Weekend MFP Industry Notes

1-4-09 Special Thanx to all for these notes:

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

Canon announced that Bill Joseph is no longer with the company. He spent 33 years with Canon, most recently in charge of most factory direct branch locations on the west coast. A replacement has not yet been made. (Canon continues to make changes to its direct sales division, as it struggles to make up for lost sales through IKON and DANKA)

Due to the change in the yen to dollar conversion, corporate officials from both Canon and Sony have stated their intention to raise prices in 2009 to make up for lost profits. Canon’s Ryoichi Bamba stated that the currency exchange “is a 30 per cent cost increase for us. Maybe 10 per cent we can absorb through higher productivity, 10 per cent from higher prices, and 10 per cent from cuts to our own costs and profits.” (unknown how this will affect selling prices of Canon MFPs and printers)

Canon gave out a few more details on its upcoming new production b/w systems, the imagePRESS 1110, 1125 & 1135:
- 110, 125 & 135ppm speeds respectively
- Actually made by Canon
- Will not replace the current Kodak-made models that Canon offers (imageRUNNER PRO 7110VP, 7125VP, 7138vp & 7150vp) that run up to 150ppm
- Base MSRPs are $80,000, $92,000 & $110,000
- Have document feeder that scans both sides of original at same time
- While output is only b/w, the device can scan in color
- Comes standard with 2,000 sheet paper supply
- Maximum of 14,000 sheet paper supply with options
- Uses finishing options from the existing imagePRESS C7000VP color model
- Will use a transfer belt for imaging
- Controller choices range from embedded generic unit, EFI Fiery and EFI MicroPress

A large electronics chain lets go of one of its executives. Fry’s Electronics, which sells a wide array of technology, including desktop laser MFPs, was forced to fire Vice President, Omar Siddiqui, who is accused of a $65 million fraud to pay off gambling debts. His bank records show he spent $121 million in just three years at the MGM Grand and the Venetian casinos in Las Vegas.

The Secret Service reports catching more folks who make fake money using a color MFP. Recent busts include:
- A 15 year old boy was caught using fake money to buy lunch in school cafeteria
- In Moultrie, GA, a man was caught making fake $20 and $100 bills and using at local restaurants
- Nationwide, arrests jump 28% in 2008

In a survey of computer/VAR dealers by Business Solutions magazine, Cabinet NG Inc. was named as the “Best Channel Vendor” for document management software solutions. Their products include Retriever, Synchronizer and CNG-API. For more info, visit www.cabinetng.com

Both Gartner Inc. and Forrester Research have issued reports predicting lower IT spending in 2009.

Sharp announced it will record a loss of more than 50 billion yen ($555 million) due to its 14% stake in struggling Pioneer Corp.

Toshiba, which earlier announced its intentions to make a nuclear reactor that would fit in a small closet, announced that it will give one of these for free to a small, remote ski resort in Alaska. Toshiba is waiting for federal government approval in late 2009, before it can ship or market this new Toshiba 4S nuclear technology.

Toshiba announced it will spend “several tens of billions” of yen to build a battery factory in northern Japan. It hopes to start shipping its “Super Charge Ion Battery” in 2010.

Toshiba announced that it will apparently be the first MFP vendor to release its own homegrown software connectors for software embedded into its MFPs. One connector is for Microsoft Exchange, and the other is for Microsoft SharePoint. (this means that Toshiba will de-emphasize its reliance on eCopy)

Western Digital announced it will NOT buy the hard drive business of Fujitsu Ltd. of Japan due to current economic conditions.

In a recent survey of printshops, when asked if they offer variable data digital printing, only 44% responded affirmatively, and of those only 82% produce it in full color. (obviously, there is still a lot of opportunity in providing digital color solutions to PFP)
- In the same survey, only 36% of the shops have a web-based print job submission tool
- 45% prefer to acquire their equipment from a factory direct branch
- For shops that have:
- b/w copier under 70ppm, the average monthly volume is 14K/mo
- b/w copier over 70ppm, the average monthly volume is 96K/mo
- office color MFP, the average monthly volume is 4K/mo
- graphics color MFP, the average monthly volume is 22K/mo
- light production color MFP, the average monthly volume is 44K/mo

According to survey of printshops conducted by PIA, shop owners have increased their pricing by an average of 1.6%.

Ricoh launched a “Canon/Xerox ATTACK!” program where it provides dealers and branches with funding to assist in upgrading Canon or Xerox competitive equipment to new Ricoh product.

Ricoh announced that IBM agreed to open up its sales network for Ricoh office equipment. This means that the companies will jointly market Ricoh printers and MFPs along with IBM computers, servers and software to IBM and Ricoh customers. Ricoh hopes that this will add $1.1 billion in sales in the next two to three years worldwide. (is Ricoh preparing to fight a possible future alliance between Canon & Hewlett Packard?)

Acacia Research, a firm that buys obscure patents, announced it has forced Oce’ to pay a license fee for a patent it owns pertaining to network multifunction printer technology. The dollar amount was not released. Other companies that have already settled with Acacia are; HP, Samsung, Brother, Epson, Muratec, Okidata, Panasonic & Toshiba. Acacia reports that its total annual collections are up 45% to $13.8 million per year.

Oce’ announced that it will resell its trade-in copiers, after refurbishing, and call them “Premia Class” models.

Lexmark is launching a new strategy to increase its color laser printer and MFPs. It is adding a new product line that has a higher selling price, but lower color cartridge prices. Details:
- The existing Lexmark C782 models sell for $1299, $1599 & $1999 depending on configuration
- The new Lexmark C782XL models are identical, and sell for $1999, $2299 & $2599, but have color cartridges that are 50% lower in price.
- Lexmark is advertising the new models as “color same price as black/white”, as the color cartridges sell for $199.99 each just like the b/w cartridge

HP & Iran "Whats the deal"?

All kidding aside, I've read many articles about HP having dominating the printer Market in Iran. They key is HP is not selling to a distributor in Iran, they are selling to Redington Gulf in Dubai (I would love to sell systems in Dubai)!

Farrah Stockman from The Boston Globe wrote the this H-P's Iran connection Here's an excerpt from here article;

"If American executives at H-P cut the deal knowing the printers were destined for Iran, it would be in violation of the law, sanctions specialists said. But despite the crackdown on U.S. companies that sell their products in Iran, some American firms whose products are sold through third-party distributors like Redington Gulf have avoided scrutiny."

My thoughts, I took a visit to Redingtons web site. What I really wanted to check into is the replacement policy for parts and systems. Since Redington is a distributor and not the manufacturer does that mean that parts and or replacements printers would come from HP.

