Kyocera post last fiscal year earnings

– net sales increased by 10.8% to 1.58 trillion yen ($14.2 billion, including all division of company worldwide)
– Operating profit decreased on-year by 8.6% to 95.6 billion yen ($861 million)
– Document Solutions Group (printers and MFPs) had 46.3% decrease in operating profit to 41.1 billion yen ($371 million)
o net sales increased 14.5% to 371.1 billion yen ($3.3 billion)

 

Copier dealer launches marketing agency

– Impact Networking announced it has officially launched its creative agency, ES99
– offers a range of solutions to help “clients grow their businesses through strategy, branding and marketing”
– works with businesses in every vertical 
– “We are very excited to be launching this agency within Impact,” said Frank Cucco, Impact founder and CEO. “The ES99 team is made up of award-winning strategists, designers, copywriters and developers who provide the best possible product with the superior service our clients are accustomed to.”

Canon sues Lexmark’s parent

– Canon filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Ninestar of China (which owns Lexmark)
– Regarding non-OEM toner cartridges advertised to work in Canon and HP branded printers and MFPs

Canon wins production print contracts

– Award from Severn, a commercial printer in Gloucester, England
o installed a Canon Océ Varioprint i300 sheetfed production color inkjet press
o also included a Horizon BQ470 perfect binder, two enclosing lines from Neopost and a Komfi Delta 52 laminator
o reasons given for choosing the i300 include:
§ print at speeds up to 300 A4 images per minute
§ weights from 60-300gsm
§ can print on a wide range of substrates, including uncoated, inkjet treated and inkjet coated.
– Award from DMB BPO, a commercial printer in Carrolton, Texas
o installation of the Océ VarioPrint i300 production color inkjet system
o to be used to produce direct mail portfolio offerings and transpromo
o customers include; Healthcare, Property and Casualty Insurers, Benefit Plan Administration, Utilities, and Collections clients

Dealer opens new location

– Doceo Office Solutions, headquartered in Hunt Valley, Maryland, announced it has opened a new location in Westminster, Maryland
– Also has locations in York, Lancaster, Harrisburg, Carlisle and Hanover, Pennsylvania
– Dealer for Toshiba and Lexmark (Ninestar of China)

Dealers make more acquisitions

– Loffler Companies, headquartered in Bloomington, Minnesota, announced it has acquired Optimum Communications Corp., a managed IT services provider
o OCC is a St. Cloud, Minnesota-based IT solutions provider with additional office in Aberdeen, South Dakota
– Marco, headquartered in St. Cloud, Minnesota, announced it has acquired Prime Office Innovations or Macomb, Michigan
o POI is a dealer for Kyocera

Fujifilm names new Xerox CEO to board

– John Visentin, just installed as new CEO of Xerox by activist investor, Carl Icahn, was named to the board of directors of Fuji Xerox.
– Fujifilm CEO, Shigetaka Komori reaffirmed his stance that Xerox has 6 months to accept the $6.1 billion takeover offer, or Fujifilm walks away from the deal
– Fujifilm in the next several days is expected to ask a judge to enforce Xerox’s $6.1 billion merger agreement, according to the New York Post newspaper.
– Xerox has not paid Fujifilm the $183 million breakup fee — a move that would signify the deal is off
–  “You won’t have to wait much longer to learn about Fuji’s intentions,” a source said

Xerox wins more MPS contracts

– Xerox dealer Alberta Printer Service won a four-year, $450,000 contract with Rocky Mountain Equipment Inc., an agriculture and construction equipment consolidator in western Canada
o Includes 161 VersaLink MFPs and 11 AltaLink MFPs
– Xerox dealer Professional Business Products (PBP) won a four-year, $1.5 million contract renewal with Raleigh General Hospital of southern West Virginia, including:
o 85 Xerox AltaLink and VersaLink print devices
o Secure Print solution
o Xerox Versant 180 production color system and Xerox Nuvera 100 EA production b/w system in CRD
o Web-to-print solution

Xerox to sponsor large sports event

– will provide all printing and scanning services at the Glasgow 2018 European Championships.  
– appointed as the official provider for the duration of the event, which will take place between August 2 and 12 in the Glasgow, England
– will provide 170 ConnectKey multi-functional and desktop printers
– printing of competition details plus the latest news and results
– Will also provide on-site technical support. 
– Glasgow 2018 will see more than 3,000 athletes visit Scotland to compete in six sports – aquatics, cycling, golf, gymnastics, rowing and triathlon.

