Recycling Times Magazine
RecyclingTimes The magazine by the industry, for the industry.
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editorial editorial
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David Gibbons +86 (0)756 3919261 Sabrina Lo +86 (0)756 3919266
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Address
Recently, several product pricings from the OEMs have shocked me, and I believe it is the high time for us to consider the OEMs’ motivations behind these moves. Entering July, Brother has conducted new product release tour in several major cities in China, promoting their “Delightful Saving” (literal translation) series of printers and consumables. However, the “wow-effect” of these product releases is coming from the release of theTN2015 toner cartridge with a printing capacity of 700 pages, at a wholesale price of CNY 100 (about USD 15.51) and a retail price of CNY 119 (about USD 18.46). Epson seems to be heading to the same direction as well. On Jul 18, Epson has released the lowest price monochrome inkjet cartridge ever, the T1731, at a price of only CNY 29 (about USD 4.50) with a capacity of 130 pages. At the same time, Epson has also lowered the prices for their printers of ME33 and ME35/350 as well, among which the ME33 has dropped from CNY 410 (about USD 63.62) to CNY 350 (about USD 54.31) Statistics showed the market shares of HP, Canon and Samsung have recorded stable and relatively fast growth since the Q3 of 2009 (the shipment of HP actually decreased year-over-year in the Q3 of 2009), while Epson and Brother both have showed weak performances and declines of market shares globally. It is possible that Epson’s move is trying to trigger a change in the home printing segment in order to solidify its position. Brother and Epson have chosen to launch low price campaigns almost simultaneously. We have no idea whether these are planned joint moves or mere coincidence. However, these low-priced supplies have not only breached the original bottom prices of the OEM consumables, but also broken the expected prices for OEM products of consumers. I believe the really threat to our industry is not the breach of bottom prices by vendors individually, but the triggering of a change for all OEM’s marketing strategies. The OEMs have used low-price strategy in the sales of printer in order to popularize the ownership of printer, and then, to regain their profits by selling high-priced consumables. No doubt, this strategy is one of the key factors that had facilitated the popularization of printers in a short period of time. However, the OEMs may not have expected at that time, that there will be so many general consumables manufacturers competing with them in the same arena. Since 2001, Epson has started to use intellectual property rights to protect their interests, and the legal actions have come to a peak in 2006 and 2007, but through all these years, the performance of Epson in the printer market have been below the expectation. Now that Epson and Brother seem to use the same old low price strategy to fight back, we can not stop wondering whether this strategy will be recognized by the market and trigger a change of strategy of all OEMs. If yes, the general consumables manufacturers could face a dilemma generated by the high costs of product R&D and the squeezing profits. We really need to think the future of our industry.
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Tony Lee Publisher & Managing Director All rights reserved. © 2011 by Recycling Times Media Corporation. The contents are not be to copied or republished without official written consent. The editorial content does not represent official positions of Recycling Times Media Corporation.
Recycling Times Magazine
contents contents
U.S. patents: update and impact
www.recyclingtimes.com.cn
Many important developments in U.S. patent law are afoot. The landscape is changing much faster than ever before. A few of the more important changes in recent years are discussed here.
Just a Minute with David Gibbons
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Biotoners: turning challenges into profitable opportunities
Light in the trunnel
Biotoners, a hit topic in the industry, can address the dependency on petroleum as well as the consumer trend in environmental friendly products. The feature article is a commentary on the status and prospects of bio toner by Dr. Bhima Vijayendran, Vice President, Battelle.
Money From Home
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Money from home
World peripherals market data update
Industry Updates
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MIIT closes down 599 backward paper manufacturers
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Ministry of Finance PRC renews governmental procurement
According to customized report from Martin Hingley, ITCandor, the world peripherals market has recorded revenues of USD 168 billion in 2010, growth 6% and set to peak at USD 193 billion in 2014.
GRIGA video: three, two, one, action!
policies Recycling Times travels to Japan for promotion
OEM News
Jeffery Kwasny elected board chairman of ISC anticounterfeiting group
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Future Graphics changes office location Chinamate expands capacity Sense Labs new technology enables cartridge regional code changes
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45% of EU citizens would buy second-hand electronic equipment Indian printers market will be prospective
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in Las Vegas Print Audit establishes new office in Germany Australian Federal Court finds Tonnex infringed copyright
Product Release
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Cobol releases new ribbon and printer toners New toners from Goat Labs
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Hi & Bestech releases new chip products ILG announces MPS certified branded jumbo products
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InteliCoat Technologies enters the top coat market
OEM News
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Brother launches low price office printers and supplies Epson releases CNY 29 extreme low price ink cartridge Trading in old MFPs for new Fuji Xerox ones
Kodak expands mobile photo printing with Android app Ricoh joins Managed Print Services Association Lady Gaga promotes Polaroid’s new instant photo printer Kyocera Mita releases new printer ink devices
Features
Protests against EU’s import tariffs for electronic hardware US Micro builds new recycling and remanufacturing center
Epson targets 50% of the ink-based revenue in India Fuji Xerox shifts focus from printer sales to printing services Konica Minolta introduces new large format MFP HP targets bigger channel deals via iQuote
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U.S. patents: update and impact Biotoners: turning challenges into profitable opportunities Memjet’s new developments in 2011 Pantum: It’s show time
Profiles
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Talking chips
Market Data
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World peripherals market update IDC: China’s overall printing consumables market will grow 11.2% in 2011
Tech Zone
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Remanufacturing the Samsung ML-2525 toner cartridge
www.recyclingtimes.com.cn | August 2011
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Recycling Times Magazine
Just a Minute with David Gibbons
Light in the tunnel There has been a lot of talk in recent times about the demise of hard copy printing. Daily newspaper and monthly magazine circulations have decreased, with some publications ceasing after decades of service to their readers. We have seen bookstores like Borders struggling to remain afloat, some say due to the declining demand for hard copy books. Smart phones and tablets appear to have taken over a significant market share, surprising even their keenest of supporters. I just read an article by Brian Pereira in Information Week which confirms all this. He says that HP’s Imaging and Printing Group (IPG) has been keeping an eye on all of this: 1. There is a content explosion and digital content is growing 10-fold every year; 2. Mobile devices are becoming the preferred devices for accessing the web; 3. More than 200 billion photos, newspapers, magazines and documents are moving from analog to digital every year. But then he makes statements that I have not heard before: The IPG
predict that by 2013, 26 billion pages will be printed from mobile devices, and 85% of smart phone users will want their devices to print. They are also predicting that the opportunity for managed printing services will grow from $18 billion in 2010 to $25 billion by 2013. Retailing publishing services will soar from $5 billion in 2010 to $12 billion by 2013. This means there is an increasing demand for people wanting to print hard copy! So what are HP doing about it? Making sure their printers are connect to the internet. Vyomesh Joshi, executive vice president of HP IPG, said, "We decided that above a certain price point, every printer will be connected to the Web. It will be cloud-aware, and it will have an email address. So if I take a picture on my smart phone, I can send the picture to the email address of that printer, it goes to the cloud and gets printed." Now that sounds exciting!
David Gibbons is a director of Recycling Times. He has been a school principal, businessman, marketer, communicator, TV presenter/host and a remanufacturer. For many years he was the executive officer of the Australasian Cartridge Remanufacturers' Association (ACRA).
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Recycling Times Magazine
Money From Home
Money from home Growing up in New York City, I was fascinated by the short stories penned by fabled author, Damon Runyon (1880– 1946). Runyon wrote in his unique Broadway slang about the guys and dolls, the gangs and gamblers, and the nefarious activities that ravaged Manhattan in the 1930s and ‘40s. One of his favorite expressions was It’s like money from home. What that means is the best kind of money one could receive. It comes free and from the best source; it is given with love and has no strings attached; there is no payback necessary and no interest due. I dedicate this column to providing the most valuable industry data, observations, opinions, and forecasts to our readers, at no cost, with no interest and no payback expected. For me, writing is a labor of love and I trust these commentaries will accrue and be accepted as valuable input to your business operations and future planning. I begin in that same venerable spirit viewing good counsel on a par with money from home. That’s the plan and I’ll use my best efforts to carry it out.
Arthur S. Diamond Art Diamond is a 56-year veteran of the
Let’s start with one of the hottest topics in the cartridge remanufacturing industry: color printing. Of course, we all recognize that the price wars involving monochrome (black) toners have slimmed down profit margins to a point where the value proposition is almost gone for independent toner producers. This scenario has been playing out for several years with no apparent solution. To exacerbate the problem, a noticeable decline in hard copy print volume became manifest when the economy tanked in 2008. As a cost saving measure, office workers began making fewer prints. They also saved reams of imaging papers by duplexing those memos and documents destined to be read or used internally. One promising solution for aftermarket suppliers to offset lost revenue is to take on color toner sales while developing enough color imaging expertise to properly assist their customers. Two recent developments now support this strategy: First, the availability of chemical color toners (CCTs) from reliable sources; and second, instructional videos and webinars to train dealers, distributors and service agencies on the complexity of full, process color imaging. Although they vary in processing methods CCTs are now available from toner producers that include: DPI Solutions,
imaging industry. He is President of Diamond Research Corporation, a high technology research and consulting firm he formed in 1968 after research assignments with Eastman Kodak, Times Facsimile, Addressograph-Multigraph and Telautograph Corporation. DRC serves clients through product formulation and development, private studies, strategic market planning, and expert witness testimony. Diamond is known internationally as an expert on dry toners and imaging media with 15 issued U.S. patents.
IMEX, Mitsubishi Kagaku Imaging Corp., NAND and others. With two of our industry’s largest suppliers of consumables and cartridge parts—Static Control Components and Uninet— offering color print training, technical support and backup for the color toners they offer, expanding your business operation into the world of color is not the risky undertaking it was just a few years ago. Of course, biotoner is another solution that promises to build market share for toner cartridge remanufacturers. But, that’s a different story. You’ll find it in next month’s column. www.recyclingtimes.com.cn | August 2011
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Industry Updates
MIIT closes down 599 backward paper manufacturers
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hina’s Ministr y of Industr y and I n f o r m a t i o n Te c h n o l o g y, P R C (MIIT ) says it will close down poorly run companies in 18 target industries, involving 2,255 companies altogether. Among the organizations listed in the
project are 599 paper manufacturers all over the country, with a total production capacity of about 8,196 thousand tons. Companies have been placed on the list because they are small, inefficient, badly run or are environmentally irresponsible. The
MIIT said that all provincial and municipal gover nments have received this list of unproductive companies and will carry out the closures accordingly. All companies are scheduled to closedown before the end of 2011.
GRIGA video: three, two, one, action!
