Office Productivity

Ricoh to buy IKON

2008-08-29T14:44:00.002-04:00

Ricoh, the Japanese copier company (on of the top three in the world) announced it would buy US office-machine dealer IKON Office Solutions. The deal is for $1.6 billion. IKON is the largest U.S. independent dealer (400 locations) and is currently a major reseller of Ricoh’s copiers and printers (it sells over 20% of them). IKON is also a major reseller for Ricoh rivals Canon, Hewlett-Packard, and Océ.

The buyout is the third in a series of purchases, where major copier companies have bought out independent US dealer chains. In April 2007 , Xerox announced the purchase of Global Imaging ($1.5 billion). In April 2008, Konica Minolta announced it would buy Danka Office Imaging ($240 million). If the IKON deal goes through, there will be no more major dealer chains, though there are still plenty of smaller dealers.

The structure of the copier/office equipment industry has been much like that of the auto industry, where only the largest customers bought directly from the manufacturers, That has changed in the copier industry over the years, as corporate sales divisions compete more and more with local dealers, especially at national accounts, the cream of the business. The IKON move is an emphatic acceleration of that process.

The interesting question is what Canon will do? IKON sells around 40% of Canon copiers currently. Canon seems to have lost a game of musical chairs, and it will be forced to build even more its own internal national sales efforts in the US. The squeeze is on for small and mid-size dealers.

Low-Volume Copier Guide

2008-07-08T13:32:00.001-04:00

,p>The 2008 Better Buys for Business Low-Volume Copier and Multifunctional Guide has now been published. This guide covers monochrome machines up to 22ppm in speed, from such manufacturers as Canon, Konica Minolta, Ricoh, and Xerox. This guide includes charts, reviws, a glossary, and an industry briefing. You can order it here.

Greener office equipment

2008-06-19T08:54:00.002-04:00

A group called the Green Electronics Council recently released a report on progress in making equipment, mostly PCs and monitors, less harmful to the environment. The report measures the sale of products rated highly by a system called EPEAT (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool).

EPEAT was developed by the EPA. This system rates a growing number of products as gold, silver, and bronze in terms of their recyclability, reduced use of toxic materials, and lowered power use. All US Federal computer buys now must be of EPEAT-certified products.

EPEAT-certified PCs and laptops make up 22% of all computers worldwide. Since its inception in 2006, there has been a 150% growth in sales of certified computers. Prospects are good that the numbers will keep going up as companies and individuals become more aware of the environmental costs of disposing old office machines.

Among the benefits of using EPEAT products are:
* Reducing use of primary materials by 75.5 million metric tons
* Reducing use of toxic materials (especially lead) by 3,220 metric tons
* Making significant reductions in mercury use
* Reducing disposal of hazardous waste by 124,000 metric tons
* Saving over 42 billion kilowatt hours of electricity.

2008 Better Buys High-Volume Printer and Digital Duplicator Guide released

2008-06-12T09:43:00.001-04:00

This guide, which covers black-and-white production printers with speeds from 50ppm to 150ppm as well as the very specialized category of digital duplicators is now available. More information is available here.

OKI upgrades its color printer line

2008-06-12T09:32:00.004-04:00

Over the past month, OKI Printing Solutions has revamped its A4 (letter/legal size)color laser printer line from top to bottom, offering a set of models that combine lower prices with enhanced performance.

The new models are:
* The C3600n, which prints at 16ppm in color and 20ppm in monochrome, with a street price of $399.
* The C5650 family, which prints at 22ppm in color and 26ppm in monochrome, with prices starting at $499.
* The C6050 family, which prints at 22ppm in color and 26ppm in monochrome, with prices starting at $499, Unlike the C3650n, it comes with PostScript.
* The C6150 family, which prints at 26ppm in color and 30ppm in monochrome, with prices starting at $699.
* The C710 family, which runs at 30ppm in color, 32ppm in monochrome, with prices starting at $1,099.

