Toshiba financial issues update
– Will hold its next shareholders meeting on 6/28/17 in Tokyo, Japan
o Its fiscal 2016 financial results will still not be ready, as its auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers Aarata Corp. will still not approve them
– Announced it was being sued by another group of investors for $399 million in damages over its $1.3 billion accounting scandal
o Now facing 26 separate legal claims for a total of $900 million
– The Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reports that the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) has decided to drop Toshiba from the exchange, and instead demote it to the second tier section.
o De-listing means that Toshiba’s shares can no longer be traded on the TSE.
o a lot of the protections of the TSE are now lost
o any investors who are only allowed to invest in listed securities (such as mutual funds and other investment schemes) will have to sell their holdings
o will likely to depress the share price further
– Reuters News Service is reporting that the company will sell its NAND memory chip division for $18 billion
o Buyer is a group of investors led by Japanese government
o Hoping to finalize deal before shareholders meeting on 6/28/17
o Western Digital Corp., which already is part owner in the division, still has lawsuit in place, attempting to prevent to sale
» “Western Digital used to be a good partner, so we want to continue talks. I am disappointed with the current dispute.”; stated CEO Tsunakawa.
– On 6/23/17, the company issues a “Notice of Revised Outlook for FY2016”
o Outlook for total equity attributable to shareholders is -581.6 billion yen
o Net assets of -303.9 billion yen
o Recognizes that shareholders equity became negative at end of March, 2017
» Net sales down 284% to 4,870.8 billion yen
»
Net income down 535.2% to loss of 995.2 billion yen ($8.95 billion)
» Net interest bearing debt of 496.1 billion yen
Ricoh financial issues update
– Article in the Nikkei Asian Review newspaper was entitled; “For Ricoh, it’s a sink-or-swim moment”
– Ricoh CEO, Yoshinori Yamashita has slogan; “Break With Past Management”
o Corporate philosophy of “the spirit of 3 loves” is:
» Love your neighbor
» Love your country
» Love your work
– Is now urging senior officials to pursue profits instead more marketshare
– When asked by a manager; “It is really OK to pass on deals that do not generate profit?”, Yamashita responded; “Yes, it is”
o “We will incur a loss of tens of billions of yen 3 years from now if nothing is done. People around me warn that our survival will then be questioned”
– Article’s author states; “gunning for marketshare is in Ricoh’s DNA…the company will have to make a 180 degree pivot, even though doing so could further dampen sales teams’ morale and further erode earnings”
– Yamashita has adopted a cost reduction target of $912 million for the 3 years through March 2020
o Much of reduction will come from global sales and service network, which employs more than 100,000
» “could end up losing competent sales people to Xerox and other rivals”
o Since middle of 1990s, company has spent 400 billion yen acquiring sales companies
» (i.e. Danka Europe, IKON Office Solutions, Savin, Lanier, IBM InfoPrint, Hitachi Printing Systems, etc.)
» “cannot improve earnings without drastically cutting costs at its sales force”
Ricoh to be HP 3D dealer in Japan
– Announced it signed agreement to resell the HP Multi Fusion 3 D printers in Japan
– Will be a “Master Partner” and place demo units in select Ricoh branches
Hon Hai Precision factory article
– Hon Hai Precision, also known as Foxconn, is the new owner of Sharp
– Article in The Guardian newspaper, details conditions at its factories in China
– Plants make many consumer electronic items, including Apple iPhone and iPad
– Employees can not enter without swiping ID card
– Plant is so secretive, that a Reuters New Service reporter was once dragged out of a car and beaten for taking photos outside the factory walls
– Estimated that there are 99 million factory workers in China total
– Hon Hai employs 1.3 million in China
– In one Hon Hai plant alone in Shenzhen, 450,000 workers are employed there
– When workers began committing suicide by jumping off the roof in 2010, CEO, Terry Gou, had large nets installed outside the building to catch falling bodies
– Workers have shifts as long as 12 hours
– Example of a job is one employee is in charge of wiping a special polish on the smartphone display, 3 screens a minute for 12 hours each day
– Some workers are offered free housing, but onsite dorms sleep 8 to a room
Hon Hai may open plant in U.S.
– Hon Hai Precision (aka Foxconn, parent of Sharp), according to report from Associated Press, may spend up to $10 billion to open a manufacturing plant in the U.S.
– May announce plans in August of 2017
– Plant would build display panel to be used in electronics made by Apple, Sony, Blackberry and others
– Could employ as many as 50,000 workers
– Possible locations include Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and Texas
Sharp ships two new A3 color laser MFPs
– Now shipping the MX-6580N and MX-7580N
– Billed as light production color laser engines
– 65ppm and 75ppm top speeds respectively
– 4 tandem OPC drum design
– Replace the MX-6240N and MX-7040N
– Off white plastic exteriors with black plastic accents
– 55 second warmup time
– 10.1” full color touchscreen LCD control panel
– Optional analog fax board
– 1200x1200dpi (does not offer true 8 bits per pixel)
– Document feeder scans both sides of original at same time
o Top scan speed of 100opm or 200ipm
o Holds up to 150 originals
– Maximum of 8,500 sheet paper capacity
o Comes standard with 3100 sheet paper capacity
o 5000 sheet large capacity tray option has vacuum feed
– Finishing options include:
o Cover insertion
o Hole punch kit
o 50 or 100 sheet stapling finishers
o Saddle stitch
o Curl correction
o GBC punch\
o Multi fold unit
– Built-in print controller
o Actual maker unknown
o 1.9GHz processor
o 6GB RAM
o 1 terabyte hard drive
» Optional data security kit for certified security
o PS, PCL print drivers standard
o 10/100/1000BaseT & USB ports standard
o Optional EFI Fiery
o OSA equipped for optional integrated applications
Kodak wins production print contract
– Award from Zumbiel Digital, a packaging printer in Hebron, Kentucky
– Installed a Prosper 6000S production color inkjet system
– Reasons given for choosing include:
o Inline die-cutting
o PMS colors
o 12,000 B1 sheets per hour
o 600x900dpi at 656 feet per minute
o Handles media up to 25.5” wide and up to 380gsm
Xerox wins production print contract
– Award from Smart Print Services of Kent, England
– Installed a Versant 180 production color laser system
– “Following a successful demonstration of the device earlier this year at Xerox branch, we recognized that the Versant 180’s print quality was exactly what we needed to stay competitive….”; stated Carl Mitchell, print director.
