MFP Industry Weekend Review

The following is a quick review of copier/MFP industry news from industry publications.

CDMS, a print shop, announced it has purchased two Ricoh InfoPrint 5000 (high speed color inkjet production print systems) and two Xerox DocuTech 180 production b/w systems to produce Transpromo materials. Transpromo applications are invoices and statement with color marketing messages.

Xerox also announced it has sold a 4110 production b/w system and a DocuColor 5000 production color system to KCS Trade Print.- Xerox has sent out an e-mail promotion to prospects promoting its Fuji-made color laser MFPs:
o If customer chooses a lease, they get 250 color impressions per month at no charge. This includes all service and supplies, and is 2 clicks for 11”x17” prints.
o 60 month lease/FMV buyout promos:
 Xerox WorkCentre 7232 for $138 per month
 Xerox WorkCentre 7328 for $198 per month
 Xerox WorkCentre 5665 for $329 per month

The Financial Post newspaper announced that Xerox gave itself a big loan. Apparently, it had its Canadian division, Xerox Canada, loan $300 million to its parent, Xerox Corp. Unknown what the $300 million will be used for.
Xerox announced it has signed a contract with Verisign to provide network security software service for its own networks.
Xerox announced it has sold two of the 700 Digital Color Press production print systems to 4DM, a print shop that specializes in variable data direct mail.
Xerox announced it has sold a model 1300 Continuous Feed production b/w system, a Nuvera 120 production b/w system & iGen3 production color system to Fundcraft Publishing, the largest cookbook printer in the U.S.
Xerox announced two promotions. Rick Dastin is now president of Xerox Office Group, and Jule Limoli is now president of North American Agent Operations.-
Xerox announced that it offers an option for its EIP (extensible interface platform) equipped MFPs, that allows end users to scan jobs from an MFP, and have them sent to an Apple iPhone.

Hewlett Packard announced it has won a bid to provide a 3 year managed print services contract for Viacom Corp. claiming that they will save the company 25% per year. Unknown the number of printers and/or MFPs that were involved.

A Belgium company announced that a study it conducted, found that spectrophotometers were not always as accurate as advertised. Spectrophotometers are used to calibrate color printing devices, as well as monitors. Apparently, after extensively testing of a variety of devices, from a number of manufacturers, results revealed a variance as high as Delta 4. The testing company, The Flemish Innovation Center of Graphic Communication, highly recommends that end users not only calibrate their color printing devices, but also the measuring device itself.

Sharp announced it has its revised its financial forecast. Details:
o stock went down 9.3%
o it predicts profit will be lowest in 6 years
o net income will drop 41%

Hollywood actor Nick Nolte announced he plans on suing the maker of a laser printer, which he claims overheated and burned down his $2 million home in California. The brand of the printer was not revealed.

Kodak announced it has sold a NexPress 2100 production color system to Wolverine Printing of Grand Rapids, MI.

Hewlett Packard launched new color laser systems. All are Canon-made desktop A4 models, offering letter/legal size printing only. Main features:
o Color LaserJet CM2320 series
 Color LaserJet CM2320n print/scan/copy for $549
 Color LaserJet CM2320fxi copy/scan/fax/duplex for $849
 Color LaserJet CM2320nf copy/print/scan/fax for $649
 2.5” color LCD display
 4 tandem OPC drum design
 100 sheet stack bypass and 250 sheet paper drawer standard
 Optional second 250 sheet paper drawer
 21ppm b/w or color speed
 Max duty cycle of 40,000 per month
 Recommended volume of 1,000 per month
 17.9 second first print out time
 50 sheet document feeder
 Built-in print controller:• 450MHz processor• 160MB RAM• PCL & PostScript print drivers
 Black toner has yield of 3,500 pages (based on 5% coverage per page) for $115.99 each
 Color toners have yield of 2,800 pages (based on 5% coverage per page) for $114.44 each
 Optional extended warranties do NOT include supplieso Color LaserJet CM3530 series
 CM3530 offers print/scan/copy for $2499
 CM3530fs offer print/scan/fax/copy with corner staple for $2999
 31ppm color or b/w speed
 Max duty cycle of 75,000/month (based on b/w pages @ 5%)
 Recommended volume of 2K/month
 First page out time of 12.2. seconds
 Built-in print controller:• 515MHz processor• 512MB RAM• 80GB hard drive• PCL and PostScript print drivers
 600x600dpi (advertised as offering 1200dpi with interpolation)
 Comes standard with 100 sheet stack bypass as 250 sheet drawer
 Optional second paper drawer holds another 250 sheets
 Auto duplex standard 50 sheet document feeder standard
 Black toner has yield of 3,500 pages (based on 5% coverage per page) for $115.99 each
 Color toners have yield of 2,800 pages (based on 5% coverage per page) for $114.44 each
 Optional extended warranties do NOT include supplieso Color LaserJet CM3520
 Print only
 Base MSRP of $599.00
 Optional hard drive for secure printing and network job spooling

Screen of Israel announced it has sold a TruePress 520 high speed inkjet production print system to King Print and Flagship Press. Both are book printers.

