Industry News

Toshiba financial woes update

– The Nikkei Business Daily reports that Toshiba is now looking at a potential Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing for its U.S. nuclear division, which would impact entire country

o Cost overruns are set to result in a $6.3 billion write down

o “even under a Chapter 11 filing, Toshiba could still be on the hook for up to $7 billion in potential liabilities, as it has guaranteed contractual commitments”

– Company now apparently wants to sell its chip business in a deal where the potential buyer would retain its current number of employees

o Originally only wanted to sell a small minority stake in the division, as it is very profitable, but now is looking to raise cash to stave off potential bankruptcy

o Hoping now it can sell majority stake in division for $8.8 billion

o “the sale is the best and only way Toshiba can raise a large amount of funds and wipe out concerns about its credit risk”, stated a source to Reuters News Service

o Potential buyers of the NAND flash memory chip division include competitors Hon Hai Precision (aka Foxconn), SK Hynix Inc. and Micro Technology Inc.

– Announced it has sold its medical equipment leasing division to Canon for $277 million

– Also sold its household appliance division to Midea Inc. of China (purchase price not disclosed)

– Toshiba America Business Solutions (TABS) releases statement

o In letter to dealers and customers dated 15FEB17, Scott Maccabe, Pres. CEO stated:

 Acknowledged TABS parent Toshiba TEC is a member of Toshiba group of companies.

 Emphasized Toshiba TEC is operated and traded independently.

 Stock value has risen since first of the year.

 Current events do not affect ability to service or invest in R&D.

– Analysts current position on Toshiba TEC is “Hold.”

Canon wins production print contracts

– Award from Print-Tech Inf. Of Ann Arbor, Michigan

o Installed two imagePRESS C10000VP production color systems, and an imagePRESS C750 production color system

o Reasons given for choosing from owner, Jim Ceely:

 “efficiency and productivity of the C10000 is phenomenal”

 “color calibrations continue to be spot on”

 “consistency of color has brought near offset quality”

 “added ability to print on textured stocks and cover stock up to 130lb”

 “can now choose from a larger range of paper and synthetic stocks”

– Award from the CRD at the University of North Carolina – Pembroke

o Installed two imagePRESS C800 production color systems

o Also installed a Duplo CF-375 folder and imagePROGRAF iPF9400 large format color inkjet printer

Canon ships new uniFLOW connectors

– Announced it now offers uniFLOW Secure Print Applets to support select Okidata and Samsung MFPs

– Provides an embedded secure printing solution

– Allows Canon dealers and branches to support mixed fleets under managed print services agreements

Canon launches another secure print option

– Even though it already offers its own uniFLOW secure print solution, the company announced it is now also a reseller for Levi, Ray & Shoup (LRS), which offers a secure print (aka follow you) solution

– LRS, headquartered in Springfield, IL, already has reseller agreements with HP and Ricoh

– LRS’s VPSX solution also has integration with EHRs in the healthcare vertical

Canon wins Better Buys award

– Better Buys magazine announced it has given a “2017 Innovative Product of the Year” award to the imageRUNNER ADVANCE 8500 series of b/w laser A3 MFPs

– Award given for “abundance of paper handling offerings, options and capacity, as well as various security features and a powerful engine”

Canon ships new production print units

– Now shipping the imagePRESS C750 and C850 production color laser systems

– Top speeds of 75ppm and 85ppm

– CV toner technology

– 32 beam R-VCSEL red laser

– 2400x2400dpi with 190lpi

– Gloss optimization, so toner is as shiny as the paper stock it is image on

– Optional PRISMA software solutions

– Supports banners sheets up to 30”

o Supports envelope printing

o Support textured stocks

o Handles up to 300gsm

– Compact Registration Module (CRM) combines digital sensors with registration rollers to improve back to front registration

– Humidity Sensor/AirFlow Unit

– Optional EFI Fiery and PRISMA print controllers

Xerox wins production print contracts

– Award from Redfern Labels of South Africa

o Installed a Versant 80 production color system

o Use to produce short run sheet printed labels for sale to customers including Dole, Grape Company and Karsten Boerderye

o Reasons given for choosing:

 Inline spectrophotometer

 ACQS (automated color quality suite)

 80ppm speed on stocks up to 350gsm

 2400x2400dpi

 10 bit rendering

– Award from CRD at the University of Oregon

o Installed Xerox Color 1000 production color laser system

o Also installed Duplo DC-646 slitter/cutter/creaser

– Award from Versatility in Print of Droitwich, Worcestershire, England

o Installed Xerox Versant 80 production color laser system

o Reason given for choosing was 2400dpip and ability to handle up to 350gsm

Hyland announces cloud-based solution

– Launched “AirBase”, a cloud-based document management application

– Users add documents to AirBase and classify them in to logical groups from any web browser, mobile device or select MFPs

