WEEKEND MFP INDUSTRY NOTES
10-5-08
The following is a quick review of copier/MFP industry news from industry publications.
Ricoh announced the launch of a new Managed Print Services program through its branches, which are called Ricoh Business Solutions. However, they did not announce if the program will service other brands besides Ricoh made model.
Ricoh announced it has hired a female professional golfer to be its spokesperson. LPGA pro Paula Creamer, who is 22, will be featured in ads, and on premium items.
Ricoh announced it will be relabeling software form UNETsystem. The software provides Network Access Protection (NAP) agent for owners of Ricoh MFPs.
Police in New Zealand are trying to find the owner of a large copier. A thief was stopped while he pushed it down the street. Unfortunately, the culprit got away, but now the police are having trouble finding out which business it belongs.
In past issue, details of history of Royal Corporation were given. See below edits sent in by readers:
o Royal made copiers in Hartford, CT in early 1970s, with models released included Citation, 1400, 1700 and 1800
o In 1973, imported copier made by Konica of Japan, then known as Konishiroku and called it the Royal Bond Copier
o The Royal 1700, 1800 & Bond Copier were relabeled by American Photocopying Equipment Company (aka APECO). The Royal Bond Copier was called the ABC.
o In 1979, launched the Konishiroku made Royal 115, which was a very successful product (it is on display in the copier hall of fame)
The world’s largest ever printed digital image, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, was created by a print shop in Argentina. Base3 Inc., created a 60 meter by 20 meter full color inkjet poster using a Hewlett Packard Scitex XL1500 system. The large image, taken by photographer Robert Ruiz, is now on display in Buenos Aires.
Competing against the Canon-made Hewlett Packard color laser MFPs (CM6030 and CM6040)? Points to remember:
o hard drive is an option (if customer wants jobs spooled from network, or secure printing, this is required)
o network interface is an option
o 16.2 second first color copy out time
o Can handle up to 58lb. paper weight maximum (not auto duplex of 10pt.)
o The fax board does not include faxing from network
o Optional finisher holds up to 500 sheets maximum
o Does not offer 8 bits per pixel image quality
o Built-in print controller uses 835MHz processor
More management shakeup at Hewlett Packard. Lee Ray Massey, who was Senior Vice President of Imaging and Printing Group, was replaced by Lynn Pendergrass. Formerly an executive at GE, she will work out of San Diego and report to VJ Yoshi.
Fedex Office, formerly known as Kinko’s, announced it will layoff 200 employees in a cost cutting move. The company also announced:
o Will close up to 21 locations in the U.S.
o Will close all locations in Mexico, Australia and the Netherlands.
Kodak announced it sold a NexPress 2100 Plus production color system to Wolverine Business Solutions, a print for pay shop in Grand Rapids, MI.
Kodak also announced it has placed a Kodak NexPress 2100 Plus at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, MS. The system was used to create materials for the presidential debate held on 9/26.
In a recent survey of office workers, the following was found:
o 96% would make a cup of coffee to avoid doing work
o 32% admit to spending time every day looking busy
o 44% admit they would not start a new task or deal with a request that arrived 20 minutes before their normal time to go home
o 68% said that they would work late if needed
o 39% said that they stay late at least once per week
Oce’ announced that it booked an operating loss of 11.2 million euros for the third quarter.
o 7% fall in net revenue
o Would not give a full year forecast because of “uncertain economic times”
Oce’ announced it won an FM contract from Hertz Rental car. It will be a 5 year, multi-million contract covering North America & Europe.
Quick Printing magazine announced that its October magazine issue will have a cover that was produced using a Konica Minolta bizhub PRO C6500.
Acacia Research Corp., which is a company that buys obscure patents, announced it has gotten Brother Corp. to pay it royalty fees in regards to remote printer management functions that the company has a patent for.
In a cost cutting move, Xerox announced it plans on cutting benefits for some of its retirees. The cut in medical benefits will affect almost 16,000 in the U.S.
Xerox announced that its web based document management program, DocuShare Enterprise Content Management, won “Pick of the Year” from Buyers Labs Inc. BLI especially liked the large content of on-line training available for end users of the program.
Xerox announced it will relabel software from Autonomy Corp.
Red Oak Industries claims it has invented a way to make toner from soy beans, and plans on marketing generic laser cartridges that fit in HP printers.
Toshiba has received the “Manufacturer of the Year” award from Marketing Research Consultants for the second year in a row. This award is based upon votes received from 275 independent copier dealers, and not end users.
Toshiba launched a new TV ad campaign to promote its new color MFPs. The ads tagline is “Human Innovation. Leading Innovation”.
Canon launched a new color MFP, the imageRUNNER C1022 offering:
o A4 model, meaning it handles letter/legal size paper only
o Copy/print/scan/fax all-in-one (AIO) (the C1022i comes standard with fax & PCL print contoller)
o 22ppm color or b/w speed
o Based on desktop color laser print engine (similar to existing HP Color LaserJet models)
o Built-in print controller
§ 256MB RAM (can upgrade to 768MB)
§ No hard drive available
§ PCL only print driver (standard with C1022i)
§ 10/100BaseT & USB ports
§ Scan to TWAIN/USB/e-mail/SMB/FTP
o 12.5 second first color copy out time
o 60 second warm up time
o 600x600dpi (2400dpi with interpolation, but not 8 bits per pixel)
o 250 sheet paper drawer standard with 100 sheet stack bypass
§ Optional stand with second 500 sheet paper drawer
§ Up to 120gsm in paper drawers, and up to 176gsm in bypass
o Auto duplex standard (can not auto duplex 10pt.)
o Standard 50 sheet automatic document feeder
o Top scan speed of 20opm
o Small footprint of roughly 37” x 22” x 22” (with 2nd drawer)
o All 4 toner/drum combo cartridges toner yield of 6000 pages each based on 5% coverage per page
§ Uses pulverized toner infused with wax
§ Uses mylar film transfer belt
o Uses 3.5” full color LCD display that tilts and has slots for digital camera memory cards
o MSRP is $3495 for C1022 and $3995 for C1022i
Original Post