Toshiba financial issues update
– Toshiba announced that its planned sale of its NAND memory chip manufacturing division will be delayed “to April 2018 or thereafter” as “certain condition relating to required antitrust approvals” have yet to be confirmed
– “still intends to close the transaction as soon as possible”
– Hopes to sell to Bain Capital for $18.9 billion
– Argyle Street Management of Hong Kong, a Toshiba stock holder, is seeking to persuade Toshiba to either negotiate a higher selling price, or list the unit.
o The investment firm believes that the division could sell for $40 billion
Toshiba names new CEO
– Announced that Nobuaki Kurumatani, an outsider, is new CEO
– “I feel that the organization is determined to change”; he stated in Tokyo press conference
– Previously, he was president of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, which is a bank that Toshiba has a large loan with.
– “Things go well when things are good. But once things start going wrong, then it keeps going wrong”
– “is working to develop a strategic plan for revitalization to regain strength in its core operations” (plan to be announced later in 2018)
– “is promising a turnaround in 5 years by reshaping its operations and boosting profitability”
– Plans to form a team of young and middle-ranking employees to select the firm’s next money-making enterprise
o Will target businesses that not only supply products, but also provide maintenance services to provide steady stream of profits
Ricoh names new head of U.S. division
– Announced that Joji Tokunaga is the new president and CEO of Ricoh Americas
o On 2/17/17, Ricoh announced it had eliminated the position of CEO of Ricoh Americas, laying off Martin Brodigan who held the position
– Glenn Laverty remains as SVP of Marketing for Americas and president of Ricoh Canada
– “I am looking forward to leading our Americas team further down our transformation path”; stated Tokunaga
– Tokunaga previously was in charge of HR, finance, legal, admin and IT.
o Also oversaw the acquisitions of Lanier, IBM Printing Systems and Danka Europe
Ricoh looks to Ireland for growth
– Ricoh, which is shrinking its staff in the U.S., announced that in the country of Ireland it is looking to double its compliment of sales reps
– follows Ricoh’s announcement last year of 110 new jobs as part of a 6.5 million euro investment in its new Irish headquarters based in Swords, Dublin
– Gary Hopwood, managing director, Ricoh Ireland, said: “it is imperative that we continue to grow the Ricoh team with the best talent, as this is what separates us as a market leader”
Ricoh wins MPS/production print contracts
– Award from Clemson University of South Carolina
o Includes taking over the university’s CRD for print and mail
o Claims to have saved university $500,000
o The fleet inherited for MPS program was 3,000 devices
o CRD now has $2.5 million in new revenue, and reduced waiting times from 40 minutes to 1 minute
o Equipment in CRD includes two Pro C7100X production color laser systems
– Award from Logistics Managed Institute of Tysons, Virginia for its CRD
o Includes Pro C9110 production color laser system and Pro C7110 production color laser systems, both with GBC StreamPunchPro
o Also includes EFI Digital StoreFront
o Supported by dealer, Centric Business Systems
Apple to use its own chips?
– Bloomberg News is reporting that Apple plans on using its own computer processing chips in future Macintosh computers
– Intel has made chips for Apple computers since 2005, and Apple accounts for 5% of Intel’s revenues
HPI names new executive in U.S.
