October 29, 2015
Lexmark is for sale?
– Company announced it has “authorized the exploration of strategic alternatives to enhance shareholder value”
– Has hired Goldman Sachs to help in process of finding potential buyers
– “The Board does not believe Lexmark’s current share price fully reflects the intrinsic value created by the company”
– Company has a current market capitalization of $1.9 billion
– Reportedly has $3.7 billion in annual revenue, with $2.4 billion in annuity revenue comprised of laser supplies, extended warranties, software maintenance and software subscriptions
– Has acquired 14 companies in past 5 years to diversify away from printer/MFP business
Xerox wins production print contracts
– Award from Daily Printing of Plymouth, Minnesota
o Installed a new Xerox iGen 150 production color system
o Included a Bourg booklet maker
o Will be used to produce booklets and variable data printing
– Award from NewTech Imaging of Toronto, Canada
o Installed a Versant 2100 production color system
o Will be used to produce customized solutions, gift ideas and promotional materials
Xerox offers new integrated solution
– Optional LCD panel integration now available for Print Audit
– Provides cost accounting and pull-printing features
– Competes with solutions from Nuance (Equitrac, Output Manager), Pharos, YSoft and others
Xerox to stop making color wax copiers?
– Xerox has been selling printers and MFPs with the name “ColorQube” or “Phaser” that heat/melt wax chunks, and spray the liquid color wax on the page to create image (solid ink process) instead of using inkjet or toner technology
– The technology came to Xerox when it paid $925 million to buy the color printer/MFP division of Tektronix of Oregon in the year 2000
– Xerox Director of Public Relations, Carl Langsenkamp, stated; “Xerox remains committed to supporting both existing and prospective solid ink customers with the highest levels of service and support. However, it is not likely that we will be investing in adding newer higher speed solid ink A3 models to our office portfolio of printers/MFPs. Existing models across laser and solid ink are meeting customer needs and expectations”
– Analysts expect that Xerox will sell out its remaining inventory of solid ink models by end of year and not offer any new model replacements
– This would leave the Xerox CiPress production color system as the only current model using this old technology
– Xerox recently sold the old Tektronix facilities it acquired in Oregon to 3D Systems for use in making 3D printers
Xerox business model described in article
– Appeared in “TheStreet”, written by Richard Saintvilus
– Company is expected to report a loss for the 3rd quarter
– Company is “working to build itself into a cloud and business analytics company”
– “same kind of transition IBM engineered a decade ago”
– “recent earnings show it hasn’t been entirely successful”
– “the company’s document products have been surpassed and in some cases rendered obsolete by digital technology alternatives”
– “Xerox is working to de-emphasize its legacy hardware business in favor of high growth service business”
– “At around $10, Xerox shares are down 26% for the year to date, nearly 19% for the past 52 weeks and down 23.5% for over 10 years”
– “Investors who have held shares since the all-time high of around $60 have likely lost a fortune”
– “Not only does the company continue to suffer eroding sales across all of its business categories, profits continue to decline due to eroding operating margins, which declined 160 basis points to 8.2% in the second quarter”
– “cutting costs without strategic growth initiatives won’t generate the sort of profits to make Xerox a worthwhile investment today”
Microsoft posts first quarter results
– Net income of $5.4 billion
– Revenue of $21.4 billion
– Added more than 3 million consumer subscriptions for MS Office, with 18.2 million now subscribed to Office 365
– MS Office commercial and cloud services revenue up 5%
– Cloud services revenue up 70% to $8.2 billion
– MS Office 365 revenue up 70%
– Windows revenue down 17% to $9.4 billion
– Smartphone revenue down 54%
– Xbox Live subscribers up 28% to 29 million
– Laid off 1,000 employees to boost profits
Graph Expo publishes show attendance
– The production print show was held in Chicago on 9/13-16/15
– Welcomed a total of 17,941 verfied participants
– 11,534 were buyers from 12 key industry segments, representing 6,758 companies
Screen launches new production unit
– Headquartered in Israel, with office in Rolling Meadows, IL
– Launches the Truepress Jet W3200UV HS production color inkjet wide format system
– Optional 126” roll to roll option
– Can produce text as small as 4 point
– Top speed of 1,615 square feet per hour
– 75lpi lenticular output
