August 23, 2016

Sharp finally sold

– Taiwan’s Foxconn (aka Hon Hai Precision Co.) completed its $3.8 billion takeover of the cash-strapped Sharp of Japan following approval by the Chinese antitrust authorities. 
– Named Tai Jeng-wu, vice chairman of Hon Hai, as new president and chief executive officer of Sharp.
– Sharp is now the first major Japanese electronics firm to be acquired by a foreign company.
– Former Sharp president & CEO Kozo Takahashi stepped down on Friday
– Tai, known as the No. 2 man at Hon Hai, headed by Chairman Terry Gou, is the first leader to be chosen from outside Sharp since its founding.
– The new management aims to turnaround Sharp in about two years through measures including potentially 7,000 job cuts, and will draft a mid-term plan in October.
– Sharp posted a massive consolidated group net loss for the second consecutive year for the year ended March, while its excess debt expanded to 75 billion yen at the end of June from 31.2 billion yen three months prior.
– The net debt status was wiped out by a capital injection from Hon Hai.
– Mizuho Bank and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, two of Sharp’s main creditor banks, established a new credit line of 300 billion yen.
– The company plans to accelerate the development and mass production of electroluminescent display panels, which are expected to draw high demand.
– No update provided on Sharp’s MFP/printer division

Muratec Top Secondary Manufacturer

– BTA Channel Choice award awarded the last 27 years.
– Award is based on BTA survey of top primary and top secondary manufacturers.
– Eleventh (11th) time Muratec has been recognized with this award in last fourteen (14) years.
– Muratec’s distribution strategy is based exclusively in the independent office equipment dealer.

Teachers surveyed about printing habits

– Conducted by Office Depot
– Teachers in the U.S. spend $4 billion per year to print/copy classroom materials
– Average spend per teacher of $3000
– 60% of teachers believe that use of digital curriculum has not saved time on copying/printing
– Over 50% use parent volunteers or aides to help with copying/printing

Kyocera makes acquisition

– Announced it will acquire all shares of Melles Griot KK of Japan
– Is a manufacturer specializing in optical lens components
– To be used to create products for the factory automation and medical markets

 

AIIM relaunches its training program

– AIIM is the Association for Information & Image Management
– Originally launched its Certified Information Professional (CIP) program in 2010, but only 1000 CIP certifications were issued in 6 years o Spent $200,000 to develop program

– Now offers Quick Study courses, which are 20 minutes and are $50-$60 each
– Still offers Deep Dive Masters certification, which 2000 people have completed

Fabsoft launches new Reform solution

– Now shipping the Reform Print Server and Print To Me solution
– Support mobile device printing
– Offers “follow me” printing solution
– (competes with Nuance Equitrac, Output Manager, Papercut, etc.
– Pricing not announced

Survey about counterfeit toner cartridges

– Survey of dealer channel conducted by CONTEXT
– 55% claim manufacturers could do a lot more to stop growing problem of illegal consumables o 37% believe that channel could do more
o 35% believe that government could do more § 30% are not sure what role government could take to help

– 58% believe it is easy for them to spot counterfeits o 15% believe end users can spot counterfeits

Epson launched A3 color MFP

– Launched the WorkForce ET-16500 color inkjet system
– Base MSRP of $1199
– Features PrecisionCore piezo crystal inkjet printhead technology
– Uses EcoTank ink bags o Black yield of 10,500 pages based on 5% coverage per page
o Color inks yield 11,000 pages based on 5%

– Handles up to 13”x19” paper size o Paper tray holds up to 150 sheets

– Auto 2 sided printing

Ricoh unveils quarter earnings report

– Sales down 9.5%
– Gross profit down 11.6%
– Operating profit down 47.4%
– Earnings per share down 11.33%
– Office imaging division revenue down 12.4%
– Production print division revenue down 6.2%

Xerox plans to acquire more firms

– Outgoing CEO, Ursula Burns, stated; “We still have $100 million in our plan for M&A, fairly modest plans for 2016”
– “small tuck-in acquisitions”
– “if we can find them in the areas that are important for us”

Ricoh production color print speed delay?