Here's another excerpt from The Boston Globe Article; "An H-P spokeswoman declined to say how much the company knows about its printers' popularity in Iran, offering only a statement that H-P has "a policy of complete compliance with all U.S. export laws."

I'm always worried when some declines to say how much the company knows.

So, whats the end result here, HP sold the printer to Redington Gulf and they sold them in Iran, not a big deal, unless someone at HP new they were going there in advance, then it's a big deal. But how are the parts and replacements handled, it its direct from HP, is there a problem then? How about support does the distributor handle this also? Well, I got my answer to this question;

In addition, Redington offers authorised spare parts for certain brands through Cadensworth FZE. Cadensworth, a subsidiary of Redington Gulf, is the Authorised Parts Resellers (APR) for Hewlett Packard (HP) and Fujitsu Siemens (FSC) in the Middle East and Africa. Based in Jebel Ali Free Zone, Cadensworth has a state-of-the-art warehouse with advanced logistics systems managed by a professional team. Working in close co-operation with reputed forwarders like Aramex, DHL, TNT etc., Cadensworth has established itself as an efficient Spare Parts Supply Chain Management Company in the region.

From looking at their web site Redington has 33 Partner Service Centers and one main service center in Iran, they also have 13 Partner Service Centers in Egypt.

This is another paragraph from the Boston Globe: "In 1997, two years after former President Bill Clinton banned trade with Iran, H-P struck a partnership with a newly formed company in Dubai to sell its products in the Middle East. At the time, the company, called Redington Gulf, had only three employees and its sole purpose was to "sell H-P supplies to the Iran market," according to a history on Redington Gulf's Web site and Rajesh Chandragiri, administrative manager in Redington Gulf's Dubai office."

Is it a big ado about nothing, sure seems like it or as Sargent Shultz would say "I hear nothing, I see nothing, I know nothing!"

-=Good Selling=-

Art Post

MFPs, Refurbs, Repos and Pre-Owned

Just last night on cable news, I listened to a report that service companies are enjoying the recent decline in the economy because more businesses and consumers are opting to repair old equipment, servicing older cars, buying refurbished equipment and just get things fixed rather than buying new.

As we listen to doom and gloom on the news, everyone is pulling back from those large expenditures and I can't say that I blame them.

So, what can we do?

1. We as office equipment dealers and salespeople have plenty of off lease systems that we should turn to in order to save our clients money, saving dollars is what it's all about right now. Let's face it, in the last twenty four months has there been dramatic changes in with multifunctional copiers systems? NO, they can all print, scan, fax and copy. Fact is most clients need to save money.

The key would be to find low metered off lease equipment that will meet the customers needs financially and not lose any features that they are now using.

Things you need to watch when offering off-lease or pre-owned systems is that most leasing companies will only lease these systems at a Dollar Out lease rate (which is not a bad thing)

2. Where there is pain, there may be a potential sale. Pain could mean that a company is having a hard time maintaining their current lease payments, it could also mean they have some older equipment and the services costs are too high. Doing cost justification and an ROI for a Total Cost of Ownership may open someones eyes.

3. Continue to prospect, there are certain segments of business that are doing very well, such as service business like I outlined above. With interest rates now going to 4.5% on a 30 year fixed rate, title, banking and mortgages companies are picking up steam. If you can't get them a lease put them into a short term rental with the condition that they will lease or buy a new system from you in "x" amount of months. This will guarantee some business down the road.

The key is not to get caught up in all the BS from the news, believe nothing of what you hear and half of what you see. Keep prospecting and always remember that winners make things happen and loser wait for things to happen.

The hardier I work the luckier I get.

-=Good Selling=-

Copier Quotes and New RFP's Uploaded

Just wanted to give all of are Print4Pay Hotel members an update! These are some of the quotes an RFP's that were uploaded over the past 24 hours. A few of these RFP' s need to be addressed in month of January.

Ricoh MP 2000 "Pricing on the Street"
Xerox Bid Quote "Pricing on the Street"

RFP's:

Michigan
Kansas (x2)
Illionis
Canada
California (x2)

Log on to the Print4Pay Hotel and become a member in order to view these RFP's and latest pricing from Xerox and Ricoh.

-=Good Selling=-

MFX-C4000 color laser MFP

Muratec gives out more details on its new Muratec MFX-C4000 color laser MFP:

- Made by Samsung of Korea
- Base MSRP of $8995.00
- 40ppm top speed color or b/w
- 1200x1200dpi (does not offer 8 bits per pixel)
- 4 tandem OPC drum design
- A4 device, meaning up to legal size only (no support for 11”x17”)
- 100 sheet document feeder
- Auto duplex standard (stackless, up to 35opm)
- 10 second first copy out time
- 20 second warmup time
- ID Card Copy feature (for easy copying of driver’s license or insurance card)
- Built-in controller
- PCL & PostScript drivers standard
- Scan to network/FTP/e-mail/LDAP up to 4800dpi
- TWAIN/PDF/TIFF/JPEG scanning
- USB & 10/100BaseT ports
- 80GB hard drive
- Add 128MB RAM for $295.00
- Add 256MB RAM for $395.00
- Add 512MB RAM for $495.00
- Optional Silex wireless server for $249.00
- Comes standard with 100 sheet stack bypass and 520 sheet drawer
- Add single 520 sheet drawer for $575.00
- Add two 520 sheet drawers for $1295.00 plus $175.00 for casters
- Can handle up to 90lb. index paper weight in bypass
- Drawers handle up to 28lb. bond only
- Optional fax kit for $695.00
- Cabinet/stand for $445.00
- 7” full color LCD touch screen control panel
- Black toner yield of 20,000 pages based on 5% toner coverage per page
- Color toners yield 15,000 pages each based on 5%
- Black & color drums yield of 30,000 pages
- Waste toner container yield of 48,000
- Optional stapling finisher for $995.00

How upset are Sharp Copier Dealers?

Sharp finally delivers a home run with their introduction of the MX-C311 and MX-C401, a product that some feel will revolutionize the MFP market. Well, to say the least they gave Sharp Dealers a two month head start, Sharp announced that they will allow computer dealers to sell the new Frontier series of A4 color laser MFPs. The MC-311 and MC-411 will be relabeled to DX-C311 and DX-C401.

My first reaction was WHAT!!!If I were a Sharp dealer, I'd be up in arms right about now. Within 60 days you'll see these boxes all over the Internet. Well, there goes the market for A4.