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fter nearly ten months of preparation, a remanufacturing industr y promotional video aimed at consumers, started production on July 8, 2011. An initiative of the first Global Remanufacturing Industr y General Assembly (GRIGA), the video is tr ying to improve consumers’ all around understanding of the quality, environmental friendliness, safety and cost-effectiveness of desktop printer consumables. It is expected that the video will increase the influence and competitiveness of the general consumables, while reducing misleading information generated by negative propaganda campaigns by the OEMs. GRIGA invited the leaders of consumables associations and publishers of industr y magazines from all over the world to inform each other of issues and trends in their respective countries or regions. GRIGA also gave an opportunity to share public promotion of green consumables and recycling. The second session of GRIGA is scheduled for October 12, 2011. By mid July, the production team visited three consumables enterprises in Zhuhai, China for filming. Mito Color Imaging Co., Ltd, Zhuhai Kolion Technology Co., Ltd and Apex Microelectronics Co. Ltd. were the first to agree to sponsor the video project. Jack Wang, the General Manager of Kolion Tech, said, ‘This video deals with key issues in our industry. By helping the consumers
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to form an objective view, the video can greatly improve the development of our industr y and I hope our voices will be heard far and wide.’ Jason Hung, the Deputy General Manager of Apex, said, ‘The filming of this video, organized by Recycling Times, surely bears significance, since this is in accordance with the decision made at GRIGA and it will let consumers know more about our industry and products. I hope this video will enhance consumers’ confidence to choose recycled consumables and facilitate the development of our industry.’ David Gibbons, director of Recycling Times Media, says, ‘The initiative which came out of the GRIGA for um was to produce a video which would be seen by consumers. It’s important to let users of desktop printers know they have a choice when it comes to using consumables. The choice to use remanufactured cartridges will save them money and also be good for the environment, without compromising the quality they expect. The original equipment manufacturers have r un a scare campaign with consumers saying remanufactured cartridges will produce low quality prints, or lower yields from the cartridge, or may cause damage to the printer. It is time consumers were told the truth! Remanufactured cartridges are fighting for market share. The GRIGA video will play an important role in informing consumers about their choices’.
▲ Jack Wang, the General Manager of Kolion Tech
▲ Mary Ouyang, the General Manager of Mito Tech
▲ Jason Hung, the Deputy General Manager of Apex
The video is expected to be released in August through platforms like Youtube and Facebook, as well as the official GRIGA website and those of sponsors and the Recycling Times. It is expected that remanufacturers around the world will also host the video on their website.
Recycling Times Magazine
Industry Updates
Ministry of Finance PRC renews governmental procurement policies
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n June 23, 2011, the Ministry of Finance of People’s Republic of China updated its governmental procurement policy, abolishing several policies that favor local independent innovations. Governmental procurement is a big cake for all industries, and the old governmental procurement policies gave priority to innovative products or services from domestic enterprises, in order to encourage independent innovation in China. According to sources, the abolishing of these favorable policies has come as a result of enormous pressure from Europe and the US, where these policies are considered to be protectionism against multinational enterprises.
In 2010, when the Ministry of Science and Technology issued its Call for Comments on State Independent Innovation Products Affirmation (Draft for Comment), the United States-China Business Council (USCBC) expressed concerns which included the listing of products and services in a favorable list and categories that may lead to discriminative policy executions. The USCBC suggested China should abandon the policy of facilitating innovation through governmental procurement or favorable product lists and should instead achieve the same goals by attracting international technological innovators to China and encouraging the investment in Chinese R&D centers. In March this year, during the second innovation
dialogue meeting, the US continued to express concerns about China’s independent innovation and governmental procurement policies. And this April, the European Union Chamber of Commerce published the first research report on public procurement in China, which listed the problems and difficulties European enterprises had experienced in the public procurement tendering processes and appealed for a reform in the public procurement system. Consequently, the favorable governmental procurement polices for local independent innovations are abolished, in order to create a fair competition environment for all enterprises at home and abroad.
Recycling Times travels to Japan for promotion
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he Recycling Times has attended the 22nd edition of the International Stationery & Office Products (ISOT) show in Tokyo, Japan, for promotion. This edition of ISOT was held from July 6 to 8, together with OFMEX2011, Office Furniture Japan and Promotional Goods Expo. According to statistics, the three-day ISOT has attracted a total of 41,866 visitors, while the exhibitors are mainly stationery, paper products and printing consumables enterprises. During the exhibition, Recycling Times vigorously promoted the CIFEX|RemaxAsia Expo 2011 to all the
visitors and exhibitors. Some of the visitors expressed an interest in visiting the RemaxAsia Expo. Masao Yamazaki, the Managing Director of Eiwa Marketing Co., Ltd from Malaysia, said ’RemaxAsia Expo is the largest printing consumables expo in the world and I would like to visit the expo this year. The free accommodation provided by the organizer is also very attractive since it can save our costs.’ Tommy Nakajima, the President of Tommy & Co. from Japan, said, ‘I will visit the RemaxAsia Expo and the Canton Fair together’. He also hoped that the Recycling Times can provide more detail information of the
RemaxAsia Expo through various channels. It is predicted that the total number of visitors to RemaxAsia 2011 will reach 10,000, with a lot of first-time visitors as well. Recycling Times will attend the World Expo in US as well.
Jeffery Kwasny elected board chairman of ISC anti-counterfeiting group
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fter the annual meeting held on June 21, the Imaging Supplies Coalition for International Intellectual Property Protection announced that Jeffery Kwasny, anticounterfeiting manager at HP, has been elected the chair of the board, replacing Andrew Gardner, worldwide brand protection manager at Lexmark. Meanwhile Albert Gallina, the VP of Xerox’s brand protection group has been elected vice chair. Andrew Gardner will still serve the organization as the treasurer, replacing Sharon Kreps of Epson. John McIntyre, sustainability
manager at Samsung Electronics America replaced the former secretary, Kathy Tarsiewicz of Okidata. ISC President Allen Westerfield commented: ‘The members and board of directors want to thank Andrew and Lexmark and the other outgoing officers for their proactive involvement and support of the ISC. Our new Chairman, Jeff Kwasny, brings a wealth of industry knowledge and experience to the chair and with his leadership we look forward to expanding our efforts to prevent counterfeiting and fraud in the imaging supplies industry. Each of these officers has a depth of experience in the
imaging supplies industry and they are leaders in their companies’ efforts to protect their brand and their customers from illegal activity. The ISC and the imaging supplies industry as a whole will benefit from their service.’ In order to fight the serious counterfeit supplies activities that affect OEMs and aftermarket enterprises worldwide, the ISC anti-counterfeiting group gathered the experience and resources of nine leading OEMs, namely Brother, Canon, Epson, HP, Lexmark, OKI, Samsung, Toshiba and Xerox. www.recyclingtimes.com.cn | August 2011
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Recycling Times Magazine
Industry Updates
Future Graphics changes office location
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uture Graphics has announced the opening of a new office in Zhuhai, a strategically-located city that is widely seen as the global center for aftermarket imaging manufacturing. The new office represents a more than 30 per cent increase in space over the previous building. The expansion of Future Graphics facilities is in-keeping with the commitment to serve remanufacturers throughout China and the
growing Southeast Asian region. Dick Yu, FG's representative in China said, ‘The expanded, more modern unit is necessary to accommodate our growth, which will include more lab space for local testing. There will also be additional hiring to serve the market.’ Future Graphics is the global leader in aftermarket imaging supplies, who combines the market knowledge of the world's leading
value-added distributor, and the technical expertise of the largest manufacturer of toner and OPCs for the imaging aftermarket. Future Graphics enjoys the resources which enable it to deliver first-to-market matched systems to remanufacturers around the globe. FG is also the source of MK Imaging brand OPCs and toner, and Kaleidochrome brand color toner and OPCs as well as BioBlack brand toner.
Chinamate expands capacity
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huhai-based Chinamate Technology Co., Ltd (Chinamate) moved to its new location in Xiangzhou Science & Technology Industry Zone on July 15. The new plant has been built to improve its production capacity. After a short opening ceremony at 10am, Chinamate moved into its new plant. A spokesperson commented, ‘Our growth over the last 12 months has greatly improved our strength and we are receiving larger and larger orders. Our old plant had a monthly capacity of about 100 thousand toner cartridges, which already cannot satisfy our clients’ demands. Our new plant covers about 8,000 m2, giving
us more than triple the production capacity we had before. This will give us a better infrastructure to serve our clients.’ ‘Chinamate will keep up with the pace of advancing printing technologies by the continuous innovation and improvement of our products. We try to provide the best new products to all of our current and potential clients and build long lasting, enjoyable, honest and mutually beneficial relationships with them.’ Chinamate has changed its address to Block B, No.25, Technology Industrial Park,
Xiangzhou District, Zhuhai. Tel: +86 756 2532 592 Fax: +86 756 2532 681 Email: sales@cmchinamate.com, or Website: www.cmchinamate.com; www. chinamate.hk
Sense Labs new technology enables cartridge regional code changes
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ense Labs, an Italian company, has filed a new patent request concerning adaptors to change the regional code on cartridges. The adaptor is as thin as 0.1mm, and can be applied easily since it does not have to be soldered to printer cartridges. These adaptors should be good news for remanufacturers since allow them to access a much larger market for remanufactured empties and products. Established in 2009, Sense Labs has been
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developing the new technology for years. Nicolas Simonin, CEO of Sense Labs, is pleased with the final outcome of their investment. Their economic and easy solution subject to an application for patent in the Italian patent office, and the company is looking to patent the technology elsewhere. Simonin said, ‘This solution allows for some models, to be converted into an empty cartridge of a model. The regenerator can buy whatever is cheaper and convert to the preferred cartridge. In some
cases this technology can also avoid the issue of regionalization of the empties. It allows, for example, the conversion of the empty of a model intended for the American market only to a model that can work in Europe or Asia’. Currently the regionalized cartridge chipset will prevent a cartridge from one region from being used in a printer from a different region, which makes it more difficult for remanufacturers to source empties.
Recycling Times Magazine
Industry Updates
45% of EU citizens would buy second-hand electronic equipment
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ccording to a European Commission analytical report, almost half of Europeans are willing to buy second-hand electronic equipment. The study of the attitudes of Europeans towards resource efficiency, published in March 2011, says 45% of European Union (EU) citizens claim quality and usability exist in second-hand electronic equipment. Among the respondents of the 27 EU countries in the survey, a slim majority of people from Sweden (55%), Slovenia (55%), Spain (53%) and Demark (52%) said they are willing to purchase second-hand electronic equipment, while people from Slovakia (24%), Malta (27%), Romania (28%) and Czech Republic (29%) were
among the least likely to do so. From a Sociodemographic perspective, non-working EU citizens over 54 yearsold with low education levels are least likely to buy any second-hand products, while younger respondents and full-time students are among the most likely. The survey also shows that men (49%) are more willing to buy second-hand electronic equipment than women (41%). The survey also shows that quality and usability
(58%) is the top reason preventing respondents from buying second-hand products, followed by health and safety concerns (50%). It is worth mentioning that the appearance of products is more important for young people aged from 15 to 24 (32%) in determining whether to turn their back on second-hand products.
