MFP Weekend Industry Notes

WEEKEND MFP INDUSTRY NOTES
12-7-08

The following is a quick review of copier/MFP industry news from industry publications. This was posted on the RFG Print4Pay Hotel

Scientists from Germany’s renowned Fraunhofer Institutes have stated that after testing, they do not believe that toner dust emitted from laser printers or MFPs is of any health hazard. Dr. Michael Wensign, of the Braunschweig based facility stated that it is no more dangerous than using a toaster.

In a recent investors conference in New York, Xerox CEO, Anne Mulcahy stated:
will lay off 3,000 employees in next 6 months
will take a $400 million restructuring cost
hopes to save $200 million per year
suffered a 3% drop in high-end equipment orders
Will drop its spending on research & development from 5% of revenue to only 4%
Stock is selling for $6.25 per share, down 80% from start of 2008
Plans on having a robust portfolio of both A4 and A3 color products
“IKON continues to be our No. 1 competitor in every market we’re in”

Fuji, makers of most Xerox printers and MFPs, announced the following:
President of office equipment division is Tadahito Yamamoto
Building a new research and development facility in a 20 story building in Yokohama, Japan that will employ 5,200 workers
New R&D center will cost 60 billion yen and open in March of 2010
Current design is done in Ebina center in Kanagawa, Japan

Xerox recently held a conference in Rochester, New York, where it invited book publishers from around the U.S. to demonstrate the ability to produce paperback bound books using Xerox production print systems.

Xerox fights to keep its copiers in a school district, even though an auditor found that the bid that Xerox won was void. After a protest by a local competitor, the Office of Public Auditor found that the Guam Public School System had awarded Xerox a $1.5 million per year contract with out properly going out to bid. However, local Xerox GM, Margaret Raftary-Tyquiengco when asked if she would remove the copiers from the school said; “We see no cause to do so at this time.”

Xerox announced it will donate $1 million to the University of South Africa. (the company recently won a bid to supply the university system their with MFPs and printers through its sales agent, Bytes Document Solutions)

Xerox is planning on launching new color MFP models based on technology other than toner and laser. Unofficial details:
will use hot melted wax, called Solid Ink technology
currently used in some (not all) Xerox Phaser desktop models
Wax sticks are inserted and fall into an iron heating tub, and when wax is liquefied, it is sprayed on to paper, where it cools and hardens
Apparently Xerox will launch three floor-standing MFP models
Copy/scan/print/fax
Possible top speed of 45ppm b/w or color (although this may be in low quality mode)
May slow down to 22.5 for highest color quality
Some believe that Xerox will use frame and accessories from the current DocuColor 242
Will be launched with purchase pricing that is market disruptive, and most likely will be promoted with low cost warranty, with wax sticks sold separately

Canon announced it is opening the Canon Institute for Global Studies in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan will carefully assess the future directions of Japan and the rest of the world. It will be run by former Governor of the Bank of Japan, Toshihiko Fukui.

Canon announced it will spend $63.4 million to build a fourth manufacturing plant in Vietnam.

Details:

It will by 110,000 square feet
will be used to build parts for laser printers and MFPs
the company continues to try to reduce its costs and move manufacturing out of Japan
use robot trolleys to deliver parts to workers
the trolleys have a robotic voice that sings a song in Japanese that translates to “be careful or you’ll meet your maker” company apparently has no debt, but a “yen yama” or a cash mountain of 737 billion yen, that it will use for acquisitions
green floors are marked with white tape into U-shaped areas each area has 6 workers to assemble a copier workers all wear a company jacket which is beige with orange and blue stripes everything is mounted on wheels and workers are encouraged to shave even a few seconds off the process fastest workers can build a copier from 3,000 parts in three hours automated cameras check 200 points on the finished copiers for quality control company founded in 1937 as Precision Optical Industry.
Changed its named to Kwanon, which is the 1,000 armed Buddhist god of mercy. Name was then changed to Canon
In 1964, introduced the world’s 10 key digital calculator, the Canola 130

Apparently, even though it originally lost its lawsuit with Nanotechnology of Texas, Canon has supposedly been informed that the company will not fight Canon if the suit goes to the U.S. Supreme Court. The suit stemmed over Canon’s billion dollar attempt to enter the consumer flat screen HDTV market. This now means that Canon is free to finally launch the expensive product, that it originally hoped to advertise during the Chinese Olympics. However, due to economic times, the company has decided not to do at this time, as “people would laugh at them”, as stated by Canon worldwide president, Tsuneji Uchida.

