Closing the Perfect Duplicator Deal or So I Thought

I posted this a few years ago and thought it would be a good read for those of us in the trenches every day. Enjoy!!

I'm watching the Met game tonight and I'm hearing that a pitcher for the Tigers is about to throw another perfect game, that would be #3 this year!

You just don't hear of that many being thrown let alone being at a game where one is thrown. My son and I was able to see David Wells perfect game at Yankee Stadium many years ago,  it was the thrill of a life time for the two of us.

I tuned into  ESPN to see if they've got the game covered, I watching.... and the last batter grounds out to the first baseman he flips to the pitcher covering the bag and he's out, no wait he's safe!!1 The umpire clearly blew the call! My first thought is that this kid will probably never ever come that close again in his career. What a shame, a blown call takes away a perfect game.

It just goes to show you that nothing is given, even if it's earned. Many years ago I had demo'd a duplicator at a print shop in Trenton, NJ. The duplicator performed everything that it needed to do. I had the lease ready for the buyer, handed him the pen, the prospect had started to sign and then my boss (who was with me), asked the buyer a question, the buyer obliged and answered the question.

What happened next you might ask, well my boss blew the call! We were never able to get back to that closing point and the print shop never did buy the duplicator. From that day forward, I never ever let him go with me on any future closing calls of demos.

Like I said, sometimes even if you EARN the order, you still might have it stripped away from you because of something that's out of your control.

Armando, I feel for you!

-=Good Selling=-

10 Things Might Not Know About Digital Duplicators

Every so often it seems I'm back on the duplicator band wagon for awhile.  For years I was only able to sell the Ricoh Priports, let me stop here for a moment. 

What does Priport mean or what possessed Ricoh to choose the name Priport?  If I had to choose a name for a hi speed duplicator I would have chosen something like DocuPress, Image Print or DupliPress many years ago.

In the last few months I've been able to learn more about the Riso Duplicators, and while my heart is still with the Ricoh Priport there are some awesome features with some of the Riso Duplicators. 

• The first true digital duplicator was developed

Selling Copiers "Ask Art" Digital Duplicators Not Dead Yet!

I had this email from someone who read one of my posts on Print Planet.  Thought I would share this and also comment on the HQ9000.  Enjoy!

Good afternoon,



I have reviewed your comments on Print Planet and searched the reviews and am very interested in the unit. I am a single operator print shop. My son was operating my offset presses and now has moved onto a better paying job with better benefits. My husband, who founded our company, has many health issues and is not able to back up on the presses. Since I do not have a full time position for a press operator, I am at a real handicap and am looking for something more efficient and cost effective. My concern is the quality of print for text and screens (grayscales) in comparison to the offset press. We run about 15-20% 2-Color work and the rest as black only. We do a lot of Letter, Legal, Tabloid and NCR as well as a lot of envelopes with stock consisting of 20# Bond, 24# Bond, 60#, 70#, & 80# offset, carbonless, and 24# Envelopes from A-2 to #12. On the 2-color is the registration pretty accurate as well as the registration on 2-sided card stock (110# Index)?


I will do more research on your product.


If there is anything else you can offer me for advice and direction, it will be greatly appreciated. I now run (2) Ricoh printers. I have the AP3850C (about 8 years now) and recently purchased the Ricoh CL3500N. The AP3850C is having some color quality issues plus does not have the speed for smaller run booklets of 8-1/2 x 11 size. I was presently looking at the Xerox 7655 but was very concerned about the cost and consumables and efficiency so looking at other options. I am looking to have something in place within the next 2 weeks. We do have the Mac G3 (with OS 9.2) and a Mac G4 (with OS 10) as well as standard Windows XP and believe it or not the Win98.


I do look forward to hearing from you.


Thanks for your time and consideration!
 
My Response
 
As long as you have the PSIII print option you'll be able to control the dot size for the halftones. Everything else including envelopes and NCR should run very well!


There is a two color option called the TCII, that system will run two colors in one pass and will give adequate registration for printing in two colors.

I've had print shops run up to 12 point stock in the system with no issues. Keep in mind that this system has a press roller similar to a printing press. The only maintenance required on the unit is a feed roller to be replaced every 250k or so. I recommend the HQ9000 since it is 600 dpi and the HQ7000 is only 400dpi.

The cost of the consumables is very inexpensive, based on runs of 500 or more expect to spend .002 for black ink and then the cost of the master (plate), which I think is under $1.00. There's no heat, no pressure, to fix the image thus there are no consumables other than the ink and the master (plate), the image cylinder (drum) is designed for 1 million impressions and will cost around $1,200 to replaced or $600 or so to refurbish with a new screen.

You can't run coated stock, the ink just can't set up on that that of stock. Otherwise you can run almost anything and everything through the unit. As far as a maintenance agreement on the system, that's up to you, my recommendation is to take the 90 days parts & labor and see how the system runs. Odds are you'll see that one is not needed.

Each color requires a dedicated image cylinder (drum), one black comes with the system and most of my printers have a total of three on hand, reflex blue, red and black. You can get other colors but you'll need another drum for each one. Ink has a shelf life of about one year also.

Basically, you and I have the most concerning eye when it comes to quality of prints, the HQ9000 does an excellent job, it's not offset, however it's pretty darn close and your client will not be able to tell the difference in probably 85% of the media that you print.

