Toshiba financial issues update
– Nikkei Asian Review magazine is reporting that “Troubled Toshiba Suffering Bad Case of Brain Drain”
o Rivals and recruiters have been poaching top engineers as the company’s future remains uncertain
o Toshiba employees are receiving calls that state; “Are you worried about your current company?”
o “If restructuring takes too long, Toshiba itself will deteriorate”
– Nikkan Kogyo newspaper is reporting that Toshiba is set to sell its NAND memory chip division to Western Digital Corp. for $18.3 billion
o Others report that Toshiba is upset with Western Digital, and supposedly a Toshiba spokesperson stated; “Toshiba regrets that Western Digital persistently overstates its limited consent rights in public statements”
– Toshiba plans to sign an agreement to sell the division on 9/20/17, after a board meeting
– According to another report out of Japan, Toshiba may have signed a memorandum of understanding with a group consisting of Bain Capital, SK Hynix of South Korea and Japanese government to buy the NAND division
Toshiba wins digital signage contract
– Award from the GRAMMY Museum in Los Angeles,CA
– The LED signage highlights the exterior of the museum and promotes upcoming performances
Toshiba sponsors NHL hockey team
– Announced it is now the “official document solutions partner” of the Anaheim Ducks of California
– Includes MFPs for the ice training facility, corporate offices, and in the Honda Center arensa
Ricoh financial issues update
– The Economic Times newspaper reports that Fourth Dimension Solutions, a creditor of Ricoh, has filed a petition with the National Company Law Tribunal of India to initiate insolvency solution process under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code of India
– Based on alleged non-payment of a disputed debit note which was raised as alleged damages for a contract determination
Xerox wins managed print contract
– Award from Gannon University of Erie, Pennsylvania
– Includes 100 new Xerox MFPs
– Will support existing HP printer fleet
– Includes a Papercut solution to accept authentication from student ID badges
(replaced Ricoh fleet)
Ricoh wins production print contracts
– Award from Edwards Brothers Malloy of Ann Arbor, MI
o Installed a Pro VC60000 production color inkjet system to be used to produce on-demand books
– Award from OSG Billing Services of Ridgefield Park, NJ
o Installed a Pro VC60000 production color inkjet system
– Award from MCA-NetPub Inc. of Poughkeepsie, NY
o Installed an InfoPrint 5000 GP production color inkjet system
o Used to produce lab manuals and workbooks
– Award from Museum Store Products of Hackettstown, NJ
o Installed a Pro C7100X production color laser system
o Used to produce postcards
– Award from Cirrus Visual of Tucson, AZ
o Installed a Pro C7110X production color laser system
o Also included a Pro L4160 wide format color latex ink printer
Ricoh to ship neon toner for PPS
– Announced that in November, 2017, it will begin to ship neon pink toner to customers in the U.S.
– Is an option for the Pro C7100X series of production color laser systems
– In addition to traditional cyan, magenta, yellow and black, also offers white, clear and neon yellow
Ricoh wins “Vendor of the Year for 2017”
– Award from AlphaGraphics, headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah
– Is a chain of franchise commercial printers
– “The passion that Ricoh has for the franchise market, along with its investments and overall commitment to the printing market, is remarkable”; stated Aaron Grohs, president.
Ricoh using 3D printers in its plants
– Announced it is using 3D printers to make ABS thermoplastic tools to help its workers assemble wide format printers in its plant in Miyagi prefecture, Japan
– Sourced the 3D printers from Stratasys
Ricoh sued by former employee
– The Virginian-Pilot newspaper reported that a former Ricoh employee named Patricia Lindsey, has filed a discrimination lawsuit, seeking $2.3 million
– The allegations include claiming that she was forced to participate in a pagan ritual that included burning sage to “exercising demons” from the branch
Heidelberg updates its Ricoh-made PPS
– The German offset press maker relabels Ricoh production color laser systems and calls them the “Versafire Series”
– Announced that its Printect 2018 servers, which drive the Versafire product, will now support the optional neon spot color toner (for the Versafire CV, which is a relabeled Ricoh Pro C7100X series)
Dantex Group to sell Ricoh PPS inkjet
– Dantex Group, headquartered in Bradford, England, launched the PicoJet Digital UV Inkjet press
– Is a Ricoh-made, rollfed, production color inkjet system
– 350mm width of media
– Top speed of 250 feet per minute
– 1200x1200dpi
– 2.5 picoliter dot size
– 7 colors of ink
Xerox wins production print contracts
– Award from Compassion International, in the inplant CRD of the non-profit Christian child sponsorship association
o Installed two Xerox iGen5 150 production color laser systems, a Color 1000i production color laser system
o Used to print marketing materials, support welcome kits, communication letters
– Award from Westkey Graphics of Canon
o Installed a iGen5 production color system with optional 5th toner station (CMYK plus option of white, orange, green, blue, clear or white toner)
o Will be used to produce folded carton packaging and flexible labels
– Award from Trevecca Nazarene University of Nashville, TN
o Installed a Color 1000i production color laser system
o Also included and EFI Digital StoreFront web-to-print solution
Xerox hit by customer lawsuit
– The U.S. District Court in Rochester, NY reports that it received a federal lawsuit filed against Xerox by Eco Farm Sales of Temecula, CA
– The suit claims that Xerox charges excessive and illegal fees for service, equipment and supplies
– “Xerox induces individuals and entities to contract for equipment and supply services without disclosing the true cost of such services”
– “Xerox also buries unconscionable and self-serving contractual provisions in its fine print form contract resulting in penalties if the customer terminates the contract before its lengthy term expires”
– “charges arbitrary and unreasonable termination fees, unsupported by any formula contained in the lease agreement”
