A4 MFP manufacturers detailed in article:
- Article written by Charles Brewer, in ENX Magazine
- Canon is largest producer of laser A4 engines, thanks to contract with Hewlett Packard where Canon makes all HP-branded LaserJet products
- Sales to HP account for as much as 19.3% of total consolidated net sales
- A4 engine sales makes up 42% (841.4 billion yen) of Canon’s Office Business Unit sales
- In comparison, A3 is 694.8 billion yen or 35%
- Fuji, which supplies most of the Xerox-branded MFPs, claims that A4 market is growing 7% per year worldwide
- Total print and MFP sales last year were 181.2 billion yen
- Sales of exports to Xerox were down
- Xerox reported that b/w A4 MFP sales were down 23%, and color A4 MFP sales were down 1%
- Ricoh reported that b/w A4 MFP sales are down 19%, but color A4 MFPs are up 7%
Copier dealer wins managed IT contracts:
- Knight Office Solutions of San Antonio and Austin, Texas
- Authorized MFP dealer for Sharp, Lanier, Kyocera and HP
- Co-owned by Mitch Huffman and John Cheney
- Founded in 1989 as toner cartridge refiller
- Won RMM (remote monitoring and management) contracts from El Tropicano Riverwalk Hotel and The St. Anthony Hotel in San Antonio
Copier dealer wins managed IT award:
- Computer Reseller News magazine, in its annual 2015 Managed Service Provider Elite 150 list, named Perry ProTEch
- Award given for “top technology providers and consultants whose leading approach to managed services enables their customers to improve operational efficiencies”
- Perry was founded in 1965, and is a Konica Minolta dealer
- Headquartered in Lima, Ohio
- CEO is Barry Clark
InfoTrends publishes report on use of centralized MFPs:
- Small and midsized business could be losing up to $336 million per year in employee productivity costs due to underutilization of copiers and printers
- Employees that have centralized MFPs spend 6,500 more hours annually at those machines than workers that have decentralized devices
- Average pay per employee is estimated to be $30 per hour
- Average print job is now 5 or fewer pages
- SMBs average 10,000 prints per month on centralized MFPs
- 64% of employees print less due to automation of business process that once required print
- At companies with 500-999 employees, a centralized color MFP is shared by an average of 39 employees, and 40 for b/w MFPs
Firm unveils new tech for extracting data:
- Axis Technology Group claims to have solution for classifying and extracting data from completed unstructured documents
- Company founded in 2002
- Has won contracts from Alcoa Corp, Lending Tree, TransAmerica, Green Dot and Yamaha
- Developers are in India
- Software works on textual info, and can receive documents from a variety of input sources, including document capture solutions
- Documents must be in TIFF (tagged image file format), so software can apply OCR (optical character recognition)
- Software understands language in context, what’s a noun, what’s a verb, what comes before or after a certain phrase
- Does not use image or shape recognition
- Core technology is mathematics and pattern matching
- User highlights the fields that appear consecutively that need capture
- Customers are charged based on number of guaranteed fields of data they are receiving
- Setup fees are incorporated into price
New Cloud-based automated invoice solution:
- Yooz of France partners with Nvoicepay of Portland, OR
- Automated processing of invoices
- Cloud application for invoice capture and workflow
- Invoices are uploaded as PDFs
- PDFs are run through invoice capture technology that is not template based
- Offer approval workflow
- Includes analytics dashboard
- Data can be released into accounting/ERP system
- Images are stored in cloud for 7 years to meet regulations
- Customers are charged by invoice ($1.25 each on average)
- Company believes that 50% of all invoices in the U.S. are still papers
ECM solution provider reports growth:
- DocPoint Solutions reports 40% growth in its service business and 30% growth in its reseller revenue