– Documents are accessible through any web browser

– Can search using tile-based interface

Kodak shows new inkjet technology

– Shown at recent Hunkeler Innovation Days in Switzerland

– For use in inkjet production print systems

– ULTRASTREAM technology offers:

o Modular writing system in widths of 8” to 98”

o 600x1800dpi

o Top speed of 500 feet per minute

– Possible use for packaging, labels and home decor

Dallas firms buys Kodak patent portfolio

– Dominion Harbor of Dallas, Texas announced it has acquired a portfolio of 4,000 former Kodak patents

– The portfolio was once valued at $2.6 billion

– Dominion CEO, David Pridham, commented on where the company intends to collect licensing fees:

o Medical devices

o Drones

o Autonomous vehicles

o “The US smartphone market is licensed with some outliers but that’s not really our play here. From our perspective the play is all of the sectors that are untapped” (which includes phone manufacturers in Asia.

HP wins production print contract

– Award from Digital Lizard, a commercial printer in Las Vegas, NV

– Installed an Indigo 12000 production color system

– Reasons given include:

o Handle up to 18pt thick stocks

o Direct printing onto canvas, plastics, paperboard, synthetics and metalized substrates

HP partners with Pitney Bowes

– Announced that Pitney Bowes and TagG will codevelop a new print controller to handle IPDS (intelligent Printer Data Stream)

– Controller will drive HP PageWIde Web Press production color inkjet systems

– The combo will be marketed to transactional print and mail clients that use AFP (Advanced Function Presentation) workflows

– The HP PageWide Web Press T235HD will offer:

o 48 million/month duty cycle

o 400 feet per minute top speed

o 2400 nozzles per inch

HP announces Q1 earnings for 2017

– Printer/MFP division revenue down 3% to $4.5 billion

– Operating profit of $716 million or 16% of revenue

– Supplies revenue down 3% to $3.1 billion

– Total hardware units up 6%

– Commercial hardware units up 2%

– Consumer hardware units up 7%

– (Above includes all products sourced by Canon for LaserJet printers and MFPs)

PrinterLogic partners with Plus Tech

– PrinterLogic, of Saint George, Utah, offers a print driver management solution and secure print solution

– Announced it is now reseller for the OM Plus Delivery Manager secure print solution from Plus Technologies

– OM Plus is also advertised as being able to provide output management solution form popular EMRs, such as Epic in healthcare vertical

Ricoh wins production print contract

– Award from Powder Horn Press of Massachusetts

– Installed a Heidelberg Versafire CP, which is a relabeled Ricoh C9110 production color laser system

– Reasons given for choosing are ability to run at 130ppm and ability to handle up to 18pt. stock

Ricoh to ship new A3 b/w laser MFPs

– Models to launch are MP 4055, 5055 & 6055

– Base MSRPs of $12,619, $15,169, $19,495

– Top speeds of 40, 50 & 60ppm respectively

– Off white plastic exterior with dark grey accent in middle

– 24 second warmup time

– Black toner yield of 37,000 pages based on 5% coverage

– Built-in print controller:

o 320GB hard drive with data overwrite security

o 2GB RAM

o Intel Atom Bay Trail 1.46GHz processor

o Scan to email, folder, SMB, FTP, URL, PDF/A, TWAIN

 $739 for file format converter

 $345 for OCR

o 10/100/1000BaseT & USB ports

o PS & PCL print drivers standard

 Optional $739 Adobe PostScript and $115 XPS driver

– All will have new 10.1”, “Smart Operational Panel” touchscreen color LCD control panel as compared to models they are replacing

o $180 for external keyboard and bracket

– Optional 200dpi fax board ($1529 plus $295 connector)

o RAM upgrade for 400dpi for $95

– 1200 sheet paper capacity standard

o $1910 for LCT

o $760 for paper unit

– Document feeder holds up to 220 originals

 Scans both sides of original at same time

 Top speed of 90opm or 180ipm when duplexing

– Finishing options include:

o Hybrid staple and stapleless finisher for $1765

o Multifold finisher for $2335

o Bookletmaker $3695

o 100 sheet stapling finisher $3315

o $1000 for hole punch kit

Copier dealer acquisitions

– Rite Technology, a Sharp/HP dealer in Sarasota, Florida, announced it acquired DOS Imaging (Lanier dealer) of Sarasota, and American Office Equipment of Fort Meyers. Florida.

Kyocera makes management change

– Kyocera (aka Kyoto Ceramic Company) announced that Hideo Tanimoto will be new president

o Spent 35 years in the ceramics division

– Former president, Goro Yamaguchi, will now serve as chairman