– Print on rigid or flexible media up to 125.9” x 62.9”
– Handles media up to 1.9” thick
– Inks include cyan, magenta, yellow, black, light cyan, light magenta and white
– Has 48 color heads and 16 white heads
Canon announces partnership with Fujitsu
– Will jointly develop new imaging solutions utilizing network cameras
– Developing technology to enhance image quality of video captured by network cameras, as well as video content analysis technology that enables such functions as the determining of the ages and genders of pedestrians, as well as foot traffic patterns
– Will market technology to retail store verticals and tourism industry
Report on the use of online ad blockers
– Ad blocking may cost publishers nearly $22 billion during 2015
– There are now 198 million active ad block users in the world
– Ad blocking grew by 41% in last year
– Ad blocking in the U.S. grew by 48% to reach 45 million users
– 48% of computer and smartphone users employ ad blockers
Toshiba to sell division to Sony
– Company needs to raise cash as a result of recent accounting scandal
– In negotiations to sell image sensor operations to Sony for $163 million
– Includes some production facilities in Oita, Japan
– The sensors are used in smartphones and camera-equipped electronics
Doc management company makes buy
– Nitro Software of San Francisco, CA announced it has acquired doxIQ
– Nitro has raised $21.6 million in venture capital
– Company is provider of cloud-based document management solutions
– doxIQ, headquartered in Palo Alto, CA, provides technology for converting marketing document into intelligent web assets that increase conversion rates, collect behavioral data and send view alerts
Another doc mgt company makes buy
– Reynolds & Reynolds of Dayton, Ohio, announced it has acquired International Document Services (IDS) of Salt Lake City, UT
– Reynolds & Reynolds is a vendor of document management solutions for the automotive dealer vertical market
– IDS provides document management solutions for mortgage industry
Former typewriter maker launches 3D print
– Olivetti of Italy announced it will launch the 3D-S2
– Will be made in Italy
– Is designed to create objects made of any thermoplastic material such as resin, plastic, nylon, wood, glass, carbon and marble
– Produce objects up to 40x40x40cm
Kodak presented its last quarter financials
– Total revenue of $446 million, down 21%
– Total operational EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) of $39 million, down from $90 million
– Software and solutions revenue up 11%
– PROSPER production inkjet division revenue up 27%
– Print Systems division revenue down 13% to $278 million
Ricoh sells some properties
– Announced it sold two properties, including land and buildings
– Both located in metro Tokyo, Japan
– Did not disclose who the buyer was, or how much they paid
Ricoh wins production print contract
– Award from PHD Mail of England
– Installed an InfoPrint 5000 production color inkjet system
– Will be used to produce transpromo applications, such as invoices, statements
Heidelberg to launch production inkjet
– Will launch new product at DRUPA show in Germany in summer of 2016
– a digital color inkjet sheetfed press that will handle up to B1 size (27.83” x 39.37”)
– aimed at the folding carton market
– inkjet engine will be made by Fuji of Japan
– water based inks
– 1200x1200dpi
Bankrupt printer maker to get new life
– Lumejet, which make ultra-high quality production color printers using thermal transfer technology, but fell into bankruptcy, had its assets purchased by investors, including former CEO, Paul Anson
– Output is designed for pitch books, fine art prints and photo books
– Has 5 completed units in stock to sell, and parts to make 13 more
Hewlett Packard wins production contract
– Award from Foundry Press of West Sussex, England
– Installed an Indigo 7800 production color system
– Will be used to produce fine art, publishing, personalized direct mail and point of sale materials
– Top speed of 160ppm
– Will replace a Xerox DocuColor 8002 system
Hewlett Packard sells off division
– Sold off TippingPoint division to Trend Micro for $300 million
– TippingPoint is a developer of intrusion prevention software and network security solutions
Hewlett Packard closes division
– Announced it is closing down its Helion division
– Was a public cloud service, but was not successful
– Will retain the Helion OpenStack private cloud service division
Canon study of ECM for AP department
– Study of benefits of installed an electronic content management system to automate the accounts payable department of an average company
– 24.6% reduction in cost per invoice
– 26.8% shorter invoice cycle time
– 106% higher invoices process per month
– 32.3% lower exception rate
Canon to market textile printers in U.S.
