Reprographics 101

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  • Before you run out half-cocked and begin promoting MPS …..

    Before you make the decision to extend your business into “managed print services” (MPS) and before you announce to your customers and prospects that your company is going to offer MPS, I’d encourage you to do your homework! And, for that matter, lots of homework!

    Although that business may “sound easy” and although many reprographers are already heavily involved in providing “FM” services – and one ‘scope’ of FM services is, in my opinion, very much the same as a “true” managed print services offering – you need to be aware of what others in the MPS business are doing, how they are pricing what they are offering and what it’s going to cost you to be involved in the MPS business. You also need to be aware that the MPS business can prove to be capital-intensive.

    As I mentioned in a previous articles about MPS on this blog, there were two ‘breakout sessions” at least year’s IRgA Convention about MPS, and there will be another “breakout session” about MPS at this year’s IRgA Convention (in late April, in Vegas.) My guess is that the IRgA Board has concluded that MPS is something that reprographers should consider offering. Why else would the Board have approved IRgA Convention “breakout sessions” about MPS?

    MPS is not just about acquiring, installing, supplying, and managing a fleet of imaging devices and producing reports that show MPS customers where they are spending their money for “output.” In the “broad sense” of MPS, MPS requires that an MPS-vendor be quite knowledgeable about document “workflow” and how that workflow affects “the customer’s” business, both communications-wise and cost-wise. An MPS “sale” is definitely a “consultative” sale, for sure. Also from a broad-scope perspective, MPS is about helping a customer with its needs for “output” and “distribution”, and an MPS program would consider; a) the most appropriate fleet of imaging devices for the customer’s office(s), b) the most appropriate document management software to best manage both internal printing and distributed printing, c) selection of vendors to be used by the customer for “remote” or “outsourced” printing and distribution requirements (this, negotiated by the MPS vendor), and d) reporting “total” spend to the customer, possibly broken out “by division”, and/or “by department”, and/or “by project”, etc.

    In order for you to be able to offer a “smart” MPS proposal (and, by that, I mean a proposal where a customer will read it and conclude, “heck, these people are pro’s, they know what they are doing and what the MPS business is all about”), you first need to do a comprehensive survey of the customer’s business, and, if you don’t already have the experience doing this type of survey, you will need to learn how to do a survey. That also means that you need to figure out what questions the survey should ask.

    Okay, in talking about the MPS business in the manner I just have, it was not my intention to make MPS sound like “rocket science”, for, to me, it certainly isn’t rocket science. Earlier, I mentioned “FM” and “MPS” in the same paragraph. If you’ve ever done an “wide-scope” FM for an A/E firm, and, by “wide-scope”, I mean that your agreement with the A/E firm includes “on-site” services/output (equipment, consumables, service, paper, etc.) (whether staffed or unstaffed does not particularly matter), off-site services, distribution services, document management services, and, where you are committed to capturing and reporting “cost” to your customer, and where your company is the “exclusive” vendor to the customer for these services (in other words, your company touches virtually everything the customer prints and/or distributes), your “broad-scope” “FM” service is an MPS. Many reprographers already have this experience, and they have, for years, had experience designing comprehensive surveys and working with customers and prospects to complete surveys. Personally, I actually think that reprographers have an advantage over “equipment dealers and distributors” in the MPS space. Years ago, reprographers, who were the first to offer short-run, large-format, digital color printing (when color labs and screen printers were still totally analog), had an advantage in the large-format, digital color space, but reprographers let that advantage slip away. Only recently, and this, of course, happened because the reprographics community was slammed very hard by the decline in business from A/E/C firms, have reprographers renewed initiatives to pursue, more heavily, large-format, digital color printing business. Will reprographers sit back and let non-reprographers eat away at the MPS business reprographers should be, and are capable of, pursuing?

    Any business you venture into carries risk. There is no guarantee that you will be successful (or make money) in the MPS business. But, there is that old saying, “nothing ventured, nothing gained.” If you don’t try it, you won’t know. Some companies have been very successful in the MPS business, while some others have not. That’s why I encourage research; if you better understand the “opportunity”, you will better understand the risks and the potential rewards.

