Toshiba financial issues update
– Executives from Toshiba and Western Digital will meet to attempt to break a deadlock over Toshiba’s urgent effort to find a buyer for its NAND memory chip manufacturing division
o The company failed to meet its self-imposed 8/31/17 to sell off the unit
o Western Digital apparently is offering $17.4 billion, but supposedly a group led by Apple has offered $18.1 billion
– Because Toshiba’s nuclear division filed bankruptcy, Duke Energy announced it has cancelled nuclear power plant projects in Florida’s Gulf Coast and in South Carolina.
Toshiba to sponsor soccer club
– Announced that its branch in Charlotte, NC is the “Official Partner of the Charlotte Independence”
– Part of the Queen City Soccer Club organization
– Includes MFPs, branding and hospitality
Ricoh settles environment suit
– The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that Ricoh agreed to pay a $245,900 penalty to settle allegations of inaccurate reporting of chemical substances
– Claims that Ricoh failed to report accurately the chemical substances at its facilities in Tustin, CA and Lawrenceville, GA
IDC reports on growth of printers/MFPs
– For second quarter of 2017, reports that the worldwide hardcopy peripheral market grew by 0.7% year over year
– Total of 23.3 million units placed worldwide
– Includes all types of printers and MFPs (A3 & A4, inkjet, laser, thermal, dot matrix, etc.)
– Inkjet based devices up 2.9%
– Laser based devices up 1.7%
– Market share by vendor (includes consumer and office units shipped in quarter):
o HP = up 1.3% to 36.8% or 8,588,270 units
o Canon = up 2.6% to 21% or 4,896,055 units
o Epson = up 0.4% to 17% or 3,958,303 units
o Brother = up 4.6% to 7.6% or 1,777,719 units
o Samsung = down 5.7% to 3.7% or 3,344,470 units
Canon to open new camera factory
– Announced it will build a new semi-automated camera plant in Miyazaki, Japan
– Expects to open in 2019, and reduce production in other countries
Canon ships new b/w production print
– Launch of the new Oce’ VarioPrint 6000 Titan series
– Based on engine in the 6250 launched in 2006
– Uses the “Gemini Instant Duplex Engine” to place image on both sides of paper at same time
– Top speed of 320 letter sized pages per minute for model 6330:
o 6320 = 266ppm
o 6220 – 216ppm
o 6180 = 178ppm
– Runs stock as light as 45gsm and as heavy as 300gsm
o Holds up to 24,000 sheets with up to 12 paper trays
o Up to 13.8” x 19.2” sheet size
– Handles up to 10 million images per month
– Optional MICR toner
– “Lightweight Media Option” provides air guide technology to allow printing on media as light as 45gsm
– Finishing options includes stackers, finishers, perfect binding, cover binding, hole punch
InfoTrends reports on digital conversion
– Study of IT decision makers and hurdles to converting paper to digital processes
o 47% in industrial vertical cite cost as top hurdle
o 44% in professional services vertical cite cost
– Top areas where some has shifted away from paper:
o 62% = sharing documents via email
o 53% = default to duplex when printing
o 51% = document collaboration via cloud
– Top priorities listed for next 3 years:
o Document security
o Going green
o Reducing paper
InfoTrends reports on production print
– In 2017, a total of 360 billion A4 pages will be produced on PPS equipment in U.S.
– 63% of all cut sheet production print output is b/w
o 1% = packaging
o 8% = utility
o 17% = transaction
o 28% = promotional
o 18% = general office
o 28% = publishing
Xerox executive interviewed
– Comments made by Mike Feldman, EVP of Xerox during interview with ENX magazine:
o “we are moving another small group (of direct accounts to channel partners) shortly”
o “Another big move (of branch accounts to dealers or Global) is planned for January 1, 2018.”
