WEEKEND MFP INDUSTRY NOTES
7-29-07
The following is a quick review of copier/MFP industry news from industry publications.
- Electronics for Imaging (aka EFI), makers of Fiery controllers, announced it is opening a new research and development facility in Israel, dedicated to design of new color inkjet printer technology. It will be run by former Scitex GM, Mr. Eli Shalev.
- CIT Leasing announced it has partnered with Electronics for Imaging (EFI) to provide financing to print shops that want to acquire the EFI VUTEk wide format color inkjet printers.
- Samsung of Korea, announced that it plans on opening up “Digital Zones” in some cities, which are factory direct branches that will offer the company’s LCD monitors, printers and MFPs.
- Kodak announced a contest where it is asking end users to submit videos on-line of bad color printer experiences, and the winner will receive a new Kodak EasyShare 5300 color inkjet MFP.
- Kodak launched a new website to benefit print shops that own a Kodak NexPress production color system, called www.printambassador.com. The goal is to drive digital print buyers to print shops that own Kodak equipment.
- Kodak launched a new magazine to promote the NexPress production color systems, called “ONE”. What is ironic is that the magazine is produced using a Heidelberg CD 102640 sheetfed offset printing press. (someone might want to tell Kodak that they might want to use the technology they are promoting, i.e. NexPress, to print the magazine)
- Epson announced it will launch the Stylus Pro 11880 wide format color printer:
o world’s first machine to use Thin Film Piezo (TFP) crystal inkjet printhead technology (uses electrical signals to change properties of the piezo crystal printhead to allow ink to push through, as this is unlike “bubblejet” technology used by HP and Canon where little heating elements in cartridge are used to create bubbles of ink in the ink cartridge so that bubbles pop and the ink splatters on paper)
o 360dpi actual (“world’s higest resolution” for product of this kind)
o 8 colors (cyan, magenta, yellow, black, light cyan, light magenta, vivid magenta, vivid cyan, light black)
o UltraChrome K3 ink technology
o 30 meters per hour top print speed
o Uses rolls of paper
o Up to 1.5millimeter thick stock handling
o 40,000 ink droplets per second
o Base MSRP $18,995.00
o 64 inch wide maximum paper size
- Canon announced that it will grow its manufacturing plants in Vietnam.
o Currently,it operates plants in three locations in the northern province of Bac Ninh.
o Products from these factories provide more than 50% of all Canon-made printers worldwide.
o (as you may recall, Canon makes most of the Hewlett Packard LaserJet products)
o The company also opened a digital camera repair facility in HCM City.
o When asked why Canon is choosing Vietnam, while others are using China, Canon executive, Mike Asao stated; “right now we have some problems in China, especially “anti-Japanese activities”
- The next big trade show for the industry is the Graph Expo, held in Chicago on 9/9-12/2007. This is a long running event, as it started in 1968. The first show was originally scheduled to be held in the old McCormick Center, but it burned down before the show, so it was held in the nearby “Cow Palace”, and shared space with farm animals. The McCormick Center was then rebuilt to hold the show every year.
- Standard Register announced that it will lay off 250 employees in a move to cut costs.
- A Toshiba plant in Ernesettle, Plymouth, England was a target of arson. Over 500 employees were affected and prevented from reporting to work on Monday.
- The heads of NAPL (National Association of Print Leaders) and NAQP (National Association of Quick Printers) have sent letters to the CEO of Adobe demanding that the Fedex Kinkos logo be removed from Adobe Acrobat Reader software.
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- An interesting study on color printing, found that customers spend twice as much time studying a printed invoice or credit card statement, versus viewing on on-line.:
o conducted by Pitney Bowes
o based on 1,000 end users
o average of 3.5 minutes on screen
o average of 7 minutes for printed
o the average direct mail advertisement gets 3 minutes of attention if sent to existing customers
o the average direct mail advertisement gets 50 seconds of attention if sent to prospects
- Printer maker Lexmark reported its last quarter’s financials:
o revenue down 2%
o 3% revenue growth in laser/MFPs, but 8% decline in consumer inkjet models
o Net profit down 16%
o Operating expense up 2.6%
o Net earnings of $62 million versus $114 million previously
o (Reports that the company will be bought by a competitor are gaining steam)
- A recent study by InfoTrends shows the following regarding print cartridges for desktop printers/MFPs:
o Over half of all new print cartridges are thrown away
o 80% throw away refilled toner cartridges when they are empty
o 85% throw away refilled ink cartridges when they are empty
- Hewlett Packard announced it will spend $1.45 Billion to buy Opsware Software, which makes products that automate functions in massive corporate data centers. The company is also in talks to acquire Bull Computer Systems, the largest computer hardware & service provider in France, with 7,200 employees (and a location in Phoenix). Purchase price expected to be $988 million.