Indian printers market will be prospective
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n a recent interview, John Solomon, Senior Vice-President of HP’s Imaging and Printing Group, Asia Pacific and Japan, commented that HP is seeing a growth of the printer market in India that is even outgrowing that of many other regions. As for overall growth opportunities, there is a lot of recognition for intellectual capital in terms of how it can contribute to the overall growth of the economy. But the opportunity
for Indians or abroad is also very attractive. HP will invest more into technical innovation in India which will be carried out at its Bangalore R&D centre. The Indian R&D centre has previously been involved in key technological innovations, including the development of the ePrint centre and cloud services. It has also worked on software layers that are a part of the company's Managed Print Services offering.
Soloman’s optimistic comments are based on multiple drivers in India which include the low printer-to-PC ratio, explosive growth in content creation (from 40,000 petabytes to 2.3 million petabytes between 2010 and 2020), the rise in mobility and web usage in India, and analogue-to-digital transformation. India is a paper-based society at present and a large portion of printing is skewed in favor of analogue or offset printing.
Protests against EU’s import tariffs for electronic hardware
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t appears the US, Japan and Chinese Taiwan have appealed to the World Trade Organization ( WTO), claiming that the European Union (EU) has not acted in accordance with the WTO’s demand to reduce the import tariffs on some of the electronic hardware, including Multi Function Printers (MFPs). Some sources have detailed that the US, Japan and Chinese Taiwan appealed the claim against
EU three years ago, targeting EU’s import tariffs on LCDs, TV set top boxes and MFPs that violated world’s Information Technology Agreement. US trade officers’ revealed data showing that the import volume of these three categories of products was USD 7 billion in 2009. WTO supported the appeal in Aug 2010 and has demanded that the EU cancel the import tariffs on these products before Jun 30, 2011. On Jul 20, the EU responded by cancelling
the tariffs accordingly. However, the US, Japan and Chinese Taiwan have protested that the amended rules for import tariffs are ambiguous and may not be applied uniformly among the EU’s 27 member countries. According to the WTO regulations, after a 15 day consultation period, the US, Japan and Chinese Taiwan can appeal for a countermeasure against the EU’s non-cooperative behavior. (Source: Tencent Finance) www.recyclingtimes.com.cn | August 2011
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Recycling Times Magazine
Industry Updates
US Micro builds new recycling and remanufacturing center in Las Vegas
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S Micro Corporation is building its new recycling and remanufacturing center for IT equipment in Las Vegas, Nevada (US). With USD 15 million invested and covering an area of 130 thousand square feet, the facility is expected to be put into operation this October. US Micro’s new facility will use the latest technology to recycle and remanufacture waste from
the IT industry, including printer and copier related waste, and can even turn items that cannot be remanufactured into resources for construction and finished products. Jim Kegley, Founder and President of US Micro, commented: ‘In addition to being the security company with the best safety record for disposing of IT equipment and protecting data, US Micro
is absolutely committed to safeguarding the environment. As technology continues to progress, huge numbers of assets need to be retired regularly and responsibly. Our Las Vegas facility provides the infrastructure necessary to support a more sustainable IT asset lifecycle, guaranteeing that components of retired equipment will be recycled according to EPA guidelines – and never buried in a landfill.’
Print Audit establishes new office in Germany
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rint Audit has established a new office, the Print Audit Deutschland, in Korschenbroich, Germany, led by Dr Hans-Werner Stottmeister, managing director and CEO. The nascent MPS market in Germany has provided good opportunities for Print Audit’s new expansion. Meanwhile, a rich experience of over 20 years in the MPS industry and strong
relationships with OEMs such as Toshiba, Ricoh and Canon from Dr Stottmeister, will also provide the new office with great momentum. Stottmeister said, ‘German office equipment dealers have been waiting for something like Print Audit for years and I am very happy to be offering it to our customers via a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model. Print Audit has the most advanced user and device management tools in the market
today and has a solid reputation throughout the print industry. In Germany, MPS is a new notion that is growing rapidly and I want Print Audit to be leading the print market by helping companies understand and manage their printing environments’. In addition to the new Print Audit Deutschland, Print Audit’s office network also covers Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, South Africa and the UK.
Australian Federal Court finds Tonnex infringed copyright
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ynamic Supplies Pty Limited, who had created a compatibility chart for printer consumables, filed a copyright infringement against Tonnex International Pty Limited who had come up with a similar compatibility chart. On April 13 the Federal Court of Australia handed down its decision on this lawsuit and held that Tonnex had infringed Dynamic Supplies’ copyright. The court also largely upheld that the Tonnex had made a number of misleading and deceptive statements by claiming that its products were ‘100% genuine OEM’ and that it ‘sells genuine Australian products’, etc. Dynamic Supplies claim that the originality of its compatibility chart was comprised in the layout and format of information, the arrangement and order of information and the description of the products. Justice Yates supported this claim by affirming
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that Mr. Campbell, the author of the compatibility chart, had used intellectual effort, skill and judgment in compiling the chart and it is not right to regard the chart as merely an arrangement of information with no originality. Tonnex’s own compatibility chart contained a number of idiosyncrasies in the presentation of information which originated from Dynamic Supplies’ compatibility chart and Justice Yates commented that it was inconceivable that the same idiosyncrasies could find their way into both charts by pure chance. Dynamic Supplies also submitted that Tonnex made misleading and deceptive statements. Justice Yates concluded that Tonnex could not be absolutely certain that its products were genuine, since some of Tonnex’s wholesalers were not authorized distributors of OEM products, let alone the fact that Tonnex did not have a system in place for systemically checking for the presence
of counterfeit products. Justice Yates also questioned the Tonnex claim that it sells ‘genuine Australian products’. Although Tonnex had issued a correction to make clear that the products were not manufactured in Australia, Justice Yates found this statement to be misleading and deceptive as well, since a substantial number of Tonnex’s customers were likely to understand the statement as referring to products made in Australia.
Recycling Times Magazine
Product Release
Cobol releases new ribbon and printer toners
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o b o l ( Fo s h a n S h u n d e C o b o l Industries Co., Ltd) recently released a new ribbon p r o d u c t , f o r t h e Fu j i t s u D P K 8 5 0 . T h e new ribbon product can print up to 3.2 million characters, with a specification of 12.7mmĂ—16m, black color. In addition, Cobol also released two new printer toner products, the FA76E/83E toner and the FA85E/90E/94E toner, which are manufactured from imported high quality
toners, with stable performance. T h e FA 7 6 E / 8 3 E toner has a filling amount of 80g and is compatible with Panasonic FL503/513/553/751/753/755/756, etc, while the FA85E/90E /94E to ner has a filli ng amount of 100g and is compatible with Panasonic FL313/318/803/811/812/813, etc.
Contact Cobol
Website: www.chinacobol.com Email: sdcobol@chinacobol.com Tel: 6-757-26627622 or 26628767
New toners from Goat Labs
G
oat Labs has released a new high grade plastic toner for Lexmark T630 series monochrome printers, which will performance even better with Goat Labs’ Sirius OPC Drum. The toner and OPC Drum have passed several tests and proved their outstanding performance. Technicians measured a BID of 1.4 and an average backgrounding of 0.05. Although Lexmark T630 series monochrome printers have been on the market for quite a
while, there is a need to remanufacture T630 series cartridges. Replacement cartridges 12A7360 and 12A7362 yield respectively 5,000 and 21,000 pages. At the same time, Goat Labs is also introducing ProBlack toner and key components for the Samsung ML-1665/1865 monochrome series of printers with the aim of offering a solid solution for toner cartridge remanufacturing companies. Goat Labs measured a BID of 1.49, backgrounding of 0.06 and a yield which exceeds
the OEM equivalent by 40%. The Ml-1865 series prints with a 1200x1200 dpi resolution at 18ppm in A4, with a maximum monthly duty cycle of 5,000 pages. New models are supplied with a 700 page starter toner cartridge at 5% coverage. Contact Goat Labs
Tel: 31(0)24 388 22 33 Email: m.van.hemert@goat-labs.com Website: www.goat-labs.com
Following are components for the engine from Goat Labs: Goat code
Description
Unit/pack
100103
OPC drum, Sirius, Lexmark Optra S/T/T520/620/630
5
200090
Toner, Polyester, Lexmark T630,585g/bottle
10
400117
Chip, Universal, Lexmark T630/632/634/IBM IP 1332/ 1352/ 1372/ Dell M5200N,21K yield
1
600014
Shipping lock, Universal, Lexmark Optra S/T/T520/T620/T630
10
59RB10
Recovery blade, Lexmark OPTRA S/T/T520 /620/630/640/642/644
100
Goat Labs offers the following components for Samsung ML-1665/1865 series: Goat code
Description
Unit/pack
100103
OPC drum, Sirius, Lexmark Optra S/T/T520/620/630
5
200090
Toner, Polyester, Lexmark T630,585g/bottle
10
400117
Chip, Universal, Lexmark T630/632/634/IBM IP 1332/ 1352/ 1372/ Dell M5200N,21K yield
1
600014
Shipping lock, Universal, Lexmark Optra S/T/T520/T620/T630
10
59RB10
Recovery blade, Lexmark Optra S/T/T520 /620/630 /640/642/644
100
www.recyclingtimes.com.cn | August 2011
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Recycling Times Magazine
Product Release
Hi & Bestech releases new chip products
T
his July, Hi & Bestech Company will release its new chip product lines covering products from various vendors, including Fuji Xerox, Minolta, Develop
Minolta Magicolor
Minolta bizhub
Minolta bizhub
Olivetti
ineo, Epson, Oce, OKI, Olivetti. Part of the list is given below:
Model
Color
Yield
Region
Cartridge Model
1600/1650/1680/1690
C/M/Y/K
2.5K
China
0HD/0CD/06D/01D
1600/1650/1680/1690
C/M/Y/K
2.5K
Australia, South east
0HK/0CK/06K/01K
1600/1650/1680/1690
C/M/Y/K
2.5K
EUR
0HH/0CH/06H/01H
1600/1650/1680/1690
C/M/Y/K
2.5K
USA, Chinese Taiwan
0HH/0CH/06H/01H
C200/ 203/ 253/ 353, 8650, (Develop +200/ 203/ 253/ 353)
C/M/Y/K
C20/20P/20PX/20X
C/M/Y/K
8K
EUR/ USA
(Toner chip)
C35
C/M/Y/K
6K
EUR/ USA
(Toner chip)
C35
C/M/Y/K
30K
EUR/ USA
(Imaging chip)
+203/253
K
24.5K
A0D71D2000
+203/253
C/M/Y
75K
A0DE-1HH/ A0DE-1CH/ A0DE-16H
+203/253
K
100K
A0DE-12H
d-Color MF201+,MF250
C/M/Y
19
(Toner chip)
d-Color MF201+,MF250
K
24.5K
(Toner chip)
d-Color MF201+,MF250
C/M/Y
75K
(Imaging chip)
d-Color MF201+,MF250
K
100K
(Imaging chip)
(Toner chip)/ (Image Unit chip)
ILG announces MPS certified branded jumbo products
I
LG (International Laser Group) has announced the ILG MPS certified branded logo for its comprehensive line of Jumbo products. The logos will be used to identify ILG’s exclusive HP Jumbo Color line as well as Jumbo monochrome product lines that have passed extra levels of quality assurance from ILG’s Research and Development team. MPS certified brand products are developed and designed to provide the highest quality optimized print performance in MPS print environments. The certified cartridges must pass numerous quality tests developed in
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August 2011 | www.recyclingtimes.com.cn
house by ILG. These supplies offer low cost-per-print (CPP) document solutions to Managed Print Service (MPS) providers. The HP Jumbo Color line is able to deliver on average 25% to 30% higher page yields, with Jumbo monochrome offering 25% and up to 100% higher page yields on some cartridges. Both monochrome and color offer high quality print performance and satisfaction rates. They reduce MPS per-page costs substantially, especially when factoring in time savings. The MPS certification adds extra assurance. ILG is the only company in the world to
incorporate the Smart Color System, a technical advancement and engineering for color laser cartridges. Joe Shulman, Senior V.P. of client relations, said, ‘ We are truly unique and proud to offer MPS certified products of Jumbo toners and Jumbo color toners. MPS providers, resellers, and dealers can benefit from our quality assured, competitively priced MPS certified products. We offer full range of next day deliver y and drop shipment to our clients. We are here to provide the solutions to our resellers and MPS service providers’.
