Here is the latest copier industry news from Copitex, Boston’s leading provider of Konica Minolta copiers


Xerox reports on last quarter’s earnings

  • Total revenue down 0.4% year over year to $1.75 billion
  • Operating margin down to 3.7%
  • Net loss of $383 million
  • Research and development now 4.2% of revenue
  • Hardware and accessory revenue of $390 million
    • A4 sales up 0.8% to $74 million
      • A3 sales up 7.2% to $246 million
      • PPS sales down 4.4% to $65 million
    • A4 color MFP installs up 28%
      • A3 b/w MFP installs down 28%
      • A3 color MFP installs up 10%
      • A3 b/w MFP installs down 21%
    • PPS color installs up 1%
      • PPS b/w installs down 10%
    • $429 million total on backorder
  • Post sale revenue of $1.361 billion
  • Total debt of $3.9 billion
  • Company’s market capitalization is now $2.1 billion, but was $7.8 billion in 2019
    • Some analysts believe that Xerox is positioning itself for a sale of entire company, or pieces of its business

Canon reports on last quarter’s earnings

  • Net sales up 19.5% to 996.1 billion yen ($6.75 billion)
  • Gross profit up 16.3% to 451 billion yen
  • Operating profit up 38.7% to 81.4 billion yen
  • Net income up 9.7% to 54.1 billion yen
  • Printing division net sales up 20.1% to 551.5 billion yen ($3.76 billion)
    • Operating profit down 32.7% to 40.6 billion yen
    • Office device revenue up 31.6% to 229.5 billion yen
      • MFP units up 35%
      • MFP revenue of 150,600 million yen ($1 billion)
    • Prosumer device revenue up 6.2% to 229 billion yen
    • Production print device revenue up 34.4% to 93 billion yen
    • Print volume now 80% of Q4 of 2019
  • “Due to our global strategy, overseas sales account for approximately 80% of our total revenue and by promoting the return of production to Japan, we are reducing risks and now being positively impacted by the trend of yen deprecation”

Canon wins production print contract

  • Award from Pel Hughes Inc., a commercial printer in New Orleans, LA
  • Installed a new Canon ProStream 1800 production inkjet system
  • Used to produce variable data direct mail pieces, primarily postcards

Canon offers new PPS solutions

  • Launched new version of PRISMAproduction with new features:
    • Better data optimization to run any webfed and sheetfed inkjet and toner presses at full speed
    • Handles extremely large PDF files for commercial photo applications
    • Runs on SLES (SUSE Linux Enterprise Server)
    • Security features
  • Now offering PRISMAsimulate Ultra
    • Replaces TrueProof
    • On-site application delivering ink estimation, proofing and workflow simulation
    • Universal PDF Estimator option
    • Printer Simulation Packages

Epson launches new color inkjet

  • Launched the WorkForce WF-C4310 color inkjet
  • Base MSRP of $259.00
  • Uses Precisioncore piezo crystal inkjet printhead technology
  • 1600 page/month recommended max volume
  • Top speed of 21ppm b/w and 11ppm color (based on 5% coverage per page)
  • WiFi, Ethernet and Bluetooth connections
  • 4” color LCD display

Epson reports earnings for last 6 months

  • Total revenue up 15.1% to 633.1 billion yen ($4.29 billion)
  • Business profit down 0.4% to 49.5 billion yen

China losing some manufacturing

  • Article published by Bloomberg
  • Apple is reducing its dependence on Chinese manufacturing, as in 2017 it has 18 large suppliers in India and Vietnam, but now lists 37.
    • By 2025, 75% of Apple Airpods will be made in Vietnam
  • In 2017, 43% of long term assets owned by Taiwanese electronics firms were in China
    • Now only 31%
  • Average wages in China have doubled in past decade to $530 per month
    • Twice that of India or Vietnam worker

China starts up lockdowns again?