- Kyocera announced it is now shipping the KM-C3232E, KM-C3225E and KM-C2525E:
o replace the KM-C3232, KM-C3225 & KM-C2525
o print/copy/scan with optional fax
o new base MSRPs are $10,711, $9722 & $9062 respectively
o same as the models that they replaced except for:
o come standard with PDF data compression for scanning
o improved image quality (still not 8 bits per pixel)
o have same features as the KM-C4035E detailed in last week’s newsletter
- Ricoh, through its IBM InfoPrint division, announced it will relabel Lexmark laser printer/MFPs:
o InfoPrint Color 1767, 40ppm color and 45ppm b/w, actually made by Fuji Film of Japan
o InfoPrint Color 1764, 35ppm color and 40ppm b/w (made by Samsung?)
o InfoPrint Color 1754, 31ppm color and 35ppm b/w (made by Samsung?)
o InfoPrint Color 1567, 32ppm color and 36ppm b/w (actually made by Casio)
o The optional extended warranties do NOT include the consumable supples
- Riso now shipping the HC5500 ComColor device to replace the HC5000. This product sometimes is positioned (mistakenly) as competition for traditionally color laser production devices (like the bizhub PRO C6500). More details on the HC5500:
o Kodak announced it will sell the product (sold by sales reps who market NexPress and Digimaster product)
o Actually made by Olympus of Japan
o Code name “Orphis”
o Base MSRP of $40,995.00
o Advertised as offering 120ppm full color at only 3 cents per page
o 120ppm is only reached if using the low quality/draft mode, where unit lays down very little color ink
o Does not use a laser engine or toner, as it is a water-based inkjet duplicator using piezo crystal inkjet head technology.
o Image quality is far inferior to a normal color laser unit.
§ At 300 dpi, the RISO isn't up to par with today's color copier and print technology.
§ Although it may seem that 300x300 resolution is merely half of today’s 600x600 units, it provides only a fourth of resolution with only 90,000 addressable dots compared with the 360,000 of a 600x600 dpi printer.
§ Because of a lack of pixels, at 300x300, diagonal lines and serifed fonts display "jaggies."
§ Transitional fills also suffer especially in light areas, but most telling is the grainy look of continuous tone photographs.
§ At 300 dpi, the RISO unit is not likely to show up in commercial print shops where quality as well as speed is important.
§ It may be attractive to budget organizations like schools or churches where price may be more important than image quality.
§ RISO offers image smoothing software with the controller unit but smoothing software is only good for solid areas and has little to no affect in areas that require continuous tone printing.
o Even though the HC5500 can handle up to 11x17 paper, the weight of the paper is limited, ranging from 14lb. bond to 60lb. cover or 47 to 157 gsm. This is due to the paper’s problems in absorbing the liquid ink, and the drying time required.
o Can be used to print on #10 envelopes at 85 per minute (something no color laser unit can do)
o Comes standard with embedded HC3R-5000 print controller featuring:
§ 2.9GHz Intel Celeron processor
§ 256MB RAM
§ Windows GDI printing only
o Optional external PS7R-9000 print controller offers:
§ Adobe PostScript 3
§ 3.4GHz Intel Pentium 4 processor
§ Base MSRP of $4000.00
o no color calibration is available on either controllers
o Two HC5500’s can be cluster to create a 240 ppm printer.
o Uses a one-line inkjet head unit for each color.
§ The unit’s heads spary ink direct to the paper as it passes beneath.
§ Because the FORCEJET™ technology uses no master, unlike a traditional Riso duplicator, the HC5500 can print a different image on each page that allows it to print collated jobs which is a problem for most duplicators.
§ However, with a different image on each page the unit’s print speed slows, but is still faster than most copier based equipment currently on the market.
o Optional HS-2000 scanning unit giving it the capability to act as a copier also.
§ Scan speed of only 20opm
o The unit comes standard with auto duplexing and offers optional finishing capabilities such as stapling, punch, saddle stitching and folding.
o Comes standard with three paper drawers with a capacity of 2,500 sheets and can handle 11x17 paper.