CIFEX | RemaxAsia 13-15 Oct 2011
Zhuhai China
Why you can't miss CIFEX|RemaxAsia Expo 2011 huhai China
www.visitremax.com.cn
The largest event for the printer supplies industry CIFEX|RemaxAsia Expo is the biggest and most effective trade show for the printer consumables industry. As such it is the year's most important event and can't be missed.
The largest event for the printer supplies industry CIFEX|RemaxAsia Expo is the largest event for the printer supplies industry. It's estimated that over 400 companies will exhibit at the 2011 show and more than 10,000 visitors from all over the world will also gather there. Visiting the largest show in the world is always going to make your trip to China more worthwhile.
The right place CIFEX|RemaxAsia Expo is a great show, held in Zhuhai, the World Capital of Printer Consumables. In one hour, you can reach any of the 300-plus factories in Zhuhai; and in 2.5 hours, you can reach more than 600 factories in the Pear River Delta. You can take tours to local factories for more secure business deals.
CIFEX|RemaxAsia Expo October 13-15 Zhuhai China www.visitremax.com.cn
The right time The next CIFEX|RemaxAsia Expo date – October 13-15, 2011 – has been chosen for the convenience of visitors from home and abroad. The China Sourcing Fair operates
October 13-16
Canton Fair
HK Convention and Exhibition
Canton Fair on October 15-19. You can save time and cost by visiting all the shows and
October 15-19(Phase 1)
Guangzhou Canton Fair Hall
www.cantonfair.org.cn
between October 12-15, the Hong Kong Electronics Fair on October 13-16 and the
October 12-15
CIFEX|RemaxAsia Expo 2011 in the same week!
The best opportunity to learn about the industry On October 12, the second Global Remanufacturing Industry General Assembly (GRIGA) will again be hosted in Zhuhai, following the roaring success of its first edition. Representatives from regional and international associations for the industry, publishers and industry elites from China, Europe, India, Japan, Russia and USA presented at this charter event of GRIGA in 2010. Right now, GRIGA offers the best opportunity for you to learn about the industry trends and developments.
For more information, please visit www.visitremax.com.cn, or contact: Joy Ho Tel: +86 756 3959281 Fax: +86 756 3220717 E-mail: mktas@therecycler.com.cn
Recycling Times Magazine
Product Release
InteliCoat Technologies enters the top coat market About InteliCoat Technologies Museo Fine Art, the brand of digital fine art when printed with pigment inks. media from InteliCoat Technologies announced When paired with Museo Enhance clear coat As a world leader in the manufacture of coated its entrance into the top coat market with the solution, both Mueso Artistry canvas and the 12 paper, film, and specialty substrates for digital imaging introduction of Museo Enhance clear coat solution. year-old Magiclée Torino 17M, 17 mil poly/cotton applications, InteliCoat Technologies has earned a A liquid laminate available in matte, satin or gloss canvas, feature improved stretchability, protection reputation for producing innovative products for the wide format printing market, including the awardfinish, Museo Enhance protects water resistant and a 100+ year archival rating. winning Magic brand portfolio of digital imaging canvases from Printer Ink Image Stability media, the Magiclée brand of digital fine art and UV exposure, Canon iPF 8000 Lucia 102+ years specialty media, Museo brand digital fine art media abrasion, marring, Epson Stylus Pro 9800 UltraChrome K3 89 years and the JetSet brand of products for the CAD market. chemicals and HP DesignJet 5000 Pigment 100+ years InteliCoat is dedicated to conducting its business with water. The match Encad Novajet 700 Pigment 100+ years maximum sensitivity to environmental compliance component set of Epson Stylus10,000 Pigment 100+ years and concern as part of the company.s commitment to Museo Enhance ▲ Chart 1 Light fade testing result continually improving its environmental performance with Museo Artistry canvas or Magiclée Torino 17M canvas, ‘Both InteliCoat Technologies and Museo Fine Art at all levels. InteliCoat operates two manufacturing guarantees archivability of the finished product, are well-known for their long histories of delivering facilities in the United States, with sales and marketing not just of the canvas itself, for 100+ years. Museo innovative, high-quality media, so it was logical for operations in Australia, The Netherlands, North and Enhance is also compatible with most water us to take our expertise to the next level with the South America. Worldwide headquarters is in South resistant canvases and micro-porous inkjet receptive addition of a match component set’, said Jennifer Hadley, Massachusetts, USA. InteliCoat is a Sun substrates in the marketplace. Chagnon, Senior Marketing Manager at InteliCoat Capital Partners company. ‘Museo Enhance is a durable, easy to use Technologies. ‘The Museo Enhance product that produces high quality results while introduction of Part Description List/Unit eliminating many of the hassles associated with Museo Enhance 71182 Museo Enhance Matte – Quart $37.28 other canvas coating products’, said David Toczko, a n d A r t i s t r y 71183 Museo Enhance Matte – Gallon $111.67 Master Photographer and Owner of Lone Dakota builds upon our 71184 Museo Enhance Satin – Quart $37.28 Photography. ‘The water-based coating eliminates commitment to 71185 Museo Enhance Satin – Gallon $111.67 the use of solvents, fumes and a difficult disposal greatly strengthen 71186 Museo Enhance Gloss – Quart $34.64 process and, unlike similar products, Enhance the Museo Fine 71187 Museo Enhance Gloss – Gallon $106.31 doesn’t have to be diluted so it requires less coats Art line in both and any leftover product can be simply poured back p e r f o r m a n c e Museo Artistry in to the bottle’. and quality. Part Description List/Unit According to extensive aging tests by the Image T h e s u p e r i o r Museo Artistry 8.5” X 11” 25 Sheet 71199 $34.55 Permanence Institute at Rochester Institute of image stability Box Technology, samples of Museo Artistry matte of Enhance clear Museo Artistry 13” X 19” 25 Sheet 72000 $90.49 canvas and Magiclée Torino 17M canvas protected coat, combined Box with Museo Enhance top coat liquid laminate have with its guaranteed 72001 Museo Artistry 375G 17” X 50’ $149.50 successfully completed light fade testing under cool archivability when 72002 Museo Artistry 375G 24” X 10’ $42.21 fluorescent light, 50K lux. See Chart 1. paired with Museo 72003 Museo Artistry 375G 24” X 50’ $211.04 Museo Artistry Canvas is a 375 gsm matte finish, Artistry or Magiclée 72004 Museo Artistry 375G 36” X 50’ $316.54 pH neutral artist stretch canvas designed for long- Torino 17M canvas, 72005 Museo Artistry 375G 42” X 50’ $370.03 term, fade resistant fine art or photo reproductions will quickly make 72006 Museo Artistry 375G 44” X 50’ $390.26 when imaged with pigment inks. The polyester/ it a top choice for 72007 Museo Artistry 375G 50” X 50’ $440.87 cotton blend canvas has a specifically designed photographers 72008 Museo Artistry 375G 54” X 50’ $476.99 coating that delivers superior color gamut and and fine artists 72009 Museo Artistry 375G 60” X 50’ $527.58 resolution, with the added bonus of water resistance worldwide.’
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August 2011 | www.recyclingtimes.com.cn
Recycling Times Magazine
OEM News
Brother launches low price office printers and supplies
B
rother has launched a new series of office equipment during a product release press conference in Shanghai. The new series focuses on the theme of ‘Delightful Saving’ (literal translation from the Chinese), and features savings both at the time of purchasing the initial equipment, and later on running costs and maintenance. The new series includes two printers: •monochrome laser printer HL-2130 •monochrome MFP DCP-7055. Both have a printing speed of 20ppm. The two printers also feature closed paper trays for 250 pages and straight-through paper paths. The power consumption of the stand-by mode is as low as 0.8 watts, which demonstrates
Brother’s commitment to eco-friendliness and energy conservation. The pricing of the HL-2130 is only CNY 999 (about USD 155), with a 12,000page capacity initial toner cartridge. However, the most eye-catching feature is the astonishing price of the standard toner cartridge at only CNY 119 (about USD 18.46), with a capacity of 700 pages. That will ring alarm bells among third party remanufacturers. Brother also launched its monochrome laser MFP series in Jun, which included DCP-7060D, MFC-7360, MFC-7470D, and MFC-7860DN. The DCP-7060D and MFC-7360 can print at a speed of 24ppm while the MFC-7470D and MFC-7860DN can print at a speed of 26ppm. It is worth noticing that the DCP-7060D, MFC-7470D and MFC-
7860DN also have a duplex printing feature which can produce A4 double-sided output at 5ppm and improve the office efficiency. In terms of consumables, Brother has continuously used the more eco-friendly cartridgedrum separation design. The high yield toner cartridge with a capacity of 12,000 pages can greatly reduce changing times of toner cartridges as well as waste. Apart from the standard toner cartridge with a 1,200 page capacity, there is a high volume cartridge which has a capacity of 2,600 pages. This will help those who have continuous printing tasks. In the hope of encouraging more consumers to use OEM cartridges, Brother has set the price of the standard 1,200 page yield cartridge, the TN2215, at CNY 199 (about USD 30.85).