– Article written by printshop owner details apparent job slow down issue with Ricoh Pro C7110 production color system
– Supposedly, when printing a job with a tab sheet, the system pauses 7 seconds before pulling and printing the tab sheet
– This apparently happens even if fusing setting is same for tab sheet as well as rest of job

Ricoh wins production print contract

– Award from MTP Media of Kendal, Cumbria, Indian
– Installed a Ricoh Pro C7100X production color system
– Included 5th toner station for clear or white toner
– Director Dean Lowes gave reasons for choosing Ricoh; “We went to see lots of competitor machines and the print quality is similar but Ricoh offered a little bit more for us in that we can run longer sheets (720mm), landscape and three-panel A4 and the vacuum fed tracer is built in” o “For the price we paid for it (white toner option) it is worth having because it gives you something else to sell”

Canon wins production print contract

– Award from Alphagraphics location in Brookfield, Wisconsin
– Installed an imageRUNNER ADVANCE 8595i and imagePRESS C700
– Owner’s reason for choosing Canon; “The uptime on the new machines is significantly better, as is the color output which is important….”
– The C700 will be used to produce color envelopes and variable data printing

Avery launches new labels for PPS

– Now shipping the AveryPro product line
– New collection of label sheet stock designed for digital production color toner systems
– Available in SRA3 cut sheet format
– Includes ultra-durable films coupled with specially formulated high-tech adhesives
– Suitable for outdoor usage
– Features an “adhesive free safety-edge” to prevent service issues on the equipment

Novitex wins law firm contract

– Award from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, part of the AM Law 50 list of the largest firms in the U.S.
– 5 year contract to deliver a Word Processing solution for legal document production

EFI partners with DLL

– EFI announced it will use DLL (De Lage Landen) for financing of its large format inkjet printers
– Including VUTEk, Jetrion, Cretaprint, Quantum, Reggiani, and Nozomi product lines

Square 9 adds more capability

– “immediately thrusts Square 9 fully into the Enterprise Capture Automation space”
– SmartSearch 4.4 with GlobalCapture pairs Document Capture Automation with ECM
– Will also offer GlobalCapture as a standalone product
– Documents can be released to any ECM through standard csv/image formats
– Enhanced core based licensing model, as opposed to page count licensing for multi-threaded image processing
– Web based drag and drop design interface
– Perform database design and configuration tasks through web browser based interface
– Make OCR adjustments like auto rotation, text case changes, font type selection

Brother to offer secure print solution

– Announced partnership with Ringdale Software
– Ringdale offers print management solution (competes with Nuance Equitrac, Output Manager, Papercut, nQueue, etc.) and is owner of the “FollowMe” branding
– Can be integrated into panel of Brother MFPs that offer BSI feature

PIA survey of commercial printers

– 28% have production inkjet systems o 46% have wide format color inkjet systems
o 76% have production print toner systems

– Most popular products produced: o 76% = brochures
o 75% = direct mail
o 72% = pamphlets
o 70% = business cards
o 68% = posters
o 66% = catalogs

Photizo Group published info on CRDs

– Research done of in-plant print shops in the U.S.
– There are just over 50,000 in-plant printing facilities in the U.S.
– Total number declines by 3-5% per year
– Higher education institutions print more than any other vertical market
– Top 10 inplants in the U.S. by print volume: o Allstate Insurance = $158 million
o U.S. Government Publishing Office = $129 million
o State of California = $62 million
o Amway = $45 million
o Mayo Clinic = $17 million
o State of Colorado = $17 million
o University of Oklahoma = $16 million
o Pennsylvania State University = $16 million
o World Bank Group = $16 million

Large dealer makes another acquisition

– Marco, headquartered in St. Cloud, Minnesota, announced it has acquired Document & Network Technologies (DNT) of St. Louis, Missouri
– DNT’s president is Mike Golinvaux, and claims to have 3,400 customers o Dealer for Toshiba, Konica Minolta and Lexmark