  • Chinese government is again enforcing its “COVID Zero” policies
  • City of Wuhan has 800,000 people on lockdown after infections have increased
  • City of Bejing enforcing lockdown after just 20-25 new infections a day this past week
  • 26 other cities under varying levels of lockdown rules
  • 210 million people impacted
  • Recorded just 1,000 new cases nationwide from total population of 1.4 billion

Sharp’s parent has workers fleeing town

  • Bloomberg News is reporting that cities in central China hastily drew up plans to isolate migrant workers fleeing to their hometowns from a Foxconn plant in Zhengzhou city, fearing the returnees may trigger coronavirus outbreaks.
  • Foxconn, aka Hon Hai Precision, is owner of Sharp, operates plant to build Apple products.
  • Zhengzhou reported 167 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases in the 7 days to Oct. 29, up from 97 infections in the prior 7 day period.
  • Foxconn has about 300,000 workers in Zhengzhou and has not disclosed the number of infected workers. (some sources claim 20,000 workers may be infected)
  • Under China’s ultra-strict zero-COVID policies, localities are mandated to act swiftly to quell any outbreaks, with measures that could include full-scale lockdowns
  • Foxconn banned all dining-in at canteens and required workers to take their meals in their dormitories, but assured that production was normal.
  • Photographs and videos circulating widely on Chinese social media since Saturday showed Foxconn workers trekking across fields in the day and along roads at night.
  • “Some people were walking amid wheat fields with their luggage, blankets and quilts. I couldn’t help but feel sad.”

Signs of recession?

  • Article published in Daily Mail newspaper
  • JPMorgan Chase CEO Daniel Pinto stated ‘a deeper recession is compromise for putting 40 year high inflation back in the box”
    • “We are dealing with a market that is pricing the probability of recession and how deep it is going to be”
    • “I don’t think we have seen the bottom of the market yet”
  • Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon agreed that “US is facing recession after inflation has hit a 40 year high”
  • Intel Corp. CEO Pat Gelsinger stated; “It is hard to see any points of good news on the horizon”
    • Announced $3 billion in cost reductions in 2023 including layoffs
  • Inflation data published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics:
    • Groceries are up 13.5%
    • Rent is up 6.7%
    • Gasoline is up 25.6%
    • Airline fares are up 33.4%
    • New vehicles are up 10.1%
    • Electricity is up 15.8%
  • CNBC Economics Editor Jeff Cox stated; “if you took out the unsustainably high rise in exports, the 3rd quarter GDP would have been negative”
    • “most economists believe that by early or mid 2023, we will, in fact, be in a recession”
    • “Other areas of concern are that we say a dropoff in consumer spending, the pact of increase there falling, of course, as prices continue to rise”
  • US Census Bureau reported that about 100 million Americans were NOT working in early October, of 2022
    • Almost half of the respondents are now retired
    • 12% were either sick from illness (not COVID-19) or disabled
    • 6 million claim they are not working because of COVID-19
    • 8 million do not want to be employed
    • 2 million claim they cannot get a job due to lack of transportation
    • 32 million who are not working are relying on withdrawing from savings accounts or retirement accounts, or are selling assets
    • 26 million are using credit cards or personal loans
    • 12 million are using family or friends to pay their bills
    • 20 million are relying on state and/or fed programs

Toshiba acquisition update

  • Article in Bloomberg News
  • The leading bidder, Japan Industrial Partners, plans to provide 1 trillion yen in cash ($6.8 billion)
  • Is seeking financing totaling 1.4 trillion yen from Japanese banks
    • Reuters News is reporting that the group is having difficulty securing sufficient equity commitments from potential consortium partners
  • Committed line of credit of 200 billion yen in working capital
  • Planned purchase price of 2.4 trillion yen ($16.1 billion) for Toshiba Corp.