    The other day, I looked at information about a company known as “WorkFlowOne.” When you visit this company’s web-site and click-on “managed services”, you will see, on the left-hand side of the page that comes up, these “sub-titles”:

    DNA Services Network

    Managed Services

    Sourcing Services

    Technology Services

    Logistics and Distribution Services

    Consulting Services

    Evidently, this company offers a wide-array of services in the MPS space. They say that their “roots” (the two core firms that were merged into one firm in 2005) date back to 1866. No, that’s not a typo, 1866 is the correct date. Although I do not know what WorkFlowOne’s annual sales are (I am too lazy to look for that), they must be a fairly large company. I say that because, when WorkFlowOne recently (on March 2, 2011) emerged from Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, they said that, through bankruptcy, they reduced their debt by $149 million and reduced their annual cash debt-service burden by approximately $50 million. My guess is that any company that’s able to reduce its debt by that amount, must have had a lot of debt to begin with! And, if they were a small company, that they would not have had a significant amount of debt to begin with. This company went into Chapter 11 on September 29, 2010. I have no idea how they managed to get themselves into a position where they had to file Chapter 11. I have no interest in wasting the time that would be necessary to invest in order to figure out why this company got into trouble. Did they get in trouble because of the MPS aspect of their business? Or, was their trouble caused by other aspects of their business? The current Chairman of Workflow one is a turnaround/restructuring specialist, and, interestingly enough, his background includes a degree in “aerospace engineering.” So, where I said earlier in this article, that the MPS business isn’t “rocket science”, well, maybe I was wrong to say that!

    To conclude this very long-winded post, I just want to say, once again (my friends well know my propensity to be redundant and repetitive), that, if you are thinking about offering MPS services, do your homework. Develop a list of things you think you need to know and consider – and devote a sufficient number of “off-hours” to do your research. After you “think you know” what the MPS business is all about and have come to an initial decision as to where your business can run with MPS, talk to your friends and associates who’ve had experience with MPS.

  • Xerox’s wide-format intentions in Europe?

    Right after Xerox (Xerox, Business Groups, Public Relations) sent me an e-mail that contained a statement from Xerox about its intentions regarding its “wide-format” business (where in that e-mail Xerox drew a distinction between its decision in the U.S. vs. its decision in Europe, I contacted a close friend of mine, who is involved in the “reprographics” business in Europe (and his company does use Xerox wide-format equipment in its reprographics services locations), to find out what he’s heard about this subject. (Note: my friend is in a management position with a multi-country reprographics services business in Eastern/Central Europe.)

    He then contacted one of his friends who works for a Xerox wide-format “dealer” to ask that person what he’s heard. I cannot reveal to you which country these comments come from, because this “dealer’s comments were made in confidence. Let me share with you most of what he said:

    “Strangely enough, just a few days ago we were officially informed that Xerox –country name intentionally deleted by blog-author- will outsource distribution activities of wide-format. To me that means they will discontinue importing and providing technical support directly; these will be outsourced in –country name intentionally deleted by blog-author-. Importing will be outsourced to their strongest wide-format partner, –name of Xerox’s “partner” intentionally deleted by blog-author-).”

    “From your perspective this alone should not change a thing on a daily operational level regarding your existing Xerox wide-format fleet. Moreover, one of my service engineers used to be, and still is, part of the –country name intentionally deleted by blog-author- center of competence for wide-format set up by Xerox –country name intentionally deleted by blog-author- and Xerox’s two largest distributors in our country.

    “Talking about that, Xerox 721’s might be a problem; Xerox is telling us that they lose money on them, so we are about to initiate a discussion.”

    “This might well be part of a world-wide strategy – that could affect your long term planning-, but we have not yet received a formal briefing on this. My feeling and personal guess is that they want to get rid of the „old” legacy 3rd party technology that did not work out to well, and come out with their own brand new equipment. I will check and let you know.”

    Joel’s further comments:

    With respect to the Xerox wide-format dealer in this particular European country, I’ve met with him before (and had breakfast with him, about 1 ½ years ago), and he is a very credible person.