All of models come are Ethernet-ready, many have duplexing, and all come with OKI’s enhanced HD color toners and color management.

Xerox’s mobile print driver

2008-06-11T09:26:00.002-04:00

Xerox recently released a free piece of software for Windows laptops. Call the Mobile Express Driver, it allows mobile workers to find and use available PostScript printers at their current location. These printers include both Xerox and non-Xerox models. After the user plugs into a network (wired or wireless), using the print command causes a pop-up menu with all available printers from which the user can choose. This avoids the need to configure profiles for each new printer. The driver is available here.

Xerox now also offers a similar piece of software, the Global Print Driver, which allows Windows IT managers to quickly set up printer profiles for any users and supports both Xerox and non-Xerox printers, This could be a big time savings for It administrators, as it should cut down tedious and repetitious setup tasks every time a new printer of user is added to the network. It is available here.

Xerox offers new library-oriented models

2008-06-10T14:27:00.003-04:00

Xerox recently replaced its library-oriented 20ppm Digital Bookmark copier/printer with a set of four new machines, namely, the WorkCentre Bookmark 40 Copier and Copier/Printer and the WorkCentre Bookmark 55 Copier and Copier/Printer. Not only are these machines faster (at 40ppm and 55ppm), they also have new high-end features in common with Xerox’s latest WorkCentre machines.

There are several features that make these library-oriented. First, the platen has a beveled edge, designed to protect book spines, as you scan one page at a time without having to crush an open book on the platen to get a good copy. Second, the unit has also been designed to be wheelchair-accessible and easy to operate by novice users. In addition, there is an optional coin and bill vending unit and an ID-card reader.

The machines hold 1,200 sheets of ledger paper standard. You can add on a two-tray device that holds 3,600 letter pages. Single-position and multiposition finishers are available. So is a fax option.

The Copier/Printers include PCL and PostScript, a powerful processor, and a hard drive. They also support (optionally) scanning, including Xerox’s SmartSend scan workflow software. The Copier/Printer supports Xerox’ EIP (Extensible Interface Platform).

This specialized unit is aimed at a very specific market segment, primarily libraries. It’s a powerful machine with a good array of options.

Paperless or at least less paper

2008-06-09T10:06:00.004-04:00

BusinessWeek recently reported (“The New Push to Get Rid of Paper,” 5/30/08) on a renewed effort to approach the long-wished for “paperless office,” noting that the term is now 33 years old.

Of course offices are anything but paperless. As the article notes:“According to RISI, a research firm that tracks forest products, in 1975 the average U.S. office worker used 62 pounds of paper a year. By 1999, that figure peaked at 143 pounds, but in 2006 it was still at 127 pounds.”.

But things may be changing, thanks to a public that is getting more used to receiving and viewing things on the screen. The article cites PNC Bank, 15% of whose customers now get PDF files rather than paper for account statements, up from 0% a few years ago. 80% of company internal reports are now published electronically, not on paper.

Among the interesting points cited in the report:
* One analyst “estimates that companies will spend about $8 billion this year on paper alone.”
* One company thought it “had 150 fax machines, but a detailed search turned up 1,000, many of which were rarely used.”
* “Researchers at Xerox found that about half of the documents printed in a typical office are thrown away within 24 hours.”

Vista Angst

2008-05-01T10:00:00.002-04:00

“I have Vista on a notebook with 2 gigabytes of memory and a decent-size processor, and with Vista on there, it just doesn't work. It takes over 10 minutes just to open a Word document.” That’s a quote from a computer analyst in a current USA Today story about the continuing backlash of both corporate and home users (“Vista struggles to bust out as business customers snub it,” 4/29/08).

Another IT administrator, with over 14,000 computers under his supervision says “I wouldn't put on Vista if it was free.…In the past, there's always been an important reason to upgrade, but XP (the previous version of Windows) is perfectly acceptable.” Analysts have ranged from calling the release of Vista “a disaster” or “the biggest blunder ever” and “equivalent to the New Coke fiasco.” Apple has made Vista the butt of some very effective advertising.

