WEEKEND MFP INDUSTRY NOTES
6-29-08
The following is a quick review of copier/MFP industry news from industry publications.
- Brother launched a color MFP, that some customers may confuse as a color laser copier/printer. The MFC-6490CW, selling for $299, is the world’s first A3 color inkjet MFP, not laser. While it has a very low purchase price, and can handle up to 11”x17” paper, customer must buy the color inkjet cartridges separately, and therefore will spend far more on supplies in the first year, then they spend to buy this device. Brother also advertises a color print speed of 28ppm, however, this speed is only achieved f the page has 5% coverage per color, as the print head must move back and forth across the page, so actual print speed for color imaging is far slower.
- EFI, maker of the Fiery print controller, announced it has purchased Jettable Corp. of Israel, which makes color inkjet printers that print on decorative tile.
- EFI also announced that it has settled an investigation into past stock options. It will receive a $5 million insurance payment, and will pay $3.1 million in attorneys’ fees.
- Info on the Chinese print for pay industry, which using the Internet, is stealing print jobs from print shops in the U.S.:
o 100,000 print shops in China
o 800 of the largest account for 40% of all print jobs
o Of the top 100 shops, 52 are owned by foreign investors
o There are 2,000 print shops in China that are funded by foreign investors
o There are 300,000 small printshops worldwide, one tenth of which are in the U.S.
- According to Hewlett Packard, even though the product won’t be shipping for a year, it has three orders from the DRUPA show in Germany for the $1 million HP inkjet press.
- Equitrac, maker of accounting systems for tracking of copies/prints/faxes/scans, announced it has won bids to supply their systems to 6 large law firms in the U.S. Law firms use the Equitrac systems so that they can charge clients for the use of their office equipment.
- In a recent article in What They Think magazine, the following companies were mentioned as owning most of the inkjet print head technology patents that are used by many vendors:
o Xaar
o Dimatix/Spectra (used in new Fuji JetPress 720)
o Panasonic (used in Kodak Versamark)
o Kyocera (used in Oce’ JetStream)
o Epson (used in Screen Truepress)
o Toshiba (licenses technology from Xaar)(used in Riso HC5500)
o HP (used in its own products)
- Printable Technologies, maker of FusionPro variable data software, announced it will work with JDF format and Creo print controllers.
- Kyocera announced that its printers received certification from MEDITECH, as compatible with its MAGIC operating system used by the healthcare industry.
- Kyocera announced that during first quarter of this year, office equipments sales were down by 4.3%, but profits increased.
- Kyocera, in a cost cutting move, announced it will be moving its manufacturing from Japan to China.
- Netaphor Inc. announced a new print tracking software, called Site Audit version 2.0. The software maker claims that it is the only vendor that can track usage of every make and model of printer/MFP on a customer’s network, and does not require a software agent to be loaded on each individual PC workstation.
- Kodak reported that its division that makes desktop color inkjet printers, saw sales rise from $462 million to $554 million in the last quarter. The company also claims that home users of its Kodak inkjet printers use twice as much ink as compared to industry average of 4.5 cartridges per year.
- Kodak announced it has sold a NexPress 2500 to Pacific Printing of Redwood, CA.
- Xante of Alabama is running ads in print shop magazines, claiming that its Xante Ilumina 502 is a digital color press that can print on 26point cover stock. Here are competitive hints:
o product is not made by Xante, instead it is a relabeled Okidata color LED printer
o uses pulverized toner infused with wax
o the optional extended warranties do NOT include consumables, so customer is forced to buy separately supply items, which includes a fuser cartridge
o since running very thick stocks dramatically reduces the life of the fuser rollers, customers running 26point cover stock, will spend a fortune on buying fuser cartridges, which is why Xante promotes the use of heavy card stock
- Oce’ announced it has placed a CS650 (relabeled bizhub PRO C6500) at Spectrum Digital Services, a print shop in Wisconsin.
- Oce’ announced it has purchased a wide format dealer in France, named Intersoft.