– Besides sales and service of MFPs and printers, DNT also offers off-site production for overflow projects,  shredding services and IT Services
– This is Marco’s 14th acquisition in past 3 years

Two dealers merge

– Stan’s – LPS Midwest announced it has merged with Stateline Copy Products
– Stan’s covers northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin with Ricoh products
– Stateline, located in South Beloit, Illinois, is a Toshiba, Ricoh, HP and Lexmark dealer

Smartphone usage

– Survey conducted by CivicScience
– U.S. Internet users who report addiction to mobile device o Ages 13-24 = 76%
o Ages 25-34 = 66%
o Ages 35-54 = 58%
o Ages 55+ = 39%

– Frequency of checking smartphone o 19% = few times per day
o 20% = 10 times per hour
o 25% = every 15 minutes
o 36% = twice per hour

docSTAR wins ECM contract

– Award from Craft Brew Alliance, Inc. of Portland, Oregon
– Also includes Smart AP Automation, data capture, workflow and electronic forms
– Integrated with Sage 500 ERP
– Reasons it choose docSTAR ECM: o Reduce redundant coding and data entry
o Managed 11,000 vendors in system
o Stream line invoice approvals, coding and matching
o Reduce late payments
o Provide invoice inquiry
o Reduce field sales time spent processing and managing paperwork
o Reduce the 1.5 million sheets of paper consumed annually

Managed print services survey of dealers

– Conducted by Photizo Group of a select group of large dealers who have at least 10 years of managed print services experience
– Average MPS contract length = 5 years
– Average SMB sales cycle = 73 days
– Average enterprise sales cycle = 170 days
– Sales reps lead with cost reduction = 69%
– Dedicated MPS executive = 92%
– Customer retention ratio = 96%
– Proposal to close ratio per rep = 50%
– Average revenue per employee = $294,118
– Average of 6 reps per manager
– Average monthly revenue per customer = $4750
– Average monthly clicks per customer = 66,000
– Average monthly revenue per device = $141

Managed print services survey of customers

– Conducted by Quocirca of enterprise customers
– 80% are looking to grow strategically through efficiency in digital transformation
– 52% leverage their MFPs for productivity – capture, routing and storage
– 27% feel their current MPS provider does not have strategy for paper to digital process

Court blames faulty printer

– The Attorney General of the state of Illinois is being blamed for possible making evidence unusable
– Apparently when the State’s Attorney office printed out case files, the image was enlarged so that the “Area Central Basement” stamp was not printed in the margin of the page
– The case files have to do with the wrongful prosecution lawsuit filed against the city of Chicago by Nathson Fields, a former Death Row inmate who was cleared of a double murder

Neopost launches desktop color printer

– Named the MACH 6
– Uses Memjet color inkjet technology
– Aimed at customers looking to print on envelopes
– Top speed of 30 inches per second at 1600x1600dpi
– Pricing not announced

Toshiba now shipping new A3 MFPs

– eSTUDIO 7506AC series of color MFPs
– black/dark grey plastic exterior
– 506AC is 55ppm, 6506AC is 65ppm and 7506AC is 75ppm for color speeds o 65, 75 & 85ppm for b/w speeds respectively

– 20 second warmup time
– Tandem 4 OPC drum design
– Document feeder scans both sides of original at same time o Holds up to 300 originals
o Top speed of 240ipm (or 120opm)

– Comes standard with 3,520 sheet paper supply o Handles 13” x 19” sheet size
o Handles up to 300gsm paper weight or 100lb. cover
o Handles banner paper
o Can also print on envelopes

– 9” color LCD touchscreen control panel
– Finishing options include stapling and booklet making
– Optional fax board
– built-in eBRIDGE Next print controller o actual maker unknown
o Intel Atom processor
o 4GB RAM
o Embedded application platform
o 320GB self-encrypting hard drive §