    Based on the comments he made, it “sounds like” Xerox will be pulling back its direct involvement in at least some countries in Europe and will be letting its larger “country-specific distributors” take over complete responsibility for Xerox wide-format sales and service in their respective countries.

  • Blog visit and visitor statistics – just a quick update

    Reprographics 101 was visited by a total of 626 visitors, March 2nd & March 3rd, 2011. (Visitor statistics are provided courtesy of Google Analytics.)

    Those 626 visitors did 1,154 page views. The two most widely read posts were the ones about a) Xerox discontinuing wide-format and b) the Commentary and Opinions about that subject that appeared in a follow-up article. It’s actually quite amusing to me that the one most single read article was the one where I shared my opinions about the effects of Xerox’s decision to discontinue wide-format in the U.S. Readership of that particular article exceeded, by a fairly wide margin, readership of the “announcement” from Xerox that I posted on this blog.

    And, those 626 visitors came from 24 different countries. I don’t know anyone in the industry in Indonesia, but, a visitor from Indonesia visited Repro 101 for 16:16 minutes and read three articles.

  • PEIR GROUP EXECUTIVE CONFERENCE – OCT 7TH AND 8TH – ORLANDO FL

    This post is for “reprographers” only.

    I visit a lot of blog-sites and web-sites – related either directly or indirectly to the reprographics business and industry – in order to find news and issues that I think might be of interest to people who visit Reprographics 101. That’s the reason why I visit the blogs of others in the reprographics business and industry. The other day, I noticed a “one sentence” post on Shaun Meany’s blog (Point of View). As most everyone in the reprographics industry knows, Shaun is the President of “The PEiR Group.”

    The post that he did simply said: “PEiR (Group) Executive Conference, April 7-8, Orlando – save the date.”

    I have no idea how many companies are currently members of The PEiR Group, but, when NGI (my former company, which was sold to ARC in Dec 2007) was a P-G member, there were quite a lot of P-G member companies.

    I’ve previously posted several articles on this blog about the industry’s “affinity” groups. (A leader of one of the affinity groups, who is a friend, says he hates that word (affinity), and, I agree with him; it’s probably not the right word to use, even though I’ve just used it. Maybe someone will come up with a better word to refer to the industry’s affinity groups – ReproMAX, RSA, P-G, and GGN. If you do, let me know.)

    The “gist” of the articles I’ve previously posted about these groups is that I’ve long been of the opinion, if not a very strong believer, that being a member of the industry’s “groups,” and being a member of the IRgA, and being a member of the industry’s “regional” reprographics associations (Eastern, Central and/or Western) can prove to be very valuable to your company. However, if your sole purpose of being a member of a group is so that you can use your membership as an excuse to go gambling in Vegas or play golf or tennis in Palm Springs and be able to write-off your trip expenses, that, to me, is a ridiculous reason to be a member of a group and a ridiculous reason to attend meetings hosted by a group. If you are truly interested in your company benefitting from its membership in a group, then you have to participate, listen, participate, listen and network. To me, the most valuable part of being a member in a group is the opportunity to network with your peers. Even though I’m a fairly fast typist, it would literally take me an entire month, if not longer, to write an article that would highlight and explain everything I’ve learned from being a member of several industry groups over the many years I was actively involved in the reprographics business. Where I used the word, “valuable”, that is an understatement.

    When I think back years and years about the “group” meetings that I was fortunate enough to have been able to attend (or have gotten feedback from one of my associates, when I, myself, was unable to attend a meeting), I learned “a ton” of good information – a ton of actionable information. Even if you only learn one valuable piece of information, that’s good! (Or, as some would say, “worth the price of admission.”)

    Even when times were tight, I, or someone else from our company when I could not attend, would attend every meeting held by one of the groups we belonged to. My own personal philosophy about “business” is that “the more you know, the better prepared you will be.” There is no substitute for knowledge.

    Anyway, after I saw Shaun’s announcement of the upcoming PEiR Group “Executive” meeting in Orlando, I found myself wondering, “hmmm, times are tight, Shaun may end up talking to himself!” I certainly hope that does not happen. If you are a member of the PEiR Group and are not planning to attend, change your mind, attend. If you are not a member of the PEiR Group, but are thinking about becoming a member, contact Shaun.