- Xerox announced its last quarter’s financials, which now include Global acquisition:
o 2.3% increase in net income
o Revenue up 6%
o Stock price decreased 5%
o Net income of $266 million
o 40.3% gross margin
o Equipment sales up 3%
- The Digital Imaging Customer Exchange (DICE) announced a new website to direct end user print buyers to print shops that own either a HP Indigo, Kodak NexPress or Xerox DocuColor. The website also lists every print shop in the U.S., that is a member of DICE, that owns one of the production color devices mentioned. www.dicegroup.org
- Xerox now shipping several new b/w laser MFPs:
o WorkCentre 5632 & 5638
§ 32 & 38ppm
§ Print/copy/scan with optional fax
§ Base MSRP for WC5632 of $5499.00
§ Finishing options include staple/booklet/hole-punch
§ Can perform 5 functions at once; RIP, receive, program ahead, process the queue and transmit
§ Print Around feature automatically jumps to next job if the current job can be printed if the correct paper is not loaded
§ Scan data compression
§ Scan to e-mail/PDF/XPS/LDAP/SMB
§ Even though device outputs b/w, it can scan in color
§ SMart Kit program means that even if customer is paying for a service/supply contract, they can not place service call to replace drums and fusers, as end users are expected to replace these cartridges in addition to toner
§ 100 sheet capacity automatic document feeder (top speed of 85opm at 200dpi)
§ 2.7 second first copy out time
§ 600x600dpi actual (interpolated to 4800dpi)
§ Automatic duplexing for 2-sided output
§ Bates stamping
§ ID card copy
§ Tab printing
§ Mixed media printing
§ Optional envelope feeder holds up to 50 #10 envelopes
§ 100 sheet bypass standard and holds up to 100 sheets (80lb. cover maximum)
§ Two 500 sheet drawers hold up to 11”x17” (up to 200gsm)
§ Two additional drawers hold letter portrait only, total of 3,600 sheets
§ Optional 2000 or 4000 sheet side mount large capacity trays
§ Optional electric stapler that mounts near document feeder for manual stapling
§ Includes Xerox Extensible Interface Platform (EIP) to allow for embedded software into the control panel (called APEOS in Europe and Asia)
§ Optional card reader for account access
§ Built-in generic print controller (most likely made by Marvell Technology)
· 256MB RAM, up to 1024MB RAM
· 1.4GHz AMD Athlon processor
· 80GB hard drive
o WorkCentre 5645 & 5655
§ 45 & 55cpm
§ Base MSRP for WC5645 is $9199.00
§ Same as above but can also add post process cover insertion and z-folding
o WorkCentre 5665, 5675 & 5687
§ 65, 75 & 87cpm
§ Base MSRP for WC5665 of $15,399.00
- Xerox sells its first Nuvera 288, which is two 144cpm b/w copiers bundled together to produce 288cpm speed, to FCS Lasermail of England.
- Xerox announced it won a bid to provide equipment to Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC). The award includes:
o 160 digital copier/MFPs
o Will replace 350 laser printers, 140 standalone copiers and 130 fax machines
o Streem Fax Server software
o Pharos Systems swipe card machines and software for students to use equipment
o DocuTech 6135 production b/w systems
o Xerox DocuColor 5000 production color system
o Xerox DocuColor 242 color system
o Xerox FreeFlow MakeReady software
o Variable data software
o Xerox used the Midwest Higher Education Compact Contract, in which it was an approved vendor, so that MATC could avoid going out to open market for bid process
- While Xerox just spent $1.5 billion on buying all Global locations, apparently they are not done buying copier dealers. Industry trade reporters state that Tom Johnson, former Global CEO, has been tasked with courting large dealer in the U.S. to be brought into the Xerox family, to further expand Xerox’s reach into the U.S., and further damage Japanese competitors.
- Xerox announced it won a bid for the print shop at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada:
o Four DocuTech 6135 production b/w systems
o Xerox iGen3 production color system (400K per month color volume)
o Xerox FreeFlow Process Manager software
o Xerox DocuSP print controllers
o XMPie variable data software
- IKON announced its last quarter’s financials:
o 15% increase in net income
o Total revenue flat (no increase or decrease)
o Equipment revenue up 1% to $448 million
o Hardware gross margin decreased to 24.3%
o Service and supply revenue decreased 4% to $346 million
o Service and supply gross margin decreased to 44.2%
o Professional Service/FM revenue increased by 9%
o Long term corporate debt of $571,958,000.00
o Total liabilities of $3,225,139,000.00
o Just hired 17 people to be regional specialists on the new Canon imagePRESS C7000VP
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