Solution vendors buys other solution firms

  • Docufree, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, announced it has acquired DealerDOCX of Victor, NY
    • Provider of cloud-based document management solutions for the automotive industry
    • Purchase price not announced
  • Dura Software, headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, announced it has acquired Fenestrae of The Hague, Netherlands
    • Fenestrae is maker of a cloud fax solution

Kyocera offers new solution

  • Kyocera (aka Kyoto Ceramic Company) released Print Center 4.0
  • Enables printing without need for print driver
  • Uses Microsoft IPP Class Driver technology
  • App is free to end users at the Microsoft Store website
  • Can also use to discover and monitor Kyocera devices

Report on “Quiet Quitting”

  • Research conducted by Opinium
  • 4% of workers admit they are doing the bare minimum at work, much lower than what others have been claiming
  • 82% are “engaged” at work
  • 65% are “enthusiastic” about what they do
  • 44% are ready to change jobs if right offer came along
  • 52% of management think employees should be grateful to have a job
  • 39% of workers are occupied with administrative tasks
  • 64% would enjoy their work more if they had more time for creative tasks
  • 72% enjoy learning from others who are physically around them
  • 63% enjoy combining work with social activities

HP CEO comments on 3D printer sales

  • Enrique Lores stated that orders for its 3D printers are “falling short of early promise”
  • Some analysts say the technology has failed to cross into the mainstream
  • Claims that more than 100 million parts have been produced on 3D printers as of 9/2021
  • “I think clearly the growth rates have not been what all of us were expecting”
  • In 2016, when HP entered the 3D printer market, analysts forecasted a compound annual growth of 43.5% between 2015 and 2020, reaching $22.4 billion
    • Actual total was $12.6 billion

HP to merge two PPS divisions

  • Article in Globes News reports that the Scitex division will be merged into Indigo division
  • 60 people will be laid off
  • All office affected are in Israel

New laser printer brand

  • Visioneer Inc., headquartered in California, is best known for its document  scanners and related software
  • Announced it is launching the “Rabbit” laser printer and MFP line
  • First model is Rabbit PC30dwn:
    • Top speed of 30ppm
    • b/w LED output
    • print/copy/scan standard
    • auto duplex
    • 10/100/1000BaseT & WiFi connectivity
    • 250 sheet paper tray
    • Includes ABBYY FineReader OCR scan to searchable PDF software
    • Base MSRP of $199.99

Sharp to try again with smartphones

  • Sharp, a division of Hon Hai Precision (aka Foxconn) of Taiwan, announced it will re-enter the U.S. smartphone market and compete with Apple and others
  • Will launch new “ROUVO V” phones, using Android operating system
  • 5” color LCD display
  • 8GHz processor
  • 3GB RAM
  • 32GB internal memory
  • HD1 camera
  • Will be available in Walmart, Verizon and Dollar General stores

Some toner cartridges are health hazard?

  • Report published by the International Trade Center and the Toner and Inkjet Remanufacturers Association
  • “new-build” or “clone” toner cartridges from China found to have high levels of decaBDE
    • (are sold to customers who are looking for low cost alternative to genuine OEM cartridges)
  • Test found percentages as high as 2,000 parts per million being released by cartridges
  • decaBDE is decabromodiphernyl ether, a banned toxic fire retardant, and known carcinogen
  • testing of toner is some cartridges also found high levels of other carcinogenic materials, such as benzene and cobalt
  • some analysts estimate that 375 million spent cartridges end up in landfills every year worldwide

Landa wins production print contract

  • award from Abeka Print Shop of Pensacola, Florida
  • installed a new Landa S10P production color system
  • used to produce educational materials for Christian schools

MFP market growth

  • report published by 360MarketUpdates
  • global digital copier market was valued at $678 million in 2021
  • expected to reach $707 million in 2027
  • CAGR of 0.7%