The story reports that users across the country are reveling against adopting Vista, due to its slowness, balkiness, training and help-desk burden, and minimal payoff. In fact sales at Microsoft of Windows operating systems are down by 24% in the last quarter. Even the release of a service pack bug fix has been a big disappointment.

With Vista getting hammered from all sides, many customers are just sitting on their hands, waiting for the next version of Windows. Microsoft has announced that Windows XP will no longer be available after June 30. But there is major blowback from some of Microsoft’s biggest clients, and it’s hard to imagine that deadline will be tolerated by the IT community, which is already organizing petition drives.

For hardware and software vendors in the printer and copier business, the problem is that they now have to support both versions of the operating system in full. That involves not only upgrading and testing software to work with a wide variety of programs and new drivers, but also training dealers and having help-desk support available for hard-to-diagnose problems, in addition to offering solutions for Microsoft’s (as yet little used) XPS image workflow. Needless to say, none of this puts money in the pockets of these companies, and introduces as whole new set of headaches, headaches that may continue for years until Microsoft’s next version of Windows is due for release (and perhaps a whole new set of problems will arrive then.

Turning it off

2008-04-28T10:09:00.001-04:00

HP's UK branch has released a short online publication called “The HP Guide for Greener Printing” available here online.

Most of the advice is pretty obvious, with encouragement to print in duplex, send more documents electronically, and recycle paper.

On interesting point is made, however, about the effect of letting printers and copiers run when not in use. “All office equipment uses energy when switched on or in stand-by mode. In the UK alone, equipment left on standby is responsible for generating over 3 million tonnes of CO2 each year, according to the Energy Saving Trust.”

Of course, many copiers and some printers have sleep modes that are automatically triggered if left idle for a preset period (generally somewhere between five and 60 minutes) , or can be set to go off ready automatically during non-working hours. That’s part of the new EnergyStar criteria for newer machines, and many companies are complying. But many older desktop machines in particular do not offer any sleep feature. Having employees shut down desktop printers and MFPs at the end of the day may be a smart idea.

New HP color ledger MFPs

2008-04-25T10:28:00.002-04:00

Hewlett Packard recently introduced a new color laser printer-based multifunctionals group handling ledger-size paper. The LaserJet CM6030 models print at 30ppm in both color and black-and-white, while the CM6040 models print at 40ppm in color black-and-white. Street prices for these models range from $6,999 to $8,999.

These MFPs have a maximum capacity of 2,100 sheets. They also come with a 40 page document feeder. Automatic duplex and Ethernet connectivity are standard.. On the output side, these machines offer500 sheets of standard output, but they also have several optional finishers, a multiposition stapler unit and a five-tray finisher with saddle-stitching and booklet-making.

Scanning to email is standard, and faxing is standard on some versions, optional on others. Consumables are under one cent per page in black, under eight cents in color.

These new MFPs from HP look and act a lot like copier MFPs. The prices are lower than comparable-speed color copiers, but some of the options (including paper feed capacity) are not at the same level. Nevertheless, the CM6030 and CM6040 models a good solution for someone who needs the functionality of a fast color laser MFP, but does not need all the added bells and whistles.

Xerox Green Survey

2008-04-22T14:00:00.004-04:00

In time for Earth Day, a recent survey by Xerox asked US office workers about the "non-green” practices in their offices. According to Xerox, the biggest gripes about companies’ lack of environmental awareness were::

* mindless printing resulting in abandoned pages at the printer (40 percent)
* leaving lights on in unused offices (37 percent)
* lack of recycling bins (33 percent)
* excessive air conditioning or heating (29 percent)
* wasteful use of paper products, such as plates and cups (27 percent)
* co-workers who don't recycle (27 percent)
* co-workers who print single-sided instead of double-sided documents (24 percent).

The survey also noted that environmental awareness is often a function of age, where younger employees tend to be more green-oriented. It also noted that women tend to be more eco-conscious than men.

