $20 bills they made on a color copier.
- Samsung had its outlook dropped to “Negative” from “Stable” by Fitch Ratings.
- The Independent Business Association branch in the state of Washington has filed a complaint with the State, over a bid award for copying equipment. The Association claims that the current contract with Associated Business Systems, a subsidiary of Ricoh, forces the State to pay 4 cents per click, with a huge minimum volume. For example, the State Department of Ecology must pay for 950,000 copies per month, and currently being billed $15,493 per month for copies it does not make. They also claim that the state paid $50,000 for print assessments performed by Okidata and Lexmark.
- Hewlett Packard lost a court battle, reinstating a lawsuit against the company filed by Acceleron for infringing on a patent. Acceleron will now pursue collecting license fees from HP.
- Recent street pricing seen in the print for pay market:
- Canon imagePRESS C6000 w/Fiery/paper deck/booklet-maker/cover inserter for $102,000 with color clicks @ $0.05 and b/w clicks @ $0.01. 12”x18” billed as one click, with no minimums.
- Xerox 700 Digital Color Press w/Fiery/stapling finisher/LCT for $62,000 with color clicks @ $0.049 and b/w clicks @ $0.0129. 11”x17” billed as one click.
- Xerox 4112 b/w unit w/Fiery/booklet-maker/LCT for $41,000 with b/w clicks @ $0.005 for first 200K, then $0.0039 for overages. 11”x17” billed as one click.
- Demo Canon imageRUNNER 7095 w/Fiery/booklet-maker/LCT for $19,000 with b/w clicks @ $0.0045.
- According to InfoTrends, the opportunity for selling production print color systems is still growing:
- In 2005, there were 174,806 printshops and CRDs in the U.S.
- In 2005, these shops provided $379 billion in printing
- Predicts that this market will grow 1.94% per year
- Revenues for production color in 2004 were $2.4 billion, and expected to reach $9.4 billion in 2009
- There are 10,267 large shops in the U.S. generating $13 billion in print
- There are 39,553 small shops generating $3 billion
- There are 5,442 copy shops, and 7,136 quick/franchise printshops
- There are 14,636 commercial litho printshops generating $53 billion
- There are 4,795 in-plant data centers generating $9.5 billion
- There are 14,893 direct mail/service bureaus generating $19.7 billion
- There are 3,673 direct mail only shops generating $12 mbillion
- Lackawanna County, New Jersey awarded a new copier contract:
- Hopes to save $83,000
- Will eliminate 15 of its copiers
- Currently has 438 copiers/printers/fax machines
- Topps Business Solutions of Scranton was the winner
- Two managed print services vendors are joining forces. DocuAudit & FM Audit will combine their 12,000 printer model database to provide dealers a more comprehensive tool.
- Xerox offering a trade-in program to boost sales of its desktop color printers. If customer trades in their old printer they can get $50 off a Phaser 8560, $50 off a Phaser 6360 and $250 off a Phaser 7760.
- Xerox placed an iGen4 production color system at Gabriel Group, a printshop in St. Louis, MO.
- Competing against the Xerox WorkCentre 5645? Remember these weaknesses:
- only comes standard with 129MB RAM
- can be upgraded to maximum of only 512MB RAM
- does not offer XPS printing at all (ability to work with newer version of Microsoft Windows Vista)
- optional fax board does not offer routing to PC or e-mail address
- optional fax board does not offer one-touch keys
- optional finishers offer a maximum of only 2,250 sheets of paper capacity
- the document feeder can not handle thick stocks beyond 32lb. bond paper
- slow first copy out time of 8.5 seconds
- top scan speed of only 60opm
- The paper drawers do not having sliding guides, as they must be removed and replaced.
- The paper drawers do not have paper size sensors, so requires programming by end user
- The LCD control panel is monochrome, and not full color
- there is no scan preview on the control panel
- The Canadian government is considering regulating colorants used in ink cartridges for inkjet printers, as they are concerned about supposed health risks for ingested ink.
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