Lexmark offers new solution

  • Lexmark is a division of Ninestar of China
  • Now offering the Lexmark Translation Assistant as part of its Cloud Services Platform
    • Provides real-time document translation with Lexmark MFP
    • After scanning document at MFP, selects the “LTX” icon on the touchscreen LCD display and then choosing language
    • 20 language choices
  • Also offering Cloud Scan Management
    • Scan and share files directly
    • Enables add-on shortcuts for MFP to scan directly to remote file sharing services
    • Includes MS OneDrive, SharePoint and Google Drive
  • Upgrades now offered to Cloud Print Management
    • Submit jobs from Linux
    • MS Universal Print integration
    • New guest print maximum job size feature
    • Full data export with filename
    • Email notification

DX spending to increase

  • Research published by IDC
  • Global spending on digital transformation to reach $3.4 trillion by 2026
  • CAGR of 16.3%

Direct mail usage to grow

  • Report published by Keystone Intelligence
  • 68% of enterprise respondents expect to increase their spend on direct mail over next 2 years
    • 13% will spend less
  • Generation Z (born between 1997 and 2012) like direct mail because it is a novelty to them, with physical mail seen as more unique
  • 75% of Millenials (born between 1981 and 1996) feel special when they receive direct mail
  • 68% of Gen X (born between 1965 and 1980) have used coupons they receive via direct mail
  • 90% of Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) seek special offers via direct mail
  • Direct mail spend expected to reach $43.3 billion in next year

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CYBERSECURITY & HEALTHCARE VERTICAL NEWS

Hospital system pushes Direct Messaging

  • BSA Health System of Texas is now pressuring healthcare providers in the area to use Direct Secure Messaging instead of fax
  • “Improve clinical care and patient outcomes by streamlining your referral process to BSA Health System through Direct Messaging”
  • “convenient and HIPAA-compliant way”
  • “sharing patient information (PHI) across electronic health record (EHR) systems”
  • “Ensures the correct clinical data is shared with the right people, at the right time”
  • “Expedites referral processes, saving time and money”’
  • “Aids in satisfying regulatory measures” (such as the October 6th, 2022 rule of the 21st Century Cures Act)
  • “Increases integrity of clinical data on patient charts by reducing manual abstraction” (which is common problem associated with receiving fax0
  • (Konica Minolta Healthcare MFP, powered by Kno2 connector, allows healthcare providers to scan paper PHI and send as Direct Messages)

Ricoh wins hospital system PPS contract

  • award from inplant print shop at CHRISTUS Health System of Texas
  • includes Pro C9210 production color laser systems, Pro TF6251 wide format color inkjet printers and Colex finishing equipment
  • fulfills an average of 67,000 print jobs per year
  • solutions include PlanetPress, AIMS and BCC Mail Manager

etherFAX offers new features

  • released new integration for Slack, a messaging application offered by Salesforce.com
  • uses can use etherFAx DirectFax Messenger to send and receive fax within Slack

Feds warn new ransomware gang attacking healthcare

  • New warning sent out to the US Healthcare industry about the new cybercrime group named Daixin Team
  • First attempts to steal PHI, and then hits victims with ransomware
  • Example of recent successful hack was the breach at OakBend Medical Center of Texas which resulted in theft of PHI of 1.2 million patients.

Healthcare providers quitting over stress?

  • Research published by Definitive Healthcare
  • 333,942 healthcare providers dropped out of workforce in 2021
    • 117,000 physicians left in Q4 of 2021
    • 53,295 nurse practitioners left
    • 22,704 physician assistants left
    • 22,032 physical therapists left
    • 15,578 licensed clinical social workers left

Cybersecurity employees quitting over stress?

  • Survey results published by Mimecast
  • 33% of cybersecurity employees are considering leaving their jobs due to stress and burnout
  • Rising rates of cybercrime and media attention causing intense pressure
  • 64% have experienced at least 1 ransomware attack in past 12 months
  • 77% are experiencing increased cyber attacks
  • 54% say attacks cause negative impact on mental health
  • 56% say stress increases every year
  • 34% having difficulty recruiting staff
  • 53% say growing press coverage of ransomware attacks increases pressure
  • 46% do not have up-to-date security systems
  • 46% need better security awareness training for employees
  • On average, a single ransomware attack consumes 20% of company’s total budget
  • There are currently 4.7 million cybersecurity workers globally
    • 4 million are needed
    • The U.S. has 1.2 million working
    • 54% of organizations report a “significant staff shortage”

