Samsung apologizes for employee deaths
– Kinam Kim, president of Samsung, stated during recent news conference in South Korea:
o “company failed to sufficiently manage health threats”
o “We offer our sincere apology to our workers who have suffered with illnesses and their families”
– The company and a group representing ailing Samsung workers agreed to accept compensation terms suggested by a mediator
– Dozens of workers who worked on manufacturing lines have experienced grave illnesses such as leukemia and brain tumors
– “No apology would be enough when considering the deception and humiliation we experienced from Samsung over the past 11 years, the pain of suffering from occupational diseases, the pain of losing loved ones”; stated Hwang Sang-gi, who lost his 23 year old daughter to leukemia after working for Samsung.
Lexmark CEO abruptly leaves
– Lexmark, a division of Ninestar of China, announced that Rich Geruson has left his position as CEO and President
– Was hired for job in October of 2017
– Had originally replaced David Reeder, who abruptly left in June of 2017
– No replacement yet named
Ricoh gives up on office inkjet MFPs?
– In 2005, had launched its “Gel” inkjet technology, using piezo crystal inkjet heads and special “viscous” inks
– Various models launched with names of “GelJet” and “GelSprinter”
– Product sales were low, so Ricoh acknowledged it has given up selling these products outside of Japan
Sharp’s new VP is interviewed
– Interview of Bob Madaio, new VP of Marketing
– “At a high level, the dealer world is new space for me. Dealers have a lot of similarities with other industry channels that try to bring their customers the right products at the right price, but the way they are structured and the relationships they have with the OEMs and vendors, is unique compared to anything I have dealt with before”
– “I have been around IT infrastructure-centered technologies for 20+ years. I could have jumped to a new IT systems company, but I wanted to really put myself out of my comfort zone.”
– “One of Sharp’s strategies is to introduce new products to add to what we offer on the MFP side, this way, we can remain relevant in a changing market and offer dealers additional revenue streams”
– “The hard part is: how do we find the right value added solutions and what the Foxconn technology treasure chest can we leverage?”
– “Some could be distractions…”
Ricoh launches new high speed color A4
– Launched the MP C501SP MFP, a color laser A4 MFP
– Top speed of 50ppm
– 24 second warm up time
– 5.7 second first color copy out time
– 4 tandem OPC drum design
– Uses PxP EQR polymerized toner
– Document feeder holds up to 220 originals
o Scans both sides of original at same time
o Top scan speed of 180ipm or 90opm
– 10.1” color LCD touchscreen control panel
– 1200x1200dpi
– Optional 200dpi fax board
o Can upgrade to 400dpi with RAM kit
– Comes standard with two 550 sheet paper drawer and 100 sheet stack bypass
o Can add two more 550 sheet drawers
o Supports banners up to 49.6”
o Up to 300gsm (up to 256gsm for auto duplex)
– Optional internal corner stapling finisher
o Optional 2/3 hole punch
– Built-in print controller:
o Android operating system for Smart Operation Panel
o Optional OCR scanning
o 320GB hard drive includes data overwrite feature
o Comes standard with 2GB RAM, can upgrade to 4GB RAM
o 1.75GHz processor
o PCL & PS print drivers standard (no XPS driver available)
o 10/100/1000BaseT & USB ports
Epson launches new print as service
– Offering new “Cornerstone”, a print-as-a-service program to be sold by IT VARs
– Via a web portal, IT VARs can generate a 3 year contract:
o Includes WorkForce Pro inkjet color MFPs
o Full term warranty
o Automated supply delivery from Synnex
o Device management from PrintFleet
– VARs receive full revenue and margin
– One consolidated monthly payment
– Financing from Great America Leasing
Kyocera former executive arrested
– Kanagawa, Japan police arrested Nobuyuki Nakagawa, former executive at Kyocera Corp. (aka Kyoto Ceramic Company) who is suspected in the embezzlement of more than 100 million yen
– Previously was head of accounting at facility in Hadano City, Japan
– Believed to have used funds to cover entertainment expenses and home loan
Canon partners with PrinterLogic
– Announced it will resell solutions from PrinterLogic Software of Utah
– Includes serverless print management solutions
Nuance details printer security threats
– Document published called “Why printers are an easy target for cyber threats”
– 165 million network printer are vulnerable to hackers
– 21% increase in security vulnerability in last year
– 44% of network printers allow unauthorized access to data
– 63% have had a print related breach
– 90% have had a print related data loss
– 74% of companies do not think printers are a security vulnerability
More details on Kofax buying Nuance DI
– From article in Document Imaging Report magazine
– Thoma Bravo purchase the Document Imaging Solution division of Nuance for $400 million and made it part of its Kofax division
– Kofax has annual revenue of $375 million, and Nuance DI had annual revenue of $200 million
– DI was only 11% of Nuance’s business, with rest being primarily Dragon voice to text, and AI
– Nuance was originally founded as ScanSoft, and was a division of Xerox
o In 1998, spun off and merged with Visioneer’s software business
o Acquired Caere OCR Software in 2000
o Acquired Lernout & Hauspie Voice Software of Belgium in 2001
o Acquired Nuance Dragon in 2005 and changed name to Nuance
– Al Monserrat, GM of Nuance DI, stated; “We went through a diligent and extensive process to find the best outcome for the division”
o “We looked at various destinations we felt would provide the best outcome”
o “Kofax was the best fit”
o “We are in the same industry and the same space, but it’s an opportunity to create something additive, not something where one company is overtaking the other”
– Reynolds Bish, Kofax CEO, when asked if Nuance DI management would stay in place; “we are going to keep everybody in place”
o “we will gradually integrate everything into Kofax so we can better realize some of the synergies”
o “In the long term, it might make sense to incur the development costs to transition to Nuance’s OCR, but that’s not near the top of our list of things we are going to focus on initially”
o “we will focus on the Nuance MFP capture products”
o “we see a great opportunity for further enhancement of our integrated print and capture solution”
Fujitsu launches new scanner series
– Now shipping the ScanSnap iX1500 series featuring:
– 4.3’ color touchscreen LCD control panel
– Top speed of 30opm
– Base MSRP of $495
– Includes ScanSnap Home software:
o Mobile application
o Automatically determine if user is scanning a receipt, business card, document or photo, and launch the correct type of processing and auto extraction
PrinterLogic wins solution contract
– Award from RC Willey, a chain of home furnishing retail stores, headquartered in Syracuse, Utah
– Implemented a direct IP printing solution along with cloud-based print driver management
Printer causes fire at university
– College Station, TX firefighters announced that they put out a fire at Texas A&M University that was caused by a 3D printer.
– Location was the James J. Cain Building, in printer room on 3rd floor
– Several printers and cabinets were destroyed
Dealer acquisition
– Budget Document Technology (BDT) announced it has acquired Reliable Technologies, an HP/Xerox/Lexmark dealer in Manchester, New Hampshire
– BDT has locations in Lewiston & Bangor, Maine and Manchester, NH, and is a dealer for Konica Minolta, Xerox, HP and Lexmark.
