Sharp’s financial troubles continue
– Financial Times newspaper reports on latest issues
– “First it cut wages, but Sharp has a new demand for long-suffering employees; the struggling electronics group has set them targets to buy company goods”
– “By end of January, executives are to buy $1622 of Sharp products, middle management $811 and front line staff $405 worth” of Sharp made products
– “Sharp is still in a fragile position, with just 181 billion yen of equity supporting a 1,787 billion yen balance sheet”
– Reportedly considering closing remaining overseas TV factories to cut costs
Sharp wins MFP contract
– Award from Southern Seminary of Louisville, KY
– Sold through local dealer, Miller Document Solutions
– Included fleet of A3 MFPs as well as a production color and b/w system for CRD
– Also included the PaperCut cost recovery solution
Toshiba’s financial troubles continue
– Reuters News Service reports on latest issues
– “Japan’s Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission is likely to recommend a fine of about $60 million for the scandal-hit Toshiba for cooking its books over the past 7 years”
– Toshiba has set aside 8.4 billion yen for penalties
– Company said it inflated profits by about 155 billion yen over roughly 7 years
– The Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reported that there are 70 shareholders who are poised to institute a class action lawsuit by mid-December, demanding 400 million yen in compensation
EFI announces its keynote speaker
– Company has hired Steve Wynn, chairman of Wynn Resorts, to be its keynote speaker at its upcoming EFI Connect 2016 event in Las Vegas
– Steve Wynn launches several casino resorts in Las Vegas, including Golden Nugget, Mirage, Treasure Island, Bellagio, Encore and the Wynn.
Salesforce hires Microsoft executive
– Microsoft’s head of its Dynamics CRM division has been poached by its competitor
– Salesforce.com hired Robert Stutz as its new Chief Analytics officer
Samsung smartphones can explode?
– Starla Briggs, of Springville, Utah claims that on 6/23/2015, her husband’s Samsung Galaxy S3 “suddenly exploded on their bed side table”
– “Just an explosion, like Bam!, causing flames high in bedroom”
– “all the smoke alarms in the house went off”
– She is pursuing Samsung for $2500 in damages
MGI to launch 3D printers
– MGI is headquartered in France, and is best known for its Meteor production color system (based on engines made by Konica Minolta) and its JetVarnish UV coating systems
– Will have a booth at upcoming Printed Electronics USA 2015 Conference in Santa Clara, CA
– Will display the new CERADROP X-Series, which uses inkjet technology
– Printing with high resolution with nano-particles, conductive metal inks, semiconductors, and other bio-chemical formulations
– Ship data and pricing not announced
HP wins production color contract
– Award from Bennett Graphics of Tucker, Georgia
o Installed an Indigo WS6800 production color systems
– Award from Sun Print Solutions of Salt Lake City, UT
o Installed a PageWide Web Press T230 production color inkjet system
– Award from Range Inc., of Brainerd, MN
o Installed an Indigo 7800 production color systems
Canon wins production contract
– Award from Nuss Printing of Havertown, Pennsylvania
– Installed an Oce’ VarioPrint DP110 production b/w system
Canon closes office
– Closes office at 100 Oakview Drive in Trumbull, CT
– Layoffs are to begin 12/31/15 and run through 2/29/16
Smithers Pira survey results
– Compound growth rate of 7.4% projected for book publishing
– Up from $131.5 billion in 2013 to $187.8 billion in 2018
– Digital printing of books will grow to 20.6% by 2018
Xerox wins production contract
– Award from Alphagraphics of Denver, Colorado
– Installed a Xerox Versant 2100 production color system
– One of reasons it acquired the system was to run #10 envelopes
– Used to produce materials for manufacturing, engineering and construction verticals
Xerox launches new solutions
– Workflow Automation Solution for New Business Processing, for underwriting process for insurance companies
– Workflow Automation Solution for Claims Processing for insurance vertical
– Workflow Automation Solution for File Management for human resources departments
– Workflow Automation Solution for Policies and Procedures Administration
– Pricing not announced
Digital Nirvana survey on QR Code usage
– Adoption has been hovering around 30% of cellphone users
– Marketers indicate that use of QR Codes is on the rise
– Men use QR codes slightly more than women
– Majority of QR code scanners are now older than 35 years old
– QR code scanning continues to dominate in retailing
– Growth in mobile payments via QR codes is rising
Former IKON/Ricoh CEO gets new job
– Matt Espe, who led IKON to be acquired by Ricoh, left to become CEO of Armstrong Flooring
– Now also accepted position on board of directors for NCI Building Systems Inc., a manufacturer of metal products for nonresidential building industry
– Prior to IKON he was in charge of the lightbulb division of GE.