- More info on the new color wide format unit from Oce’, the ColorWave 600:
o Base MSRP of $62,000.00 tentative
o Uses “CrystalPoint” technology, using “TonerPearls”. This is very similar to the wax sticks that Xerox uses in some Phaser color printers, except the wax is round instead of block shaped.
o Oce’ has invested $150 million in R&D for this device
o Replacement CMYK cartridges ($280 each) are made of clear plastic so that end users can tell when they need to be replaced
o Plant in Venlo, Netherlands can produce 300 cartridges per day
o End users are not allowed to refill cartridges, as Oce’ claims this would bring dust into the system, and destroy print heads
o Yield of cartridges is ability to print 2,000 square meters of color print at 5% coverage per color
o Uses 130 degrees Centigrade of heat to melt wax, which is then sprayed onto paper, which causes it to cool and harden
o If prints are put outside, image will last only 4 weeks
o Printheads image 1.4” wide, so print heads must move back and forth across roll of paper
o 600x600dpi actual resolution, but advertised as offering 1200dpi like quality
o Top speed of one “E” sized sheet (36”X48”) in 31 seconds in low quality economy mode
o In best quality Presentation mode, one “E” size sheet in three minutes
- Sharp gave out more details on its new A4 color MFPs to be introduced this fall:
o One unit will offer 31ppm color and b/w
o Second unit will offer 40ppm color and b/w
o Will only run letter or legal size paper (unlike A3 models which can handle 11”x17” or larger)
o Will launch 16 more models in next year
o In January, it will launch print only versions
o New models will feature a textured outside exterior (parallel grooves or striations), that may not be liked by end users
o Will have 8.5” full color LCD touch screen display
o Use separate toner, drum and developer for low cost per page as compared to HP Color LaserJet MFPs
o Optional internal finisher (does not hang off side of MFP, no booklet making)
o Up to 4 paper trays maximum
o Toner yield of 10,000 pages based on 5% coverage per page
o Black drum and black developer yield of 60,000 pages
o Color drums and developer have yield of only 30,000 pages
o Fuser life of 100,000 pages
- According to Sharp, only 14% of documents are printed on 11”x17” or larger
- Sharp claims that there are 10 A4 devices in use for every one A3 device
- Sharp will also introduce this fall the following A3 color MFPs:
o MX-2600n will offer 26ppm color and b/w
o MX-3100n will offer 31ppm color and b/w
o MX-4100n will offer 41ppm color and b/w
o MX-5000n will offer 50ppm color and b/w
- Sharp will introduce new b/w MFPs to replace the current MX-M350 & MX-M450
- Sharp will introduce an EFI Fiery controller as an option for its MX-M1100 110ppm b/w MFP
- Sharp dealers are expressing concern over compensation for sales reps that sell A4 devices. The reason is that these units may take as long to sell as an A3 model, but offer half the revenue, making quota attainment more difficult. They are also not happy that Sharp announced the earliest that it will show a production color unit would be late 2010.
- Panasonic announced it has dropped the “WorkIO” name from its copier/MFPs, and will merely call them Panasonic.
- Hewlett Packard announced it will replace the existing Color LaserJet 2820 and 2840 models with the new Color LaserJet CM2320 offering:
o 4 tandem OPC drum design
o 20ppm color or b/w
o A4 model, meaning letter/legal size printing only
o Desktop copy/print/scan
o Base engine weighs 65lbs.
o PCL & PostScript print drivers
o 250 sheet paper drawer and 50 sheet stack bypass
o 50 sheet document feeder
o Optional fax and auto duplex
o Optional 2nd paper drawer
o Made by Canon
o Base MSRP of $699
o Optional extended warranties do NOT include supplies
- IKON announced it will relabel several desktop laser printers from Ricoh. They will be named IKON BusinessPro, which is same prefix IKON uses for its relabeled Konica Minolta MFPs.
- Xerox received a certification from J.D. Power & Associates for customer service excellence, based on a survey of 1,000 Xerox customers.