eClinicalWorks wins EHR contract

  • Award from CommuniCare of San Antonio, TX
  • 22 locations with 150 providers

MEDITECH wins EHR contracts

  • Award from Gaylord Specialty Healthcare of Wallingford, CT
    • Total cost of $7.6 million
  • Award from Warren General Hospital of Pennsylvania
    • Total cost of $2.3 million
  • Award from Houlton Regional Hospital of Maine
  • Award from Box Butte General Hospital of Alliance, Nebraska

Oracle Cerner wins EHR contract

  • Award from Milton S. Hershey Medical Center
  • Part of the Penn State Health System of Pennsylvania

Epic wins EHR contract

  • Award from Cancer Treatments Centers of America
  • Replacing Allscripts

Ambulatory EHR market growth

  • Research published by ResearchandMarkets
  • Global market projected to reach $7.7 billion by 2027
  • 2022 will see total of $5.5 billion
  • CAGR (cumulative annual growth rate) of 6.1%

HIPAA/cybersecurity breaches in the news

  • The Office for Civil Rights in the Department of Health & Human Services (aka HIPAA police) sent out press release stating that they have now documented 5,000 major data breaches of PHI since 2009, when it first started tracking breaches
    • 369 million people have had their PHI exposed
    • 25% of all ransomware attacks are aimed at healthcare vertical, making it top target
    • 91% are concerned about ransomware attacks – SonicWall survey
  • Regions Hospital of Saint Paul, MN notified 980 patients that their PHI was exposed after cyber attack.
  • Michigan Medicine, headquartered in Ann Arbor, MI, notified 33,850 patients that their PHI was exposed after email phishing attack.
  • Radiology Associates of Albuquerque, NM (aka RAA Imaging) notified an unknown number of patients that their PHI was exposed after cyber attack.
  • The Valley Hospital of New Jersey notified an unknown number of patients that their PHI was exposed after paper records were found in local dumpster.
  • CareOregon notified 8,000 patients that their PHI was exposed after a direct mailing error.
  • Main Line Women’s Healthcare of Pennsylvania notified 800 patients that their PHI after an employee stole the information.
  • Country Doctor Community Clinic of Seattle, WA notified 38,751 patients that their PHI was exposed after cyber attack.
  • Riverside Medical Group of New Jersey notified 12,499 patients that their PHI was exposed after cyber attack.
  • Indianapolis Housing Authority notified an unknown number of residents that their info was exposed after ransomware attack.
  • Kenosha Unified School District of Wisconsin notified an unknown number of students that their info may have been exposed after Snatch Team ransomware attack.
  • Drizly Corp. is under investigation by the FTC as a result of a data breach which exposed info on 2.5 million customers.
  • The Delaware Department of Health and Social Services notified 7,074 patients that their PHI was exposed after it was accidentally made available on a publicly accessible website.
  • Davenport Community Schools of Iowa notified an unknown number of students that their info may have been exposed after Karakurt ransomware attack.
  • Rhode Island Public Transit Authority was sued by the American Civil Liberties Union as a result of a large data breach that exposed info on 22,000 people.
  • HCA Florida Kendall Hospital in Miami, part of Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare, is facing a lawsuit over a photo that was posted on social media showing an injury of a patient
    • Jose Lopez, the father of the patient, filed the lawsuit.
    • an emergency room worker at the hospital posted an unauthorized photo of his 18-year-old son in the operating room weeks before the teenager died
    • posted on Instagram on May 28 after Mr. Lopez’s son, Jose Lopez Canizares, sustained injuries in a motorcycle accident. His son died June 22.

Copitex is Boston’s leading provider of Konica Minolta Copiers. Contact us to buy, lease or rent a Konica Minolta Copier.


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