    My first company, Rowley-Scher Reprographics, was a member of MiniMAX and a founding member of ReproCAD (now ReproMAX.) My second company, NGI, was a member of the PEiR Group and a member of ReproMAX. I would have liked our companies to also have been involved in RSA, but there were territorial conflicts, so that never happened. One cool thing about being a member of the PEiR Group, which all of you know is owned by ARC, is that, if you learn something at a P-G meeting and go home and later use the information you learned at that meeting (whether that information came from a lecture or whether that information came from a peer you networked with at the meeting) to take business away from ARC, well, how about that for a smile! Just so you know, I attended an “FM Sales School” held by the PEiR Group in Las Vegas, a few years ago (it was the year before I retired from active duty), and, within one month after that meeting, I took a big customer away from an ARC division. We “FM’d” an ARC customer! It was a big score for NGI. I’ve never mentioned this before to Shaun or to anyone at ARC. I’m certain that this “revelation” is going to make Shaun laugh. (I know that he occasionally visits my blog to see what I’m up to.)

    So, you have every reason to attend the PEiR Group meeting in Orlando next month. And, no good reason not to attend.

    Oh by the way, I live about 100 miles away from Orlando, and, if you go to the P-G meeting and have an extra day, I’m always up for lunch or dinner for reprographics industry friends (both old and new) who visit the Tampa Bay Area.

  • Blog visit and visitor statistics – another record day for visits and visitors

    Reprographics 101 was visited by 262 visitors on March 2, 2011, which set another record for Reprographics 101. (Visitor statistics are provided courtesy of Google Analytics.)

    Those 262 visitors did 642 page views. The two most widely read posts were the ones about a) Xerox discontinuing wide-format and b) the Commentary and Opinions about that subject that appeared in a follow-up article.

    And, those 262 visitors came from 15 different countries, with visits from visitors in the U.S., Japan, the U.K., the Netherlands and Australia being, in that order, the top 5. The “bottom” five were Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic, Finland and India. The “middle” five were Sweden, Canada, Singapore, France and Mexico.

    I was quite surprised to see that Reprographics 101 was visited by several engineering firms. That is very unusual, simply because I’ve done absolutely no announcements to anyone in the A/E/C industry that this blog exists.

  • Autodesk reported excellent results from the A/E/C sector for Q4 2010

    On February 24, 2011, after the market closed, Autodesk issued a Press Release about its Q4 2010 and Full-year 2010 results.

    Reprographers, consider what Autodesk said in these two paragraphs, which appeared in that Press Release:

    “We closed the year with solid momentum and double-digit quarterly revenue growth in all of our geographies and all of our business segments,” said Carl Bass, Autodesk president and CEO. “We’re seeing a global increase in demand for 3D design, engineering, and entertainment tools. Demand for our Inventor software helped deliver record quarterly revenue in our Manufacturing segment, and record quarterly sales of our Revit family of products led to strong growth in our Architecture, Engineering and Construction segment.”

    “Revenue from the Platform Solutions and Emerging Business segment was $181 million, an increase of 10 percent compared to the fourth quarter last year and an increase of 5 percent sequentially. Revenue from the Architecture, Engineering and Construction business segment was $162 million, an increase of 18 percent compared to the fourth quarter last year and 19 percent sequentially. Revenue from the Manufacturing business segment was a record $133 million, an increase of 23 percent compared to the fourth quarter last year and 14 percent sequentially. Revenue from the Media and Entertainment business segment was $52 million, an increase of 12 percent compared to the fourth quarter last year and 3 percent sequentially.”

    _________________________

    Joel’s comment:

    I personally think that this is very clear evidence that A/E/C industry firms are feeling more confident about business conditions going forward. Autodesk’s AutoCAD and REVIT products are the most popular, most widely used CAD and BIM software products in the U.S., at least with respect to firms in the A/E/C sector. If A/E/C firms were not feeling more confident, they would not be investing in new software. Coupled with reports from the AIA about the AIA ABI Index being above 50, three out of the five past months, and “even” at 50 last month (the January 2011 ABI Index was right at 50), that makes it four out of five months where the Index was not below 50. If the AIA Economics guy, Kermit Baker, is right about his assessment about the lag-time between the Index going positive (50 or above) and A/E firms actually experiencing greater amounts of project work from their clients, then it looks like A/E firms should be showing growth sometime within the next 5 to 6 months. Later on, the GC community will feel that. So, where we earlier opined that business for reprographers would be better towards the 2nd half of 2011 than will be the case during the 1st half of 2011, we’re still holding to that opinion.