- Xerox announced it is working on a high speed color MFP, that will use hot wax:
o wax technology is currently used in some of the Xerox Phaser desktop color printers
o technology was originally developed by Tektronix of Wilsonville, Oregon, which Xerox bought
o uses stainless steel printheads, that heat up to over 300 degrees Farenheit to melt the wax and spray on paper
o wax cools and solidifies on contact with paper
o possible print speed of 70ppm
o selling price, cost per page, and ship date unknown
- Xerox announced that Phaser 3635MFP featuring:
o Actually made by Samsung of Korea
o Base MSRP of $1799 ($2099 with fax)
o 35ppm top speed
o 600dpix600dpi, 1200x1200dpi selectable
o 50 sheet RADF
o PCL and PostScript print drivers
o 360MHz processor
o 256MB RAM & 80GB hard drive
o Optional extended warranties do NOT include supplies
- Xerox also launched the WorkCentre 5222, 5225 & 5230 models:
o b/w laser MFPs actually made by Fuji of Japan
o 22, 25 & 30ppm
o Copy/fax/print/scan
o All models offer EIP, which means that they can have optional sofrware access from the copier control panel
- Xerox launched the WorkCenter 7346 color MFP offering:
o Base MSRP of $15,199
o Based on the Imari engine used in current Xerox color MFPs, like the DocuColor 250
o Uses polymerized toner, called Xerox EA (emulsion aggregate)
o 45ppm black and 40ppm color (model number does not represent print speeds)
o Actually made by Fuji of Japan
o 1200x1200dpi resolution, 2/4 bit
o Does NOT offer true 8 bits per pixel
o Maximum duty cycle of 150,000 per month
o 6.7 second first copy time
o 70 second warmup time
o $995 for fax option, $1495 for dual line kit, $795 for network fax
o Comes out of box with one 520 sheet drawer and a 1000 sheet stack bypass
o Comes standard with RADF (holds 75 originals) and auto duplex
o $800 to add three more 520 sheet paper drawers
o $1000 for a 2520 sheet large capacity paper deck
o $2000 for a stapling finisher
o $2995 for stapling, hole-punching finisher
o $4995 for a booklet making finisher
o Optional service/supply contracts include:
Black toner yield of 26,000 pages based on 5% coverage
Color toners yield of 16,000 pages
Each of 4 drums has yield of 26,000 pages
Fuser yield of 150,000 pages
o Built-in print controller
PCL and PostScript
10/100BaseT ports (does not offer 1000BaseT)
USB for $495
1.5GB RAM & 40GB hard drive
667MHz processor
Scanning is a $1400 option, and another $795 for thumbnail preview
o Optional embedded EFI Fiery for $4195
2.8GHz processor, 512MB RAM & 80GB hard drive
- Xerox announced it has sold an iGen3 system to Dialogue Solutions, a print shop in Kent, England. It also sold a 650 system, which prints up to 616ppm on rolls of paper using flash fusing technology, to Multisets print shop in England.
- Epson announced it has developed a high speed desktop color inkjet printer to compete with HP. Details on the new B-500DN:
o Laser like speed of 33ppm in b/w or color
o No warmup time
o A4 model
o Up to 5760x1440dpi
o Automatic nozzle examination technology to prevent clogged inkjet heads
o 20,000 page per month max duty cycle
o Company is considering making an MFP out of product
o Uses Epson DURABrite ink
o Ink tanks hold up to 8000 black page yield or 7000 color page yield based on 5% coverage per color
o Optional duplexing
o Tentative base MSRP of $770
- Peerless, maker of print controllers for Kyocera and others, announced it no longer has a partnership with Adobe to provide PostScript compatibility. (Kyocera purchased the print controller part of Peerless, and may choose to license PostScript on its own)
- Xeikon announced it has sold two 8000 production color systems to Howard Hunt Group, a print shop in England.
- Blackwell, a bookstore in England, become the first company to order a Espress Book Machine. This device uses a Kyocera b/w laser printer and a Konica Minolta desktop color laser printer to make a bound, 300 page booklet with color cover in 7 minutes.
WEEKEND MFP INDUSTRY NOTES
7-6-08
The following is a quick review of copier/MFP industry news from industry publications.
- Oce’ announced that, due to poor financial performance and declining sales, it will terminate 600 employees. Its profits recently dropped 70% and sales declined 9.3%. The layoffs are in addition to the already announced 350 employees let go. Oce’ stated that the job cuts will affect all divisions, except for sales reps.