Toshiba to buy back stock

– announced it will use proceeds from recent sale of its NAND memory chip division sale to buy back stock and boost share price
– expected to spend as much as $6.3 billion on share buyback

 

Xerox wins production print contracts

– Award from Color King of South Africa
o Installed a Versant 2100 production color laser system
o Reasons given for choosing include:
§ “flawless registration”
§ “color consistency and accuracy”
§ “printing on magnetic and synthetic media”
– Award from Mcgill University Health Center of Quebec, Canada
o For its inhouse print/copy center (CRD)
o Installed Versant 2100 production color laser system, D125 production b/w system and Nuvera 144 production b/w system
o Also included Duplo DC-646 slitter/cutter/creaser, Graphic Wizard Finishmaster perforator, Challenge Champion 305 cutter and spiral hole punch and coiler

Ricoh launches new digital postcard

– Now offering a digital postcard tool to help those affected by dementia, most commonly caused by Alzheimer’s disease, stay connected through personalized images
– The tool, which makes use of Ricoh’s proprietary technology is part of its Printed Memories program in partnership with Alzheimer’s Research, Europe’s leading dementia research charity. 
– Users upload a photo of a memory with a loved one onto the Printed Memories platform.
o then have the option to write a personal message before converting their photo into a postcard, which is sent directly to the recipient
o donation will be collected with all proceeds going to Alzheimer’s Research. 
o Data is received and processed in Ricoh facility with automated end to end production process

HP gets fined for price fixing

– The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has fined Russia’s subsidiary of HP 2.5 million rubles (about $40,000) for violation of competition legislation, the watchdog’s statement reads.
– several computer companies signed an anti-competitive agreement which resulted in price fixing at an open e-auction for the computers’ system units supply for the Central Election Commission of Russia
– business activities of the firms were illegally coordinated by HP, the FAS said. 

MPS firm invests in cloud IoT provider

– The Millennium Group (TMG), headquartered in Tinton Falls, New Jersey, announced it has made “strategic investment” in Smiota, Inc. of Pleasanton, CA
– Smiota is a cloud-based IoT technology platform company that provides package management solutions for deliveries bringing secure exchange of physical goods across all industries.
– Smiota is an acronym from SMart Internet Of Things Appliance
– TMG is a provider of Mail, Print and Office Services outsourcing to business enterprises across the U.S. and Canada

MPS market growth reported

– Research published by Digital Journal
– Global managed print services market expected to reach $51 billion by end of 2021
– CAGR (cumulative annual growth rate) or 9%

Businesses tricked by toner pirate

– Mark Timothy Mushkin of Laguna Beach, CA was arrested and accused of scamming businesses out of $3.3 million in toner scheme
– 878 different businesses were affected, mostly law firms
– Set up company named IT Tech Products in Huntington Beach, CA, and billed companies for toner, even though their existing copier service contracts included toner from other vendors.
– If convicted, faces up to 20 years in prison

Square 9 wins large ECM contract

– Award from DriveTime Automotive Group Inc., headquartered in Tempe, AZ
– Operates 145 car dealerships in 27 states
– Implemented Square 9 Softworks to manage documents involving average of 10,000 customer per year, and sale of over 1 million vehicles annually

Microsoft to compete with Amazon?

– Reuters New Service is reporting that Microsoft has contacted Walmart about creating “cashier-less stores”
– System will track what a customer in a brick-and-mortar store puts in their cart and charge them accordingly
– (Amazon has recently announced a similar concept called the “Go” store)

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