MFP Weekend Industry Notes 9/8/09

Gathered from Print4Pay Hotel Members from around the world and a few moles in very good places!

A man named Edward Talton, of Lawndale, CA, made $7 million worth of fake U.S. currency before getting caught by local law enforcement. It took 3 years before he was caught with 4 others making the bills on a color copier

After a complaint was filed by Fishers Document Systems Inc., the Meridian School District of Boise, Idaho announced it would recant its copier bid award to Xerox. The district will now send out another request for proposals for its 50 public schools.

Toshiba announced it will spend $5.4 billion on a company in France that makes electrical grids. The company, Areva, would help Toshiba further its plan to build nuclear power plants. (is there any money left to make copiers?)
One of the greatest sources of technological innovation was the original Bell Labs. Sample:
- 1925 – first public demonstration of fax transmission
- 1927 – first long distance TV transmission
- 1947 – invention of the transition
- 1954 – invention of photovoltaic cell
- 1969 – creation of UNIX operating system
- 1978 – technology for cellular telephony
- In 2001, had 30,000 employees, today only 1,000 as it is owned by Alcatel-Lucent

The former CEO of DANKA, A.D. Frazier, launched a new company called “Back of the House” or “BOTH”. The company will provide insurance and employee law assistance for independent contractors in Florida.

Industry authors claim that Ron Potesky, former Senior VP of Marketing for Ricoh, will be taking a job as President of Pantone Corp.

Oce’ announced it won a bid from the Lincolnwood School District of Illinois. Details:
- copiers for 4 buildings
- value of $4,040.000.00
- includes b/w and color units on 5 year cost per copy lease

Oce’ announced that its wax based color wide format printer, the ColorWave 600, won a Bronze award from International Design Exellence Awards.

Canon dealer, Concept Group, won a bid to supply managed print services for the government of Scotland. Value of contract is unknown.

A building from Marysville School District in Seattle, WA was destroyed by a fire caused by a faulty laser printer. Unknown the make a model of the printer which had an overheating fuser.

Printable Technologies, maker of FusionPro variable data software, announced it now integrates with EFI Monarch/Hagen, a printshop management program.

Kodak completed its acquisition of Bell & Howell, maker of high speed scanning systems. 50 existing employees will become part of the new division of Kodak, and report to Russell Hunt.

The National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus has complained to the Federal Trade Commission over what it claims are false advertising practices. They claim that Kodak can not back up its claims that end users can save up to $110 per year if they use Kodak color inkjet printers instead of HPs.


Olec introduced a new UV Coating system for providing a high gloss finish for output from digital production print systems. Pricing unknown. Details:
- supports up to 80lb. cover stock or 17pt board stock
- top speed of 4000 impressions per hour (depending on stock)
- holds 8 gallons of varnish
- can handle lightweight stocks, minimum of 70lb. gloss text weight
- maximum sheet width of 19 inches
- maximum length of sheet of 26.25”
- maximum roller speed of 300 feet per minute
- maximum heat generated of 350 degrees Farenheit

Muratec announced pricing for the new MFX-3550. Details:
- Desktop A4 monochrome MFP
- Actually made by Samsung of Korea
- Top speed of 35ppm
- Base MSRP of $1695 (expected street pricing of $799 to $999)
- 250 sheet second paper cassette for $295
- Toner/drum cartridge yield of 10,000 pages based on 5% coverage

IDC released statistics on the desktop A4 printer and MFP markets:
- Worldwide totals declined 21% in units in last quarter from one year ago to 24.1 million units
- Value of units declined 23.2% to $11.6 billion in the quarter
- Color units declined only 6% in the quarter
- 16.6 million inkjet shipments during last quarter
- Monochrome laser units had value of $4.2 billion in quarter
- U.S. market value of $3.9 billion in quarter with 5.7 million units
- Hewlett Packard lost 4% marketshare by declining 28%
- Canon now has 20% marketshare, while shipments declined 8%
- Lexmark now has 5% marketshare with 1.1 million units

Brother introduced new A4 color printers using LED instead of laser. Details:
- Top speed of 17ppm b/w or color
- Letter/legal size paper only
- MSRPs range from $299 to $349 for print only
- MSRPs range from $399 to $499 for AIOs (all-in-one with scan/copy/print/fax)

According to WhatTheyThink.com, sales of print jobs from printshops are down $858 million so far this year.

Hewlett Packard gave out tips for its resellers on how they can help their customer save money during the recession:
- Preview jobs before printing them to avoid mistakes by using HP Print View preview software
- Print all jobs in auto duplex mode to save paper using HP’s Universal Print Driver
- Eliminate un-necessary color printing with HP Color Access Controls
- Save energy be upgrading to HP instant-on laser printers and MFPs
- Eliminate waste caused by poor image quality when customers use generic toner cartridges instead of using genuine HP laser cartridges (which are made by Canon)
- Shift from printed faxes by using scan to email on new HP MFPs/AIOs
- Eliminate wasted, unused toner cartridges by switching to a managed print services contract
- Consolidate separate single function devices by right-sizing with new HP MFPs/AIOs
- Save money by reducing outsourcing of color jobs to printshops by getting new HP color LaserJets
- Bring design jobs in-house by using templates provided by HP

Principal Ed Frier of the Ridgeview Global Studies Academy Charter School of Winter Haven, FL was shocked when a snake slithered out the new printer he unboxed.

-=Good Selling=-