- Company focuses on building ECM solutions on Microsoft’s SharePoint platform
- Scott Swidersky is company president
Adobe survey of use of electronic signatures:
- eSignatures have been legal an enforceable in the U.S. since passage of the E-Sign Act of 2000
- 92% = credit card purchases
- 90% = travel reservations
- 89% = banking
- 74% = social network sites
- 68% = tax filing
- 66% = restaurant reservations
- 56% = personal contracts
- 55% = company contract
- 48% = personal financial paperwork
- 44% = HR related employee documents
- 36% = personal legal documents
One copier dealer buys another:
- TGI Office Automation, headquartered in New York, acquired Tri-State Office Solution location in Pennsauken, NJ
- Tri-State OA was Toshiba, Kyocera & HP dealership
- TGI, run by Frank Grasso, is a Ricoh, Toshiba & Lexmark dealership
- TGI now has 10 locations in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Florida
- Purchase price not announced
OPEX wins scanner contract:
- First National Bank awarded contract for processing of 3.1 transactions per month
- Included includes 34 high speed scanners
Kodak wins production color system contract:
- Placed a NexPress SX3900 production color LED dry toner system at CRD of University of Tennessee
- Will take some work off their existing Heidelberg offset press
- Will be used for brochures, saddlestitch booklets, perfect bound books and posters
- Came with optional clear toner station for spot coatings
Kodak launches new production scanner:
- Kodak Alaris shipping the new Kodak i5850
- Offer top speed of 210opm
- Built-in “listening” that stops scanning if it “hears” paper crumpling during jam
- Base MSRP of $80,000
Ricoh wins production print system contract:
- From CRD at Salem-Keizer Public School District in Salem, Oregon
- Placed Ricoh Pro C751EX production color system and five 8120S production b/w systems
- Included EFI Digital StoreFront web-to-print solution
Xerox wins production print system contracts:
- Won contract from Temple University of Philadelphia, PA
- Placed a Xerox iGen4 production color system
- Included a Duplo DBM-150 booklet maker
- Won contract from American Electric Power of Fort Wayne, IN
- Placed a Color J75 production color system
- Included Duplo 500i booklet maker
- Included RSA WebCRD web-to-prints solution
- Won contract from CRD at Northern Michigan University
- Placed a Xerox Color J75 production color system
- Included a Morgana AutoCreaser Pro 33
- Included EFI Digital StoreFront web-to-print solution
- Won contract from CRD at Station Casinos in Las Vegas, NV
- Placed an iGen 4 production color system
- Printing monthly rewards booklets and variable data direct mail pieces
InfoTrends published results of survey of PPS:
- Survey to determine what type of commercial printers currently use B2 digital color presses (like the upcoming Konica Minolta KM-1)
- B2 sheet size is 19.7” x 27.8”
- 5% = specialty printer
- 5% = publishing printer
- 2.5% = photofinisher
- 5% = online printer
- 10% = digital printer
- 5% = marketing services provider
- 12.5% = direct mail providers
- 10% = packaging printer
- 2.5% = commercial packaging printer
- 42.5% = generic commercial printer
- There are approximately 140 installed worldwide currently
Samsung loses reseller:
- Relyco announced it will no longer relabel printers and MFPs from Samsung
- The company converted them to accept MICR (magnetic ink character recognition) toner cartridges
- MICR typically used to print checks
- Will focus on selling check stocks, specialty paper sand multipart forms
Toshiba wins geothermal power contract:
- Plant opened in Olkaria, Kenya, and powered up on 2/19/15
Toshiba/Okidata partnership at risk?:
- In 2012, both companies announced partnership to codevelop and comarket printers and MFPs
- In 2013, both companies starting shipping jointly developed products (Okidata made engine, with Toshiba made control panels, etc.)
- Now, Toshiba announced it will start sourcing from product from Lexmark and resell under its own name in Europe
- Will these products also come to U.S.?
