WEEKEND MFP INDUSTRY NOTES
4-19-09
The following is a quick review of copier/MFP industry news from various trade publications.
Riso made the following announcements about executive appointments:
- Don Michelucci is VP of Direct Sales (responsible for direct branches in U.S.)(hired from Ricoh)
- Todd DuLuca is president and COO
More details on the new Ricoh PRO C550EX and PRO C700EX copier, which Ricoh is billing as “production” devices:
- Base MSRPs of $54,290 & $62,690
- C550EX offers 55ppm full color and 60ppm b/w
- C700EX offers 70ppm full color and 75ppm b/w
- Uses engines from the MP C6000 and C7500 mid-range color MFPs (which compete against the
the Konica Minolta bizhub C552 & C652)(these are NOT slowed down version of the C900)
- 4 tandem OPC drum design
- uses PxP polymerized toner (does not use fuser oil like the faster Ricoh C900 system)
- comes standard with 320GB hard drive copier memory
- 600x600dpi (does NOT offer true 8 bits per pixel imaging)
- Up to 90 second warmup time
- Up to 7.5 second first copy out time
- Base MSRP includes external EFI Fiery E8100 print controller
- 2.13GHz processor
- 2GB RAM & 160GB hard drive
- Standard paper supply holds up to 3,300 sheets
- Top drawer holds two letter-size 1,100 sheet stacks
- Second and third drawer each holds up to 550 sheets
- maximum paper size of 12”x18”
- Supports up to only 80lb. cover in the paper drawers
- 110lb. cover stock must be placed in the bypass of the RT4000 large capacity
deck for $4780.00
- Auto duplex supports up to 90lb. index only
- Finishing options include stapling, hole-punch, GBC punch, booklet maker and three ring binding
- SR4010 fifty sheet stapling finisher for $3150.00
- SR4020 fifty sheet staple and 30 sheet booklet maker for $5460.00
- SR5000 one hundred sheet stapling finisher for $5830.00
- Tab sheet holder for $47.00
- Hole punch kit for $920.00
- Cover insertion unit for $1160.00
- Z-folding unit for $7350.00
- RB5000 ring binder punches holes and places rings in paper (does not use vinyl ring binders)
- either 50 or 100 page letter-size sets (20lb. bond paper)
- White or black rings
- 75 ring sets per cartridge
- Holds up to two sets before needing emptying
- 100 sheet document feeder comes standard
- Auto duplex standard
- Will be marketed with color click pricing as low as $0.0495, single click 11”x17”,
and b/w clicks as low as $0.0132.
- Designed to compete against the Konica Minolta PRO C5501 & C6501 systems
Ricoh announced it is partnering with IBM to create software that monitors the electrical power usage of its copiers. No ship date of pricing announced.
Ricoh launched a new A4 17ppm b/w MFP, called the Aficio MP171 offering:
- base MSRP of $1760.00
- MSRP with document feeder and fax board $2730.00
- $366 for optional hard drive
- Second paper drawer for $357.00
- PCL Print/scan controller for $595.00
- PostScript print driver for $140.00
Wondering how long parts are made for copiers? While there is apparently no federal law that dictates this, the state of California requires that functional parts are available 7 years after the date of manufacture for goods with a wholesale value of $100 or more. Therefore, most manufacturers abide by this so they don’t have to make a different model just for this state.
Two OCR scanning software providers are battling in court. Abbyy USA (maker of FineReader OCR) and Nuance (maker of Unity, PaperPort, etc.) are both suing each other over patent infringement.
In an effort to cut costs, the Gila Vista school district in Yuma, AZ is restricting use of its copiers, and drastically limiting the amount of copier paper purchased. In response, teachers are requesting parents to have their children come to school with a ream of copy paper.
Street pricing and info seen in the print for pay market:
- Xerox 700 Digital Color Press w/Fiery/LCT for $56,000 with color click for $0.049 and b/w clicks for $0.0129. 11”x17” billed as one click.
- Xerox 4112 b/w unit with Fiery for $37,000 with b/w clicks for $0.005 for first 200K, then $0.0039 for overages.