Optional data security kit for data overwrite, IPsec, FIPS certification

o 600x600dpi with PCL and 1200x1200dpi with PS print driver
o PCL, PS and XPS drivers standard
o USB & 10/100/1000BaseT ports standard
o Optional wireless and Bluetooth
o Scan to TIFF, PDF, XPS, JPEG, Compressed PDF, PDF/A and encrypted PDF standard § Optional OCR board for scan to searchable PDF, DOCX, EXLS, PPTX
§ Scan to file, email, USB, box & TWAIN

Canon launches cloud portal for its MFPs

– Now offering imageRUNNER ADVANCE Cloud Portal version 2.0
– For imageRUNNER ADVANCE MFPs
– Users can directly scan, store and print document to and from their cloud services
– Supports Google Drive, Box, Dropbox, Evernote, Microsoft OneDrive
– MFPs must have MEAP Web Kit and Direct Print options installed
– Pricing not announced

 

Canon launches cloud based print tracking

– uniFLOW Online now available
– uniFLOW solutions are based on software from NTWare of Germany
– multi-tenant, cloud-based print management solution
– no need for local server
– uses personal authenticated print queues
– print confidential documents using any connected, compatible device
– print job finishing options can be modified on demand before job is released
– track and assess print/copy/fax/scan costs
– reporting capabilities and real time online dashboard
– pricing not announced

 

Canon now shipping new A3 MFPs

– imageRUNNER ADVANCE C5500 series of color A3 MFPs
– white plastic exterior
– tandem 4 OPC drum design
– 5560i offers 60ppm, 5550i offers 50ppm and 5540i offers 40ppm, 5535i offers 35ppm top speeds o Base MSRPs of $23,000, $20,000, $17,000 and $15,000 respectively

– V2 Color profile for improved image quality
– IAP (insulated and air pressure) toner bottle for improved toner supply to engine
– Intermediate transfer belt to move toner from drum to paper
– Enhanced fuser belt to print on rough media and improve black fills
– 10.1” color touchscreen LCD control panel
– 30 second warmup time
– 1200x1200dpi
– Document feeder holds up to 150 originals o Scans both sides of original at same time
o 80opm or 160ipm top speeds

– Optional 400dpi fax board o Optional internet fax

– Optional finishing includes; staple-free stapling, regular stapling, booklet making, hole punch
– Comes standard with two 550 sheet paper drawers and 100 stack sheet bypass o Apparently does not support 13”x19” sheets or banner paper
o Handles up to 256gsm in paper drawers
o Auto duplex up to 220gsm only
o Standard paper capacity of 1,200 sheets
o Maximum paper capacity of 6,350 sheets
o Can add more paper drawers or stand to make floor standing
o Can add side mount large capacity paper deck
o Top tray now offers auto paper size detection

– Built-in print controller o Actual maker unknown
o Uses custom processor (make and clock speed not published)
o 4GB RAM
o 250GB hard drive includes encryption and FIPS140-2 certification § Optional data security kit for IEEE2600.2 and Common Criteria certification
§ Can upgrade to 1 terabyte

– USB & 10/100/1000BaseT ports
– Scan to email, SMTP, SMB, FTP, box o Optional encrypted PDF

– PCL, PS print drivers standard
– Optional upgrade to EFI Fiery (relabeled as imagePASS-P1 for internal or ColorPASS GX500 for external color server)

 

Canon claims it is market leader for color

– announced it has led the 301K-999K color MFP duty cycle segment in the U.S. for 6 consecutive quarters
– (Canon does not certify its numbers in the U.S. however)
– In Q1 of 2016, claims it accounted for 64.5% of U.S. market share in this category o “Canon’s success in this market can be mostly attributed to the imagePRESS C800 and C700”; stated Toyo Kuwamure, EVP of Canon

Canon wins production print contracts

– award from Andi Druk, a commercial printer in the Netherlands o installed a Canon Oce’ ColorStream 3900 production color inkjet system