I would have thought that Sharp would have been smarter about this, or at least give dealers a chance to move these systems, make some profit and prepare for the next series of A4 devices. Alas the decided that they needed to compete with the likes of HP, and Samsung for the A4 market.

It's all about the consumables and it seems like none of the manufacturers give a hoot about dealers.

-=Good Selling=-

Art Post

MFP Weekend Industry Notes

12-28-08

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


Oce’ gave out more details of its new monochrome production print engines, the 4000 series:- Models are 4110 and 4120
- Base engine price of $50,000.00 for 4110
- 106ppm or 120ppm top speed respectively (or 51 ledger size sheets per minute on either model)
- Up to 2.5 million print per month duty cycle
- Main engine weighs 1,289.7 lbs.
- Based on CopyPress technology used in the Gemini series (6250)
- Uses LED instead of laser technology
- 600x1200dpi with 141lpi printhead
- Optional document feeder has double sheet detection
- 75 original capacity
- Can scan while printing
- Top speed of 56opm
- Can handle paper weights up to 32lb. bond
- Scanning option includes; scan to e-mail, archive
- Large full color LCD touch screen control panel
- Comes standard with 4 paper trays with total paper capacity of 4,600 sheets
- Drawers 1 & 2 each hold up to 600 sheets
- Drawers 3 & 4 each hold up to 1700 sheets
- Optional paper supply pedestal
- Drawer 1 holds up to 600 sheets
- Drawer 2 & 3 each hold up to 1700 sheets of ledger/legal, or up to 3400 sheets of letter-portrait
- Can hold up to 300gsm paper weights
- Up to 12”x18” paper size
- Can place tabs and post-process inserts from any tray due to cold fusion technology (CopyPress)
- On-the-fly paper replenishment
- Air sheet separation in all drawers
- Vacuum paper feed in all drawers
- Finishing options:
- iHCS high capacity stacker holds up to 6000 sheets, can unload while printing
- Stapling Finisher
- 3 bins with total capacity of 4,000 sheets
- 100 sheet stapling
- Multi-format Stapling w/50 sheet multi-position stapling
- iBLM integrated booklet maker
- up to 20 sheet size booklets & can handle up to 80gsm
- iXDP integrated Exchangeable Die Punch& punches at engine speed
- Choice of third party finishing includes; binding, booklet-making, envelope machine, folding
- Built-in controller standard
- Intel Celeron M2.0
- 1GB RAM
- 80GB hard drive
- PCL, PDF, IPDS, PJL & PostScript print drivers
- 10/100/1000BaseT ports
- Optional print controller
- Intel Dual Core 2.2
- 2GB RAM
- 160GB hard drive
- Optional Job SubmitIT for auto submission of PDF, PS, PC & TIFF files with job ticketing and hot folders
- Optional PRISMAaccess provides web-based job submission
- Optional PRISMAprepare provides job building, page programming, accounting


Buyers Labs Inc. awarded Hewlett Packard with “Color Printing Line of the Year” and Lexmark with “Monochrome Printer Line of the Year” awards for 2008.

Ricoh won an appeal in the courts for patent-infringement against Quanta Computer Inc., make or DVD drives. This means that Ricoh will now be able to seek financial damages against the Taiwanese company over the products its makes that are used by many desktop computer makers.

Ricoh announced it will resell the Xythos Enterprise Document Manager solution, which provides web-based document management.

Toshiba announced it will spend $330 million to build a lithium ion battery manufacturing plant outside of Tokyo, Japan. It hopes to ship 10 million per month starting in 2015. Competitors are Sony and the Sanyo division of Panasonic.

Toshiba now shipping an optional embedded EFI Fiery for its new eSTUDIO 4520C, called the Toshiba GA1211 controller.

Epic Products International launched new UV-coating machines that it claims work well with output from color laser MFPs. TheCtI-635 is an in-line unit, while the CT-660 is an off-line model. Xerox will market as options for its iGen4 production color system.

Xerox again won a bid to be the official print service provider for the Buffalo Bills football team. Xerox has had this contract for last 20 years.

The Printing Industries of America predicts that in 2009, printshops will see an increase of 7.9% in digital/toner printing, as compared with a 0.7% drop in offset printing press output.

During conference that Xerox conducted at The Mirage Resort in Las Vegas, on 10/22/08, the following was stated about support from Xerox direct for national accounts(not Global):
- Xerox customers have 50 million “touch points” with Xerox service each year
- Offer live call support 24/7
- Have 14,214 technicians nationwide
- 60% of service calls are completed on-site
- 40% of service calls are remotely resolved
- Over 668,965 support issues are resolved on-line annual
- 5.3 million support issues are resolved over the phone
- 2.6 million support issues are resolved on-site
- Employ “Certified Information System Security Professionals (CISSP)”
- Have employees who are certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belts
- ISO 27001 Code of Practice for Information Security

Riso Kagaku Corp, maker of Riso duplicators, announced that the following about its financials:
- On Jasdaq Securities Exchange in Japan, it dropped to 851 yen
- Will reverse its profit forecast to a loss
- Expects to record a loss of 60 million yen ($663,000) for the year ending 3/31/09.
- Originally forecasted a profit of 1.5 billion yen
- Stock has declined 57% this year

Ricoh announced update on the finishing options it will offer for the new Ricoh C900 production color system:
- Z-folding unit
- Booklet finisher (up to 20 sheets)
- 2 tray cover inserter/imposer (post process insertion)
- Stapling finisher
- Coming later in 2009:
- 5000 sheet stacker with cart
- Plockmatic booklet maker with face trim (third party)
- Perfect binder
- Ring binder (punches three holes, and inserts metal rings automatically)
- GBS StreamPunch unit

Toshiba’s president, Atsutoshi Nishida, in an interview for Kyodo News International, called on the Japanese government to prepare a safety net for unemployed workers as companies are forced to carry out aggressive layoffs to combat the economic downturn. “Assuming a certain degree of downturn in business cycles, the government needs to prepare a safety net in terms of employment. It is very hard for companies alone to protect all workers, including temporary workers. We cannot do it without the power of the government. We have protected jobs in Japan….but losses at the semiconductor business are so huge that we cannot make them up even with profits in the social infrastructure business. I think the deflationary trend of end items will get worse and worse hereafter. It is very painful for us.”

According to InfoTrends, in 2009, 54% of medium-sized businesses are considering a new MFP to replace legacy equipment.

