MFP Weekend Industry Notes 4/12/09

The following is a quick review of print production news from various trade publications.

Ricoh announced its Account Development Fund (ADF) Program to assist in large account take downs:
- Single take down deals or initial orders only
- Must be accounts with over $100,000 in hardware revenue installed
- Money can be used for short term price reduction, early lease buyouts or customer rebate
- Up to 8% of deal may be provided as support on low margin deals

Ricoh provided summary of features of its GlobalScan document management solution:
- GlobalScan 2.0 is server-based solution, where one server supports up to 250 Ricoh-made MFPs
- GlobalScan Serverless, no server needed, and install on one MFP
- Is scalable for enterprise-wide deployment
- Plug-ins deliver functionality and adaptable Frameworks for third party ECM software
- Customizable workflows can be initiated from MFP’s touch screen
- Works with:
- Microsoft Exchange
- Lotus Notes
- OCR
- EMC Documentum (using FrameWork and some development)
- FileNet (using FrameWork and some development)
- Hummingbird (using FrameWork and some development)
- Captiva InputAccel
- Captaris RightFAX
- Kofax
- OpenText LineLink
- Interwoven WorkSite

Ricoh announces some of its big solution sale bid wins:
- Trustway Insurance of Georgia:
- 54 MFPs
- 39 printers
- Third party hardware and software
- Managed IT contract (Ricoh TeknoForce)
- Covers 48 locations
- Tenet Healthcare
- 270 MFPs
- 29 color laser printers
- 75 color Gel inkjet printers
- Replaced Xerox
- Managed IT services

Ricoh announced its structure for its ITSE organization:
- Frank Borovsky – Vice President of Document Solutions & IT Services
- Jim Walters – Director of IT Services Operations
- Ben Bullock – Senior Manager National IT Services
- Has specialists for Healthcare, Government & Education markets
- Joyce Ouelelette – Director Solution Marketing


Ricoh launched two new production print color systems, the PRO C550EX and PRO C700EX:
- Base MSRPs of $54,290 & $62,690
- C550EX offers 55ppm full color and 60ppm b/w
- C700EX offers 70ppm full color and 75ppm b/w
- Uses engines from the MP C6000 and C7500 mid-range color MFPs, which compete against the
the Konica Minolta bizhub C552 & C652
- Base MSRP includes EFI Fiery E8100 print controller
- Supports up to only 80lb. cover in the paper drawers
- 110lb. cover stock must be placed in the bypass of the RT4000 large capacity deck for $4780.00
- Standard paper capacity is 5,300 sheets
- Finishing options include stapling, hole-punch, GBC punch, booklet maker and three ring binding
- SR4010 fifty sheet stapling finisher for $3150.00
- SR4020 fifty sheet staple and 20 sheet booklet maker for $5460.00
- SR5000 one hundred sheet stapling finisher for $5830.00
- Tab sheet holder for $47.00
- Hole punch kit for $920.00
- Cover insertion unit for $1160.00
- Z-folding unit for $7350.00
- 100 sheet document feeder comes standard
- Auto duplex standard
- Will be marketed with color click pricing as low as $0.0495, single click 11”x17”,
and b/w clicks as low as $0.0132.
- Designed to compete against the Konica Minolta PRO C5501 & C6501 systems
- Does not offer true 8 bits per pixel imaging

Oce’ announced it has authorized Advantage Sign Supply, Inc. of Grand Rapids, MI as a reseller of its wide format color printers. The company employs over 90 people in 10 facilities.

Oce’ claims that is facilities management division, Oce’ Business Services, won bids during past 12 months that totaled over $70 million. The largest was for American Airlines.

According to a survey conducted by John Peddie Research, up to a 44% increase in productivity can be experienced when a computer user adds a second computer monitor to their desk to see two pages at same time.

PrintShop Mail, a product of Objectif Lune, won award for best variable data software from the European Digital Press Association.

Patriarch Partners LLC of New York purchased the assets of Polaroid Corp. in bankruptcy court in Minnesota for $60 million.

Xerox announced that it has cut its pay of its CEO, Anne Mulcahy, to only $12 million, a decrease of 6%.

Xerox revealed that it reimburses its CFO, Lawrence Zimmerman, $125,000 per year, for the cost of traveling between his home in Boulder, CO and his office in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Xerox announced it won the bid put out by Proctor & Gamble, to manage its worldwide print operations. Details:
- Will reduce energy used by 30%
- Will reduce paper usage by 20%
- Creating of a web portal for on-line learning and equipment procurement

Police arrested Ayad Al-Musawi in the state of Washington, after the Xerox worker was found to have stolen nearly $300,000 worth of printer supplies from the company and attempted to sell them over the Internet. In his house they found almost 10,000 wax sticks that go in Xerox Phaser color wax printers.

Kyocera launched more desktop b/w laser printers, the FS-2020D, FS-3920DN & FS-4020DN featuring:
- 37ppm, 42ppm and 47ppm respectively
- Maximum paper supply of 2500 sheets
- Auto duplex
- Uses amorphous silicon ceramic drum technology
- A4 design, letter/legal size only
- 128MB RAM, upgradeable to 1.15GB
- MSRPs of $1044, $1424 & $1583

The City of Reno, Nevada was able to fend off a protest about its copier bid award. Details:
- Bid was awarded to The Ray Morgan Company, a 4 year contract for $189,429 per year
- Protest was turned in by John Burton, owner of Rabbit Automation, who claims his bid would save City of Reno $400,000 over term of bid
- Protest was rescinded when Mr. Burton found out that City of Reno could force him to
post a $165,000 bond

OfficeMax claims that it has recycled over 10,431,200 print cartridges last year.

Better Buys for Business magazine reported results of a study of businesses in the U.S.:
- 32% of buyers have plans to make a purchase or lease within 12 months
- 15% expect to purchase or lease in 3 months
- The most important factor in buying decisions:
- 42% say price
- 27% say total cost of ownership
- 21% say service
- 20% say computer networking
- 19% say past experience
- 12% say brand experience
- 10% say features
- 4.5% say speed



Sharp posted its first loss in half a century (1950), and will eliminate 1500 workers. The total loss was $1.3 billion.

Sharp President, Mikio Katayama, announced it will open factories in China to cut costs.

Toshiba has a reorganization of its copier division, called Toshiba America Business Solutions (TABS):
- Toshifuii Matsumoto, who was chairman & CEO, was demoted to chief marketing executive
- New CEO and chairman is Masahiro Yamada
- Previously, Mr. Yamada was Deputy General Manager of Document Systems Business Group at corporate headquarters in Japan.

Spencer & Associates, led by David Spencer, announced it will have a meeting in Chandler, AZ on 6/4-6/09 to discuss the future of inkjet and toner technologies.

According to Lyra Research, the printer cartridge industry is $8 billion per year worldwide, and that refilled cartridges make up 27.5% of the total.

According to survey conducted by Office Dealer magazine, here is what buyers are looking for in a vendor:
- Solid Service
- Competitive Pricing
- Diverse Product Offering
- Integrity
- Genuine Concern For Customer Needs
- Minimum Mistakes
- Responsive To Inquiries
- Smooth Interaction
- Good Humor
- Respect For Customer Opinions

Hewlett Packard claims that by the year 2010, it will have collected a billion pounds of electronic products and supplies in recycling efforts. According to HP, this is the equivalent of the weight of the Golden Gate bridge.

-=Good Selling=-