TCPglobal - news, views and issues on total cost of printing

Issue #1205 – New printer and office MFP models from Hewlett-Packard and Oki demonstrate how power consumption has again been tagged as a key area for cost savings for businesses (as well as saving the planet of course). Auto-off features are used as a means of dropping power consumption to less than 1 Watt when the device is not in use.

Issue #1115 – Litigators in North America are again having a go at extracting money from Epson on the grounds of alleged ‘wasted’ ink. Supposedly depriving the user of fully benefiting from their purchase, these are bizarre cases. It is my personal opinion that Epson is being unfairly victimised, probably for someone’s personal gain. Testing shows that it is not OEMs ink cartridges that are the worst offenders anyway – some third party brands are far, far worse.

Issue #1106 – Britain’s BBC news service is today featuring a British company that has developed a rapid manufacturing technique using relatively standard printing technology that is capable of building products from nylon that is as tough as steel. In order to demonstrate the capabilities of the technique for building everyday products in the future, the company has built a working prototype bicycle from nylon – shown on the BBC’s Breakfast TV program this morning.

Issue #1008/1 – IPEX 2010 at the NEC exhibition centre in Birmingham, UK, was the scene for the first showing of several new high-speed continuous feed web production print units – utilising inkjet technology – and pointing the way towards the future of production printing. Could this development ultimately influence the office printing market?

Issue #1007/1 – Reports are emerging of an academic study, involving both Microsoft and the Institute of Directors in the UK, suggesting that remote working will/should expand dramatically and that companies should reduce their office space in favour of either home working or renting space for employees in shared bureau facilities – or both. This would have major implications on the way IT is delivered and also on the profile of the printer and MFP market. This article considers some of the conditions, benefits and downsides relating to the demise of the office as we know it, together with consequences for printer and MFP manufacturers.

Issue #1004/2 – While on the subject of delivery, a couple of packages received recently emphasised one aspect of the product cycle and environmental argument that I suspect is not considered to be as important in certain circles as it should be. With a 16x volume difference for shipping identical products, we analyse the packaging a little further.

Issue #0937/1 – During a round table session at a recent industry briefing, a guest presenter made that – oh, so classic – comment, “I just want to print”. Although there are many, many different aspects to this simple statement, it often seems as if it just isn’t going to be like that.

Issue 0927/2 – In an intriguing retaliation, Green Project Inc., a Californian-based ink and toner cartridge recycler, recently issued a countersuit against Epson America Inc. and Seiko Epson Corp., alleging “trade secret misappropriation and trespass” while denying Epson’s allegation against Green Project of patent infringement.

Issue #0924/1 – As Xerox’s revolutionary, yes revolutionary, solid inkjet A3 MFP arrives in Europe, Xerox is keen to get the message across that the ColorQube 9200 series will save customers money, save the environment and be good business for its channel. We take a look at why it is revolutionary and why it is set to invade organisations that have never previously embraced Xerox hardware.

Issue #0920/1 – Not only was Brother the first (and only to date) printer manufacturer to bring us an A3 inkjet multifunction device but now we have the long-awaited duplex printing version in the form of an A3 MFP with print, copy, scan and fax functionality. Sadly, duplex printing is at A4 only in this first iteration of the product but the MFC-6890CDW again places a Brother model firmly at the top of the functionality pile, alongside its 6-function MFC-990CW office communications hub, with a very attractive Total Cost of Printing.