– Announced that John Whidden is new Vice President of US Print Specialty Channel Sales
– Reports to Grad Rosenbaum, who is VP and GM of HP Americas Solutions Business
HPI shuts down counterfeit operation
– Announced it has worked with officials in the country of Dubai to close down two “internationally active” manufacturers and wholesalers of fake HP print cartridges
– Confiscated 35,4000 illicit components
Sharp to launch new A4 MFPs
– New models are the MX-B355Wand MX-B455W, which are b/w laser A4 MFPs
– Sharp plans on launching a total of 33 new MFP models by the end of FY2018
– Top speeds of 35ppm and 45ppm respectively
– Replaces the MX-B402 series
– Document feeder on B455W holds up to 100 originals (only 50 on B355W)
o Can feed business cards
o Top speed of 110ipm on B455W and 50ipm on B355W
– 30 second warm up time
– 7” touchscreen color LCD panel
o OSA equipped for optional integrated solutions
– 600x600dpi
– Comes standard with single 500 sheet paper drawer and 50 sheet bypass
o 2,350 sheets max with options
– Comes standard with fax board
o Optional internet fax
– Optional inner finisher with 30 sheet stapling
– Built-in print controller
o Includes OCR board for scan conversion to searchable PDFs or MS Office formats
o Includes PCL and Postscript print drivers
o 1.4Ghz processor
o 10/100/1000BaseT and USB ports
o WiFi standard
o 5GB RAM
o 500GB hard drive
§ Includes data security overwrite and encryption standard
§ Optional MX-FR59U data security kit required for ISO certification
o Serverless print release
o Cloud connect to print from MS OnDrive, SharePoint, Box.com and Google Drive
o Admin audit log
Canon changes leadership
– Canon USA announced that Mr. Yuichi Ishizuka, the company’s president and chief operating officer, has taken a new assignment as president and chief executive officer of Canon Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA)
– also holds the position of managing executive officer for Canon Inc. in Japan
– announced that Mr. Kazuto Ogawa will succeed Mr. Ishizuka in the role of president and chief operating officer of Canon USA, and will report to Joe Adachi, CEO
– Mr. Ogawa comes to Canon U.S.A. from Canon China, where he served as executive vice president
Canon to license inkjet technology
– Memjet Inc. announced it signed a long-term, global agreement to cross-license patents with Canon
– "We are excited and pleased with our agreement with Canon, which validates the value of our technology," said Len Lauer, CEO of Memjet.
– Memjet’s original technology platform, VersaPass, is an aqueous dye-based, single-pass inkjet printhead
– (the original founder of Memjet technology, is Kia Silverbrook, who at one time worked for Canon)
Canon launches new production print
– Unveiled the new Oce’ ColorStream 6000 production color inkjet system
– Uses piezo crystal printhead technology
– Webfed using rolls of paper
– 600 x 600 dpi
– 2 bit color depth per pixel
– Offers CMYK plus MICR and special color (6 total)
– Top speed of 536 letter sized images per minute
– Max duty cycle of 28 million per month
– Max print width of 21.25” with max length of 54”
– Handles 60gsm to 160gsm at top speed
– Main engine weight of 5,512lbs.
– Requires 208V and 100amp circuit
Samsung under investigation
– The Hankyoreh newspaper is reporting that prosecutors in South Korea have launched a “full-scaled investigation for union-busting operations after acquiring thousands of documents describing its anti-union strategies during a search and seizure”
– Document describe how to “crush labor unions”
– The documents were found on a hard drive that was seized by police from an HR department in Seoul
Samsung published security survey results
– Claims that printer security itself is often overlooked by IT departments
– Just 16% of respondents are aware that printers may be at high risk for security threat/breach
Samsung fined for patent infringement
– U.S. District Court Judge Amos Mazzant III of Sherman, Texas ordered Samsung to pay $26.1 million
– Fine was for willful infringement of 2 patents related to digital photography that are owned by Imperium IP Holdings
Xerox catches thieves
– Xerox (soon to be acquired by Fujifilm of Japan) announced that a federal grand jury in Florida has indicted 5 men in a scheme defrauding Xerox out of $25 million
– Prosecutors say Robert Lee Fisher had a copier dealership named RBM Imaging of Daytona Beach, Florida, and claimed to have sold more than 60 Xerox printers to a sham company named HDH Graphics
– HDH Graphics was set up by David Haynes, Kyle Hanes and Jason Haynes, who ordered the printers under a contract where Xerox provided the toner.
– HDH Graphics ordered $25 million worth of toner, even though they apparently never made any prints from the devices.