Ricoh wins production contract
– Award from PHD Mail of England
– Installed a Ricoh IP5000 production color inkjet system
– To be used for transpromo output
Ricoh lets go of a senior executive
– The company announced another reorganization
– Dave Greene, who was Senior VP, in charge of both direct and wholesale division, was let go
– Jim Corriddi, VP of Wholesale, will not report directly to Martin Brodigan, who is still President and CEO of Ricoh Americas
– Professional services, solutions, traditional services group and break fix services now all report to Mona Abutaleb, Senior VP of Ricoh, and President and CEO of MindSHIFT (managed IT services division)
– Tim Vellek remains as Senior VP of Marketing
– Dean Nolley – VP of Global Sales
Ricoh launches new solution
– Will now resell software from Syncplicity of Santa Clara, CA
– Makes an enterprise-grade file sync and share solution
– Claims its current customer list includes:
o Texas A&M University
o Merck Corp.
o Associated Press
o Boston Red Sox
Ricoh loses argument
– Ricoh attempted to stop Lexmark from winning an bid for MFPs from the U.S. Army Contracting Command
– The Government Accountability Office (GAO) denied Ricoh’s claim that it was not allowed a chance to clarify part of its bid, as its bid was rejected for not adequately describing its transition during phase out period
Man caught making fake money
– Mark Andrew Halberg of Faribault, Minnesota was arrested by local police for allegedly making fake $50 bills using a color MFP
– Was using the money to acquire methamphetamine
Fuji displays future MFP models
– Fuji is maker of most of the printers and MFPs that carry the Xerox brand
– Products were displayed at DocuWorld event in Kuala Lumpur
– 36 new printer and MFP models to be launched
– Use LED instead of laser printheads
– Use polymerized toner instead of pulverized toner
– Optional Smart WelcomEyes Advance 2 feature, is an infrared camera built into the front of the MFP, which scans the environment for the heat generated by human bodies
o When it detects the heat signature of a human, it wakes up from sleep mode
o Facial recognition to identify user for authentication
– Supports NFC (near field communication) smart cards to authentication (aka follow me)
Production color system maker acquired
– Flint Group of Luxembourg announced it has acquired Xeikon of Belgium
– Xeikon is maker of production color LED systems that uses toner and sold primarily to the packaging industry
– Flint Group is a provider of ink for offset presses, as well as other products for the commercial print industry
U.S. Postal Service reports volume
– Recorded a 14.1% increase in package volume
– 11.1% increase in shipping and package revenue
– Posted net loss of $5.1 billion
– Overall revenue increase of $1.1 billion to $68.9 billion
– First class and standard mail volume down 2.2% and 0.3%
Feds go after fake toner cartridge maker
– The U.S. International Trade Commission issued a seizure and forfeiture order to Printer Cartridge Recycle of Auburn, WA
– The firm was accused of importing printer/MFP cartridges that infringe on HP and Canon patents
Kodak Alaris publishes survey results
- Hospitals handle forms for 544 million patients each year
- Converting transactions from manual to digital could save healthcare providers $6.7 billion each year
- 12 million Americans very year are misdiagnosed
- Patients spend 274 minutes in the ER before they are admitted on average
Managed IT company appeals ruling
- A judge will hear the case of 2 former Computer Sciences Corp (CSC) employees who lost their jobs after reporting problems with the EHR that CSC helped implement at Hanford Medical Clinic of California
- CSC was originally ordered by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to pay back wages of $186,000 to the 2 former workers
- The workers had reported that the EHR was not accurately tracking medical restrictions, creating potential for hospital workers to be exposed to disease