Epson releases CNY 29 extreme low price ink cartridge
E
pson has released a monochrome ink cartridge for the ME35 and M350 printers – aimed at students – at an astonishing low price of CNY 29 (about USD 4.5). Epson’s ME35 printer is among the lowest priced on the market. Many consumers have chosen compatible cartridges since they are much cheaper than the OEM products, but with such low ink cartridge prices accompanied by an OEM guarantee, the price advantage of compatibles is substantially reduced. Another popular choice for students is to modify the printer with a Continuous
Ink Supply System (CISS). This sometimes damages the printer so comes with certain risk. However, choosing a cheap OEM product will be much less risky. Before Epson’s release, Brother also released new products in Shanghai, featuring a series of low price office printers and supplies. What’s more astonishing is that the toner cartridge with a capacity of 700 pages for these low priced printers is also priced as low as CNY 119 (about USD 18.46). This new wave of low price promotions by the OEMs may indicate a change of marketing strategy,
as well as a stepping-up of fierce competition between them and third party consumables manufacturers.
Trading in old MPFs for new Fuji Xerox ones
F
uji Xerox has announced a new marketing strategy that allows customers to ‘trade in old Multi-Function Printers (MFPs) for new ones’. Consumers who have A3 laser printers or MFPs of any brand, can sell their old ones to Fuji Xerox before September 30 and receive a discount to buy new Fuji Xerox MFP. All participants in this program may also receive an iPod Shuffle, 4G USB Disk, or extra printer cartridges
as well. The marketing program covers a broad line of Fuji Xerox’s products: more than 20 items from 6 different series, including several award-winning products. Some printers are color while others are monochrome. Printers also range in speed from 20ppm to 70ppm. MFPs include the entry level DCII2007\3007 (which works well small and medium businesses), the AP\DC-III C5500\6500\7600 (featuring high productivity and color expression), and the AP\
DC-IV C2270\3370\4470\5570 (the first series of lowcarbon color digital MFP with Fuji Xerox patented SLED technology). According to Fuji Xerox, this program will not only benefit its clients, but also demonstrate corporate social responsibility. Fuji Xerox will use their comprehensive resources recycling system located in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, to process all the old printers or MFPs received through this program. www.recyclingtimes.com.cn | August 2011
15
Recycling Times Magazine
OEM News
Epson targets 50% of the ink-based revenue in India
E
pson has released its new L series of inkjet printers in India. The series features very low costs for both monochrome and color, so Epson is confident about its target of capturing 50% of all the inkbased printer revenue in India. Both models, the L-100 printer and L-200 MFP, use an integrated ink tank instead of traditional ink cartridges. The L-100 has a printing capacity of up to 18,500 pages before needing to be refilled and each ink tank can print up to 3,500 pages in single color and up to 4,500 pages in four colors, which is better than most entry-level laser printers. These printers will be sold through the sales network of 180 Epson partners in India. Since 2010, Epson has been focusing on its inkjet printer business and has conducted campaigns to promote its inkjet over laser. S. M. Ramprasad, Deputy GM, Epson India said the response of those campaigns has been overwhelming, ‘At the end of 2010 our market share in inkjets hovered around 20 per cent, while our net revenue from the segment was 35%. With the launch of the L series, we are expecting our market share to reach 25% this year – and (within another 12 months) we should be able to capture 50 % of all inkjet printer revenue.’
Fuji Xerox shifts focus from printer sales to printing services
F
uji Xerox aims to double its revenue from document outsourcing services by year 2014. The copier and printer maker will shift its business focus from equipment selling to printing services, since they believe the office equipment market has become saturated. Fuji Xerox’s revenue target for document outsourcing services in 2014 is JPY 150 billion (about USD 1.93 billion) , which is almost double their JPY 88 billion (about USD 1.13 billion) revenue in 2010. Last year, the print outsourcing business accounted for 9% of their total revenue, compared with the 24% gained from the sales of office equipment. Masaki Okano, VP of Fuji Xerox, said, ‘Fuji Xerox is trying to shift from hardware to service provider. In that sense, we have very aggressive targets. The market is already saturated. At the same time, service market is growing, double digit growth’. Fuji Xerox is also trying to upgrade the concept of Managed Print Services to its own ‘Enterprise Print Services’ idea which it claims can reduce printing costs by up to 30% and carbon emissions by up to 10%. The new service will feature mobile printing functionality that allows smart phone and tablet PC users to print documents anytime and anywhere. Of course, Fuji Xerox’s target will require additional resources, so they plan to expand staff numbers of their global services team to 150 by March 2012.
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August 2011 | www.recyclingtimes.com.cn
Konica Minolta introduces new large format MFP
R
ecently, Konica Minolta released the KIP 700m, a new large format multifunctional printer offering up to A0-size document scanning, copying and printing in monochrome. It can also be upgraded with advanced color scan, copy and print options. Being affordable and small in size, it targets especially the building and construction industry, the architectural market and government organizations. The KIP 700m offers powerful multifunctional performance in a compact and affordable solution. This new printer achieves precision of imaging, low printing costs and convenient front access, according to Anja Schappert, Product Manager of the Production Printing Group at Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe. With a footprint of less than a square meter, the Konica Minolta KIP 700m offers 600 x 600 dpi resolutions for printing, copying and scanning. It is possible to upgrade the monochrome network printer and copier to a fully featured monochrome printing system. With the KIP 700m’s touchscreen operating panel, documents can also be printed from removable media such as standard USB drives, ensuring document mobility and document security. What’s more, the KIP 700m is equipped with cloud functionality for driverless scanning and printing via email. The system accepts media rolls with two and three-inch cores and up to 36 inches wide. A paper tray for standard sizes from A4 to A2 extends the range of print sizes that can be produced without switching rolls and turns the KIP 700m into a workgroup printer for small formats where required.
HP targets bigger channel deals via iQuote
H
P has kicked off its iQuote system for distributors and resellers in order to deliver regional information, support the channel, decrease quote mistakes and enhance speeds, according to Microscope. The iQuote system has been developed for HP by channelcentral. net to globally provide quotes on servers, storage, networking, software and services. There is also an option to get a price on PCs, printers and supplies and offerings from independent software vendors. In order to allow their sales teams and reseller customers to use the system, distributors will have to become a channelcentral.net subscriber. Chuck Smith, vice president of HP, claims that one of the aims of the iQuote system is it encourages resellers to make larger deals. The centrally-managed platform also improves channel partners' ability to increase margins by attaching options and winning more business.
Recycling Times Magazine
OEM News
Kodak expands mobile photo printing with Android app
A
ndroid OS device owners can now print photos directly to their wireless Kodak all-in-one printer with the free Kodak Pic Flick app, available now in the Android market. The app is compatible with the Kodak ESP 9200, 7200, 5200, C300 series and ESP Office 6100 and 2100 series all-in-one printers.
The app also enables mobile printing of photos from an iPhone, iPod touch, iPad or Blackberry device. In addition, pictures can be sent to wireless Kodak digital picture frames. The app is compatible with any Kodak Pulse or Kodak Easyshare W820 or W1020 digital picture frames. According to Susan Tousi, General Manager,
Inkjet Systems, and Vice President, Eastman Kodak Company, Kodak is committed to making printing easy and more accessible in today’s mobile and connected world as well as continuing to deliver smart printing solutions that provide exceptional ink value and high quality output for the home and home office.
Ricoh joins Managed Print Services Association
M
PS Connect reports that on June 27, 2011, Ricoh Americas Corporation became the first manufacturer to join the Managed Print Services Association (MPSA) at its highest commitment level, the Foundation
Member. Foundation Membership is the premier level of corporate involvement in MPSA, and Foundation Members receive top visibility among corporate members in the organization. Mark Boelhouwer, Vice President, Strategic
Marketing for Ricoh U.S states that the MPSA offers clear value to managed print and managed document services players, so Ricoh is pleased to offer Ricoh Family Group (RFG) dealers the chance to join MPSA
Lady Gaga promotes Polaroid’s new instant photo printer
P
olaroid introduced the new pocket-sized GL10 instant mobile printer to replace the earlier PoGo. The new printer is using the second-generation Zink (Zero Ink) photo paper as well as Lady Gaga’s artistic cred to promote its sales and Lady Gaga has even been appointed as Polaroid’s creative director. Zink is a special type of photo paper that uses heatactivated dye-crystal inks to print out photos from your mobile phone, smartphone or digital camera. GL10 does not produce standard size 4x6 prints, but instead business-card sized photos which are 3x4-inches in size. Mobile phones or digital cameras can send photos via Bluetooth to the GL10 for printing, while a PC or Mac
can send photos via USB. Currently, there is no iPhone app for the GL10, but Android phones do have an app available for wireless photo printing. Lady Gaga commented: ‘Every day, digital photos capture, memorialize and shape our lives – but they are not given the chance to inspire us because they die on cell phones or digital cameras. I created the GL10 because everyone loves to take photos with their mobile phones – and the next evolution is to combine digital images with instant photography, bringing photos to life in vibrant colors that you can share, from the palm of your hand.’ John Rule, national marketing manager at Hagemeyer Brands Australia, Polaroid’s authorized distributor down
under, said: ‘We’re excited by the release of the first Polaroid Grey Label product with the GL10. Moving to the next generation of Zink technology, Polaroid is giving their fans more opportunities to enjoy and share the magic of instant. We’re looking forward to bringing this magic to Australian consumers.’ GL10 is available in Australia this July, with a price of AUD 199.95(about USD 219.13).
Kyocera Mita releases new printer ink devices
K
yocera Mita has launched a new range of its medium and high-speed printer ink devices, according to Internetink. The new TASKalfa editions will provide organizations with comprehensive printing solutions that will improve their document production capabilities, the company claims.
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August 2011 | www.recyclingtimes.com.cn
Kyocera Mita says that the devices can print pages at a rate of up to 80 pages per minute. Ky o c e r a M i t a r e l e a s e d f o u r n e w A 4 multifunction printer ink devices recently which claimed to be effective for small and mediumsized businesses. These latest products include the FS-3550MFP and the FS-2526MFP and it is
believed that they will transform the productivity of many companies delivering high-quality documents at a fast rate. Rachel Dean, product manager of Kyocera Mita, stated that they have made every use of Kyocera Mita's advanced document technology and applied it in a common design across all products.