Canon announced it has placed an imagePRESS C7000VP at Northern Oklahoma College.

Canon announced it will shed 1200 contract workers in Japan due to declining sales.

Toshiba announced that it will offer solutions from Access Control Devices Inc. ACD provides:
Coin-op hardware with coin and bill acceptance
Uses PIN codes
Offers separate pricing for b/w and color copies
Dispenses and recharges magnetic cards


Konica Minolta launched the DRYPRO 873 laser imager, which will be used to revolutionize breast cancer detection.

Xeikon, a division of Punch Graphix Corp. of Belgium, announced it has sold a Xeikon 8000 production color system to Advantage Mailing, an Illinois-based variable data printshop. The 8000 can produce 244 color pages per minute.

Ricoh announced the MSRP for the PostScript option for its new color laser MFPs:
Aficio C2800 or C3300 is $1260.00
Aficio C4000 or C5000 is $1530.00

Ricoh announced it will now offer optional Card Authentication Package, offering support for card swipe security on its MFPs.

Brother finalized its contract with Pitney Bowes to provide service on its office products in the U.S. The division of PB, called Multi-Vendor Services, will fulfill the out-of-box warranty and customer-purchased extended warranties on Brother desktop inkjet and laser printers and MFPs. (What is odd about this is that years ago Pitney Bowes sold off its printer and copier business, which eventually became Oce’ imagistics. This service may be performed by the large amount of Pitney Bowes mailing equipment technicians in the U.S.)

Oce’ announced that it will relabel some desktop Okidata-made LED color printers.

Hewlett Packard announced it sold an Indigo 7000 production color system to DataMart Direct, a print for pay in Hanover Park, IL.

Sharp announced that it will recall over 16,000 LCD projectors, as some have overheated and caused fires.

J.D Power & Associates announced the results of a copier users’ satisfaction survey. Xerox won top spot, followed closely by Panasonic. Other details stated:
60% of those surveyed experienced at least one paper jam per month
Users satisfaction drops if they experience one paper jam per month with a color MFP, but goes up to 4 per month with a b/w MFP
4,200 end users participated
End users view b/w MFPs more reliable than color MFP

Kyocera announced their KYOprint Pack managed print services program. This program consists of the customer buying a special toner cartridge for a Kyocera laser printer, and it includes service. As long as the customer continues to but the special KYOprint Pack cartridge, they continue to receive service. (if the customer prints images with more than 5% coverage per page, then this program can be expensive)

MindFireInc. announced that its variable data software was used in October, 2008 to create over 300 direct mail campaigns with over 1,000,000 pieces in the U.S., all using PURLs (personalized web address for response by end users)

A scientist is working on a new technology that may reduce the size and cost of color laser printers and MFPs dramatically. Details:
Lawrence Schein works for Torrey Pines Research of California
Formerly worked for Xerox and IBM
The pending patent will be used to start Aetas Systems, to implement this new technology
Technology uses nonetechnology to completely coat color toner particles with tiny silica balls, as small as 10 nanometers wide, or a thousand times smaller than the toner particles themselves
The silica balls smooth out the rough edges of the toner particles
Mr. Schein claims that this would allow development of a color laser engine that uses one OPC belt, instead of 4 OPC tandem drums

Bitstream Inc. held its annual User Conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts recently. Its main product, PageFlex, is a very popular variable data software package. The event was led by Frank Romano of the Rochester Institute of Technology. The attendees were mainly printshop owners and advertising/marketing directors looking to expand their business through the use of VDP, or personalized marketing. Canon, HP & Xerox had color production gear on display.

Adobe announced it will lay off 600 employees due to declining sales.

A company in Shingle Springs, CA, founded by John Juntunen, is dedicated to wiping memories of trade-in copiers. Digital Copier Security Inc., apparently focuses on digital copiers that companies have returned, or upgraded, that may have sensitive data still left in the memory or hard drive of the copier. The company claims that many used copiers are being wholesales overseas that have not had their memories scrubbed. For more info visit www.copiersecurity.com.

Yannick Amiet was arrested for attempting to buy a Big Mac at a McDonald’s using a fake $10 bill he made on a color copier.

According to the Photizo Group, managed print services will be a $26.7 billion business in 2012 and account for 35% of the total imaging market.