More info on the history of Royal copiers:
o RBC (Royal Bond Copier) I offered:
 Had a brush to clean off master made from rabbit pelts made in Australia
 Paper caught fire during jams
 When relabled by APECO, was called “Dial-A-Matic”
o RBC II was replacement, and features drum coated with zinc oxide, and teflon-coated fuser rollers
o Followed by RBC III, IIIB, IV and IV-R

Muratec now relabeling color laser MFPs made by Samsung of Korea featuring:
o Muratec MFX-C4000 floor standing model
 40ppm b/w or color
 Street price as low as $4995
 4 tandem OPC drum design
 A4 model (letter and legal only)
 100 sheet document feeder 7” color LCD control panel
 10 second first copy out time
 20 second warmup time
 1200x1200dpi (does not offer 8 bits per pixel)
 Optional fax board
 Auto duplex standard (but slows down to 35ipm and not auto duplex 10 point)
 ID card copy mode (allows for easy copy of front and back of small card using platen glass)
 Comes standard with single 520 sheet paper drawer and 100 sheet stack bypass• Maximum paper capacity with optional drawers of 2,720 sheets
 Output tray holds maximum of 500 sheets
 Black toner yield of 20,000 pages based on 5% coverage per page
 Color toners yield of 15,000 pages each based on 5% coverage per page
 Built-in print controller (actual maker unknown)• Scan to e-mail with LDAP• Scan to SMB, network, FTP, TWAIN and USB• Scan formats of TIFF, JPEG & PDF• 10/100BaseT & USB ports• PCL & PostScript print drivers• 80GB hard drive• 256MB RAM (up to 512MB with options)o Muratec MFX-C2500 desktop model
 25ppm b/w or color speed
 Copy/print/scan/fax standard
 4 tandem OPC drum design
 50 sheet document feeder
 Auto duplex (can not auto duplex 10 point and runs at 24ipm)
 ID card copy mode Black toner has yield of 5,500 pages based on 5% coverage
 Color toners have yield of 5,000 pages based on 5% coverage each
 250 sheet paper drawer and 100 sheet stack bypass standard
 Optional 500 sheet paper drawer
 Built-in print controller• USB & 10/100BaseT ports• Scan to e-mail with LDAP• Scan to SMB, network, FTP & USB• Scan formats of PDF, TIFF & JPEG• PCL & PostScript print drivers• 80GB hard drive• 256MB RAM (up to 768MB with options)

Sharp announced a new option for its OSA enabled MFPs. FACSys is a fax software package from emFAST Inc. Using OSA, it will be able to be accessed from the Sharp MFP control panel.

In recent testing conducted by Industry Analysts, the Canon imageRUNNER C3480i color laser MFP apparently did not perform that well in image quality tests. The author did not recommend the product for end users that wish to produce photographic quality output.

At its recent dealer meeting, Kyocera announced:
o new brand name is “TASKalfa” (to compete with Canon “imageRUNNER”, Ricoh “Aficio”, etc.)o showed future color workgroup models with speeds up to 40ppm coloro has no production b/w or color systems to offer yet
o its new embedded software program is called HyPAS (hybrid platform for advanced solutions)o two new b/w units, a 62ppm and 82ppm modelo all new models apparently will be dark gray/black, with white accents

MFP INDUSTRY NOTES FOR 10/5/2008

MFP WEEK INDUSTRY NOTES

The following is a quick review of copier/MFP industry news from industry publications.

Ricoh announced the launch of a new Managed Print Services program through its branches, which are called Ricoh Business Solutions. However, they did not announce if the program will service other brands besides Ricoh made model.

Ricoh announced it has hired a female professional golfer to be its spokesperson. LPGA pro Paula Creamer, who is 22, will be featured in ads, and on premium items.

Ricoh announced it will be relabeling software form UNETsystem. The software provides Network Access Protection (NAP) agent for owners of Ricoh MFPs.

Police in New Zealand are trying to find the owner of a large copier. A thief was stopped while he pushed it down the street. Unfortunately, the culprit got away, but now the police are having trouble finding out which business it belongs.

In past issue, details of history of Royal Corporation were given. See below edits sent in by readers:

o Royal made copiers in Hartford, CT in early 1970s, with models released included Citation, 1400, 1700 and 1800

o In 1973, imported copier made by Konica of Japan, then known as Konishiroku and called it the Royal Bond Copier

o The Royal 1700, 1800 & Bond Copier were relabeled by American Photocopying Equipment Company (aka APECO). The Royal Bond Copier was called the ABC.

o In 1979, launched the Konishiroku made Royal 115, which was a very successful product (it is on display in the copier hall of fame)

The world’s largest ever printed digital image, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, was created by a print shop in Argentina. Base3 Inc., created a 60 meter by 20 meter full color inkjet poster using a Hewlett Packard Scitex XL1500 system. The large image, taken by photographer Robert Ruiz, is now on display in Buenos Aires.

