March 6, 2016

Sharp finally sells out?

– Multiple news sources reported that Sharp’s board has accepted an offer of $6.2 billion from Hon Hai Precision (aka Foxconn of Taiwan, which assembles many consumer electronic items, such as Apple iPhones and iPads)

– Foxconn wanted to acquire Sharp, as Share is manufacturer of display screens used in iPhones, iPads, and other consumer electronics

– According to some reporters, if Foxconn does buy Sharp, it may sell the copier division to Samsung of South Korea in order to help recoup part of the $6 billion purchase price

– Samsung bought a stake on Sharp for $111 million in 2013, but wanted Sharp’s copier division as part of the deal which was denied by the Japanese government

– Sharp announced it will close a plant in Tenri, Japan to cut costs, as plant is said to have aging equipment.

– Bloomberg News is reporting that Sharp and Foxconn are working “to salvage their proposed $6 billion deal with one potential outcome being a revision to terms the Japanese’s board approved just last week” o Bankers and lawyers are going through a list of Sharp liabilities that could exceed 300 billion yen ($2.6 billion), a last-minute stumbling block in Foxconn’s effort to take control of the struggling Japanese company, according to the people, who asked not to be identified as the talks aren’t public.

o It’s too early to tell whether Foxconn will lower the value of its offer for Sharp or change its bid in some other way, said the people. Any material change to the offer would require Sharp’s board to vote again on the Foxconn proposal, the people said.

o Only hours after Sharp’s board approved its offer on Thursday, Foxconn said it had received new information from Sharp and wouldn’t go through with the deal until it had resolved the issues.

o “It’s a complicated situation. It’s difficult to judge whether Foxconn is shaking up Sharp or they really need some time to check the facts,” said Hideki Yasuda, an analyst at Ace Research Institute in Tokyo.

 

 

Canon wins production contracts

– Award from University of Findlay in Ohio for their CRD o Installed a canon imageRUNNER 8105 and 8205 production b/w systems

o Also included a Duplo DC-616 Pro slitter/cutter/creaser system

o Produces class syllabi, envelopes and instruction manuals

 

– Award from Pii, a commercial print in Bloomington, Illinois o Installed a VarioPrint i300 cut sheet production color inkjet system

 

 

Canon donates trees

– Has partnered with Trees for the Future, based in Maryland

– Donated 214,350 trees in 2015

– Part of Eco Start Program

– Claims to have planted over a million trees on behalf of its customers

 

Canon production print open house

– Canon celebrating 3 year anniversary of buying Oce’

– Held at office in Boca Raton, Florida

– 3 day event

– On display was VarioStream 4000, ColorStream Mono production inkjet systems

– Also on display was VarioPrint i300 cut sheet production color inkjet system

– Announced that future PRISMASync print controllers will have Intel McAfree embedded data security services

– Guest speaker was Kenny Broad, a National Geographic magazine underwater explorer

 

Canon to resell wide format cutters

– Announced it signed agreement with Colex Industries, which is the U.S. distributor for Fotoba of Italy

– Fotoba makes automatic XY cutters designed to create full bleed output and cut down multiple tiles of printed output

 

Xerox wins production contracts

– Award from University of Texas in Austin for their CRD o Installed a Xerox Color 1000 production color system

 

– Award from the University of Alabama’s CRD in Birmingham o Included Xerox iGen4 and Color 1000 production color systems and Nuvera 120 production b/w system

 

 

Xerox upgrades inkjet presses

– Announced upgrades to its Impika production color inkjet rollfed systems

– Increase speed by 30%

– New Very High Quality mode provides 1200dpi equivalent resolution

– Improved variable ink drop size

 

Xerox to make legal vertical buy?

– Reuters News Service reporting that Xerox is interested in acquiring Epiq Systems

– Epiq is a leading provider of integrated technology products and services for law firms

– Includes software and web-based case management, document management, electronic discovery, legal notification, claims administration and controlled disbursement

 

HP Inc. to shed 3,000 employees in 2016

– Is the former hardware (PC, laptops, printers, MFPs, etc.) of Hewlett Packard

– HP CEO, Dion Weisler, stated that the company would reduce the workforce to trim costs o “We have not yet seen the anticipated Windows 10 stimulation of demand that we would have hoped for”

 

– HP has already cut over 51,000 over past couple of years

– The layoffs will cost $300 million initially (severance, etc.)

– Moves made after revenue was reported down 12% from prior year period o Printer/MFP division revenue down 17%

o Commercial printer sales dropped 15%

o Printer supplies revenue down 10%

o Total printer/MFP units down 20%

o When asked about the printer/MFP division decline, HP CEO, Dion Weisler, stated “we consider this to be the new normal and we are executing to our plan”

o Weisler also said HP has a “groundbreaking, disruptive technology” coming, which supposedly is an A3 color inkjet MFP that is “aimed at disrupting the higher-priced copier market”

 

 

HP wins production print contract

– Award from Liberty University’s CRD in Lynchburg, Virginia

– Installed an Indigo 7800 production color system, and has Indigo 5600 on order

 

Lexmark reported its financials

– Total revenue for quarter down from $1.023 billion to $969 million

– Gross profit margin of 39.8%

– Operating income margin of -2.4

– Net loss of $10.7 million

– Imaging Solutions & Services division revenue down 13% for quarter o Laser down 11%

o Managed Print Services revenue down 4%

 

– Enterprise Software revenue up 75% to $174 million

– Total debt of $903 million

– Will eliminate 550 employees in 2016 to reduce costs

– When asked about who will buy the company, CEO, Paul Rooke stated; “We are continuing our exploration of strategic alternatives and are very pleased with the progress being made, including the positive interest we are receiving.”