It’s interesting that many of these issues have to do with printing, an area where users themselves have some control over the waste.

Ricoh refreshes top-of-the-line color copier-MFPs

2008-04-21T08:57:00.002-04:00

Ricoh recently released two new color copiers that are among the speediest in the industry. The Aficio MP C6000 ($29,800) outputs at 55ppm in color and 60ppm in black, while the C7500 3($37,8000) operates at 70ppm in color and 75ppm in black In almost all respects the machines are identical.

These color copiers expand Ricoh’s presence at a level of the market that has few competitors. They replace a pair of slightly slower models, and add a few new enhancements.

The range of paper-handling accessories is also a strong point. You can have up to 7,400 sheets of input total. There is also a choice of three stapler-finishers, as well as an option Z-folder device and a cover inserter.

PostScript printing is standard, Strong scan-to capabilities are standard as well, and (unusual at this speed) a fax board is an option.

Color copiers are getting faster and ore productive with every passing year. Ricoh’s new models set a new standard that others will have to catch up to.

Konica Minolta buys Danka

2008-04-18T09:34:00.001-04:00

Konica Minolta announced it would buy copier dealer chain Danka Office Imaging by one of its suppliers,. The US company is a division of UK-based Danka Business Systems PLC, which is planning to dissolve. The deal was for $240 million.

Danka (which is 31 years old) was once a major power in the copier industry, with a wide network in North America and Europe. In 2006, it sold off its European operations to Ricoh for $210 million. Last year, the remainder of the business lost almost $30 million.

For Konica Minolta, the deal is part of a campaign for it to move up into the first tier of U/S? copier companies, to join rivals Canon, Ricoh, and Xerox. The move was also a reaction to Xerox's buyout of copier retail chain Global Imaging last year, as more and more the copier manufacturers swallow up the most profitable part of dealer layer that stands between them and the customer.

Study: Small businesses risk losing key documents

2008-04-04T10:54:00.002-04:00

A study commissioned by Epson Canada found that many small businesses are not storing documents vital to them and customers electronically. While most companies have hard copy versions of critical documents in file cabinets, the idea of systematically saving documents electronically (and with proper backup) has still not caught on.

According to the study as described in a CNW News Group release, “90 percent of those who do not store any documents in soft copy say they have not adopted an electronic system to store their important business documents because they believe it is not necessary to do so (50 percent) or they never thought about it (25 percent) or they think it's too expensive (15 percent). The remaining 10 percent admitted they didn't understand the importance of making soft copies of important business documents like contracts or invoices and storing them electronically.”

In addition, only 10 percent of those surveyed said that they store hard copies in a fireproof file cabinet onsite, and even fewer, 2 percent, saved hard copies offsite. All this is in spite of the fact that even small enterprises are more and more dependent on a growing number of critical documents.

This is in spite of the relative ease and low cost of storing files electronically and backing them up offsite. While most midsize companies with a real IT plan have made recoverable electronic document storage a priority, apparently the smallest companies have no recovery plan for a catastrophic incident like a fire or robbery.

New Canon production-oriented scanner

2008-04-02T13:24:00.002-04:00

The Canon imageFORMULA DR-X10C is a high-end color scanner that runs at 128ppm in black-and-white and color. The top of the impressive Canon scanner line, it is priced at $17,995. The scan speed is 128ppm in simplex and 256ipm n duplex, in both black-and-white and color. Canon rates this machine for a 60,000 scans-per-day duty cycle. The scanner includes some innovative features, including three ultrasonic double-feed sensors, a double feed back-out and retry function, new dust prevention features than promise clearer scans, and the ability to scan documents up to 22" x 34". These are on top of the strong Canon scanning features.

New Kyocera black-and-white printer

2008-03-17T09:55:00.001-04:00

Kyocera Mita America earlier this month announced a new and fast desktop laser printer, the FS-1300D. This compact monochrome machine is a single-user model with a USB connection standard, and an optional Ethernet interface.

