WEEKEND MFP INDUSTRY NOTES
9-7-08
The following is a quick review of copier/MFP industry news from industry publications.
- Ricoh has started a print and e-mail campaign to launch its Aficio C900 production color system. The company sent out an e-mail with a link to a video on the product, and has placed ads in various trade magazines. Ricoh is targeting print shop owners, and claiming the new device has exceptional image quality because the system offers 1200x1200dpi. (What they do not admin in the ads, is that the system offers only 2 bits per pixel, as compared to 8 bits per pixel with the Konica Minolta bizhub PRO C6500)
o The ads state that system will be “under $125,000”
o Will run thick stocks at 90ppm (since the machine is not 8 bit, perhaps it is laying down very little toner, so it has less to fuse when running thick stocks)
o Print samples still not available from Ricoh
- Ricoh announced it won a bid at the law firm of Shepherd & Wedderburn. The company claims it reduced printing costs 50% by replacing 100 desktop printers with 23 floor-standing connected MFPs equipped with eCopy ScanStations.
- According to Caslon Market Intelligence, digital color page volume in print for pay has grown from 5 billion pages per year in 2000, to over 20 billion in 2006. The company predicts volume will surpass 700 billion by the year 2020. Of this volume, it expects 200 billion to be full color direct mail pieces.
- According to reports out of Corvallis, Oregon, Hewlett Packard has begun layoffs in its printing division plant in that city. The employees called it “Black Monday”, as 300 were given pink slips.
- Pantone Corp. began shipping new software package “ColorMunki”, to promote its color paletes. The software allows end users to add Pantone colors to a variety of applications. (remember that all EFI Fiery print controllers have a built-in Pantone color lookup table)
- Pantone now also shipping its new GOE color palettes. The new system has a total of 2,058 color choices. TIP: When marketing color laser MFPs to customers who use Pantone colors, it is helpful if you own the Pantone Color Bridge. This fan guide shows the customer how the Pantone color will look when printed using cyan/magenta/yellow/black, in addition to how it will look when using actual Pantone inks on a press. This guide educates the customer about what a realistic expectation is when choosing a Pantone color, and printing it using a color laser MFP.
- In a press release for a new Ryobi 4 color offset press, the company admits that the operator will waste 300 to 500 sheets to start each job before acceptable prints are output. The are called “makereadies”.
- The next meeting of the Copier Dealers Association will be at the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia on 10/16-18/2008.
- Hewlett Packard announced it has sold an Indigo 5500 production color system to Acme Bookbinding of Charlestown, Massachusetts to produce books on demand.
- Hewlett Packard announced two new desktop color laser offering:
o Color LaserJet CP2025 features print only with base MSRP of $399
o Color LaserJet Cm2320 features copy/print/fax/copy with base MSRP of $599
o Both require end users to purchase supplies separately
- Hewlett Packard claims that if all Fortune 500 companies had auto duplex turned on all the time, it would save 800 tons of paper per year.
- In an effort to reduce printing costs, Ford Motor Company announced that it will restrict the purchase of desktop printers, and there can only be one printer for every 10 employees.
- Konica Minolta’s graphic arts equipment supply manufacturing plant in Grand Rapids, Michigan, announced it will no longer produce silver halide imagesetter film due to declining demand. Most print shops have moved from analog process to digital, and use computer to plate systems to generate plates for their offset presses.
- Xerox recently hosted an open house and educational seminar for 50 large print shop owners. The event took place on 8/20-21/08 in Rochester, NY, and focused on digital production print opportunities.
- Xerox announced it is developing new software for its production color devices that will allow end users to see on-screen 3D visualizations of folded print jobs.
- Xerox announced it has sold two iGen3 production color systems, bundled with XMPie variable data software to LGDavis Printing.
- Xerox reorganized some of its upper management staff:
o Rick Dastin is new President of Xerox Office Group, which is the desktop Phaser printer plant in Wilsonville, Oregon (formerly Tektronix)
o Russell Peacock is new President of North American Channels Group, which is in charge of recruiting and managing Xerox resellers, dealers and agents.
o Doug Lord is new President of North American Solutions Group, which is in charge of all factory direct branches.
o James Firestone was promoted to President of Corporate Operations, in charge of all of the above, reporting to Ursula Burns, who reports to CEO, Anne Mulcahy.
- In an effort to stave off bad press on the Internet, Xerox purchased the following domains, so no one else can use them to create a website:
o Xeroxstinks.com
o Xeroxcorporationsucks.com
o ihatexerox.net
o ihatexerox.org
o Unfortunately for Xerox, someone already bought ihatexerox.com
- Citigroup announced that it expects Xerox’s stock shares to climb from $14 to $20 by end of 2009, due to increase in sales of color devices.
- Penn State College reports that the paperless office is just a myth. Robin Anderson, Director of Multimedia, stated that in the first quarter of 2008, the school printed 700,000 more digital pages than the same time last year. It claims the increase is due to the advent of professors posting their notes on-line, and students printing them out to read them.
- Once the low cost manufacturing capital of the world, new Chinese government legislation is causing costs to rise. New environmental policies, and wage laws, could boost costs by 20% by 2010.
- Intel gave out details on future computer chip technology it is working on:
o Code named; “Nehalem”, a new Intel Core i7 processor for desktops
o Code named; “Larrabee”, a new Intel Pentium processor for graphic arts workstations
o Other desktop processors are code-named; “Havendale” and “Lynnfield”
o Processors for mobile devices include code names; “Auburndale” and “Clarksfield”
o New laptop product called “Calpella”
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