Lyra Research states that 2009 will be a strong year for managed print services:
- Revenue growth of 34% last year
- “Company consolidations and downsizing may leave organizations with too much printer, copier, and MFP hardware that needs to be divested and/or redeployed”
- “IT and facilities managers, often facing downsized staffs and over-stretched demands of their own, are more and more willing to get help from the outside to attain the cost benefits inherent in MPS (managed print services) implementations.”
- “Not too long ago, companies faced user backlash as they implemented printer consolidation and control. Today with employees more compliant and grateful just to employed, there may be less resistance.”
- Predicts that MPS will account for over 32% of hard copy market by 2011



Canon reported its last quarter’s financials:
-Sales of office equipment was down 13.3%
- Operating profit was down 25.8%
- Net income was down 21.1%
- Monochrome copier sales down 17%
- Color copier sales were down 4%
- Company predicts that in first quarter of 2009, color laser engine sales will drop a whopping 37% (most of these are sold under the Hewlett Packard Color LaserJet name)
- Has $8.4 billion cash on hand (many predict it will use this to buy competitors to gain back marketshare lost in 2008)

When Circuit City declared bankruptcy, the company it owed the most money to was Sony Corp, totaling $60 million.

According to Rick Dastin, president of Xerox Office Group (XOG), Xerox products now account for only 55% of the MFPs that Global locations are selling. (now that Xerox is experiencing slower sales in the U.S., will it continue to allow other brands to be sold in its Global subsidiary?)

In an article in The Wall Street Journal, Bill Jordan, president of United Auto Workers Local 599 in Flint, Michigan, where General Motors builds engines, said he has noticed that the copy machines and printers that used to be spread throughout the massive facility have disappeared. “They’re doing their best to combine anything and everything they can to make it through the next few months”.

Competing against the new Toshiba color laser MFPs? (eSTUDIO 5520C, 6520C & 6530C) While these are being advertised as offering 8 bit color, is the print quality really 8 bit? In a recent interview, Toshiba’s President Mark Matthews stated that the company will continue to sell the 4500C and 5500C (relabeled Ricoh products) for “customers in graphic-oriented environments”. When asked about the new Toshiba-made products he stated; “We believe we have a product geared towards the general office”.

HP Could Expand Market Share??

The experts over at Barron's tend to think the current slow down could be a plus for HP and allow them to expand, while the likes of Canon, Ricoh, KonicaMinolta are all revising their forecasts lower it seems like HP is still riding the wave of rising growth and profits.

Article here at Barron's:

"While other tech giants are revising earnings forecasts downwards, Hurd expects HP's earnings to continue growing through next year, albeit modestly. Consensus estimates for FY 2009 EPS come in at $3.84, up from FY 2008 EPS of $3.62. In FQ4, HP beat market expectations with EPS of $1.03 vs. $1.00 consensus and a 19% rise in revenue to $33.6B"

Not selling consumer printers is good for HP? Seems that the consumer printers are a lost leader, meaning that HP will sell the printers at a loss in order to get the ongoing supply revenue.

"Another point of note is HP's revenue from the consumer market. Around 25% of HP's sales come from consumer products, and the firm boasts the third-highest consumer revenue among computer-electronics firms, behind Apple (AAPL) and printer-maker Lexmark (LXK). As such, the downturn in the consumer market has hurt HP. Interestingly, however, a drop in printer sales could mean higher overall margins since printers lose money at retail. Hurd believes a drop in printer sales isn't a bad thing in the short-term, especially considering research that shows people are keeping their printers longer."

Actually, now may be the right time for HP to buy the likes of Canon, Oce, KonicaMinolta or maybe Toshiba or Panasonic's Copier division. Heck, if Ricoh can buy Ikon, and KonicaMinolta can buy Danka, then why can't HP purchase one of these guys. It would be a great move at this time while stock prices and earnings are down.

Are we ready for round three in 2009?

-=Good Selling=-

Art Post

Purchasing a Copier, Printer, Scanner "Selling Copiers"

This was a post I picked up on this message that was posted on two different boards, (Copytechnet & Copiertalk) for someone looking for help on making the right choice for a new MFP all in one.


I've been tasked with purchasing a copier/printer/scanner (MFP) machine for our new office. budget is about $7K.

What they need:

fast machine 30-40ppm (even though we have modest volume)
duplex copy/scan with single pass (front and back at the same time)
100 document feeder
scan to searchable PDF (text PDF i.e. OCR)
scan to USB thumb drive
print from USB thumb drive (PDF/Word/Excel/etc)
collate/sort multiple copies of a document without expensive finisher
network scanning (i.e. scan to our desktop machines)


What they think they need:
Canon ImageRunner C3480i
Ricoh MP C3300
Kyocera TASKalfa c400i

They were also asking for suggestions on items they need to know or what to ask.

Note, since I checked this thread and had time to post my response there were many recommendations. One of my peers actually asked one of the most important questions that I was going to ask the end user, DO YOU NEED 11x17 input and output, the response was NO! Please also note that all of the above systems that the client has priced were color machines and A3 devices (will copy, print or scan upto 11x17)

My recommendation would have been for an A4 (Will NOT copy, print or scan 11x17) Color device. You could take your pick with either the Sharp MX-C311, Samsung C8380DN or the HP CM4730. All of these systems would meet your needs and financially wouldn't break the bank. Not sure with the HP CM4730, but with the others you could have probably purchased or lease the systems for under $5,000 while not sacrificing feed, quality or reliability

There were almost ten posts to this thread, and I was surprised that no one focused in on these points.

• Get dealer references for service, supplies and support


• How long has the dealer been in business and how long have they serviced these products


• Be cautious when looking at a BRAND new model, my father once told me never to buy the first model year of a new car, wait a while to see how they perform.


• Are you buying from an Authorized Dealer, check them out on the web


• How long has the sales person been with the company


• Figure out the cost per page (with service) of each device for a Total Cost of Ownership


• Get an end user reference, someone who has already purchased or leased these systems

Finally, the thought of a cheap price is long forgotten after poor service.

As I read through some of the final posts, the end user had stated that they decided to get a Kyocera TASKalpha 400 ci (40ppm) A3 (11x17) device. My only thought is that I remembered what my father told me........TASKalpha devices were launched were just a few weeks ago.

-=Good Selling=-

Xerox Image Professionals Group Launched on P4P Hotel

Xerox Imaging Professsionals have a new on-line gathering place with the launch of the Xerox P4P Hotel! This site was developed to help Xerox MFP Representatives to share information with their peers in the industry. With Xerox's continued commitment to state of the art technology and the aquisition of Global Industries, now more than ever Xerox Sales and Service need a place on the web they can call home.