The FS-1300D comes with a 50-sheet bypass tray and a 250 sheet of input tray standard. You can add up to two optional 250-sheet add-on trays. The exit tray holds 250 sheets. First-page-out time is 6 seconds, very good in its class. Automatic duplexing is standard. Versions of PCL and PostScript are also standard.

Innovations on this model include a color LED status panel and a status monitor that sends info to the user’s desktop,

The list price for the unit is $530. That’s not cheap, but Kyocera is not in the business of competing with the low-end. This model offers superior speed and paper capacity, plus a rugged 25,000 pages per month duty cycle.

A few industry trends

2008-03-14T11:02:00.000-04:00

Talking with Toshiba dealers at their conference last week, I heard the following:
▪ Color units represent between 50-70 percent of units installed. That is even more remarkable when you consider that Toshiba does not sell lo=end color single-function printers and that, as we have noted before, has not had, up until now, a full range of Toshiba-manufactured color copiers (The ones above 55ppm were relabeled Ricoh models.)
▪ Most buyers of color systems are upgrading from current black-and-white systems. Moreover, color devices are being placed through the whole range of customer types.
▪ While buyers are very insistent on demanding access controls and accounting software to regulate color use and cut down on unnecessary color printing, the truth is that, once the systems are installed, most customers don’t use these tools.
▪ Customers are getting more and more used to using copier-multifunctionals as fax machines.
▪ Dealers are well aware of the need to become “solutions providers,” that is, to accompany the sales of hardware with extensive software supports in such areas as document management, accounting, and workflow. Most have allocated technical staff and sales support to that end. But all report that it’s a tough sell, with long lead time and sometimes disappointing results. It’s one thing to get a single exec to sign off on a copier; it’s quite another to get a group of managers to agree on how and when documents will be stored digitally, how they will be protected and accessed. The sales cycle stretches out as the customers starts to redesign the way business is conducted. Yes, if carried out right, it can make you ever more indispensable to our customers, but it does involve a big investment in staffing and training with a long-term payback.

Toshiba rolls out new color copier/MFPs

2008-03-11T10:01:00.002-04:00

Toshiba announced last week a number of new models to be released over the next few quarters. At the top of the list is a set of new high-end color copier/MFPs. These models, which range from 55ppm in color and black-and-white to 65ppm in color and 75ppm in black-and-white, bring Toshiba into parity with key rivals.

The new models will replace Toshiba’s current high-end color line, which are relabeled Ricoh machines. Dealers for Toshiba were happy to get Toshiba-made products in this growing market segment, as they were reportedly losing sales to Ricoh, Lanier, and Savin dealers who could claim more expertise with their own machines.

At the same time, Toshiba announced a set of new mid-volume color copier/MFPs. These range from 23ppm to 45ppm in both color and black-and-white, and are upgrades from current Toshiba models.

The complete list of new color models:
▪ e-STUDIO 2330c (23ppm color, 28ppm black-and-white)
▪ e-STUDIO 2830c (28ppm color, 35ppm black-and-white)
▪ e-STUDIO 3530c (35ppm color, 45ppm black-and-white)
▪ e-STUDIO 4520c (45ppm color, 45ppm black-and-white)
▪ e-STUDIO 5520c (55ppm color, 55ppm black-and-white)
▪ e-STUDIO 6520c (65ppm color, 65ppm black-and-white)
▪ e-STUDIO 6530c (65ppm color, 75ppm black-and-white)

Kodak unveils a new desktop scanner

2008-02-29T09:57:00.001-05:00

This time, Kodak is releasing the ScanMate i1120, a multipurpose desktop scanner with strong document-scanning features. It has a list price of $495 and scans at 20ppm in both color and black-and-white.

The i1120 allows you to send a scanned file directly to email or to file. Kodak boasts of its easy-to-program and preconfigure scanning destinations with a one-touch interface Kodak calls “smart touch”. For example, you can program one key for sending expense reports as searchable grayscale PDF files to a specific server folder, or send a shipping order as a multipage color TIFF as an email attachment to the shipping department or to a client.