  • A Newforma customer says that plan printing work is reduced by the use of Newforma

    A “Newforma” A/E-firm customer says that printing work is reduced by the use of Newforma

    I visited Cathy Cushing’s blog (Cushing & Co, Chicago) yesterday evening, and, while I was there, I noticed that there was a link on the blog to “Newforma”, which is a software product (I guess I should say, a “suite” of software products) used by A/E/C firms to help coordinate the management of A/E/C projects.

    Newforma was reviewed by Lachmi Khemlani, Ph.D. in an article that Dr. Khemlani posted on aecbytpes.com, back in 2009. In that article, Dr. Khemiani reviewed several different “project collaboration” software products.

    Anyway, after I left Cathy’s blog, I went to visit Newforma’s web-site, and, while I was there, I found several “case study” articles, one of which was this one ….

    “Converting to Electronic Submittals Management: A Case Study (Rush University Medical Center)”

    By Chris Weatherford, design applications technician, Perkins+Will and Joseph Najera, submittals administrator, Environmental Systems Design

    Here’s just a few snippets from that particular article. [Please note: the article was about a project done by Perkins & Will, one of the largest A/E firms in the U.S. But, within the article, there are comments from Art Haug, who, evidently, is not with P&W, but with LMN Architects. After reading the article, I still could not figure out how Art’s comments (about “paper savings”) managed to get into an article written by someone who is with P&W. ???]

    “Managing submittals using Newforma Project Center gives us the efficiency we need to sustain a healthy process, contributing to the delivery of the Rush project and more.”

    “LMN Architects Director of Construction Administration Art Haug and Director of Information Technology Tim Rice offer the following savings metrics for a typical design project:”

    “Paper Savings”

    · Paper saved per single submittal: 2 sheets 30″ x 42″ = 17.5 square feet 17.5 square feet x 7 distribution copies = 122.5 s.f. per submittal

    · Average number of submittals: 440

    · TOTAL PAPER SAVINGS in one project: 440 submittals x 122.5 s.f./submittal = 53,900 s.f. saved by going paperless

    “Time Savings”

    • TIME saved per single submittal: 0.5 hour

    • Average number of submittals: 400 (RE-submittal rate of 10% = 40 additional submittals

    • TOTAL TIME SAVINGS in one project: • 440 submittals x 0.5 hr/submittal = 220 hours saved

    • Project manager bill rate: $150/hr.

    •TOTAL TIME SAVINGS in one project: 220 hours x $150/hr = $33,000 in PM time saved

    “On the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, architect Perkins+Will and MEP engineer Environmental Systems Design used Newforma Project Center to log, assign, mark up, stamp, return and report on submittals. Other consultants on the project using the (Newformat) software included Thornton Tomasetti, TERRA Engineering and Hitchcock Design Group.”

    “An integrated submittals management process helps Perkins+Will and Environmental Systems Design meet demand for tight turnarounds and reduced chance of errors and omissions.”

    “The Rush University Medical Center is a 14-floor, 806,000-square-foot building that’s a $575 million The Rush University Medical Center is a 14-floor, 806,000-square-foot building that’s a $575 million.”

    Here’s a link to the full article (it’s actually on the AIA’s web-site, not on Newforma’s web-site):

    http://www.aia.org/practicing/akr/AIAB087260

    And, above, I mentioned the article on the web-site of aecbytes.com, where Dr. Lachmi Khemlani, reviewed Newforma and other project management / project collaboration software products. Here’s a link to that article:

    http://www.aecbytes.com/feature/2009/Collaboration_PM_PIM_Solutions.html


    Further comments:

    Regarding the “paper savings” noted in the article, “there lies the agony for reprographers”.