– The class action includes all Xerox customers in the U.S. that paid a fee that was not authorized in the lease agreement since 2011
Xerox stock selloff
– Freestone Capital Holdings announced it had sold 288,539 shares of Xerox
– Prudential Financial announced it sold 2,181,319 shares of Xerox
– Zacks Investment Research downgraded the shares from a “hold” rating to “sell”
Xerox agrees to sell Fujifilm inkjets
– (Fujifilm of Japan is maker of almost all products that carry Xerox name)
– Xerox announced it will begin reselling the Fujifilm J 720S series of production color inkjet systems in the U.S. and Canada
– (might be the first time that Xerox did not create their own model number for a Fujifilm-made product)
Fujifilm wins production print contract
– Award from Color Ink. of Sussex, WI
– Installed a J Press 720S production color inkjet system
– “When we looked at other offerings before committing to the J Press 720S we felt there was not anything that was even close, in our opinion, to the cost of ownership, quality level and uptime”; stated Todd Meissner, president.
– Will be used to produce customized folding cartons
Fujifilm to resell Xerox-branded PPS
– Announced it will resell production color inkjet systems made by Xerox France (formerly Impika Corp)
– Models include Trivor 2400, Rialto 900 and Brenva HD, which all use piezo crystal inkjet printhead technology sourced from Kyocera (aka Kyoto Ceramic Co.)
– Will be sold by Fujifilm’s direct sales force in the U.S.
HP wins production print contracts
– Award from Lightning Source, a large commercial printer headquartered in Nashville, TN
o Installed 24 each of the PageWide T240HD production color inkjet presses
o Will be used to print on coated stocks up to 500 feet per minute
– Award from Preferred Direct of Norfolk, VA
o Installed a PageWide T240 production color inkjet system
HP launches website for its MFP dealers
– Unveiled new “HP University” for authorized resellers of its LaserJet printers and MFPs
– “one-stop shop for sales-skills training, product education, solutions selling and certifications”
– “interactive online training”
– Also offers instructor-led, face to face training
HP now shipping new color PPS systems
– Now shipping the Indigo 50000 production color system, which handles up to B1 size paper (27.8” x 39.4”)
– Also announced that the new Indigo 12000HD is planned for launch at end of 2017
Canon launches new inks for PPS
– Launched the “iQuarius Performance Inks” for its Oce VarioPrint i300 production color inkjet press
– “large color gamut on wide range of U.S. offset coated media”
– Goal is to “open up graphical applications”
HP exec interviewed about MPS
– CRN magazine interviewed Stephanie Dismore, HP’s VP and GM of America Channels
– Advice given to dealers; “You need to continue to streamline your transactional business (traditional printer/MFP hardware sales) because that absolutely is a significant amount of business, and I believe it will continue to be a significant amount of business. But the shift to contractual and as-a-service is happening”
– “You can have a bifurcated model where you can absolutely operate transactional (hardware-only sales) but move and shift to a contractual model, whether that is DaaS (device as a service) or MPS (managed print services)….”
– “Let’s understand the security threat. Let’s make sure we are providing you innovation, tools, resources and programs so you can enable your sales force”
– “We have put together a Security Advisory Board to advise us within us HP on how the threats are evolving and changing and what we need to do to build into our innovation. We are pulling together that Security Advisory Board so we can bring the latest and greatest information to our partner community….”
o “provide the right solutions to our customers and to really show the customer the value of the partner”
– “if your sales force is enabled and trained and understands on how to listen to customers and provide the right solution based on workflow, point of need and expectations, then you are going to win”
– “If you continue to operate in a transactional mode, your business is going to be at risk and it will be commoditized”
– “Obviously, there is significant growth in services with higher ASPs and margins when you move from transactional (hardware only sales) to contractual (product, solution & services bundle) and then you lock that customer in and take away the competitive threat from a low-price leader”
– “We always see higher profitability when you are solving a problem versus selling a product”
– To support HP dealer lunch/learn events, HP will provide nationally known hacker, Mafiaboy (aka Michael Calce) to be guest speaker at select events
HP ships new inkjet copiers
– Launched new PageWide Enterprise A3 MFPs, using fixed color inkjet printhead technology
– E77660 series offers top speed of 60ppm with base MSRP of $21,773 and street price of $4906
– E77650 series offers top speed of 50ppm with base MSRP of $15,254 and street price of $3437
– Print-only versions also available with speeds ranging from 40ppm to 60ppm
HP launches new pull print solution
– Launched new “Roam” solution
– New pull print (aka follow you) solution allows users to upload a document from a PC or mobile device to a cloud-based personal print queue
– Roam holds the document in queue until the user discovers an HP printer/MFP via their mobile device and releases the print job
– Cost of print is automatically billed to user’s account
– Pricing not announced
HP previews new “Solutions Hub”
– To launch early in 2018
– New platform to allow creation of customer workflows, for healthcare, legal and financial verticals
– Will integrate connectors and templates for development of custom MFP-based solutions
– Includes a connector marketplace
– Pricing details not announced
HP launches new security solution
– Unveiled “Connection Inspector”
– Designed to detect and block suspicious outbound requests from an HP MFP
– Monitors MFP’s network connections and differentiates normal versus abnormal requests
– If suspicious request is detected, it triggers a system reboot
– Pricing not announced
HP blocking third party ink?