o “We are in the final stages of planning and hope to have all of that set up and completed by September 1, 2017, and then we will be in execution mode so that by Jan 1 we will be moving those accounts”
o “It is a significant number, tens of thousands of accounts”
o “We have a direct sales organization that can cover a certain part of the market, but there are so many thousands of accounts that we can not cover because we do not have enough direct sales people”
o “That is where the channel comes into play as an extension of our market reach”
o “Today, we have too many accounts that we segmented to our direct sales organization. If you look at the account ratio of each sales person, they have more accounts than they can cover well.”
o “As a result, we miss opportunities. Our channel partners think we are covering them, so they are serving a different set of accounts. We feel we can enable our partners and acquire more dealers to be representing Xerox and reach these accounts in a proper way.”
o “We can save our direct sales force for the large accounts, the Fortune 1000 companies, and they can hunt for new business with companies like General Motors.”
o “If that rep (direct sales rep) had only 8 or 10 accounts, he or she could spend more time building relationships with the right people and pursuing those opportunities…”
o “The days of customers just buying printers or multifunction devices to only print or copy something are quickly disappearing. Customers want more services, more solutions to help solve their business problems”
o “With our mono-branded agents (Xerox sales agents), we are transforming the model. We have had a long history with agents and it has always been a model where they have sold product on our behalf and we have given them a commission. We are changing that to a buy-sell model, where they can actually buy products and resell them at their price and service devices.”
Xerox wins contract through dealer
– TUI Total Solutions of Florida, a Xerox dealer, announced it won contract from the Daytona International Speedway
– Includes 60 Xerox MFPs
– Included secure print solution
Xerox launches new production print device
– Now shipping the Trivor 2400 High Fusion Inkjet Press, a production color inkjet system
– (Based on technology it acquired after it bought Impika of France in 2013)
– Uses High Fusion inks to print on offset coated paper
– Eliminates need for intermediate coating processes or primers
– Aimed at the direct mail, catalog, magazine and color book markets
– Handles stocks from 60gsmto 250gsm
– Top speed of 250 feet per minute
Kyocera to diversify into power tools?
– Kyocera (aka Kyoto Ceramic Company of Japan) announced it is seeking to acquire the power tool business of Ryobi of Japan
– Has offered $136 million, and hopes to close sale by 3/31/18
– Would include plant in Dalian, China
Man arrested making bills with color MFP
– Jeffrey Daniel Hauger was arrested by Eugene, Oregon police after he attempted to use fake $20 bills at a local Goodwill store
– Apparently was making the counterfeit currency using an HP device
Two men arrested making fake bills
– Oklahoma City, Oklahoma police arrested Brian Simms and Tommy Martin
– The pair allegedly were caught driving a stolen SUV, and police found inside a color MFP along with fake $20 bills that they tried to use at local Sam’s Club.
Large format printer market growing
– IDC published data on results for first half of 2017
– Large format printer (toner and ink based) shipments were up 6%
– Total revenue was up 2%
– CAD/technical devices up 2%
– Graphics devices up 10%
– North American shipments up 16%
– HP led with 34% of shipments and 24% of revenue
Epson opens new manufacturing plant
– Announced it has opened new plant in the Philippines
– Plant will produce inkjet printers and MFPs
– Total cost to build of $143 million
Memjet unveils new inkjet technology
– Announced release of DuraLink, a new inkjet technology platform to be used by OEMs to produce high volume commercial, packaging and industrial printing systems
– Uses long life printheads, and flexible modules
– Uses water-based pigment inks
– 100” maximum print width
– Each printhead features 1600dpi and is 8.77” wide
– 70,400 nozzles in printhead
– Top speed of 668 feet per minute
HP integration with PrintFleet
– PrintFleet announced its printer/MFP monitoring software now integrates with HP’s new Smart Device Services (SDS)
– Consists of a set of cloud-based tools and device-based sensing capabilities for new A3 HP MFPs