The Print4Pay Hotel:

The Imaging Professional’s Resource Center, has announced that it is opening up a new message board devoted to Sales Image Professionals for Xerox products, making it the first independent Web site in the history of the office equipment industry that enables both resellers and technicians to share knowledge about the equipment they sell and service.

“We’re excited about launching this new board. Our success with our Ricoh Family Group, Canon, Kyocera, Sharp and KonicaMinolta boards was overwhelming,” notes Art Post, founder and CEO, and a docusultant with Century Office Products in Middlesex, NJ. “Now all Copier Sales Professional can communicate with each other in a secure environment where they can share information with other successful professionals from all over the world!”

The new message board is dedicated to Xerox Sales Professionals. “By adding this manufacturer, we’re hoping to drive more sales professionals people to the site,” notes Post. “Sales Professionals need real world information for solutions, specifications and what works and what doesn't work in a timely manner. Our site provides a global community for our profession.”

Post emphasizes that the message boards that allow Print4Pay Hotel members to share knowledge ultimately add value to the customer-dealer relationship, and that more knowledgeable representatives have a direct impact on the dealerships they serve as well as the products they service. “This is a rapidly changing industry that’s becoming increasingly complex as manufacturer’s introduce more solutions that integrate with a customer’s network,” says Post. “We’re looking to enhance the service that we provide to customers and the message boards can strengthen a Sales Professionals expertise on specific machines as well as software and solutions issues. We’re all here to serve the customer and any medium that enhances that relationship particularly when it comes to expediting resolutions for specific hardware or software issues, then we all benefit—sales rep, technician, customer and manufacturer.”

The Print4Pay Hotel (http://www.p4photel.org/ ), which debuted in 2001, provides extensive imaging product information—both on the Ricoh family group products and competitive products—and serves as a forum for imaging industry personnel to share knowledge. In addition to the message boards, the site provides its members with the latest press releases and literature on Ricoh, Canon, Sharp, KonicaMinolta and Canon products and competitive products, industry news, and classified ads as well as photos and links to related industry sites.

The site currently has more than 2,000 members and averages 40,000 page views per month. Although most members are from the U.S., the site also serves members from Canada, United Kingdom, Norway and South Africa.

The Print4Pay Hotel was envisioned as a means for imaging industry professionals to satisfy their “Need for Knowledge.” The site, http://www.p4photel.org/, allows digital imaging specialists to share information and find answers quickly. It’s also a place where imaging professionals can store their knowledge, search their knowledge, and share their inspirations, ideas and passion for the industry

To Ricoh "What I Want for Christmas"

In Sweden, a common Christmas decoration is the Julbukk, a small figurine of a goat. It is usually made of straw. Scandinavian Christmas festivities feature a variety of straw decorations in the form of stars, angels, hearts and other shapes, as well as the Julbukk.

The poinsettia is a traditional Christmas flower. In Mexico (its original birthplace), the poinsettia is known as the "Flower of the Holy Night".

Thanx to Holiday Spot for these.

I did a wish list for Ricoh last year, Here's what I want for this Christmas from Ricoh:

• Standard Bookletmakers that will fold cover stock

• Biometric Authentication

• Print files from my USB and SD cards

• A reaL A4 device just like Samsungs or Sharps

• Embeded Fax Server

• Duplexing A3 (11x17)Digital Duplicator

• Gelsprinter Plotter (36x48)

• A Wide Format System that can Color Scan

• High Volume MFPs that will Color Scan (60,70&80ppm)
  

I'm sure there's a few more I could think of however these are on the top of my list!!

-=Good Selling=-

PS I off for the Christmas Holiday and will be back next week!! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

Selling Copiers "Dealing with the Holidays"

For one, I'm looking forward to have some extra days off over the long holiday week of Christmas and New Years. I'll be able to recharge some, but more importantly I'll be back at work for a few hours on Friday to set things in motion for the new year.

Sales is not a 9-5 job, sales is what you make of it. If you believe no one is going to buy or lease now, then no one will. Always being optomistic is and have the fortitude to never quit is a remarkable trait, and it is one that can be learned. You don't have to be born with it. A "wo is me" person can become a "why not me" person.

Well, here's a short check list that I use every holiday.

• Clean up all of the odds and ends on my desk


• Work on those quotes that take more time than others


• Update my pipeline


• Update my things to do list (everyone has to have one of these)


• Enter data and follow up information to outlook


• Research all leases coming to term in 6 - 12 months

I was speaking with my good friend (John A) in Ganiesville today, he also stated that it will be good to have a few days of down time. We then started to talk about pipelines and told him I had some concern since my pipeline isn't exactly where I want it to be. Too me, the pipeline I achieve for is having at least 50,000 of GP at 70% or greater, meaning that these accounts have a 70% chance or better of closing before the end of the month with someone. After we hung up, I stopped the car and made two more cold calls, one had just bought new equipment and the other had an old wide format (might be good).

Point is, in these tough economic times you need to have the pipeline overflowing with possible sales. If your company is not marketing for you (leads), then you need to get out there and generate your own. I'll be concentrating on the pipeline from now on.

-=Good Selling=-

Scanners "Top Ten Questions to Ask?

Questions to ask customers regarding use of scanners:

- Where does paper enter your organization?
- Does it get moved physically?
- Does it get copied?
- Where does the content on that paper need to reside?
- Does it need to be archived?
- Does image scanned need to be converted?
- Does image need to be OCR’d?
- Does image need to be routed?
- Color Scan or Monochrome?
- Maximum number of pages that would need to be scanned at one pass?

Bonus Question

- Will scanned content need be a search able pdf?

-=Good Selling=-

MFP Weekend Industry Notes

WEEKEND MFP INDUSTRY NOTES
12-21-08

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

Organizers of IPEX 2010 say that Ricoh may have the largest booth. IPEX is a huge production print tradeshow held in England. The next event is in May, 2010. Over 100,000 visitors are expected, with 40% coming from overseas. Ricoh has signed up for a 1400 square meter booth space to show its production color and b/w equipment.