– According to several IT magazines, HP is pushing out new firmware for some of its OfficeJet MFPs and printers, that appears to block the usage of low cost third party ink cartridges, and only accept genuine HP cartridges
– HP attempted to do this a year ago, but the ensuing uproar from customers forced the company to restore functionality
Canon wins production print contracts
– Award from Print-O-Stat, a commercial printer in York, Pennsylvania
o Installed a imagePRESS C10000CP and imagePRESS C750 production color laser systems
o Will be used to produce a variety of applications, including envelopes
– Award from PrintWorks, a commercial printer in Lansdale, PA
o Installed a VarioPrint 115 production b/w laser system
o Will be used to produce direct mail pieces
– Award from BFC, a commercial printer in Batavia, Illinois
o Installed two imagePRESS C10000CP, one C7011VP, and one C6011VP production color laser systems
o Also included imagePRESS 1125 and 1135+ production b/w systems
o Used to produce materials for financial services and insurance vertical customers
Canon unveils new PPS integration
– Announced that its PRISMAdirect workflow management solution for its Oce’ production print systems will now integrate with Aleyant Pressero
– Aleyant is maker of cloud-based web-to-print ecommerce solutions
Lexmark launches new solution
– Announced it will now resell solution software from Ringdale
– Ringdale, headquartered in England, is maker of “FollowMe” print management/cost recovery solutions
– Product can be integrated with Lexmark CS920 and CX920 series of MFPs
Canon unveils new PPS solutions
– Announced it will resell software from OneVision as option for its production print systems
o OneVision is maker of software for the printing, publishing and media industry
o Includes prepress workflow management software for scanning, job preparation and data conversion
– Announced it will resell software from Aleyant
o tFLOW is a workflow automation solution to manage print jobs, files and deadlines
o PrintJobManager uses a mobile, cloud-based approach to MIS for pricing, job management, inventory tracking and estimating
o Pressero is a cloud-based online digital storefront for web-to-print
Canon announces exec retirement
– Announced retirement of Mal Baboyian, executive VP of Production Print Systems and Large Format Systems
– Became part of Canon when the company acquired Mal’s employer, Oce’ of the Netherlands
– Mal began his career with Oce’ 42 years ago
EFI provides quarterly earnings info
– Statement was delayed due to company not timely identifying and evaluating the appropriate percentage of recognition for certain industrial wide format equipment revenue transactions
– Ink volume up 18%
– Total revenues up 1% to $247 million
– Industrial inkjet sales up 1%, with total division revenue up 1% to $141.7 million
– Productivity software gross margin up to 7%
o Total revenue up 7% to $39.1 million
– Fiery division revenue down 4% to $66.3 million
o Gross margin down 130 basis points to 70%
– Total recurring revenue up 8% to $84 million
– Non-GAAP operating profit margin down 70 basis points to 13.1%
– Operating expenses up 4% to $95.7 million
– R&D expenses up 14.6% to $36.6 million (14.8% of total revenue)
– Announced a new $125 million stock buyback program
Staples sale has closed
– Sycamore Partners announced it has completed its acquisition of the office supply superstore chain, Staples
– The company will now go private after selling out for $6.9 billion
Dell decides to close some MPS divisions
– IDC reported that Dell Inc. has decided to close its managed print services divisions in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and Asia Pacific (including Japan)
– Will refocus its MPS business in the U.S. market
Document capture solution revenue to grow
– Report published by Transparency Market Research
– Forecasts that the OCR solution (optical character recognition based scan document capture) market will see a robust 14.8% CAGR (cumulative annual growth rate) from 2017 through 2025
– Market value will reach $25.182 billion
– (vendors include ABBYY, Adobe, IRIS, Nuance, etc.)
InfoTrends reports on PPS growth
– In 2015, the U.S. cutsheet production color digital print volume hit 105 billion impressions
– This volume expected to have 6.9% CAGR (cumulative annual growth rate)
– Predicted to surpass 147 billion impressions by 2020
3D printing to have large growth in Healthcare
– From article published in Wall Street Journal
– By 2019, 10% of people will be living with 3D printed items on or in their bodies
– Overall market for 3D printing will grow to $1.21 billion by 2020 from $660 million in 2016
– Industrial 3D printers used by hospitals cost between $10,000 and $400,000 each
– Types of usage:
o 3.7% = dental implants
o 34% = other
o 19.1% = implants
o 8.7% = hearing aids
