Toshiba financial issues update
- Toshiba’s liabilities most likely exceeded its assets by $5.7 billion at end of last fiscal year
- Company will not meet government requirements to have its licenses renewed, so it is considering spinoffs to get around the regulations
- The company is reporteuly planning to create separate companies for 4 major business areas, after the sale of is memory chip manufacturing business:
- Water treatment and railway systems
- Fossil fuel power, thermal power and energy systems
- Electronic devices
- Information and communication technology
- Change would entail transferring 20,000 employees to new companies, or 80% of current head count
- The memory chip unit accounts for 9,000 employees
- Company will seek investor approval at next shareholders meeting in June, 2017
- The Japanese government is considering joining Development Bank of Japan and Broadcom to make a bid on Toshiba’s memory chip division
- Would be aimed at preventing this division from being acquired by a Chinese of Korean firm
- Toshiba Machine Co. Ltd. announced that it bought back 18.1% of the 20.1% of the total shares of stock owned by Toshiba Corp.
- “As a result, they are no longer our top shareholder and we no longer belong to the Toshiba Group”; stated CEO Yukio Iimura
- The company is a heavy machine tool manufacturer and did not reveal when it will rename the company
- Since PriceWatersCoopers refused endorse the recent audit of Toshiba’s financials, Toshiba audit committee chairman, Ryoji Sato, stated; “We plan to consider various possibilities going forward.”(implying it might switch to a different auditor)
- According to PCR magazine, a total of four shareholders are demanding compensatory damages from Toshiba
- submitted two actions for damages in relation to accounting to the Tokyo District Court
- seeking compensation of 5,115,911,395 yen and 13,133,064,492 yen on the grounds that damages were incurred due to the company’s ‘inappropriate accounting’.
- Toshiba is seeking to settle the agreement out of court.
- In total Toshiba is currently facing 18 actions for compensatory damages filed in Japan. The total being sought for these actions is almost 32 billion yen. In each case, Toshiba is attempting to reach ‘a reasonably estimable amount’.
Toshiba to integrate with DocuWare
- DocuWare, maker of document management and electronic content management systems, will now integrate with eBRIDGE Next series of Toshiba eSTUDIO MFPs
- Based on Toshiba’s Open Platform MetaScan technology
- Scanned documents, including Meta-data in XML format, are automatically transferred to central DocuWare document pool
Toshiba claims top marketshare in China
- Claims that it was the market leader for MFPs in the country of China for 17th year in a row with a 16.4% marketshare
- A total of 655,200 A3 MFPs were sold in China last year, including all brands, up 4.8%
Ricoh financial issues update
- Print Business magazine published interview with Ricoh CEO, Yoshinori Yamashita
- Company is undergoing a massive corporate shake up that will deliver savings of 100 billion yen by 2019
- Curtailing some activities and across the board redundancies
- Reported that the company laid off 1600 employee in the U.S., most of which were sales positions in the direct branch channel
- Attempting to redirect the business “away from falling margins and declining businesses that unchecked were projected to put the business into loss by 2019”
- “casting aside traditions and precedents that hamper growth”
- In future, Ricoh will steer away from unprofitable deals, stress profits over sales, cut development costs and fixation on making its own machines to move from fixed costs towards variable costs.
- New long term growth strategy will be published in April of 2018
Ricoh sued for patent infringement
- Commercial Copy Innovations (CGI) of Costa Mesa, CA, filed complaint in U.S. District Court of California
- Claims that it suffered damages to its business from having its patents, which involve inkjet printing technology, infringed upon.
- The patents were acquired from Eastman Kodak
Ricoh wins production print contracts
- Award from ThreeFiveFour of Basildon, England
- Installed a Pro C9110 production color laser system
- Replaced a Xerox DocuColor 7000
- Reasons given for choosing:
- Top speed of 130ppm
- Ability to support up to 400gsm media
- Award from Physician’s Mutual Insurance of Omaha, Nebraska
- Installed an InfoPrint 5000 production color inkjet system, and two Pro C9110 production color laser systems in its CRD
- Used to produce 30 million pieces of direct mail per year
Konica Minolta announces Workplace Hub
- Touted as world’s most connected intelligent edge platform
- Developed in partnership with Microsoft, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Sophos, Canonical and BrainTribe to “future-proof business IT management”
- Available Autumn 2017
- Acts as central hub it to simplify IT by reducing cost of IT processes.
