Reprographics 101

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  • Contex Expands Multifunction Product Offerings, Unveils Latest Bundles

    Wednesday, May 22, 2013

    Press release from the issuing company
    Rockville, MD – Contex, the world’s leader of wide format scanning and imaging solutions, today announces that it is working with HP to develop two wide format multifunction (MFP) products specifically designed to meet the needs of the technical and graphics markets. The new bundles are high-production MFPs, combining the HP Designjet T7100 Printer with either the award-winning Contex HD Ultra 3650 or Contex SD 3690. These new MFPs provide users with affordable, fast, high-quality imaging solutions for wide format scanning, copying and monochrome or color printing. The Contex and HP Designjet T7100 Printer bundles are specially priced until the end of June and available immediately through Contex and HP channel partners.
    “The collaboration between Contex and HP offers a powerful and streamlined multifunction solution for mid-volume scanning, copying and printing, in monochrome and color, ” states Steve Blanken, General Manager, Contex Americas. “This is a full-featured alternative to monochrome-only LED MFPs.”

    Production Scanning, Printing and Copying
    Built for efficiency, the HP Designjet T7100 Printer provides low-cost, high-speed printing of monochrome CAD drawings and high-quality color documents. When paired with the Contex SD 3690 wide format scanner, which is designed to handle high volume projects while accurately capturing everything from new originals to faded blueprints, the MFP addresses all technical imaging demands from capture to output. 
    Additionally, the HD Ultra 3650/HP Designjet T7100 MFP is suited for both the technical and graphic markets. Noted for its versatility, the award-winning HD Ultra is the fastest scanner available today. With xDTR2 technology and Gigabit Ethernet ensuring maximum throughput, the HD Ultra further elevates the scanning process with features such as 48-bit CCD technology and the widest color gamut possible, delivering highly detailed images unmatched in color reproduction quality.
    For more information about the specially-priced Contex and HP Designjet T7100 Printer bundles, contact salesamericas@contex.com

  • P4PHotel.com, definitely worth signing up for

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    If you buy,
    sell, or lease imaging equipment or place imaging equipment under an MPS
    program format, then you owe it to yourself to sign up for membership to
    P4PHotel.com.  Basic membership is free. 
    The owner/publisher
    of P4Photel.com, Art Post, has been
    involved in the “copier” industry for nearly all of his adult life, and his
    web-site and blog are very popular and are chock full of information.  I visit Art’s web-site and blog (and the
    forums) on a regular basis.  His web-site
    and blog have a large number of followers.

    “Supporting
    the Dealer and Direct Channel for Copier and Printer Imaging
    Professionals”
    http://p4photel.homestead.com

  • Fuji Xerox Launches World's Fastest Wide-Format Color Inkjet Printer DocuWide C842

    DocuWide C842 Contributes to Enhancing Productivity in Printing Large-Size Drawings 

    TOKYO, May 20, 2013 — Targeting the large-size drawings printing market such as construction/civil engineering industries, Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. today launches world’s fastestNote1 wide-format color inkjet printer DocuWide C842, which realizes printing of A0 size sheets at seven pages per minute to contribute to enhanced productivity.
    Unlike the moving-head method often employed in inkjet printers, Fuji Xerox has aligned high-definition, four-color (CMYKNote2) print heads that spray the inks to print on a single paper delivery, which has realized high-speed printing. In addition, the DocuWide C842 uses technology that sprays ink miniaturized to 1.4 picoliter to reproduce high gradation of color and half-tone outputs as well as realize high-resolution printing of fine lines in drawings.

    The DocuWide C842 is capable of printing on various sizes and types of paper including a maximum of 42-inch wide-format sheets. As the printer can hold two or four rolls of sheet, it allows users to set both two-inch and three-inch core size roll paper, which differ depending on the type of paper, or set both regular and coated paper, thereby improving the efficiency and convenience of users’ operating environment where they don’t have to change the paper depending on what to print. Further, various security functions have been incorporated, such as encryption and overwriting of data accumulated in hard disk, to prevent unauthorized retrieval or copying of data recorded in hard disk.
    While calls for speed are increasing regardless of the type of work or industry, construction/civil engineering industries and construction sites are facing greater needs to raise speed and efficiency in printing complex engineering drawings and electrical drawings that are often revised, along with increased size of data caused by colorization. Facility operations at public offices that utilize geographic information system (GIS) are also challenged to boost efficiency in sharing and using maps and drawings. When using GIS to manage urban design maps and facility layout drawings, high productivity and quality printing environment is especially in need to output line drawings in higher resolution and accuracy.