– The toner apparently was sold online for $11 million
– The charges each carry a max penalty of 20 years in prison and $250,000 fine
Xerox wins production print contract
– Award from Blackwell Print of Great Yarmouth, England
– Installed Xerox Versant 3100 production color system
Large dealership changes its name
– Darren Metz, founder and CEO of NovaCopy, announced he has changed the name of company to Novatech
– “As the copier business has changed, we have evolved into a managed service provider and believed our name did not fully reflect the services we provide our customers”
Dealership moves to larger HQ
– Advanced Systems, Inc. announced it is moving from a 14,500 square foot facility to a 32,500 square foot facility in Cedar Falls, Iowa
– President is Dave Quint, and is a dealer for Xerox, Canon & Lexmark
Visual Edge makes more acquisitions
– Visual Edge, headquartered in Canton, Ohio, announced it has acquired:
o A. B. Dick Document Solutions of Grand Rapids, Michigan
§ Dealer for Sharp and Kyocera
o H.C. Berger Company of Lansing, Michigan
§ Dealer for Kyocera and Sharp
o Both were owned by Charlie Hiotas
Private equity firm buys copier dealer
– Sentinel Capital Partners of New York announced it has acquired UBEO, headquartered in San Antonio, Texas
– UBEO is run by Jim Sheffield, president
– UBEO was formed on May 1st, 2017 when DOCUmation of Austin Inc., DOCUmation of North Texas Inc. and DOCUmation of East Texas Inc. split off and began operating as UBEO of Austin Inc., UBEO of North Texas Inc., and UBEO of East Texas Inc.
o DOCUmation of San Antonio along with its South Texas and West Texas markets remained as a separate business entity under the brand DOCUmation.
– UBEO services Kyocera, Konica Minolta, Ricoh and Xerox
Microsoft to invest $5 billion into IoT
– Will invest the money into various programs surrounding IoT (Internet of Things) over next 4 years
– Part of its bid to make the deployment and use of IoT hardware easier for businesses
– Hopes to add more customers to its Microsoft Azure cloud platform
Apple working on touchless smartphones
– While the new Apple iPhone X allows user to unlock phone by looking at it, is now working on “touchless gesture control”
– Would allow future iPhone users to perform some tasks by moving their finger close to the screen without actually tapping it
Quocirca survey of future of print
– Surveyed printer/MFP manufacturers, dealer/resellers and end users
o 60% of manufacturers feel positive about future revenue growth
o 72% of manufacturers expect an increase in revenue
§ 50% of dealer/resellers expect an increase in revenue
o 71% of print industry executives expect a disruption ahead
§ 39% of print industry executives are very well prepared for disruption
§ 50% of manufacturers feel prepared for disruption
§ 32% of dealer/resellers feel prepared for disruption
o Top drivers for success:
§ Innovation
§ Fostering an innovative culture
§ Transition to a service-centric business
§ Managed print services
– Survey of businesses revealed that mobile employees are expected to account for more than half the workforce by 2025
o Top priorities for investment:
§ 84% = security
§ 66% = cloud computing
§ 47% = mobility
§ 30% = print security, rising to 47% by 2025
o 47% believe built-in security features to prevent malware or denial of service attacks will be important by 2025
o 58% believe security expertise will be the leading supplier selection criteria by 2025
o 78% state printing is important to their daily business
§ 64% state printing will be important in 2025
§ 41% expect print volumes to grow
§ 51% expect mobile printing to grow
§ 37% expect that they will no longer want to own print devices by 2025, and instead move to “print-as-a-service”
FMV Leases no longer used?
– Modern Healthcare magazine ran article entitled; “Accounting standard change could encourage more buying”. Details:
o On 12/15/2018, the Financial Accounting Standards Codification 842-Leases take effect for:
§ public companies
§ non-for-profit health systems with municipal bond debt
o On 12/15/2019, new rule takes effect for all others
o Rule requires that leases are recorded on balance sheets
o Scales in favor of buying equipment rather than leasing
§ (this may disrupt the normal cycle of how long customers keep equipment, and make it more difficult to upgrade the equipment)
o Currently, companies can keep operating leases off their balance sheets
o Rule requires that leases are recorded as liabilities and corresponding assets