Recycling Times Magazine
Features
U.S. patents: update and impact by Robert A. Schroeder, Esq., Sheldon Mak & Anderson LLC Many important developments in U.S. patent law are afoot. The landscape is changing much faster than ever before. A few of the more important changes in recent years are discussed here. New patent legislation The United States Congress has undertaken a major rewrite of the patent statute, the first in almost 60 years. This has been a stop-and-start process, with no new law fully emerging yet, but most observers think we are very close to having a bill that President Obama will sign. First-to-File vs. First-to-Invent When two inventors file applications for the same invention, the Patent Office must decide who, if anyone, gets the patent. In most of the world today, the primary rule is that the patent goes to the inventor who was first-to-file a patent application (unless it can be shown that the first-to-file derived the invention from someone who filed later). In the United States, the rule has been different. The first-to-invent, not the first-to-file, has been entitled to the patent, unless he or she did not file within the prescribed one year period. In theory, the current first-to-invent system is more just and less arbitrary. But that is a theory. In actual practice, determining who the first inventor is can be difficult and expensive, whereas determining who was the first-to-file is simple and easy. To determine who was the first-to-invent the United States has relied on “interferences”, esoteric and lengthy proceedings usually won by the party who was the first-to-file. Expensive interference proceedings do not favor the smaller company with fewer resources. A global move to harmonize The America Invents Act which would place existing patent law on a first-to-file basis, was passed overwhelmingly by the U.S. Senate on March 8, 2011. According to the Los Angeles Times ( June 24, 2011, pp. B1,B5) “it would align U.S. patent law with most other nations and would help reduce a backlog of about 700,000 patent applications awaiting approval.” Changing to a first-to-file system and eliminating most
Robert A. Schroeder, Esq. Robert A. Schroeder has been a patent litigator for more than 30 years. He has served as lead counsel in patent cases, as well as trade secret, trademark, copyright, unfair competition and trade dress matters. He has handled IP arbitrations before domestic and international tribunals and has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court. Mr. Schroeder also provides clients with opinions on patent infringement matters and frequently advises with respect to licensing agreements and intellectual property acquisitions. In addition, he supervises patent prosecution and maintenance programs and counsels clients as to intellectual property in general. Robert Schroeder began his career as a patent examiner assigned to the Physics Group at the United States Patent Office. Subsequently, he founded the boutique intellectual property law firm, Pretty Schroeder. Most recently, Mr. Schroeder was a partner and Practice Group Lead for intellectual property litigation at Bingham McClutchen.
www.recyclingtimes.com.cn | August 2011
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Recycling Times Magazine
Features
interferences has been a feature of almost all patent legislation proposed in recent years and is included in the most recent bill. Although the details of this change in the law have yet to be finally worked out, it is a good bet that the United States will be changing to a first-to-file system once new patent legislation passes. First-to-file is part of an ongoing process of “harmonization” in which the patent laws of many countries are made more similar and we are able to move toward a more efficient international patent system.
Recent supreme court decision The Supreme Court has recently been very active in the patent area, after more than a century of deciding few patent cases. The newer cases seem to show a strong inclination to side with the accused infringer against the patent holder, and a desire to change the direction of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which decides most patent appeals and is often perceived as “pro-patent”. Microsoft vs. 14i Ltd. In June of this year, however, the U.S. Supreme Court went the other way, handing down its much awaited decision in Microsoft Corp. vs. 14i Ltd. Partnership et al. It was something of a surprise. There were strong hints that the decision would go the other way. The Court upheld the traditional high standard of proof that must be met before a patent can be found invalid. The proper standard is “clear and convincing evidence”. This requires more than the “preponderance of the evidence” standard that applies in most civil cases (51% likely to be true is enough), but it is not as high as the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard needed for a criminal conviction. Bilski vs. Kappos The question of what types of things are patented was the subject of Bilski vs. Kappos. The Supreme Court essentially decided in 2010 that, as a general rule, patents should not issue for what have loosely been called “business methods” that are often unpatentable “abstract ideas”. Patents had begun to spring up for all sorts of ideas outside of the usual bounds of the technology, such as investment strategies and tax avoidance schemes.
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KSR vs. Teleflex A particularly important decision in the recent string of cases is KSR Int’l Co. vs. Teleflex, Inc., telling the U.S. courts to set a higher substantive standard for upholding the validity of patents, which was handed down by the Court in 2007, which in judicial time is “recent”. It is important largely for the tone and direction it sets, saying that the Federal Circuit has relied on rules that are too rigid to uphold the validity of patents for inventions that are “obvious” and not worthy of protection (so called “bad patents”). There are signs— hard to measure —that the Federal Circuit and trial courts are following this lead of the Supreme Court. We should keep in mind, however, that very similar Supreme Court decisions intended to raise the subjective standard of “obviousness” were handed down in the 1950s and ‘60s. With the passage of time and the diversion of the Supreme Court’s attention to other issues, the force and effect of those decisions diminished. Will the same happen to KSR? We will see, but an important factor is that the make-up of the Federal Circuit, the court charged with implementing KSR, is changing. There are several new judges, there is a new Chief Judge, and the age of the remaining members of the court dictate that there will be more new judges. The U.S. will, in effect, have a new appellate court deciding patent cases on a day-to-day basis within the next few years, possibly sooner. No one really knows where it will take us. eBay vs. MercExchange Another important Supreme Court case is eBay Inc. vs. MercExchange, LLC (2006). It had long been U. S. law that a losing defendant in a patent case was just
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about always enjoined from further infringement. This rule could give the patentee a lot of leverage for a big settlement. The defendant could not take the risk of being shut down. All this has changed after eBay; injunctions are no longer automatic. The patentee/ plaintiff must show that, among other things, an award of money would not be adequate compensation. Otherwise, no injunction. In many cases the patent is now less threatening and some settlements may be smaller as a result.
The patent office While the courts and the legislature may have their ideas, the Patent Office seems to have charted its own course. In view of the Supreme Court’s KSR decision, one would expect to see fewer patents granted, but one would be wrong. The Patent Office granted over 200,000 utility patents in 2010, a record, and is expecting to grant only slightly fewer in 2011. Prioritized and expedited examination of patent applications The U.S. Patent Office announced plans to begin accepting requests for “prioritized examination” of patent applications, allowing patent applications to be processed within as little as twelve months. If implemented, this would be a major change in the world of patents. It currently takes nearly three years to process the average patent application and grant a patent. A program, to be called Track One, was to launch May 4, 2011 as part of a new Three-Track system, providing applicants with greater control over when their applications are examined and promoting greater efficiency in the examination process. Patent applicants could request faster prioritized examination through Track One. Traditional examination could be
chosen through Track Two, or an applicant could delay the examination under Track Three. The problem is that Congress, concerned about the federal deficit, has slashed the Patent Office’s budget, forcing a retreat. The pending legislation could protect Patent Office user fees from being seized for other purposes, but no one knows what will happen. Expedited examination of design patent applications and expedited copyrights Many fast moving industries have chosen not to seek design patents because they are not issued quickly enough. But a new and much faster procedure is being made available. Applicants for design patents should consider a Request for Expedited Examination (“REE”). Our firm’s record is a mere 56 days from application filing date to Notice of Allowance! The REE procedure is relatively simple. Basically, the applicant submits the results of a novelty search and files the requisite request form. Since a regular design application can take up to two or three years to prosecute, the time savings and speed to protection can be well worth the added cost.
Impact on toner cartridge industry Attitudes about patents vary widely from one industry to another. Some industries want strong patents that are easy to get and can be enforced with confidence. An example is the biotech/pharmaceutical industry, where research and development costs are very high. For many smaller biotech companies, patents are their only product and source of revenue. On the other hand, some electronics and software companies consider patents a source of costly, unwanted disputes and litigation. What about the toner cartridge industr y? Patents, even ver y narrow patents and design patents, can be an obstacle to the manufacture, sale or resale of compatible products. Vigorous patent enforcement can be a way to control or limit the aftermarket. For patent-rich companies, patents and the ability to confidently enforce them can be ver y effective competitive tools. For the af ter market competitors they target, the opposite view is often in fashion and will remain so. www.recyclingtimes.com.cn | August 2011
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Global Remanufacturing Industry General Assembly October 12, 2011, Zhuhai, China The best opportunity to learn about the industry On October 12, the second Global Remanufacturing Industry General Assembly(GRIGA) will again be hosted in Zhuhai, following the roaring success of its first edition. Representatives from regional and international associations for the industry, publishers and industry elites from China, Europe, India, Japan, Russia and USA presented at this charter event of GRIGA in 2011. Right now, GRIGA offers the best opportunity for you to learn about the industry trends and developments. Know your industry, and speak for your industry.
www.visitremax.com.cn
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Biotoners: turning challenges into profitable opportunities During the past decade, as oil has become more expensive and people have become more aware of the earth’s fragile environment, there has been much buzz about biotoners in the printer and copier industry. A quick Google search resulted in more than 300 hits for biotoner over the last two years. Reasons for the high level of interest in biotoners are many and are due to economical, environmental and societal drivers. First, the recent volatility of petroleum prices and the resulting impact on the cost of raw materials used in toner resin manufacturing has forced the industry to seriously consider alternate feed stocks from renewable resources. Further, the use of renewable resources to prepare toner resins reduces dependency on foreign oil while at the same time reducing CO 2 emissions from toner production. Here’s a figure that should raise an eyebrow or two: Popular estimates project laser and copier toner use consumes more than 146 million gallons of oil per year. That’s why it’s crucially important to have properly designed biotoners, which have the potential to the recycling of office waste paper, estimated to be over 3 trillion prints, through an easier and more economical
deinking process. Initiatives such as the Qualified Bioproducts Preferred Purchase Program sponsored by the U.S Department of Agriculture and the United Soybean Board through green labeling have made great efforts to give consumers better awareness of environmentally green and sustainable products. Many companies in the printer, and copier and other industries are developing green products such as biotoners and PlantBottle (a plastic beverage bottle made partially from plants) to differentiate their products so they can address the consumer trend in green and environmentally friendly products and thus capture a larger market share. However, there are many challenges. With this commentar y, I hope to highlight the s t a t u s a n d p r o s p e c t s o f b i o t o n e r s , a m a r ke t i n which I have worked for many years at the world’s largest independent research and development organization, Battelle.