- Canon announced that its factory branch in the Chicago area sold an imagePRESS C7000VP production color system to Sir Speedy print shop of Naperville, IL. It also bundled with it Fusion Pro variable data software, from Printable Technologies.
- Canon claims that it has sold 300 each of the C7000VP in Europe.
- Canon unveiled architectural plans for its new North American headquarters:
o located in Melville, NY (Town of Huntington on Long Island)
o 690,000 square feet of space
o 5 story building
o Occupies 52 acres
o Designed by HOK Architects (also designed new Yankee Stadium)
o Will house 2500 employees
o Expected grand opening in late 2010
- Canon is now shipping new b/w MFPs, the imageRUNNER 3225/3230/3235/3245 series:
o Speeds are 25, 30, 35 & 45ppm respectively
o Uses imageCHIP II (concurrent hyper intelligent platform)
o Universal Send (color scanning, even though the unit only outputs in b/w)
o Color LCD touch screen control panel (even though output is only in b/w)
o 1200x1200dpi
o HDD encryption option
o RADF with 100 sheet original capacity
o “i” models come with print controller that offers both PCL, XPS and PostScript emulations
o USB port to print from or scan to
o Optional fax board
- Okidata announced one of its dealers won a print management bid with the Westbury School District of New York. Details according to Okidata:
o 38% savings on current printing costs or $12,000 per month
o 16 month return on investment
o Annual savings of $150,000 per year, or 5 year savings of $760,000
o School was spending $480,000 per year on printing
o Will remove all current color inkjet printers and replace them with color LED page printers
o Use Okidata’s Color Access Policy software to control and manage printing
- Okidata announced it has entered into a licensing agreement with Acacia Research Corp. in regards to remote print tracking software.
- Ricoh announced it has purchased HCR CompensationXL software to manage the pay program of its employees in North America.
- Danka’s former VP, Todd Hukuson, left to become VP of Sales for Linear LLC, a provider of home security and audio video installations for homeowners.
- Xerox is conducting free webinars for its print for pay customers that have Premier Partner service agreements. The webinars offer:
o how to sell to vertical markets, including healthcare, legal, etc.
o how to advertise
o how to price VDP products
- Amazon.com announced it will launch a product called; “Kindle”. It will supposedly be a wireless electronic display that looks like a sheet of paper
- The United States Postal Service announced the following:
o Total mail volume increased by 6 million pieces as compared with last year
o Cut sheet paper usage is up by 336,200 tons
o Book shipments up 10 million
o 60.6% of people surveyed preferred to be contacted by direct mail for advertisements
o Reading from paper is up to 30% faster than reading from a computer screen
- Konica Minolta announced it would spend 18 billion yen to build a new factory to produce TAC film, which is used in LCD displays. The plant will be in Kobe, in western part of Japan.
- Ricoh announced it will place a large lighted billboard in Times Square in New York. Details:
o corner of 7th Ave and 42nd St.
o 47 feet x 126 feet
o Powered by 45 solar panels and 4 wind turbines
- Xerox announced it now employs 170 people at its black pulverized toner plant in Oklahoma City, OK.
- Interesting details about the UPS Worldport distribution center (which Konica Minolta uses):
o in Louisville, KY
o 5.1 million square feet of space
o 30,500 conveyor belts comprising 170 miles
o Built between two parallel airport runways
o UPS plane can land every minute during peak nighttime hours
o Uses 264 jets
Dozens of Boeing 757s
Number of Boeing 747s
World’s ninth largest air carrier
90 arrive each night
70 can dock at one time
o handles 900,000 next day air packages each night
o 400,000 second day packages each day
o 900,000 packages total per day on average
o Packages are only touched by human hands twice, by send and receiver
o Cost $1.1 billion to build facility
- A copier dealer in New York is raided by local police. Glen Falls Business Machines, a Kyocera and Sharp dealer in Glen Falls, NY, was searched by state police, and had two computers confiscated. Warren County District Attorney, Kate Hogan, is investigating owner, Lawrence Mancini, over possible fraud by “changing the covers” of the copiers. State Police Senior Investigator Steven Ortiz stated a grand jury is reviewing the situation.
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