Okidata ships new A4 b/w MFPs:
- All use LED technology
- MB472 is 35ppm for $399
- MB492 is 42ppm for $599
- MB562 is 47ppm for $799
- Based on engine launched in 2009
- 7” tiltable color touchscreen LCD display on MB562
- s17 second warmup from sleep mode
- Bypass supports up to 100lb. tag staock
- Built-in print controller:
- 667MHz processor
- 512MB RAM
- 2.5GB flash memory
- 10/100/1000BaseT and USB ports
- PCL and XPS print drivers standard
Sharp provides details on OCR option:
- Sharp launched the Scan Accessory kit for its MFPs
- Is actually a small PC running MS Windows Embedded
- The PC is encased in white plastic, and bolts on to back of the Sharp copier
- The PC is running ABBYY OCR engine
- Weighs 5lbs.
- Measures 21”W x 9”T x 2” thick
- Needs its own power outlet
Canon wins court case:
- Canon had filed suit against two company who were marketing print cartridges that were advertised as compatible for Canon-made Hewlett Packard LaserJet printers and MFPs
- Two companies were ordered to cease and desist, European Cartridge Warehouse Limited and Printer Supplies Technology Limited
Canon offers new solution for its dealers:
- Launched Dealer Gateway
- A cloud-based solution allowing dealers using ECi Software Solutions’ eAutomate ERP to access and incorporate Canon item information with integration
Canon wins production print contracts:
- Won contract from Data Mail Inc. of Connecticut
- Placed an Oce ColorStream 3900 production color inkjet system
- Will be used to produce variable data direct mail pieces
- Won contract from Access Direct Systems of Farmingdale, NY
- Contract includes four Oce ColorStream 3900s
- Will be used to product variable data direct mail pieces
Canon offers details on production inkjet:
- Will launch a new user group called “thINK”
- The group’s advisory board members are; Bob Radziz (SG360), Dave Johanees (IWCO), Mark DeBoer (Darwill), Andy Gerry (Intersections) and Art Manzo (GlobalSoft Digital)
- Will announced the name of its first new inkjet press based on “Niagara” technology during Hunkeler Innovation Days in Luncerne, Switzerland
- Beta units of new “Niagara” production color inkjet systems to be installed at T Systems of Germany, and OneTouchPoint, IWCODirect, Merrill Corp. and PPI, all in U.S.
Canon launches new wide format units:
- ColorWave 700 color wide format unit can print on stocks up to 32mil
- Uses CrystalPoint wax technology
- Top speed of 1800 D size prints in 8 hours
- ColorWave 500 color wide format unit can print on stocks up to 32mil
- Uses CrystalPoint wax technology
- Top speed of 225 D size prints per hour
Samsung makes move to compete with Apple:
- Acquired LoopPay, a mobile payments company
- Will compete with Apple Pay
- Allows mobile payments through traditional credit card readers
- Purchase price not announce
- Will be incorporated into future Samsun Galaxy smart phones
Samsung loses another patent case:
- The company was ordered to pay $15..7 million for patent infringement.