    According to a Press Release issued by ABC Imaging, ABC Imaging is the “FM” vendor for Perkins & Will. If I’m recalling this correctly, ABC Imaging provides “staffed FM” services for most of P&W’s offices. Reprographers, ABC Imaging included, who provide “staffed FM” services for A/E firms, do printing work (i.e., generate “sales revenues” from work that’s done) “on-site” (at the customer’s office) and “off-site” (at the reprographer’s production center(s). Above, where it was mentioned that an average submittal is only 2 – 30×42 sheets – and that each submittal required seven sets (which means the total print-order, per submittal) was only 14 – 30×42 prints, that’s the size of order that could easily be printed “on-site” at the customer’s office. So, there is the possibility that this type of activity (the use of Newforma by a team of project participants) reduces the FM vendor’s print volumes and revenues (either the FM vendor’s “on-site” print revenues or the FM vendor’s “off-site” revenues, depending on where the printing would have been done, if not for the use of Newforma. Having had lots of experience with staffed FM’s over the years I was active in the reprographics business, this is the type of activity (customers using software and, with the use of that software, reducing print volumes) that can easily escape the “eyesight” of the FM vendor. In other words, what I’m saying is that reprographers aren’t always aware of what customers are doing that have an effect on the print work that reprographers would normally expect to be doing. We may know that our “on-site” or “off-site” print volumes are down from a specific customer, and we may think that’s because the customer’s business is slow, but we may not be aware that the fall-off in printing work is being caused by something that we’re completely out-of-the-loop on.

  • Office Depot partners with Xerox for Managed Print Services in Europe

    Okay, okay, okay, yet another post that pertains to the “Managed Print Services” business. Here’s very recent press release from Office Depot ….

    Thursday, March 03, 2011

    Press release from the issuing company

    Venlo, Netherlands – Office Depot, celebrating 25 years as a leading global provider of office supplies and services, today announced a partnership with Xerox Corporation to offer Managed Print Services to customers across Europe. Xerox Managed Print Services are currently available to Office Depot customers in Germany, with a European rollout scheduled to take place throughout the remainder of the year.

    
Office Depot’s new Managed Print Services offering, which leverages Xerox’s expertise in solution design and service delivery, will enable Office Depot to assess, optimize and manage customer printing needs, resulting in lower print, copy and IT support costs, reduced environmental impact, as well as increased office productivity.

    
“The proven leadership of Xerox in the Managed Print Services space provides Office Depot customers with access to outstanding print service capabilities, cross-Europe delivery opportunities, and leasing agreements for both Xerox and non Xerox hardware,” said Mike Elbers, Vice President of Marketing and Merchandising for Office Depot in Europe. “This exclusive partnership is the first European offering of its kind to bring a multi-brand solution in office supplies and print capabilities for our broad customer base.”


    
“Businesses are looking for guaranteed results in cost savings, meeting security measures and achieving sustainability objectives. That’s why many are turning to Managed Print Services, which uncovers hidden savings of all kinds,” said Douraid Zaghouani, Senior Vice President, Xerox Europe, European Channels Group. “The combination of Office Depot’s customer care focus and strong supply chain capabilities and Xerox’s industry leadership and years of expertise in Managed Print Services, will allow companies to focus on what matters most: their real business.”

    __________________________________

    Joel’s comment:

    The European Headquarters of Office Depot are located in Venlo, The Netherlands, not far from OCE’s HQ’s. [By the way, if you’ve never before been to OCE’s HQ’s in Venlo, it is a “must visit.” I visited OCE in Venlo about three years ago, and Kevin Murphy (who is with OCE in Venlo), took me to lunch in the “executive” lunch room. Great food, great wine, great time, thank you, Kevin.) OCE’s operations in Venlo are enormous; it’s almost like a “mini” city.] Given Office Depot’s announcement that it is partnering with Xerox to do MPS’ in Europe, sounds to me like Office Depot has been reading OCE’s press releases and OCE’s web-site about its neighbor’s (OCE’s) heavy initiatives in the MPS business. Is this just Office Depot being jealous of its neighbor’s success?

  • Pay for Performance? Hah!