Equitrac announced version of its cost recovery solution. Equitrac Professional version 5.2.3 offers new features:
- WAN Optimization allows IT personnel to configure caching options and use of locally configured servers
- Pop-up tracking of print processes allows administrators evaluate status of print requests direct from desktop and gives complete view of all steps in print job progression
- Can synchronize with Microsoft Active Directory
- Default network addressable home folder for scanning
- Can convert scanned files into TIFF or PDF file types
- Support for eCopy ScanStation
- Support for EFI DocSend or SendMe


Competing against the new Hewlett Packard Color LaserJet CM6040 MFP? Points to remember:
- does not offer EFI Fiery as an option
- does not produce 8 bits per pixel color
- when using fax, maximum resolution is only 300dpi
- uses pulverization toner infused with wax (does not use Simitri HD toner)
- comes out of box with only 512MB RAM
- maximum paper supply is only 2,100 sheets
- can not feed 10point or 100lb. cover stock
- document feeder can hold a maximum of 50 originals
- first copy out time when using ADF is a slow 19.9 seconds
- top scan speed is only 40opm
- The standard print controller processor is only 835MHz
- Can only spool one print job from the network at a time, as other jobs back up into the network
- Does not offer job program ahead feature
- Does not offer cover or page insertion
- Does not offer glossy mode
- Does not offer mixed original detection
- LCD display is only monochrome (one color)
- While advertised as offering 40ppm for color and b/w, BLI testing revealed it runs as slow as 17.4ppm.


Competing against the new Canon imageRUNNER C3380i? Points to remember:
- does not offer EFI Fiery as an option
- does not produce 8 bits per pixel color
- speed is only 33ppm for b/w and only 30ppm for color
- when using fax, maximum resolution is only 400dpi
- uses pulverization toner infused with wax (does not use Simitri HD toner)
- can not feed 10point or 100lb. cover stock
- bypass can handle a maximum of only 50 sheets
- document feeder can hold a maximum of 50 originals
- first copy out time when using ADF is a slow 11.7 seconds
- top scan speed is only 44opm
- color drums have max yield of only 60,000 impressions
- hard disk over-write does not come standard
- PostScript print driver is an expensive option
- Has limit of job program ahead of only 9 jobs
- Does not automatically detect paper size in the drawers or bypass
- End user must remove and then replace plastic guides when changing paper sizes
- End user must push button to open any drawer, instead of just pulling on handle
- LCD display does not tilt or swivel
- Must take device off-line to use the TWAIN scan mode
- Duplex mode is located under the finishing tab in the print driver
- BLI testing revealed it runs as slow as 17.7ppm.

Competing against the new Ricoh MP C3500? Points to remember:
- does not produce 8 bits per pixel color
- speed is only 35ppm for b/w and only 35ppm for color
- when using fax, maximum resolution is only 400dpi
- can not feed 10point or 100lb. cover stock
- bypass can handle a maximum of only 100 sheets
- maximum paper capacity of only 3,100 sheets
- top color scan speed is only 38 opm
- All drums have max yield of only 80,000 impressions
- PostScript print driver is an expensive option
- Optional PostScript driver does not allow for cover or sheet insertion
- Has limit of job program ahead of only 8 jobs
- offers only 500 user account codes
- Does not automatically detect paper size in the drawers or bypass
- End user must remove and then replace plastic guides when changing paper sizes
- End user must push button to open any drawer, instead of just pulling on handle
- LCD display does not tilt or swivel
- Control panel does not offer a Help key
- no paper or consumables feedback in the print drivers

Ricoh gave out its “Chariman’s Award” for 2008 to COECO. Details:
- Founded in 1921 by Grover Robbins.
- Current owner is Chuck Robbins
- President is Ken Stallings
- Has 11 offices in North Carolina and Virginia with 176 employees
- Headquarters in Rocky Mount, NC
- Besides Ricoh, also carries products from Sharp, Kyocera, Kodak, HP & IBM

In a cost cutting move, Xerox vacated three buildings in the Linden Oak Office Park in Rochester, NY area.

In a possible cost cutting move, Toshiba has yet to schedule a dealer meeting for 2009.


Ricoh hired Curious Digital to produce on-line websites and advertising to boost sales of its MFPs.

IKON officially launched the new Ricoh C900 production color system, and will be on display in many IKON showrooms, as they are now owned by Ricoh.

Commercial Communications Inc., a printshop in Hartland, WI, announced it acquired a Xerox iGen3 production color system.

Selling Copiers "Copier Sales Tips" Xerox, Ricoh, KonicaMinolta

I received this email last week from a Print4Pay Hotel Blog reader. Thought I would share with everyone!

Hi Art,

My name is and I have been working for Konica Minolta since May 2008. I came across your post, and thought you may be a great person to talk to. I have been doing pretty well in this industry, but have been rather frustrated the past few months. I try and learn as much as possible about this industry, and my product of course, but find it hard to get business owners to see the benefit of meeting me (especially in this current economy). It seems as though "copy" sales people are not taken as serious business consultants/professionals. I would like to know what has made you successful over your 23 years in this industry, and how you are able to continually gain people's interest in your product. I'm sure you receive many email's, so any response you give me I would greatly appreciate.

Thank you very much.


Hi :

Gee, don't know where to start. First, are you a member of the P4P Hotel Message Boards (KonicaMinolta).

Here's my thoughts in this type of economy to be successful each and every month and not have any dips:

1. You have to have at least 75 potential clients in your pipeline that are rate 50% or higher to buy this month.
2. You have to focus more about reducing their costs, using statements like spending 15 minutes with me today may say you thousands tomorrow.
3. Learn more about what your clients do to turn a profit. Focus on features or software that will save them time. CEO, CFO are more productivity orientated while SMB's concentrate on hard cost savings.
3. Persistence is your friend, have a story to tell once they are on the phone, maybe a quick story on how you saved xyz company time and money and they are in the same type of business that you are in.
4. Use different methods to contact the right person. Call early, call late, send a letter via fedex instead of regular mail. Do a google search and see what they do socially maybe there is a connection you can make that way.
5. Find Pain, they may want to get new equipment, however they are assuming it is not possible and have not spoken to anyone about their pain.
6. Cold Call, Phone Calls and Cold Calls, nothing still works better than the traditional cold call, when you arrive at the front desk, ask for help in finding the right person to speak to, and then go away.
7. Prove to them that you are committed to your industry, and you are a there to help them rather than take their money. I did this by setting up my own blog for my customers. Here, I will post press releases, articles on how to save time or money in the office, along with articles on new technology.
8. A CEO of large chemical company once said to me that I don't invest in people, I invest in Technology. Take this and run with it, tell this story over and over when you have the CEO, CFO, or CIO on the phone.
9. Learn as much about your industry as possible, ours is not a 9-5 job. Take time in the evening to research, prospect by day and quote by night.
10. In this economy you're not going to get many appointments based on selling new hardware, however you need to talk more about workflow and creative ideas to reduce paper volume, maintenance charges.