    To further enhance the operational efficiency in copying, scanning and printing, DocuWide C842 can be upgraded by linking with Fuji Xerox’s wide-format color scanners including DocuScan C1500 and DocuWide 6055 seriesNote4.
    • Note1-World’s fastest wide-format color inkjet printer for large-size drawings as of May 2013 (based on a research by Fuji Xerox).
    • Note2-CMYK is a method to produce all colors by mixing varying percentages of cyan, magenta, yellow and black inks.
    • Note3-Requires an optional data security kit.
    • Note4-Requires optional software to be used as a network copier (scanner & printer).

  • Ricoh to Cut 13% of French Workforce

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    PARIS
    — Japanese office equipment and digital camera maker Ricoh will cut 338 jobs
    in France, some 13% of its workforce in the country, union officials said Thursday.
    “The
    management told us it intends to cut 338 posts among the 2,500 the company has
    in France,” said CGT union representative Thang Doan following a meeting
    with company officials.
    Hit
    hard by the 2008-09 global financial crisis and stiff competition, Ricoh
    announced two years ago that it planned to shed 10,000 jobs, a tenth of its
    global workforce, with the first major wave of cuts to take place in 2014.
    Ricoh
    France spokesman, Eric Baudart, said the reorganization “is aimed at
    safeguarding the competitiveness” of the world’s top office equipment
    manufacturer.
    Fierce
    competition has squeezed margins on photocopiers “and we’ve arrived at the
    point where the company can’t support the further collapse of margins,” he
    added.
    Doan
    said two previous rounds of job cuts since 2010 had seen over 200 employees
    leave the company in France.

  • Reprographics 101 Blog to soon be relocated back to this blog-site

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    I first “launched” “Reprographics 101”, in
    early 2009, on this blog-site. 
    On August 1st, 2012, when I
    assumed the role of Managing Director of the IRgA, I agreed to relocate
    Reprographics 101 to the IRgA web-site. 
    As previously announced, I will be leaving
    the IRgA Managing Director position on May 31st.   And,
    in conjunction with that change, Reprographics 101 will no longer be published
    on the IRgA web-site; Reprographics 101 will be relocated back to this, its
    original, blog-site.
    From the launch of Reprographics 101 in early
    2009, we’ve put up more than 1,635 posts on Reprographics 101 (1,385 posts
    appear on this, the original blog-site and 250 appeared on the Reprographics
    101 blog-page on the IRgA web-site.)
    Thank you for visiting Reprographics
    101. 
    If you have any suggestions for articles that
    may be of interest to Reprographers or to financial analysts and investors who
    follow the reprographics industry, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
    Best regards,
    Joel Salus
    Publisher of “Reprographics 101”
    Cell: 917-822-4164
    e-mail: 
    joel.salus@mac.com

  • REPROGRAPHER SURVEY – WINTER 2012-2013

    We’d like to thank the 73 reprographics firms who participated in the IRgA/Reprographics 101 Survey.


    The survey is now closed.


    The results of the survey and our comments about the survey results are contained in an Excel file, and, if you would like to receive a copy of the survey-results file, send an e-mail to joel.salus@mac.com

  • REPROGRAPHER SURVEY – WINTER 2012-2013

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    SURVEY
    ANNOUNCEMENT:
    REPROGRAPHER SURVEY – WINTER
    2012-2013
    In conjunction with the IRgA, Reprographics
    101 is pleased to announce the launch of our “Winter 2012-13 REPROGRAPHER
    SURVEY”
    Reprographers, PLEASE PARTICIPATE!!! 
    The greater the number of survey
    participants, the more relevant the survey data will be.  We not only encourage YOU to participate, we
    encourage you to encourage your friendly competitors and industry associates at
    other companies to participate in the survey.
    No one will know which companies participated
    in the survey – not even me!  There is
    absolutely no way for anyone to know which companies participated in the
    survey.  Our industry is at a critical
    point in its life; recent and comparative results and trend information
    is, or I guess I should say, should be, vitally important to everyone
    in the industry.
    Rules for this survey:
    —–We ask that only one person from each
    company respond to the survey!  We also
    ask that the one person who participates from each company be involved in a
    management position, since many of the questions pertain to sales data and
    profit data.
    —–This particular survey is designed for
    “reprographers only”.  If you are a
    vendor to the reprographics industry, please do not participate in the survey.
    —–This survey is open to ALL
    reprographers.  You do not have to be an
    IRgA Member to participate in this survey. 
    (Although, we do encourage you to sign up for membership – and IRgA
    membership is free, so no reason not to sign up! Visit IRgA.com to sign up.)
    —–We intend to continue the survey process
    until the middle of January.  We may end
    up extending that, but, for now, that’s the target date.
    —–We expect to be able to publish the
    results of the survey by the end of January.
    Thank you, in advance, for taking the time to
    participate in our Winter 2012-13 Reprographer Survey.
    Joel Salus
    Publisher, Reprographics 101 Blog


    (If anyone has a
    question about the survey, please contact me via e-mail, at joel.salus@mac.com)

  • Ricoh wins bid for “reprographics services”. I did not know they were in the reprographics services business! Reprographers, were you aware of that?