- Creates ecosystem to manage and coordinate IT infrastructure and services.
- Creates central dashboard of IT usage patterns.
Sharp has more changes from its parent
- Hon Hai Precision (aka Foxconn of Taiwan) announced more comp plan changes to Sharp
- “The reborn Sharp will be energized under a new system.”; stated Tai Jeng-wu, Sharp’s new president
- The reforms take a carrot-and-stick approach to personnel, generously rewarding top performers who contribute to Sharp’s earnings, while penalizing laggards.
- Previously system increased pay based on seniority at firm
- The new system demotes managerial staff to rank-and-file status if they are deemed to have failed their responsibilities
- When asked about turnover, Tai replied; “I am not worried at all because I want employees to stay if they want to work with me”
- The Economic Daily News of China is reporting that Foxconn is planning on launching new smartphones with the Sharp brand, and will ship 1 million of them by end of 2017
- Foxconn is assemble of the Apple iPhone, as Apple is its biggest customer
- Will use Sharp OLED displays (organic light emitting diodes)
- Announced it will launch the Sharp INTELLOS Unmanned Security Robot Vehicle
- Looks like a small 4-wheeled tank
- Is a multi-terrain, mobile sensor platform with video cameras on armature
- Suited for customers with expansive outdoor properties
Canon forecasts profit rise
- Canon CEO, Hideki Ozawa, has forecasted full year operating profit to rise to 11.4%
- Due to acquisition of Medical Imaging division from Toshiba for $6 billion
- First forecasted rise in profit in last 3 years
- “Canon aims to embrace the challenge of new growth through a grand strategic transformation”
- Said its B2B business is expected to account for 50% of revenue by 2020
- “Enlarging our market share of business inkjet printers and laser printers is one of our priorities”
- “will start utilizing more big data, cloud computing and other technologies to promote the digital and intelligent transformation of the office industry”
Canon launches new production system
- Announced the new Oce’ VarioPrint i200 production inkjet system
- Uses iQuarius technology
- Top speed of 194ppm for cut sheet
- Optional MICR ink for check printing
- ColorGrip option precoats uncoated and offset papers
- Based on same engine as that used in existing i300, which runs at 294ppm
Xerox CEO comments on 3D printing
- In interview with Jeff Jacobsen, was asked about company’s future goals
- “What our goal is by the year 2020, is to have at least 50% of our revenue in growth markets – A4 MFPs, production color, MFP and to generate more share in SMB market”
- “At this point, we are not sure that we will go heavily into 3D printing…..as area that is in the very early stages”
- “Xerox is making significant investments in technology and support infrastructure to expand deeper into the SMB market, particularly in the A4 business”
- “The strategy is sound but success will depend upon Xerox’s ability to take share from competitors that are already entrenched”
- Holly Muscolino of IDC stated; “All of these strategies are short term as they all increase share of a declining market. Market share is simply shifting around between players – there is no net growth”
Xerox launches new ECM solution
- Introduced Xerox DocuShare Flex for SMB
- Cloud-based solution for automation, security and scalability
- Can store and manage a wide range of document types and content
- Scalable storage capacity of hundreds of millions of documents
- Number of users can range from 5 to thousands
- Review process controls that enable annotation, redaction and simultaneous viewing
- Compatible with ConnectKey equipped Xerox MFPs
Xerox signs up new dealer in AZ
- Announced it has authorized Availe, which is located in Tempe, AZ
- “It’s not only the speed of this class of machine, but the quality and media flexibility that set it apart from traditional office class devices”; stated Greg Butler, president of Availe.