 

Heidelberg to launch new digital devices

– Unveil during the DRUPA show in Germany in May

– Will announce the new “Fire” production inkjet series (named after the process in which the engine fire droplets of ink on to the paper)

– Labelfire is new production color label system for packaging market

– Primefire 106 uses engine from Fuji, and prints on B1 sheets size (28”x40”) with up to 7 colors of ink, and uses paper feeding system from the Speedmaster XL 106 offset press o Has conditioning unit that coats substrates with a fluid so that it holds the ink

 

– Other systems are Omnifire and Versafire, but no details yes announced

 

CIT Leasing makes changes to board

– Ellen Alemany now chairwoman, succeeding John Thain

– Nominated Michael Carpenter (former CEO of All Financial) and John Oros to the board

 

DLL Leasing wins court case

– Michael Conway, president of Choice Office Solutions of New Jersey, pleaded guilty to wire fraud in connection with scheme to defraud DLL of more than $3.5 million

– When sentenced he faces up to 20 years in prison

– Between 3/2014 and 8/2015 he forged copier leases, and used these fraudulent agreements to obtain financing

 

Toshiba cancels launch of new device

– Company announced cessation of the development and sales of the WearvueTG-1, a glasses-type wearable device

– Was announced on 1/13/2016, and supposed to start shipping on 2/29/2016

– “sincerely regrets any inconvenience that move may cause customers who have made online reservations for or taken interest in WearvueTG-1”

 

Polaroid to launch 3D printer

– Will launch the ModelSmart 250S, a 3D printer for the home

– Made by Environmental Business Products of England

– Uses additive manufacturing technology, using inkjet heads

– Features include; WiFi, internal camera to monitor builds, and auto calibration

– Build envelope of 9.84” x 5.91” x 5.91”

– Vertical resolution of 50-350 microns

– Filament choices include pink, blue, green, yellow, orange, lime, black, white, silver and wood

 

Stratasys invests in 3D printer maker

– Stratasys, a 3D printer manufacturer, announced it led a funding round of Massivit 3D Printing Technologies of Israel

– Massivit makes the 1800 model featuring: o Speed of up to 39 inches per second in “X” and “Y” axes

o Up to 1 foot of object per hour

o Produce objects up to 4’ x 5’ x 6’

o Can print 2 different objects at same time

o Uses gel-based technology called Dimengel

o Uses UV light to cure/harden the material

 

 

Office Depot reports business disruption

– Ongoing issues with its proposed acquisition by rival, Staples Inc.

– Office Depot’s sales for 2015 were $14.48 billion, down 10%

– Sales last quarter down 3%

– Net profit for quarter of $39 million

– Sales in North America down 9% to $1.4 billion o 181 stores closed, with 50 more to close in 2016

 

 

Panasonic launches industrial smartphone

– Previewed the FZ series, with base MSRP of $1500 each

– Can run Android or Windows 10 operating systems

– Has built-in barcode scanner set a 45 degree angle so user can see the screen and use scanner at same time

– Can survive a fall from 6 feet up

– Can survive in 3 feet of water for up to 30 minutes

– Battery lasts for up to 7 hours with phone and screen on at all times

– Extended battery option extends life to 14 hours

– Speaker outputs up to 100 decibels

 

Samsung to work with Amazon

– Announced that some of its printers and MFPs will be part of Amazon’s Dash program

– Customer will be able to sign up for automatic toner cartridge replacement

– Device must be connected to a PC that has Internet connection, so when low toner alert is generated, the Samsung Easy Printer Manager software will send order to Amazon

 

Microsoft makes acquisition

– Announced it is buying Xamarin Software of San Francisco, CA

– Purchase price believed to be more than $300 million

– Company helps software developers write apps for mobile devices

 

InfoTrends on digital packaging print

– Using digital press to produce packaging materials is growing 20.7% (CAGR) from 2014 to 2019

– Value of print by application o 15.9% = labels

o 44.7% = flexible packaging

o 43% = folding cartons

 

 

Fedex Office survey results

– Asked businesses who are using an inhouse CRD to produce work, what challenges they had in last 12 months: o 53% = image quality flaws

o 42% = color accuracy

o 39% = content displayed incorrectly

o 35% = consistency of output

 

– Asked businesses who are outsourcing work to commercial printers, what challenges they had in last 12 months: o 40% = image quality flaws

o 32% = color accuracy

o 34% = content displayed incorrectly

o 34% = consistency of output

 

 

3 people caught making fake currency

– Tucson police arrested Cody Anderson, Krista Blanchard and Joshua Blake after they were caught trying to make purchases with fake $100 bills made on a color MFP

– “We are confident that the printing operation is shut down in Tucson.”; stated Sgt. Rick Radinksy.

 

Lexmark wins ECM contracts

  • Award from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center of Ohio
  • Installed initially the HR department to handle resumes, W-4 forms, personnel files and transfer requests
  • 2nd install was in the Accounts Payable department
  • Integrated with PeopleSoft Financials and HCM systems
  • Award from Maine Medical Center
  • Installed in the Accounts Payable department

 

Ricoh launches new solution for healthcare

  • Announced new Ricoh Electronic Data Exchange
  • Subscription based service that transfers protected data, including clinical photography and images, to an intended destination
  • Capture of info can begin at MFP, cameras or interactive whiteboard
  • Transfer is managed through Ricoh workflow server and delivered to EHR and/or ECM
  • Pricing not announced

 

Peer60 survey results of IT purchasing plans

  • Survey of healthcare IT decision makers, on plans for acquisitions in 2016
  • 20% = population health management
  • 19% = patient engagement
  • 15% = data security
  • 13% = enterprise analytics
  • 12% = revenue cycle management
  • 10% = outpatient HER
  • 9% = inpatient EHR

 

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