    Broward County Public Schools (Ft Lauderdale FL area) recently held a BID competition for “Printing Services for Legal Reproduction of Construction Related Projects and Correspondence”.

    Here’s a link to the bid tabulation and recommendation for award:

    https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B81al4kFAU9JUWVNZTdScFFSNVE

    While I was aware that Ricoh’s Business Solutions group offered Managed Print Services, I was not aware, at all, that Ricoh was pursuing bids for reprographics services. Perhaps this is an outcome of Ricoh merging IKON’s document solutions group into Ricoh’s Business Solutions Group? Will there come a time when all of the major copier/printer equipment manufacturers push into the reprographics services business? Canon and OCE? Konica-Minolta?

    Do you remember when Xerox operated Xerox Reproduction Centers? Is that where Ricoh is headed with this?

  • Home prices rise for fourth month in May: S&P Case-Shiller Composite Index

    NEW YORK | Tue Jul 31, 2012 10:01am EDT

    (Reuters) – Single-family home prices rose for the fourth month in a row in May on a seasonally adjusted basis, suggesting the recovery in the housing market continued to gain traction, a closely watched survey showed on Tuesday.

    The S&P/Case-Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas gained 0.9 percent in May on a seasonally adjusted basis, topping economists’ expectations for a 0.5 percent gain.

    On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, prices fared even better, jumping 2.2 percent.

    “With May’s data, we saw a continuing trend of rising home prices for the spring,” David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at Standard & Poor’s, said in a statement.

    Still, Blitzer cautioned that spring and summer are traditionally strong buying months and that gains need to continue into the rest of the year.

    “The housing market seems to be stabilizing, but we are definitely in a wait-and-see mode for the next few months.”

    The rate of decline on a yearly basis moderated, with prices down 0.7 percent compared to a 1.9 percent drop in April.

    (Reporting By Leah Schnurr; Editing by Padraic Cassidy)

  • Zynga Bullish Call Prompts Embarrassed Analyst to Apologize

    Off topic from reprographics, it’s “one of those days”…. Zynga shares were trading at around $15.00 per-share back in the first week of March 2012. After reporting disappointing results, Zynga shares are now trading at $3.13 per share. (Disclosure, I don’t own, nor have I ever owned, Zynga shares.)

    Why does it not surprise me that an analyst’s call proved to be wrong? I guess for the same reason that opinions rendered by Moody’s and S&P (about the credit risk ratings of CDO’s) proved to be way off base (to the negative side, of course.) Does anyone still trust the prognostications of analysts and credit ratings given to bonds, CDO’s, etc. by ratings companies? Using the word “trust” and “financial opinions” in the same sentence is, nowadays, an oxymoron.

    From Bloomberg News

    Zynga Bullish Call Prompts ‘Embarrassed’ Analyst to Apologize

    By Danielle Kucera on July 26, 2012

    Richard Greenfield, an analyst who covers Zynga Inc. (ZNGA) (ZNGA), downgraded the maker of social games and apologized for overestimating earnings after the company reported revenue and profit that missed projections.

    In a note titled “We Are Sorry and Embarrassed by Our Mistake,” the BTIG LLC analyst downgraded Zynga to neutral from buy after the company showed it’s making less money from individual users than he expected, Bloomberg.com’s Tech Blog reported.

    “We firmly believed that the small fraction of Zynga users who pay was increasing and that monetization per user was improving,” Greenfield said in a note yesterday. “Paying players on Facebook are clearly paying less due to the mix of games.”

    He added, “Our confidence in Zynga management diminished.”

    Zynga, the biggest developer of games played on Facebook Inc. (FB) (FB), fell short of analysts’ second-quarter revenue and profit estimates as the company competes with a growing number of apps on the social network and mobile devices. Sales were $332.5 million, less than analysts’ average estimate of $343.1 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Profit excluding some items was 1 cent a share, less than the 6-cent estimate.

    Zynga, based in San Francisco, makes money by selling virtual goods within its games — a gun in “Mafia Wars” or a tractor in “FarmVille.” Greenfield revised his earnings projection for the full year to 7 cents, down from 31 cents. The new estimate would represent a 70 percent drop from last year.

    A jump in monthly unique players was driven primarily by “Draw Something,” a mobile game Zynga acquired earlier this year for $200 million that doesn’t generate much revenue, Greenfield said.

    To contact the reporter on this story: Danielle Kucera in San Francisco at dkucera6@bloomberg.net

    To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net