You can't go wrong the system is easy to use, easy to maintain and does not require much service except for a cleaning every now and then.

-=Good Selling=-

PS  Digital Duplicators are a great fit for a print shop, especially since Pressman are getting harder to find.  I placed a call to a print shop the other day and they asked me if I knew of any pressman that could come in and run a job for them.  I offered up a trial on the duplicator, they passed, I guess they were afraid that they may buy something that could really help them out, save them countless hours and get jobs out quicker instead of finding a fly by night pressman!

8 Duplicating Duplicator Tips for Ricoh

With a recent flurry of duplicator sales, wow it was probably two years since I sold my last duplicator!  I've been thinking of ways to improve or market Ricoh duplicators.  Here's 5 tips about changes that I would make to Ricoh's HQ 9000.  Just so everyone knows the Ricoh HQ 9000 is the flagship of the line and has the highest dpi setting, although they don't state 600x600 it's very close and the system has awesome print quality.  here we go!

1.) Add a duplex unit to to the system so it will auto print or copy two sided on letter size.  (Ricoh has the duplex feature in the DX4640PD, however this is only a 400x400 dpi system.)

2.) Increase the paper feed weight to110lb cover.

3.) Bring back an optional high capacity feeder and stacker (3,000 in and 3,000 out), especially with the feeder one that will allow you to load paper or envelopes on the fly with a top down feed system.

4.) Make Adobe PSIII a standard feature and not an option.

5.) Add a cover for the paper feed tray to help eliminate damp paper, and contaminates from entering the system.

6.) Add an optional hi speed scoring and perforating system to create tent style business cards, occasion cards, and or tickets.

7.) Add an optional hi speed inkjet print head for variable data or numbering.

8.) Certify the system for printing onto Pressure Seal paper.

What's the purpose of all of these enhancements?  Well duplicators are not dead yet, problem is that there's no creative thinking going on!!!!  Ricoh has a system called the TCII, basically this system prints two colors in a single pass and they've had this for years. So, why did they not ever design a TCIV with 4 drums units for four color (full color) work??? Duplicator engineers need to get off their butts and back on the street with sales people and find out what's needed in the field and what customers needs are.  Low cost digital printing at hi speed is the ticket!

 With the 8  additions the HQ9000 can become a powerhouse solution in any print shop (whether large or small), any Direct Mail business and can also break into many backroom print applications along with CRD's. 

All of this is easy, there's no rebuild of the system, the hardest part maybe the software and the inkjet print head, but what you've got is powerful, reliable, good quality digital print system that can span many different markets, applications and could offer additional solutions to increase clicks.

The coup de grâce would be to change the name of the system from Priport. I'd love to meet the dam genius that adopted that name! Get rid of it, retire it, times change, needs change and change the name of the system to something like DocuPrint, DocuPRESS, imagePRINT or something is that nature!

Just another hint, come to market with a TCIV and kick some real ass in the digital print market.

Check this third party link out Ink jet addressing with duplicator
-=Good Selling=-

To Ricoh "What I Want for Christmas" 2010

Christmas Note:  Glass ornaments are the most popular of today's German Christmas decorations. One glass ornament in particular is very interesting. It is a pickle! Pickles were used as common German Christmas decorations on the Christmas tree. The legend of the pickle states that when decorating the tree, you must hang the pickle last and hide it among the Christmas tree branches. On Christmas Day, the first kid to find the pickle would get a special blessing for the coming New Year and an extra present

Back in 08 I posted a blog titled To Ricoh "What I Want for Christmas", some of those Christmas wishes came or are coming true almost two years later.  I had asked for Color Scanning on high volume units (got it and Santa made me happy), print files from USB or SD cards (got it, about two years late), a Gelsprinter Plotter (I got an Epson instead), a real A4 device (not some printer with scanner attached, don't have this yet, however Santa's suppose to bring me one after Christmas), a Digital Duplicator that duplex's 11x17 (nope, didn't get one of these either), Biometric Authentication (did not get and I'm really pissed), a wide format system that will scan in color (dagnabit, I was suppose to get this a few months ago, all I hear is that it's coming, thanx Santa another gift that everyone else got but me). 

So, this year I put together another wish list from Ricoh:

• Duplexing A3 Digital Duplicator that prints in two colors!
• 50, 60, 70 ppm A4 MFP that has the cost per page of the A3 MFP
• Low Volume wide format system with color scanning (4 pages per minute or less)
• A "Green" MFP that will let me use the same paper over and over (erase image)
• A Digital Color Envelope Press (really, really want this)
• A Booklet Finisher that will fold and staple thick stock for Segment 3 & 4 systems
• A folding unit that will create a "z" or "gate" fold on letter size prints or copies
• Embedded Print Cost Calculation Software that will allow us to charge by coverage used
• Embedded Print Software that will report what documents were printed and by whom
• A 20ppm A4 MFP that has a retail cost per page of .10 cents

I don't think I'm gonna see any of these this Christmas and I'm kinda wishy washy about next Christmas also, but I'm going to keep the faith that Father Christmas will make a few of these happen.

Do you have a wish list from another manufacturer or even Ricoh, if so post in the comments section!

-=Merry Christmas=-