– Announced it signed agreement to partner with Media One of California
– Canon will resell the d.gen and a.berger line of large format dye sublimation color inkjet printers
– Media One will become a reseller for Canon’s Oce’ Arizona flatbed color inkjet printers
– Canon branches will be able to sell devices for fabric or soft signage applications
MGI wins production print contract
– Award from Kelvyn Press of Broadview, IL
– Installed a Meteor DP8700XL+ production color system, which is based on an engine made by Konica Minolta
– Also included a JETvarnish 3D & iFOIL finishing system
– Will be used to produce books on demand
3D Systems hires former Xerox executive
– The 3D printer maker announced it hired Charlie Grace as its new Chief Revenue Officer, where he is in charge of global sales strategy and channel development
– Will report to Avi Reichental, CEO
Context Inc. publishes data on EMEA print
– Based on survey of businesses in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa)
– Installs of print only devices is down 8% YoY (year over year)
– MFP unit sales are up
– Printout volume up 11%
– b/w printing up 9%
– color printing up 19%
– average office worker uses 10,000 sheets per year
Panasonic introduces new desktop scanner
– launched the new KV-S2087 A4 scanner
– top speed of 85opm
– scans both sides of original at same time
– document feeder holds up to 200 originals
– MSRP of $2495
Dealer opens new location in Memphis, TN
– Novacopy, with locations in Tennessee and Texas, announced new location on Appling Farms Parkway in Memphis
– 27,736 square feet in size
– Roof mounted solar panels
– Showroom includes 3D printing, rapid prototyping, short run distribution lab
– top speed of 85opm
Samsung launches new robot initiative
– The South Korean company announced it has made investment to develop robots to manufacture electronics
– Goal is to make robots who can produce electronics for less than the workers at Foxconn (aka Hon Hai Precision) plants in China
Samsung lays off more workers to cut costs
– Will lay off workers in the country of India that will affect close to 5% of the company’s 22,000 employees in the country
– “Based on business needs, we do reorganize our workforce to deliver optimal value to our consumers and partners”
DocuWare reports on its financials
– DocuWare of Germany is maker of document management and electronic content management solutions
– 3rd quarter revenue up 30%
– 187 companies signed up for cloud based service
– 16% of all new customers are now choosing cloud services
– Now has 3.7 million documents stored in the cloud
– Total of 125,000 users in 14,000 installations globally
Sharp wins large government contract
– Award from the County of Dallas in state of Texas
– 5 year contract valued at $2 million
– Includes 200 MFPs in 60 different offices
– Service provided by Sharp dealer, Technifax
Sharp integrates to new solution
– Optional control panel integration now available for solutions from Umango Software of San Francisco, CA
– Umango makes document capture and routing solution software
Photizo Group releases MPS survey results
– Surveyed companies in the U.S. that have a managed print services contract
– 66% = satisfied and are remaining with current vendor
– 7% = have bundled service/supplies billing, and leaving current vendor due to dissatisfaction
– 19% = have all-inclusive billing per page (equipment, service, supplies) and are leaving current vendor due to dissatisfaction
– 8% = have all-inclusive billing per seat (flat rate) and are leaving current vendor due to dissatisfaction
EFI reports record revenue
– The maker of print controllers and wide format printers reported last quarter revenue of $229 million, up 16% year over year
– Non-GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) net income of $24.1 million
ECM reseller launches solution for law firms
– enChoice launched KwikWork Legal, a solution for the legal vertical
– enChoice is a reseller of IBM FileNet and EMC Documentum, both of which are electronic content management platform
– headquartered in Tempe, AZ
– KwikWork legal offers:
o Unified matter management: documents, calendar entries, notes, emails, tasks, contacts and more are viewable from single dashboard
o Document management: securely stored in IBM FileNet ECM repositoty
o Calendaring: tasks and notes
The DMA reports on direct mail value
– DMA is the Direct Marketing Association
– Research shows that the response rate for direct mail catalogs to a house list is 4.26% while the email response rate is only 0.12%
– Direct mail spending has grown by 2.7% in 2014 and 1.1% in 2015
ELFF survey results on business confidence
– ELFF is the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation
– 14.8% of executives surveyed believe business conditions will improve during next quarter, down from 22%
o 77.8% believe conditions will remain same
o 7.4% believe conditions will worsen
– 22.2% believe demand for leases and loans will increase
o 70.4% believe it will remain same
o 7.4% believe it will decline
– 40.7% expect to hire more employees
o 51.9.% expect no change
o 7.4% will hire fewer employees
– 40.7% will increase spending on business development
o 59.3% say no change