A bit of toner history A journey through the development of toner chemistry may be helpful. As many in the industry know, Battelle played a vital role in launching the electrostatic copier industry in the 1950s. Battelle dedicated more than a decade of sustained R&D activity to reduce the seminal patent of Chester Carlson (U.S. 2,357,809) into working prototypes. The result was commercialization through the Model D and Xerox 914 copiers. A key component of this effort by the materials group of Battelle was the successful development of powdered inks, namely, toners, which were useful in the early copiers. These early toners, mostly black, were designed to work well in the copiers and www.recyclingtimes.com.cn | August 2011
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make good prints. The toners were made from readily available resins and polymers, including some from natural sources such as rosin esters. However, there was no consideration for factors such source of raw materials/renewable vs. petroleum, the ability to deink, CO 2 emissions and others. It would take decades for those issues to become as important as they are in the current environment. As a matter of fact, it was about 50 years after Carlson and Battelle began the original research before Battelle researchers in the materials group revisited toner research. With the idea that toner needed to be environmentally friendly and sustainable, toner technology progressed toward products derived from renewable resources such as plants and crops and became easier to deink from the office waste paper stream. Research also was mindful to be cost effective and compatible with existing resin and toner production infrastructure and functional in copiers and printers installed in the field. The toner initiative is part of a larger effort at Battelle to develop industrial products such as plasticizers, lubricants, powder coatings and other bioproducts from renewable sources to minimize dependence on foreign oil with a reduced carbon footprint and enhanced sustainability. These products have been successfully developed and have won R&D 100 Award recognitions from the prestigious R&D Magazine, often known as the “Oscars� for industrial R&D. More significantly, these products have been commercialized through Battelle’s licensees. Battelle has been working with funding from farming groups, especially the Ohio Soybean Council and United Soybean Board, to advance the emerging bioproduct markets and applications.
Biotoner primer Biotoners are just like their petroleumoil-based counterparts, except they are composed of resins and other additives derived from a bio source, namely plants, crops, trees, marine and animal remains. From a chemical perspective, these bio sources could be classified into oils and fats (mostly triglycerides), proteins (amino acids and peptides), carbohydrates (simple sugars), cellulosics (complex C5 and C6 sugars), and lignin. These bio sources serve as the feedstock in the bioproduct world, just as petroleum crude or natural gas does in the petro-chemical world for the
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production of chemicals, polymers and plastics. A major difference, and hence a big challenge, is that the chemical components in bio-based feedstocks are more complex and difficult to modify when compared to simple hydrocarbon fractions from fossil sources. Further, conversion technologies of bio-based feedstock are still in their infancy compared to more than 75 years of petrochemical conversion technologies practiced in world-class refineries. This disparity in the maturity of the two technologies has cost and quality implications, at least in the short run, until the bio-based chemical industr y is more fully developed and established. H o w e v e r, t h e g a p i s n a r r o w i n g a n d m a n y m a j o r chemical companies as well as startups are aggressively moving forward to develop cost effective bio-conversion technologies. Several useful and cost-effective bio monomers are entering the market to produce resins and polymers of interest to toner manufacturers. This is a rapidly evolving area in the chemical industr y with high expectations over the next few years (for more details see article by Bhima Vijayendran, Bio Conference, April 2011, Shanghai). Battelle research in this area began to develop toner resins derived from vegetable oils, proteins and carbohydrates. Details of the work are available in patents (U.S. 7,887,982, U.S. 7,645,549 and others) and other open literature references (Inform, 659-661, Vol. 16, issue 10, 2005; 2008 Presidential Green Chemistry S y m p o s i u m , Wa s h i n g t o n , J u n e 2 0 0 8 ) . T h e w o r k
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continues to develop next generation biotoners for both mechanically produced and chemically produced toners. Battelle is the first, though not the only, organization to be active in developing biotoners. Both original equipment manufacturers and after market suppliers of toners and cartridges are very much in the game, as can be judged by press releases, patent filings and presentations at toner conferences and workshops. A quick search of a patent database shows that OEM majors such as Canon, Ricoh, Minolta, Xerox and others are filing patents in large numbers to protect their interests and market share in this growing market. Af ter market suppliers such as, Future Graphics, Print Recover y Concepts, Print Rite, and others are introducing biotoners with varying levels of bio content and quality. It is worth noting that many of the patents mentioned above are based on biodegradable polymers such as poly lactic acid and poly hydroxyl alkanoates that are produced in large volumes by Nature Works LLC, and by Mirel, a joint venture of ADM and - Metabolix respectively for packaging and other large volume applications. Ready availability of these polymers should help biotoner producers. There are other types of bio-based resins (such as the ones manufactured by AIR- Advanced Image Resources - a licensee of Battelle technology) derived from novel bio-based building blocks. These offer a good balance of molecular weight and its distribution; acid value; glass transition temperature; melting and softening point; cr ystallinity; fusing temperature; color and clarity; adhesion and other properties of value in designing a
broad of range of toner formulations. More recently, availability of low cost furanic-based building blocks derived from non-food, low cost cellulosics has opened more options for formulating biotoners. Reviewing the brief history of the emerging biotoners, it is worth noting that some of the early formulations had very low bio content, as measured by ASTM-D 6866, a method based on radioactive decay and half-life of C14 isotope, a true measure of carbon derived from a renewable source and not from fossil sources. Most of the viable first-generation biotoners have a bio content of at least 20 to 25 percent, with some in the 40 to 50 percent range. The goal is to have as high bio content as high as possible, hopefully in the 75 percent range. There are several challenges to achieve this goal. One of them is availability of bioresins that have the required property profile, as noted above, to be a sole toner resin. Additional R&D is needed to design bioresins with required properties. This would require ready availability of new building blocks that are still in the research phase. The other is cost that is coming down with the commissioning of world-scale biomonomer plants by companies such as Roquette, BioAmber, and others.
Challenges and opportunities Biotoner still is in its infancy, with many challenges yet to face. The challenges are related in many areas, including: relatively high cost; the need for a significant amount of petro-based resins to produce workable toners; reluctance and inertia for adoption; lack of industr y accepted standards; and general concerns about sustainability of bio feedstock (competition with food and feed); and, uncertainty about life cycle analysis based b e n e f i t s . H o w e v e r, t h e s e a r e being addressed in various ways by other industries that are trying to convert some raw materials from petro- to bio-based sources. A good example is the experience of Coca Cola. It gained more than three market share points in test markets by switching from the standard PET bottle to the PlantBottle that has 30 percent renewable www.recyclingtimes.com.cn | August 2011
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content. Efforts are underway to increase bio-based content to 100 percent in Pepsi’s second generation products. A bit of competition is good to provide market pull for such emerging products. Hopefully, a similar situation will happen in the toner industry and it looks like this is happening, at least in the aftermarket segment of the industry. The issues related to competition between food and sustainability are being addressed in second generation bio fuels, chemicals, and polymer products by using non-food cellulosic food stocks. Polymers and chemicals produced by such second-generation technologies from chemical companies should provide sustainable polymers and resins to toner producers. The issue of performing a useful and relevant life cycle analysis is a challenging one. A fair amount of work to address the LCA of bioproducts, including polymers and chemicals, is taking place in this area in the U.S., Europe and Japan. One of the key issues is establishing relevant boundary conditions how far back one must go to capture all the required input and output data to do a meaningful analysis. It is worth watching some of these developments to see if they are relevant to biotoner production.
Summary
It is my opinion that it would be very most useful to have a codified industr y standard to measure bio content, one that would be acceptable to all stakeholders in the industry. The ASTM D6866 seems to be a good starting point. I think the conversation about this should start now. Current toner products have a potential challenge and a problem—they contain bisphenol A and styrene. Recent health and environmental concerns about these compounds could have some serious implications for the industr y. Several of the bio monomers under development have the potential to replace these compounds, at least functionally. That’s why I think the development of biotoners free from these compounds that also are deinkable and, cost effective with reduced carbon foot print, should provide profitable opportunities. The biotoner industry is in its infancy and has many challenges, but it offers an opportunity to develop novel and profitable products to meet the needs of today ’s markets and customers that are looking for safe, green, and sustainable products with reduced carbon footprint.
Dr. Bhima Vijayendran Dr. Bhima Vijayendran is Vice President for Business Development and a Senior Research Leader with Battelle in San Diego, California. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Battelle Memorial Institute (Battelle) is one of the world’s leading R&D institutions. With 22,000 employees in more than 130 locations worldwide the company is d e d i c a t e d t o s c i e n t i f i c , e ducational, technology an d community endeavors. Among its achievements is the initial development of toners in the mid-1950s for Chester Carlson’s novel xerographic process. With more than 40 years experience in industrial R&D and product commercialization, Dr. Vijayendran is widely recognized as an authority on specialty chemical and polymer systems for a range of applications. He holds more than 75 patents and 50 publications and has received 7 R&D 100 awards over the period from 2001 to 2009. In 2004, he won Battelle's prestigious Inventor of the Year Award. He is also a recipient of the coveted Lifetime Achievement Award from the United Soybean Board and the American Soybean Association for his contributions to the soybean industry. In 2008, he received the Presidential Green Chemistry Award for his work on biotoners. His educational background includes both BS and MS degrees in Chemical Technology from the University of Madras, India, a PhD in Polymer and Surface Science from the University of Southern California, and an MBA from the University of New Haven, Connecticut.
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Memjet‘s new developments in 2011 When you mention desktop printers most people think of brands like Hewlett-Packard, Canon, Lexmark, Epson or Brother, etc. These traditional OEMs have had a firm grip on these core technologies for more than two decades and have fully exercised their sales advantage as international companies, giving them dominion over the industry. Up until now, these OEMs flourished and were prosperous. It was difficult for anyone else to enter and enjoy the fruits of the market. But in recent times, this seemingly ‘mission impossible’ task has shown new hope. New printer OEMs have arrived with new technological breakthroughs. Memjet, for example, has attracted a lot of attention. Both laser and inkjet technologies have had more than 20 years of history in the printer industry. Although the OEMs have continuously improved these technologies with new features and functionalities including additional speed and resolution, there has been no substantial breakthrough of much significance. But someone “turned on the light” in 2007. Memjet was launched as a new printer technology. Memjet was an immediate sensation because it could deliver faster color printing, cheaper. It was expected that the first photo printer powered by the Memjet technology would be launched at the end of 2007 or the beginning of 2008. At that time, some believed that Memjet could bring great changes to the printer market, since it had accumulated over 3000 patents worldwide and had some 2000 more waiting to be approved. However, the first printer powered by Memjet did not launch until April 20, 2010. Memjet broke the silence by launching label printers powered by Memjet technology with three partner companies, the Astro Machine Corporation in the US, the OWN-X Industrial in Hungary and Rapid Machinery Company in the UK. After this debut, Memjet maintained a low profile with no other new printer release for the rest of 2010. When asked the reasons for their delay, Memjet said, “Initially our delays stemmed from the transition in priorities from small format photo printing to A4/Letter size markets. It took us longer than we thought to make this transition and mature our components to a production ready state. Then of course the global financial crisis hit. The Memjet development effort is truly a collaborative effort between our technical teams, business partners and OEM brands all working together to develop complete printing solutions for our respective markets. We all tightened our belts in 2009 and early 2010 and as a result the pace of Memjet development slowed a bit”
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▲ Memjet' s new CEO Len J. Lauer
Apart from the funding issue, Memjet faced other management obstacles. Hence the Memjet Board has named Len J. Lauer, the former vice president and COO of Qualcomm to join as their President and CEO. He will be responsible for overseeing of all aspects of the company’s business. Before joining Memjet, Len Lauer was executive vice president and chief operating officer of Qualcomm, Inc. Lauer joined Qualcomm in December 2006 with more than 20 years high-tech experience. Prior to Qualcomm, Lauer served as chief operating officer for Sprint Nextel. Prior to Sprint’s merger with Nextel, he was president and chief operating officer for Sprint, where he directed all of the company's operations to deliver converged media and communication services. Lauer joined Sprint in 1998 and held several executive leadership positions including president of Sprint PCS. He also served as president of Sprint's consumer services group, president of Sprint Business and president of the global markets group, where he directed marketing and sales, network operations, technology planning, product development and information technology. Before joining Sprint, Lauer was president and chief executive officer of Bell Atlantic-New Jersey. Lauer also spent more than 10 years with IBM, holding a variety of management positions in marketing and sales. He is currently on the board of directors of H&R Block.