- Average selling price for a color copy is now $0.43 for letter size, one-sided plain paper
- PDFs account for 51% of color prints sold
- Average time spent to correct customer jobs was 20 minutes
- Average charge to accept a digital file was $10.00 per job
- 50% of all color jobs are auto duplexed
- 40% of all color jobs are on thick stock
Hewlett Packard’s Amin Mortazavi said that company will stop making desktop color inkjet printers that sell for less than $30, and focus on more higher end models.
Hewlett Packard announced it won a managed print services based bid from Novartis International AG:
- A $41.5 billion pharmaceutical company
- 97,000 employees
- 140 countries
- 12 production sites and over 50 locations
- Headquarters in Switzerland
- Originally had 45,000 devices
- Will be reduced down to 8000 devices
- 44% cost reduction
- 400 million pages per year
Fuji announced that its Chief Corporate Advisor, Yotaro Kobayashi, will retire. He is 75 years old. He started with the company is 1958.
Wade Fuger of Pocatello, Idaho was arrested by police for making fake $20 bills using a color copier. This apparently discovered when he attempted to use them to pay a speeding ticket.
Xerox published a white paper on its bid win with Dillard’s department stores:
- replaced its b/w copiers with Xerox WorkCentre Pro color MFPs (473 each)
- installed remote management software, to track usage by employees and departments
- at corporate headquarters in Fort Worth, TX, installed a Xerox iGen3 110 production color system
- key-item color signs printed in Fort Worth, but merchandising shelf toppers are printed on each store’s color MFP
- Implemented a web-based DocuShare server for access to signage, HR forms, flyers, etc.
Xerox detailed how it uses direct mail campaigns to increase its sales:
-Campaign included a branded boomerang with stickers that included the recipient’s
name, state and company
- End users who responded by requesting an appointment with a Xerox rep were entered
into a drawing for a trip to Australia
Xerox announced it won a bid to provide a kiosk-type solution for selling copies at Office Depot locations. The solutions includes Xerox 7655 color MFPs and the AutoPay system from Equitrac that can accept credit cards.
Office Depot is under investigation for allegedly over-charging government customers for purchases made on its website. The state of California apparently has already reached a settlement of $2.5 million, with other states waiting, including Michigan, Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, Nebraska, Missouri and others.
Toshiba announced appointments to fill recent departure of executives from the company:
- Fred Berger was named president of Florida & Georgia branches. Previously was senior vice president over 16 Ricoh branches. Before Ricoh, was an executive with DANKA.
- Mark Downing was named president of California & Nevada branches
- Wayne Wilkinson is senior vice president and general manager of all branches
Toshiba hopes to beat its forecast of a large loss because of drastic cost cutting. Original estimate was 280 billion loss, but now is projected to be 250 billion yen ($2.52 billion). The company announced it would cut 3,900 workers. Last month it had laid off 4,500 workers.
Canon announced that, due to declining revenues, it will delay again the building of a new toner manufacturing plant in Japan. New planned opening is 3/2010.
The state of Kentucky approved up to $1 million in tax incentives to Lexmark, so the company can spend $16.5 million to upgrade its plants in the state.
Sharp posted a $1.3 billion loss, which was greater than expected. To cut costs it will:
- lay off 1,500 workers
- shut down some production lines
- CEO, Mikio Katayama, stated they are considering moving manufacturing out of Japan to cut costs
A Toshiba/HP dealer in Indiana wins a managed print services bid for Hammond Lubricant Works, replacing Lanier equipment. Advanced Imaging Systems claims it will cut the company’s imaging costs by 23%.
eCopy announced new options for its solution systems:
- Barcode Recognition Service – adds the power of bar codes
- Image Enhancement – improves the accuracy of its OCR (optical character recognition)
Some vendors try to convince customers that the DPI, or dots per inch, is more important than bit depth. Consider this:
- 600dpi = a dot that is roughly 42 microns in size
- 1200dpi = a dot that is roughly 21 microns in size
- 2400dpi = a dot that is roughly 10 microns in size
- The human eye can see particles as small as 40 microns
- A grain of salt is about 60 microns
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