– Minuteman Press of Auburn, WA installed an imagePRESS C700
– Concorde Printing of Chicago, IL installed an imagePRESS C800
– award from SV Color Graphics of South India o installed a imagePRESS C10000VP production color toner system

Xerox eliminates workers

– In first quarter of 2016, wiped out 4800 jobs and paid out $124 million in severance
– In 2nd quarter of 2016, cut 1300 workers and paid out $73 million in severance

Epson wins production print contract

– Award from Beiler Printing of Pennsylvania

Installed a SurePress L-4033AW color inkjet system for label production

 

Xerox wins production print contracts

– Award from OTC Group, a commercial printer in London, Ontario, Canada o Installed three iGen5 production color systems
o Will be used to produce folding cartons due to ability to handle up to 24pt

– Award from Willow Printing & Design of Merseyside, England o Installed a Versant 80 production color system
o Reasons given by owner Barry Kilshaw for choosing the Xerox: § Impressed with speed and quality
§ Top speed of 80ppm
§ Handles up to 80K/month
§ Ability to print on envelopes

Kodak reports its earnings for Q2

– Net income of $8 million
– Cash balance of $513 million
– Total revenue of $397 million, down 9%
– Operating expenses of $60 million, down 14%
– Production print division revenue of $258 million, down 9% o Inkjet division revenue of $19 million, down from $21 million

Ricoh ships new wide format machine

– Launched the MP CW2201SP
– 1200x1200dpi
– Color inkjet technology
– Top speed of 2.1ppm
– Built-in print controller o Scan to USB, SD card, email, folders, URL, FTP

– Pricing not announced

Ricoh reports its quarterly earnings

– Total sales down 2.5% to 487.7 billion yen
– Operating profit down 47% to 10.9 billion yen
– Imaging & Solutions division sales down 11% to 430.5 billion yen o Operating profit down 39% to 19.5 billion yen
o MFP revenue down 12% § b/w down 11%
§ color down 3%

o PPS revenue down 6% § b/w down 14%
§ color up 18%

3D printer used to make gun

– Police in Reno, Nevada reported that a TSA agent confiscated a handgun made with a 3D printer
– Was loaded with five .22 caliber bullets and was hidden in man’s carry-on luggage at Reno airport, but could not fire
– The passenger, Frederick Candeman, could face fine of $7500

HP exec comments on the copier market

– In conference call with analysts, CFO Cathy Lesjak and CEO Dion Weisler commented on printer and MFP markets: o “In the printing market, it’s about the annuity stream of supplies.  Remember that we place our printers in the market at a loss, and we make money over the life cycle of the sale.”
o “$55 billion in potential revenue as the company gets into the copier market that is designated as A3”
o “Commercial printing today is a $110 billion total addressable market.  That is split between the traditional A4 market on your desk today, and the copier on the office floor, where we’ve got low market share called A3”
o “We are going to move into that space.  A3, taking our leadership in the A4 market to that new market for us.  A3 is a well-established market today, but HP doesn’t paly significantly in it.  Se we are bringing disruptive technology (pagewide inkjet) there.”
o “Any share we bring is upside for us.  Just think: If I can get 10% of the market, I could add $5 billion to the top line of the company.  There’s about 12 payers there.”
o “I would argue that as the category has become more mature, there is not room for 12 players.  Xerox is one of them, but there is no clear stand-out there, not the way we are the clear standout in the A4 space., where we have considerable more share than anyone else.”
o “Now, those A3 players are moving into A4, they are trying to move down into the printer space.  But think about this.  If you were to compare what’s inside one of our printers with what is inside a copier, you’d see that our printer has fewer than 100 parts, versus thousands of parts into just hundreds or less, than we can dramatically lower the cost of service for that device.”
o “People still care about the service cost in A3 – the way the industry works is they charge cost per page – let’s say that’s 6 or 7 cents per page for color, if we can lower the cost per page, absolutely they care; channel partners can pass along the cost per page savings.”
o “Total costs the customer will incur is tied up with financing and such, and then charged cost per page, and that cost per page can be reduced.”

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