– Can monitor and diagnose service status to minimize downtime and anticipate when parts needs servicing before part fails
HP reports last quarter’s numbers
– Total revenue up 10% to $13 billion
– Operating margin down 2.1 points to 7.3%
– Net earnings down 17% to $700 million
– Printer/MFP division revenue up 7% to $6.98 billion
– Total printer/MFP hardware units up 1%
o Consumer hardware units up 1%
o Commercial hardware units flat (even though this included launch of new Samsung-based A3 MFPs)
o Supplies revenue up 10%
Brother ships new A3 color MFPs
– Launched the MFC-J3930DW and MFC-J3530DW
– Both are desktop color inkjet devices that can handle media up to A3 size
– Top speeds of 22ppm b/w and 20ppm for color (based on page with 5% coverage per color)
– In low quality “Fast Mode” speed increases to 35ppm
– Black ink cartridge yield of 3,000 pages based on 5% coverage per page
– Color cartridges have yield of 1500 pages based on 5% coverage per page
– 9.3cm color LCD touchscreen
– 250 sheet paper drawer standard
o 100 sheet bypass on J3933 and single sheet on J3530
– Optional second 250 sheet paper drawer
– Expected machine life of 100,000 prints (based on letter size 20lb bond paper with 5% coverage per page)
– 3 year onsite warranty
– 50 sheet document feeder
EFI received notice from NASDAQ
– Has 60 days from date of the notice to either file its quarterly report or submit a plan to regain compliance with NASDAQ listing rules
– EFI announced that its “assessment and review of certain accounting related matters has progressed significantly”
– A shareholder class action lawsuit was filed against EFI for allegedly faulty accounting practices
IBM to reduce remote workers
– Has called thousands of remote workers back into select offices
– Key to its $750 million overhaul of 100 offices worldwide
– Offices now offer:
o Trendy coffee shops
o Dorm rooms
o Casual clothes
o Bean bag games
o Plush lounges
– Ed Lovely, VP of IBM, stated; “It’s something that I would say just about every large enterprise is trying to do, but they are struggling most with culture. We found that the most productive time was when people sit together”
o “It is a very simple concept of just human interaction, and you get more productivity, more clarity and more trust when you sit together.”
Lexmark offers new solution for its MFPs
– Lexmark (aka Ninestar of China) launched the “Smart Document Capture for Banking” solution
– Assists customers with scanning documents, digitally indexing/tracking, and then extracting data and content to route to bank’s back end system
– Automated notifications and alerts to users to alert them when documentation or information is needed after scanning forms
– Digital audit trails provided
ThinPrint launches new solution
– In 4th quarter, will ship “ezeep Dash” a new server-less print management solution
– Migrates print management to the cloud
– Cloud based management of print drivers
– Works with both Windows and Mac computers
– $0.57 per month per user
– Optional support for mobile printing
– (competes against PrinterLogic)
Auxilio wins MPS deal and changes name
– Announced it will adopt the name of Cynergistek, which is name of a HIPAA consulting services company it had acquired
– Also revealed that it won a very large managed print services contract from a “pediatric hospital based in the South” which is believed to be Texas Childrens Hospital of Houston.
o 5 year contract
o Apparently will include MFPs from Xerox
o “multimillion dollar contract”
o Includes toner management and break fix
o Includes a “innovative solution that analyzes document workflow to optimize and manage document processes” (some type of “follow me” solution)
o Includes 900 devices
o 27 million clicks per year under contract
o Promised to reduce costs by 20%
o Includes “basic cybersecurity monitoring”
Vendor offers MPS on GPO contract
– Guy Brown Management, headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee, announced a managed print services offering nationwide for members of the AdvantageTrust GPO (part of Healthtrust Purchasing Group)
– Promotional price of $0.0094 for b/w and $0.105 for color
– Includes toner, parts, labor and onsite service for desktop printers
– Uses refurbished cartridges
– Does not cover inkjet devices, or devices not on network
– Does not cover MFPs or printers on lease with another vendor
– 2 hour phone response time
– 4 hour onsite response time (M-F, 8am-5pm)