The ScanMate i1120 also has solid scan features, including blank page removal, image rotation, and dual stream scanning (for example, making a color TIFF for an email and a monochrome PDF for filing).

The longest document ever scanned!

2008-02-26T08:31:00.000-05:00

That’s a feat that scanner maker Böwe Bell & Howell is planning to undertake, one for the Guinness Book of Records. BBH, we are informed, will attempt to scan a document half a mile long using the Truper 3600 document scanner. The document will be the equivalent of around 2,800 letter-size sheets laid end-to-end.

It’s a fun stunt to publicize the existence of a “long document mode” on the BBH scanner. The feat will be performed at a healthcare IT industry convention. That’s the proper place, as long scans are usually from instrument readouts from devices like EKGs (though it must be said that half a mile is one hell of a stress test).

Oh well, it beats the usual flogging of speeds, feeds, and megahertz. Apparently, the Guinness people will be there to make sure no cheating is involved.

Canon releases high-speed color scanner

2008-02-21T10:07:00.000-05:00

Canon announced the release of its imageFORMULA DR-X10C Color Production Scanner. This high-end machine scans at a speed up to 128 pages per minute or (in duplex) 256 images per minute. It has a duty cycle of 60,000 pages.

This new machine builds in many of the hardware and software enhancements already developed for Canon scanners. These include such features as staple detection, page size detection, auto color detection, retry feeding, and strong ultrasonic double-feed detection. A new feature prevents dust from reducing the sharpness of the scans. It can scan documents up to 22" x 34" in size.

Canon releases new color copier

2008-02-19T14:20:00.001-05:00

Canon has just released a new color copier-multifunctional aimed at small-to-midsize workgroups. The Color imageRUNNER C2550 prints and copies in color at 23ppm and in black-and-white at 25 ppm.

The controller hosts an impressive 1.5GB of RAM and 80GB hard disk drive. The basic machine supports Canon’s UFR II host-based printing, but can be upgraded to PostScript and/or PCL. A multiposition internal finisher is available as well as a two-tray job separator. A 50-sheet two-sided document feeder (DADF) is also an option.

The list price for this compact new model is $8,000.

Cutting back on printing

2008-02-18T14:57:00.002-05:00

A recent InformationWeek article (“Biltmore Hotels Save Paper, Printing Costs Through Digitized Docs,” 2/12/08) reports on the attempt of the CIO of a hotel chain to cut back on steadily rising print costs. As the article points out “it's difficult to reduce paper and ink consumption when the effort flies in the face of people's office habits.”

The Biltmore chain has over 500 employees in its Florida headquarters. It had 41 printers and the number has been growing. So he:
▪ Reduced the printers to 9, while adding a few more copier-multifunctionals.
▪ Actively pushed two-sided printing and copying.
▪ Showed employees how to work with digital documents (PDFs) instead of printing everything out.
▪ Set up copiers so users had to swipe ID cards to use them and starting billing print costs back to departments.
▪ Limited use of color to certain employees with real need to use color.

The result is that the CIO “has cut what used to be a $3,400 budget for paper and ink cartridges by 75%.” He has also focused on getting departments to be far more digital in the way they handle documents. The HR department, for example, has now placed all records online, for example, and gotten rid of all of its filing cabinets.

None of this is any surprise, but it is a good indication that a strong push can transform old habits and save money and that such an effort can pay off.

Samsung releases new color printer

2008-02-13T11:10:00.003-05:00

Samsung, which has released a slew of new products over the past few months, has come out with yet another printer. The CLP-660ND is aimed at small-to-medium-workgroups prints in color and black-and-white at 25ppm. As its name implies, automatic duplexing and Ethernet connectivity are standard. Memory can be expanded to 260MB.

The cost is a moderate $700 and Samsung claims (though we can’t yet confirm) a low cost per page in its category.

Samsung has been active at getting new products on the market and seems to be gaining growing market share, as it extends its product line from desktop machines to more powerful machines.