If I had more time, I could write more. Oh, one other item you need to talk to your peers and ask questions. Meaning you should be a member of the P4P KM board and pose these same question to the membership. I'm sure someone will take the time to tell what works for them also. www.p4photel.org

Art

-=Good Selling=-

Xerox Posts "For Rent" Sign

Seems Xerox is cutting corners like everyone else, in order to save more,. Xerox has moved workers from leased office space to office space they own.

"Xerox had kept staff at Linden Oaks for more than 15 years. The move came as Xerox has been pursuing a strategy nationwide the past several years of moving people from leased space into real estate the company owns, Baker said. The company still has 100or so workers at leased space on Publishers Parkway in Webster and a smattering of employees at a couple small offices around Monroe County, he said.

Xerox Square now houses 1,670 employees, and is roughly 94 percent full — the highest it has been since the 30-story building opened in 1967, said company spokesman Bill McKee."

Here's the link for the aritcle: Xerox moves hundreds to downtown Rochester, puts up 'for rent' sign

IKON Expands Production Color Portfolio with RICOH Pro C900 Digital Color Printer

Told ya, with the Acquisition of Ikon, Ricoh can now take PPBG (Print Production Business Group) to new heights in the high volume market place. You won't see these machines at low or middle volume Ricoh Dealers, so the stage has been set for Ikon and Ricoh Business Systems (Ricoh Americas Corp) to capture the high end.

Here's the a few snippets of the Press Release for you:

MALVERN, Pa. – December 17, 2008 – IKON Office Solutions, Inc., a Ricoh company, today announced the addition of the RICOH Pro C900 digital color printer to its production portfolio. The RICOH Pro C900 redefines industry standards in the production print marketplace, with consistent 1200 dpi color output coupled with 90 pages-per-minute speed, along with extensive workflow solutions and finishing options, all at an affordable price point.

The RICOH Pro C900 contains new and sophisticated features, including intelligent media handling to maximize high volume printing. A wide range of media, including weight ranges up to 110 lb. cover, can be run through the large capacity trays. The RICOH Pro C900 is built to seamlessly manage mission-critical applications, including trans promotional marketing, variable data printing, direct mailings and high volume, on-demand color output with complex finishing.

Furthermore, the RICOH Pro C900 is backed by IKON’s team of more than 6,000 (hope everyone signs up for a (P4P membership! ) locally based service and support professionals, along with a team of color and production specialists. IKON has many years of experience in meeting and exceeding the demands of commercial print businesses and corporate print centers. IKON customers can maximize their color solutions by engaging with IKON’s color and production specialists and its Professional Services team, who can provide customers with a suite of services and application development, including variable data integration for marketing and personalized communications, advanced color management, forms design, data stream conversion and custom workflow solutions to help improve productivity, reduce turnaround time, and improve effectiveness.

Here's the entire Press Release IKON Expands Production Color Portfolio with RICOH Pro C900 Digital Color Printer

-=Good Selling=-

Competitive Copier Street Pricing

Just wanted to give you all a heads up. I've uploaded two more Xerox quotes, and a Ricoh and Canon. Special kudos to those Print4Pay Hotel members that sent them to me for uploading.


If you're selling MFP's, or still calling them copiers the Print4Pay Hotel currently has 5 active message boards for Ricoh Family Group, Sharp, KonicaMinolta, Kyocera and Canon. We will be relaunching our Xerox board in early 2009, along with new boards for Toshiba and OCE.

The Print4Pay Hotel averages 35,000 page views a month, with over 180,000 hits, and over 50,000 threads, we are the Global Resource on the Web for Copier Sales Professionals.

These quotes were uploaded:

Xerox 700 Digital Color Press
Xerox DocuColor 242
Canon imageRUNNER 7095
Ricoh Aficio PRO 1106EX

Become a member while it's still FREE, talk to your peers, share inspirations, success stories, sales tips, quotes and much more. Start by following the link below.

http://www.p4photel.org/

-=Good Selling=-

TASKalpha MFP Details

- More details on the new color laser MFPs from Kyocera, named TASKalfa 250ci, 300ci, 400ci and 500ci featuring:


- 25ppm, 30ppm, 40ppm and 50ppm top speeds respectively
- Maximum monthly duty cycles of 100K, 130K, 160K and 200K respectively
- Base MSRPs of $8915, $9950, $12,995 & $16,640 respectively
- Optional fax board
- outside is all black plastic with silver accents
- uses 4 tandem amorphous silicon ceramic drums
- each has yield of 300,000 impressions
- advertised as offering “8 bit” (but was not defined if it is per pixel)
- 8.5” color touch screen LCD control panel
- auto duplex standard
- maximum paper supply of 4, 100 sheets
- Can handle up to 120lb. index (this means it can NOT handle 10point stock)
- Built-in print controller:
- Made by Peerless (which Kyocera is in process of acquiring)
- two 160GB hard drives in 400ci and 500ci
- 80GB hard drive in 250ci and 300ci
- PCL and PostScript print drivers standard
- Scanning included offers e-mail, SMB, folder, FTP, USB, WSD and TWAIN
- End users have choice of either traditional document feeder, or one that can scan both sides of original at same time.
- Top scan speed of 50 originals per minute
- Finishing options include stapling, hole-punching and booklet-making

MFP Weekend Industry Notes

12/15/08

- Buyers for large companies discussed their plans for how many MFPs they were going to acquire in 2009. The Print & Imaging Summit in Bonita Springs, FL, had attendees from these large firms:
- Bank of America
- Kaiser Permanente
- The Home Depot (“We’re not looking to spend a lot of money – basically to keep the lights on. We don’t even know what we have, to be honest. Corporate offices are the Wild West, and we’re looking to do a lot more self-assessment” from Greg Malkovich, Strategic Sourcing Manager)
- ConAgra Foods
- Lockheed Martin
- Interior Health Authority
- Deloitte Services (“Our print and image fleet is probably about 4,500 printers or MFPs and about 700 copiers. We’re looking to put more things together and reduce the number of devices. We’ve also done a horrible job of tracking what we print. In terms of spending, our copiers are always leased and our printers are always bought.” from Anna Garrett, Senior Manager)
- American Family Mutual Insurance (“We’ved had all these functions centralized since 2001; all print, all mail, all our IT functions are under one organization, and we’ve seen some real benefits from that. We’re headed for our second generation of MFPs and we partner quite heavily with our finance area and do a lot of tracking of end usage. We used to have 2400 printers and 460 copiers, and have maybe 800 printers and 225 copiers now. We’re seeing reductions because we’re rightsizing – it’s not just for our budget.” from Lawrence McNish, Director of Document Processing Resources)
- Alliant Energy (“Our copier and printer fleet from Xerox are all up for renewal this year. We have less budget to spend like everyone else, but I don’t like leases because of what happens at the end of a lease. I don’t like the lack of flexibility. I’d like to put something in place that allows me to rent. Plus, even beyond putting ink on paper, you have plenty of issues with document management” from Cynthia Meyer, Senior Buyer, IT)
- UPS (“We’re trying to get our arms around that, and trying to figure out our strategic direction.” From Keran O’Reilly, Lead Business Systems Analyst)
- IBM (“On our printer side, we had HP and Lexmark both, and they’re bought from resellers. It’s my observation, though, that HP and Lexmark support the reseller and not necessarily the client.” From Greg Cunningham, Manager of Service Strategies and Optimization)

- IBM announced it will partner with Samsung of Korea to develop software for printers and MFPs.