- The company that brought the suit was Rembrandt Wireless Technologies
Apple’s car design news brings commentary:
- Company recently announced it has opened up a lab to develop technology for automotive industry
- Dan Akerson, former CEO of General Motors, stated; “If I were an Apple shareholder, I wouldn’t be very happy. I would be highly suspect of the long term prospect of getting into a low margin, heavy manufacturing business”
- “They’d better think carefully if they want to get into the hard core manufacturing. We take steel, raw steel, and turn it into a car. They have no idea what they are getting into if they get into that”
International Data Corp. publishes report:
- States that large format printer shipments grew 3.5% in 2014
- Total revenue from sales of units declined 1%
- CAD/technical vertical sales up 4%
- Marketshare for vendors (including toner and ink)
- HP = 40.9%, up 6.5%
- Canon = 20%, up 12.2%
- Epson = 19.3%, down 1.8%
- Roland = 3.4%, down 1.5%
- Ricoh = 2.6%, down 2.7%
Western Europe sees decline of MFPs:
- IDC reports that the printer and MFP market for Western Europe declined 0.8% in number of units sold
- 684 million units placed in 2014, which is down 52,000 units from 2013
- MFPs were 82.4% of all shipments
- MFPs were up 0.6%
- Printers were down 6.5%
Survey finds attorneys don’t know eDiscovery:
- Exterro survey of federal judges finds that they are unhappy with attorney’s level of eDiscovery knowledge
- “Too many attorneys have not gained the knowledge they need to effectively represent their clients”
- “often fail to consider eDiscovery pre-lawsuit or even early in the lawsuit and thus make potentially irreversible mistakes”
Hewlett Packard wins production print contract:
- Won contract from Pemara, a packaging and label printer in Australia
- Contract is for Indigo 30000 production color system
Solutions dealer makes acquisition:
- KeyMark is a large reseller for Hyland OnBase ECM solutions, headquartered in Linberty, South Carolina
- Also has offices in Lebanon, NJ, Indianapolis, IN, Las Vegas, NV and San Diego, CA
- Won the Diamond Support award from Hyland
- Won Diamond Partner award from Kofax Software
- Has acquired Document Conversion Associates, headquartered in Lebanon, NJ, which is a reseller of document imaging, document capture and OCR solutions
- Purchase price not announced
——————————————————————————————————————–
SmarTech Markets publishes results of research:
- Forecasts that shipments of 3D printers to healthcare vertical will reach 2,135 units in2010, growing to 3055 units in 2024
- In 2014, 1,100 3D printers were sold into vertical
- Revenue of materials for medical 3D printing was %50 million and expected to reach $345 million in 2020
MGMA names new president:
- The Medical Group Management Association named Dr. Halee Fischer-Wright as new president and CEO
- (local MGMA chapter trade shows are possible sources of leads)
Xerox still waiting to implement contract:
- In May of 2014, the State of New York awarded Xerox with contract to manage the state’s Medicaid system
- Contract is for 5 years and worth $550 million
- Due to formal protests received from CSC (Computer Sciences Corp.) and HP, the comptroller still has not approved
- CSC continues to extend its existing contract
Epic launching new app store:
- Epic, maker of EHRs, announced it will launch an app store for 3rd party developers to build add ons for Epic’s core products
- Is response to criticisms that company has been a hindrance to interoperability of patient data for healthcare orgs using systems from different vendors
Epic wins EHR contract:
- Won contract from Minnesota Valley Health Center
- Located in La Sueur, MN
ResearchandMarkets publishes research:
- Predicts that global document management solution market in the healthcare vertical is currently worth $220 million
- Will grow at CAGR (cumulative annual growth rate) of 14% until 2019
Hospital orders 2 new solutions:
- Rockdale Medical Center of Georgia awarded two contracts:
- New EHR from Meditech
- Electronic forms, electronic signature solution from Access Software
HIPAA/Data Security update:
- A TV station in Minnesota, Channel 5 ABC News, purchased a copier from Craig’s list from a financial company, to scan contents of hard drive, and report on data security. They found 662 documents, including 25 social security numbers and $130,000 in copied checks. Brand of copier not identified.
- Kaspersky Lab released a report that said its researchers have identified malicious programs or worms that infected computers that have Toshiba hard drives
- Patrick Doucet, who drove a truck for Cintas Document Management of Ohio, plead guilty to sharing confidential documents with others that were supposed to be shredded.
- Boston Baskin Cancer Foundation of Massachusetts notified 57,000 patients that their PHI was exposed when it lost an unencrypted hard drive
- Shorter University, located in Rome, Georgia, reported in September that some student athletes’ records were stolen from a locked office. The files contained names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, and basic medical information, according to the Rome-News Tribune. The stolen records contained information of students involved in various athletic programs at Shorter, and not for all University students.
- Kaiser Permanente is notifying 6,600 Hawaii patients of a potential health data breach after a box of medical documents spilled off of a courier truck on Jan. 7. The papers were being transported to storage from Kaiser Permanente’s Kona Medical Office, according to a company statement.