Xerox launches sales kits for its dealers
– Kit is to help grow sales for its 29 new MFPs with the ConnectKey control panel and optional integrated solutions
– “We are really trying to walk the talk. If the level of difficulty for partners is harder than it could be, they won’t get there”; stated Kevin Warren of Xerox
– The “Demand Generation” kit includes:
o Social media templates with images
o Suggested content to post
o Webpage elements
o Photography
o Inserts for customer emails
o Ability to send out customized invitations to clients and prospects for VIP demos
o Can incorporate dealer logo
– The “Future of Work Forum” kit includes guidance for open houses:
o Suggested venues
o Sample invitations
o Sample agendas
o Presentation materials
o Imagery
o Equipment recommendations
o Logistics and budget guidance
o Social media assets
o Public relations support
Canon gives out top US dealer award
– Award given by Toyo Kuwamura, Canon SVP and GM, to Genesis Technologies of Northbrook, IL
– Became Canon dealer in 2013, and also carries Kyocera, HP and Xerox
– Claims to have a large base of managed print services clients nationwide
– CEO is Michael Kahn
Canon grows in legal vertical
– Claims that it now provides managed services and technology to 29 of the 2017 Am Law 100 firms in the United States
– Includes two of the top 5 law firms
Canon to send satellites into space
– Awaiting launch of a rocket from the Satish Dhaawan Space Center in Stiharikota, India
– Will put the $9 million Canon CE-SAT-I microsatellite into orbit and photograph the surface of the Earth
– Hopes to sell the photos as value added data to corporate clients, as well as sell the satellites themselves
Canon wins patent lawsuit
– U.S. District Court for Northern District of Georgia awarded a total of $4.5 million to be paid to Canon
– The jury founded two print cartridge remanufacturers, General Plastic and Color Imaging, willfully violated Canon’s patents when they marketed their products as genuine Canon toner cartridges for imageRUNNER MFPs
HP unveils new LaserJet MFP demo tool
– Announced new virtual reality demonstration tool
– Allows customer to put on a audio/visual headset and appear to be in front of MFP
– Simulates functionality including replacing print cartridges
– Ship date not announced
HP exec discusses MFP/printer security
– Commentary from Enrique Lores, president of MFP/printer division during recent “”Power of Print” event at company’s Palo Alto, CA headquarters
o “Printers are a very vulnerable part of the network. All the data and protocols flow through the network”
o “We invested to make sure HP printers were the most secure in the planet and we have gone through a lot of legal checks to make sure we can say that”
o “What we have done is integrate all the technology we have developed for PCs, servers and network equipment and integrated it to the printers for the same level of security”
– Guest speaker, Michael Calce, also known as famous “Mafiaboy” hacker, stated;
o “There is one printer per every 10 employees, but who manages them? Are the CISOs even aware?”
o “There are so many endpoints today that are unmonitored. Printers have evolved”
o “They have an embedded OS and 240 functions. Think of a printer as an endpoint and what you need to do to secure it. You can’t afford to have a blind spot like this”
One copier dealer buys another
– Topp Business Solutions (Canon and Lanier), headquartered in Scranton, Pennsylvania, announced it has acquired Raystown Office Equipment (Konica Minolta), headquartered in Altoona, PA
– Now has over 100 employees total, and 4 locations in PA, with total revenue of $20 million, and led by CEO, Paul Falzett
Samsung ships new A4 color lasers
– (HP has still not completed the acquisition of the printer/MFP division of Samsung)
– Now shipping the C4060FX color laser MFP
– Top speed of 42ppm
– 4 tandem OPC drum design
– XOA platform for optional integrated apps
– Also available as print only versions, C4010ND an dC4012ND
Kyocera ships new A3 color laser printer
– Kyocera (aka Kyoto Ceramic Company of Japan) launched the ECOSYS P8060cdn
– Base MSRP of $6188
– Top speed of 55ppm in color
– 4 tandem drum design
– 1200x1200dpi
– 9” color LCD touchscreen
o HyPAS equipped for integrated apps
– Standard paper capacity of 1150 sheets
o Handles up to 12”x18”
o Max paper supply with options of 7,150 sheets
– Built-in print controller
Panasonic ships new scanners
– Launched the KV-S827M100 and KV-S847M100
– Base MSRPs of $22,292 and $24,075
– Top scan speeds of 120opm and 140opm respectively
– 200dpi or 300dpi at top speed
– Control panel is a table PC with:
o Intel Core i5-4302Y vPro.M processor
o 8GB RAM
o 7” color LCD touchscreen
o Runs OCR engine
o 10/100/1000BaseT port
o Bar code recognition
o Automatic brightness
o Auto image emphasis
o Noise reduction
o Multi color drop out
– Document feeder holds up to 750 originals
o Mixed media control
o Long paper and control sheet detection
o Staple detection
o Double feed detection and retry
o Dog ear detection
o Acoustic jam detection
o Scans both sides of original at same time
– Feed tires have 600,000 sheet life