- DocuWare announced that it won a bid to provide document management to Krispy Kreme in 13 locations in the west.

- DocuLex announced it won a bid to provide document management to Nassau County, Florida.

- Countries in Europe that belong to the EU are considering tacking a 3% to 14% duty on printers and MFPs that are imported into the country. Manufacturers like HP, Lexmark, etc. are fighting this in court in Luxembourg as this would put a major dent in sales.

- Duplo, maker of duplicators, and relabelers of Sharp copiers, announced it will redesign its logo and add the tagline; “From Print To Documents”

- Buyers Labs Inc. gave out more details on the new Frontier series of A4 color laser MFPs from Sharp. The MX-C311 features:
- Base MSRP of $7095
- Maximum monthly duty cycle of 150K/month
- Sharp recommends that it run max average of 6,000 per month
- 8.5” color LCD touch screen
- 31ppm top print speed
- Comes out of box with one 600 sheet paper drawer standard, so if needed, can be placed on a countertop
- 100 sheet stack bypass
- Up to 28lb. bond only in drawers, and up to 110lb. index only in bypass
- Can add more drawers to make unit floor standing, up to 2,100 sheets
- Footprint of only 17.25” back to front
- Maximum paper size of 8.5”x14”
- Supports OSA (optional embedded software)
- Built-in print controller
- Actual maker unknown
- 1GB RAM (expandable to 2GB)
- 80GB hard drive
- 1GHz processor
- 10/100/1000BaseT and USB ports
- PCL and PostScript print drivers standard
- Optional XPS print driver
- Scanning included; TWAIN, FTP, e-mail/LDAP, folder, SMB, URL & HDD
- 1000 copy control codes
- 48 job programs
- Copy resolution is 600x600dpi
- Print resolution of 1200x1200dpi (does not offer 8 bits per pixel)
- Optional fax board (only 400dpi)
- Document feeder holds up to 50 sheets, but only runs at 35opm top speed
- optional attachment allows for business card feeding
- Optional internal finisher can staple up to 30 sheets of 20lb. paper in corner only

- Hewlett Packard announced it is freezing salaries in a cost containment move.

- HP also announced that it now has 140 Elite level dealers in the U.S. selling managed print services with HP MFP devices.

- Ricoh loses executive. Vince Hanson, who was Ricoh’s Manager of Solutions Marketing, has left to become VP of Sales & Marketing for Information Access Systems, Inc., an electronic content management provider.

- According to Ricoh Executive, Nobuski Majima, for every $1 spent on printing by print shops, up to $6 is spent on managing the print workflow.

- JetMobile launched a box that attaches to anyone’s printer of MFP to provide secure printing. The “SecureJet Box” won’t allow the printer or MFP to print out the job until an end user keys in their secret code, set when they send their print job.

- Oce’ announced it will relabel three more Konica Minolta b/w models. The bizhub 361, 421 and 501 will be called the Oce’ VarioLink 3622, 4222 and 5022.

- Xerox makes management change at one of its Global locations. ImageQuest of Wichita, KS, will have former owner Bob Hughey step down to lesser position, and replaced by Paul Black, who was working for competitor, Imaging Office Systems.



- Snapshot of Oce’ offices and personnel:
- Total employment of 24,000
- Total revenue of $4.6 billion
- operates in more than 90 countries
- CEO is Rokus van Iperen
- maintains research and manufacturing centers in Netherlands, United States, Canada, Germany, France, Belgium, Czech Republic, Romania & Singapore
- Oce’ North America is headquartered in Trumbull, CT with additional business units in:
- Chicago, IL
- New York City, NY
- Boca Raton, FL
- Salt Lake City, UT
- Conventry, RI
- Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
- Total revenue of $2.3 billion
- 11,000 employees

- Samsung of Korea announced that its profit margins of its LCD display business have “vaporized” and that it may slash capital spending by 30% in 2009.

- December 9th marked the 40th anniversary of the computer mouse. It was invented by Bill English, a former employee of Xerox, which never marketed the technology. Logitech, one of the world’s leaders in mouse making, announced it had sold its billionth mouse.

- Fuji of Japan, maker of most Xerox MFPs and printers, announced it is working on new software as options for its products:
- ability to scan to similar documents (like two architectural designs), find the differences, and then output a page showing the differences
- ability to scan a document in one language, and have it translated into another when it is printed out
- making paper that has embedded fibers, so that if printed with confidential data, it will trigger an alarm if an employee tries to remove it from the office
- embedding plant fibers in paper, to distinguish it from unauthorized copies

- The Garaway School District of Ohio awarded a copier bid to COMDOC, a local Ricoh dealer. The contract is $4209 per month, with b/w clicks for $0.005 each.

- A Toshiba dealer in Fresno, CA announced it will give away bicycles to high achieving students in the area who have overcome adversity. Zoom Imaging (aka WOLCO) will have Santa Claus on hand to award the gift to 150 deserving students.

- Sharp announced it will close factories in Mie and Nara, Japan that make low resolution LCD displays due to slow sales. 300 employees will be let go.

- How does Canon make up for the $1 billion in lost sales when Ricoh purchased IKON? Don Dixon of Gartner Group suggests that they hook up with HP. “I’ve advocated some kind of (agreement) between Canon and HP, modeled off the Fuji-Xerox joint venture……………Whether Canon has the temerity for something like that is the question.”

- Kodak announced it would stop 401K matching for its employees as well as a salary freeze in a cost cutting move.

- Kodak announced that it has now placed 30 of its NexPress production color systems within locations of Consolidated Graphics Corp.

- In a recent survey of printshop owners, the two production systems that had the highest amount of copies in between service calls were the Konica Minolta bizhub PRO C6500 and the bizhub PRO 1050.