Xerox wins production print contracts
- Award from Trevecca Nazarene University of Nashville, Tennessee
- Installed a Xerox Color 1000i production color laser system
- Included EFI’s Digital StoreFront web-to-print solution
- Award from Speed Print of India
- Installed two Versant 80 production color laser systems
- Reasons given include; 2400dpi, and 350gsm hanuling
Xerox in trouble with state of New York?
- The state’s economic development team announced it is reviewing a $6 million tax incentive it gave to Xerox to open a call center in Webster, NY.
- Xerox recently spun off its managed services division into a separate company, now known as Conduent, and moved the call center
- The state provided the funds as Xerox promised to hire at least 500 workers for the center.
MFP stolen from business
- The owner of Old Stage Printing in Surgoinsville, Tennessee reported that a “heavy-duty” MFP was stolen from the business
- Also taken was a large quantity of copy paper
Fujifilm now has accounting issues too?
- Fuji is maker of most devices with the Xerox name
- Announced that it has postponed its earnings announcement due to possible accounting irregularities
- Had earlier projected it would record net income of $1.03 billion on $22.06 billion in revenue
- Many now report a loss of $200 million
- Apparently the issue is that some cost per copy leases, in which the click charge included the cost of the MFP, were written with no minimums, yet were recorded as sales, even there was no guarantee of revenue
- An outside panel of two lawyers and an auditor have been hired to look into the matter further
Large NYC dealer to have open house
- On 4/27/2017, LDI Color ToolBox is hosting “LDI360”
- Held at its Times Square showroom
- Keynote speakers from HP and Computer Forensic Services
- Products and solutions on display will include: Canon, Sharp, Samsung, Toshiba, EFI, HP, Nuance, PrintAudit, MaxxVault, PrinterLogic, Duplo, 3D Systems and others
Arrest for making fake bills with color MFP
- Jacob Carl Stomberg of Snohomish, Washington was charged in Lewis County Superior Court for making fake $100 bills with a color MFP
- Police were called after a hotel employee found the equipment and fake bills in the hotel room he was using
EFI issues latest Q1 earnings report
- Industrial inkjet division revenue down 2% to $123.3 million
- Productivity software division revenue up 7.7% to $35.1 million
- Fiery division revenue down 7.2% to $70.4 million
- Sales in the Americas down 8.6% to $109.9 million
Epson launches new scanners
- The DS-780N features top scan speed of 45opm or 90ipm
- Document feeder holds up to 100 originals
- Scans both sides of originals at same time
- Auto crop, skew correction, blank page and background removal
- LCD touchscreen display
- Base MSRP of $1099
- The DS-770 is same as 780N, but does not have LCD, and MSRP of $999
Canon says healthcare is most important
- As part of its forecasted earnings statement, Canon stated “One of the most important parts of its strategy was to cultivate its health care business”
- Worldwide market for healthcare equipment is estimated to hit $460 billion by 2021, a 40% increase since 2015, according to Mizuho Bank
Mega dealer makes another acquisition
- Visual Edge Technology, headquartered in Canton, Ohio, announced it has acquired Netwise Resources, Inc.
- Is a managed IT services company in Indiana, run by Mark Gibson
- Company also announced it has hired industry guru, David Ramos, as its new VP of Business Planning and Analysis
- Will report to Austin Vanchieri, CEO, and will assist SVP Michael Brigner in identification and development of dealers to join Visual Edge
- Previously, David was Director of Channel Strategy Service for InfoTrends (Keypoint Intelligence)
IDC reports on printing market
- In 2016, MFP shipments surpassed single-function device shipments
- Inkjet printers accounted for less than 8% of office print volumes
- Expected to increase to 15% by 2020
- The total market for A3 MFPs is expected to be $55 billion this year
- 30% of the total revenue for managed print services will be captured by independent dealers by 2020
Auxilio reports earnings
- Company offers managed print services and HIPAA consulting to hospitals in the U.S.
- Stock shares have gained 171% year to date
- Client base consists of over 700 hospitals
- Net income for FY16 was $5 million
- Total revenue of $60.2 million
- Ended year with $6.1 million cash and $5.8 million working capital