Competing against the Canon-made Hewlett Packard color laser MFPs (CM6030 and CM6040)? Points to remember:

o hard drive is an option (if customer wants jobs spooled from network, or secure printing, this is required)

o network interface is an option

o 16.2 second first color copy out time

o Can handle up to 58lb. paper weight maximum (not auto duplex of 10pt.)

o The fax board does not include faxing from network

o Optional finisher holds up to 500 sheets maximumo Does not offer 8 bits per pixel image quality

o Built-in print controller uses 835MHz processor

More management shakeup at Hewlett Packard. Lee Ray Massey, who was Senior Vice President of Imaging and Printing Group, was replaced by Lynn Pendergrass. Formerly an executive at GE, she will work out of San Diego and report to VJ Yoshi.

Fedex Office, formerly known as Kinko’s, announced it will layoff 200 employees in a cost cutting move. The company also announced:

o Will close up to 21 locations in the U.S.

o Will close all locations in Mexico, Australia and the Netherlands.

Kodak announced it sold a NexPress 2100 Plus production color system to Wolverine Business Solutions, a print for pay shop in Grand Rapids, MI. Kodak also announced it has placed a Kodak NexPress 2100 Plus at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, MS. The system was used to create materials for the presidential debate held on 9/26.

In a recent survey of office workers, the following was found:

o 96% would make a cup of coffee to avoid doing work

o 32% admit to spending time every day looking busy

o 44% admit they would not start a new task or deal with a request that arrived 20 minutes before their normal time to go home

o 68% said that they would work late if needed

o 39% said that they stay late at least once per week

Oce’ announced that it booked an operating loss of 11.2 million euros for the third quarter.

o 7% fall in net revenue

o Would not give a full year forecast because of “uncertain economic times”

Oce’ announced it won an FM contract from Hertz Rental car. It will be a 5 year, multi-million contract covering North America & Europe.

Quick Printing magazine announced that its October magazine issue will have a cover that was produced using a Konica Minolta bizhub PRO C6500.

Acacia Research Corp., which is a company that buys obscure patents, announced it has gotten Brother Corp. to pay it royalty fees in regards to remote printer management functions that the company has a patent for.

In a cost cutting move, Xerox announced it plans on cutting benefits for some of its retirees. The cut in medical benefits will affect almost 16,000 in the U.S.

Xerox announced that its web based document management program, DocuShare Enterprise Content Management, won “Pick of the Year” from Buyers Labs Inc. BLI especially liked the large content of on-line training available for end users of the program.

Xerox announced it will relabel software from Autonomy Corp.

Red Oak Industries claims it has invented a way to make toner from soy beans, and plans on marketing generic laser cartridges that fit in HP printers.

Toshiba has received the “Manufacturer of the Year” award from Marketing Research Consultants for the second year in a row. This award is based upon votes received from 275 independent copier dealers, and not end users.

Toshiba launched a new TV ad campaign to promote its new color MFPs. The ads tagline is “Human Innovation. Leading Innovation”.

Canon launched a new color MFP, the imageRUNNER C1022 offering:

o A4 model, meaning it handles letter/legal size paper only

o Copy/print/scan/fax all-in-one (AIO) (the C1022i comes standard with fax & PCL print contoller)

o 22ppm color or b/w speed

o Based on desktop color laser print engine (similar to existing HP Color LaserJet models)

o Built-in print controller§ 256MB RAM (can upgrade to 768MB)§ No hard drive available§ PCL only print driver (standard with C1022i)§ 10/100BaseT & USB ports§ Scan to TWAIN/USB/e-mail/SMB/FTP

o 12.5 second first color copy out timeo 60 second warm up time

o 600x600dpi (2400dpi with interpolation, but not 8 bits per pixel)

o 250 sheet paper drawer standard with 100 sheet stack bypass§ Optional stand with second 500 sheet paper drawer§ Up to 120gsm in paper drawers, and up to 176gsm in bypass

o Auto duplex standard (can not auto duplex 10pt.)

o Standard 50 sheet automatic document feeder

o Top scan speed of 20opm

o Small footprint of roughly 37” x 22” x 22” (with 2nd drawer)

o All 4 toner/drum combo cartridges toner yield of 6000 pages each based on 5% coverage per page§ Uses pulverized toner infused with wax§ Uses mylar film transfer belt

o Uses 3.5” full color LCD display that tilts and has slots for digital camera memory cards

o MSRP is $3495 for C1022 and $3995 for C1022i