    This morning, I noticed an article posted on printceo.com, and, after I make a couple of wise-guy comments, I’m going to give you the link to that article.

    This is the title of that article:

    “Investor firm petitions for sale or turnaround at Kodak”

    In the article, it says that Kodak’s CEO’s compensation has “averaged” approximately $6.5 million over the past 5 years. That’s right, I said $6.5 million!

    I went to Google Finance, right after I read the above-mentioned article, and found that, over just the past four years, Kodak’s sales have declined by around 30% and have declined sequentially each year. On the “operating income” and “net income” lines, all I see is “red ink.”

    So, in the spirit of the phrase, “pay for performance,” what’s up at Kodak? Heck, I’d take the CEO job at Kodak for only $50k a year, provided my “perq” package includes HEALTH INSURANCE coverage!

    I’d probably not make any brighter decisions than Kodak’s current CEO has been making, but, at the very least, some of the red ink would go away, even if only because they’d be paying me a LOT LESS than the current CEO is earning.

    Here’s the link to that article:

    http://printceo.com/2011/03/investor-firm-petitions-for-kodak-turnaround/

  • Stronger together: Canon and Océ present Managed Print Services at CeBIT

    Well, as to the subject of “managed print services”….

    Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany, 17 January 2011 – Under the slogan “Stronger together”, Canon and Océ will have a joint presence in the Managed Print Services Park in Hall 3 at CeBIT in Hanover (1-5 March 2011). By doing so, Canon and Océ are drawing attention to their strengths in office and printroom output management. In Hanover, they will be documenting their consulting experience and in particular targeting companies wanting to save time and money via managed contracts.

    “Managed Print Services (MPS) will be one of the biggest growth areas for Canon Germany over the next two years. We expect a large number of companies with a headcount of over 500 to opt for a MPS approach during this period. The European market currently has the potential to be worth around 15 billion euros, growing to an estimated 28 billion euros by 2013. Due to its expertise in multifunctional printing systems and software solutions, Canon is ideally positioned to offer consulting and services to large customers,” says Marcus Nickel, country manager for MPS at Canon Deutschland. Canon is using its appearance in the MPS Park to showcase its latest customer solutions and to gain new customers. “We are not exhibiting any hardware,” announces Nickel. “Instead the focus will be on our consulting competence.”

    Mathieu Peeters, Marketing Manager Document Printing at Océ Deutschland GmbH: “It all starts with customer requirements. From assessing the existing situation to consolidating multi-vendor fleets, document solutions, process optimization or automating document-intensive workflows, Canon and Océ have a portfolio of effective MPS service modules. Océ’s roots are in the printroom and enterprise segment. In conjunction with Canon, we are able to implement any customer requirement. And Océ brings the benefit of more than ten years of customer-driven experience with a solution delivery process that is specifically defined for our industry.”

    Canon and Océ will be demonstrating their five-pronged approach at CeBIT. This includes financial aspects such as savings safeguards over the duration of a contract, as well as technical solutions focusing on security, monitoring and reporting. In addition, international service organizations and consulting services in the field of workflow optimization will be presented and the issue of environmental sustainability addressed. The trade show stand will also explain exactly what managed print services and managed document services are, as well as the benefits of business process outsourcing, enterprise fleet management and more.

    Managed Print Services takes three clearly defined forms. The first is about managing the printer fleet. This includes hardware and servicing together with toner logistics, monitoring and reporting. Level two involves optimizing the fleet in an ongoing process of improvement. Customers have access to a dedicated contact person, in some cases on-site, who is actively responsible for print management, carries out analysis and adapts the print process to change. The third step is to enhance business processes, which covers all aspects of document lifecycle management from drafts through to distribution and archiving. Customers can either manage this aspect internally or outsource it, which is where business process outsourcing comes in. Canon and Océ have been active and successful at all three levels for many years.

    Press contact

    Canon Deutschland GmbH
    Britta Giesen
    Europark Fichtenhain A10
    47807 Krefeld
    Germany
    Tel.: +49 (0)2151 345 156
    Fax: +49 (0)2151 345 63357
    E-mail: britta.giesen@canon.de
    www.canon.de