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Kia Silverbrook, inventor of the Memjet technology, co-founder, chairman and chief technology officer of Memjet said, “This is a major milestone for Memjet. Len's leadership and broad experience in global markets, operations, strategic planning, service delivery, sales and marketing will serve us well as we move into fullscale commercialization.” “This is clearly an opportune time to join Memjet,” said Lauer, “The company is on the threshold of commercializing its first generation of breakthrough printing components with a strong technology roadmap and funding to drive its future. I join an experienced leadership team and a company building robust business partnerships. I'm excited to lead Memjet into a new phase of commercialization and growth.” Jason Martin, Managing Director of Argonaut Private Equity and a member of Memjet's board of directors, said, “Len Lauer is a proven leader who brings a wealth of skills and experience to Memjet. Len has operated at the highest levels of the technology industry, with responsibility for multi-billion-dollar businesses. He understands the process of continuous innovation and how to build and run a global business at scale.” The change of CEO may signify Memjet’s new era to march to a larger market in inkjet printers which previous dominated by the three major players of HP, Canon and Epson. In January, 2011, Memjet announced its partners in China, India and Chinese Taiwan, being Lenovo, WeP Peripherals Ltd and Kpowerscience Co., Ltd, respectively. These three partners will independently launch their printer products powered by the Memjet technology. Then in April, Memjet announced its cooperation with Lomond in Russia, and also with Delphax Technologies Inc. in Canada. LG Electronics announced in June they will launch the fastest ever A4 color desktop printer, the Machjet LPP6010N, powered by Memjet technology. And in July, Neopost in the US released two models of color inkjet mail printers, the Neopost AS-950C and Hasler HJ950C, both of which are utilizing the Memjet technology. Memjet has also confirmed partners in Australia, Western and Eastern Europe. Memjet has established its own global partner network: partners who are influential enterprises with substantial strength in the printer industry. For example, WeP Peripherals Ltd is the pioneer and largest supplier of MPS, as well as one of the largest vendors of stylus printers, with direct sales and after service centers in 19 cities, over 200 channel dealers and 15,000 wholesalers in India. Kpowerscience Co., Ltd in Chinese Taiwan is a company well known for its excellent R&D and manufacturing capability. In 1978, Kpowerscience had commenced its own research into Chinesecharacter printer controllers, and released the heavy-duty 2500 LPM (line per minute) fanfold laser printer with Chinese-character
controller in May 1982. It independently manufactured its own designed mid-speed KP3828 LED printer in 2001. And Lenovo, the well known Chinese brand, has a high reputation with a 18.3% share of the printer market in China, penetrating desktop, wide-format, specialty and commercial printer segments. These powerful companies all have superior local sales networks, which are highly favorable for the promotion of Memjet powered printer. Some say Memjet powered printers can launch an aggressive campaign to capture market share from HP, Canon, Epson and the other OEMs with support from such powerful allies. Tony Lee, Managing Director of Recycling Times Media Corporation, said, “I don’t believe Memjet is mature enough to launch a campaign to against the OEMs to capture market share. Memjet has four business units: labels, home and office, wide format and photo retail. These are more likely to be remembered as Memjet’s first steps in the market. However, they will have to wait for more consumer responses which are linked with product quality and the promotion efforts of their partners. So I think they will need to wait before they make their next move. ” 1. Mutual Trust. Research and development of the existing product, together with the various marketing strategies need to be completed jointly by Memjet and its regional partners. However, the disparity between the different partners, product positioning as well as return on investment expectations, could lead to a potential mutual trust problem. If the new products sell well, there may not be any problem, but if sales are poor,there will be complaints which could turn into a mutual trust crisis. 2. Global Synergy. Memjet’s partners worldwide are operating independently in their local markets. At the same time, these partners still have connections with the traditional OEMs. So if and when Memjet develop their market requiring synergy from all partners globally, there may be internal or external obstacles preventing them from uniting. 3. Coordination of partners. All of Memjet’s partners have impressive strengths and some of them have global reaches beyond their local markets. So the coordination of these partners with product positioning, marketing strategy, pricing and crossregional sales will require skilful management and negotiation. A simple review of each partners’ promotional launches of printers using the Memjet technology, shows a common description: these printers are the “world’s fastest”. But how can Memjet manage the sales from overlapping and rivalry developing between its partners? Memjet won’t comment on this due to confidentiality. The mysterious Memjet printer has been unveiled. But uncertainty is forecast for the road ahead. But it is true to say we can expect Memjet to bring changes to the printer market once dominated by the traditional OEMs. www.recyclingtimes.com.cn | August 2011
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Pantum: It’s show time Even before the actual launch of the Pantum printer, it had already attracted almost excessive attention and raised expectations within the general consumables industry, since it was the first major breakthrough in the printer manufacturing industr y for some time. On December 6, 2010, Seine Technology Co., Ltd. released the first Pantum printer in the Great Hall of ▲ Launching ceremony of Pantum in the Great Hall of the People, Beijing. the People in Beijing, China. This signified the birth and commercialization of the ‘Most Competitive Product’ award in its 2010 China first independently-innovated laser printer in China. Computer Industry Development Awards. In 2011, Pantum has also taken a promotion tour, Now Pantum has finally been unveiled, people are naturally starting to shift their attention to its market named ‘the totem of China’ (literally) to all the major cities in China, such as Zhenzhou, Taiyuan, Hefei performance. From the first domestic Chinese printer brand, and Chengdu, and this was welcomed by the local consumers will require more than just satisfactor y distributors. Apart from the marketing campaigns, Pantum’s quality and performance. Pantum has chosen a prudent strategy for its first two quarters in the printer attention to its branding is obvious as well. Pantum arena, featuring discount sales and the expansion of has high media exposure and there is news about sales channels, which has met with approval from Pantum almost ever y week. Certainly, winning the confidence of consumers is crucial for a new brand. authorities in the industry as well. At the beginning of 2011, the first 10,000 Pantum printers had been released as a commemorative model. All of these machines have a special metal tag design to identify them as being from the first batch of the products. Consumers who purchased these printers have received a free VIP card entitling them to various discounts and exclusive services, including a 20% discount on sales of the OEM consumables between March and July. Meanwhile, Pantum also announced the extension of its guarantee period to two years, breaking the industry practice of a one-year guarantee period with a page yield limitation. On April 6, the China Computer Industry Association awarded the Pantum laser printer the
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Recycling Times inter viewed Mr. Liu Hong, the General Manager of Beijing Pantum Technology Co., Ltd.
Does the current market performance o f t h e Pa n t u m p r i n t e r m e e t y o u r expectations? Pantum’s major buyers are small and medium Enterprises (SMEs), gover nments and education organizations, etc. Every week, we contact our clients to collect their feedback. At this moment, the feedback is quite positive and our clients are satisfied with the quality, performance and efficiency as well as the external design of Pantum. So the market performance of Pantum has exceeded my expectations.
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What were the major concerns you had about Pantum that might have led you to expect less success than you have enjoyed? Fi r s t , P a n t u m w a s o n l y released in Dec 2010 and for a new product and new brand, it could take a long time before gaining recognition in the market. Second, the building of sales channels and distribution agents takes time as well. The Pantum printer distribution channels share a very small part of our original sales channels for consumables, which basically means we have had to start from scratch.
How is the domestic laser printer market presently? And how will Pantum fight its way out of the siege from other OEMs? Certainly the competition in the domestic laser printer market is fierce. Hewlett-Packard, Samsung, Canon, Brother and Lenovo have captured the majority of the market share. However, HP’s market share has been declining while other OEMs’ market share is rising. Pantum is continuously expanding its market share through our efforts. We focus on the products and try to strengthen their competitiveness by improving quality, performance and external design, etc. At the same time, we have assisted the products with appropriate marketing and pricing strategies. For instance, we have developed new technology to increase the work life of Pantum printer. Since we have the advantages from our background of being a general consumables manufacturer, we can provide consumables at a price that is 30% lower than other OEMs’ products, which can save money for our clients. We have also made a daring move to break the industr y practice of only providing a one-year guarantee period for each printer, by extending the guarantee period of Pantum printers to two years. We have conducted a lot of marketing activities as well.
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▲ Pantum Family.
Extending the guarantee period will no doubt increase operation costs and the promise of cartridge prices 30% lower than other OEMs is likely to further erode Pantum’s profit margins. So how can Pantum maintain its profit? In terms of profit, our emphasis is on creating a reasonable profit margin and that is what we strive to maintain. We are looking for a win-win situation between us and our distributors and clients, instead of unreasonable and extremely high profits from our business.
Are there any compatible consumables for the Pantum printer available on the market now? Will Pantum react like other OEMs that apply technological methods to limit the use of compatibles? As yet we have not found any compatible cartridge for the Pantum printer, however, there are toner refilling dealers that provide refilling services to our printers. Refilling Pantum’s cartridges with substandard toners or using poor techniques can easily result in printing quality problems and indeed we have received client complaints related to this issue already. As a matter of fact, there are chips on Pantum printers, but currently we do not use the chips to limit the adaptation of compatible cartridges by third party manufacturers. Whether we will apply chip control to limit the use of compatibles is dependant on the market and the demands of our clients.
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There are four Pantum printer models on the market presently. When can we expect a new model of Pantum? We are continuously developing new products and we plan to launch several new Pantum MFP and high-speed printers to add new members to Pantum family in two months.
The Ministr y of Finance recently renewed the governmental procurement policy by abolishing several policies that favor domestic independent innovations, which means that the starting line for Pantum is now the same as it is for other OEMs. Will the change of policy affect Pantum’s future biding for governmental projects? I personally think the abolishing of favorable polices will not affect us. Pantum has already participated in governmental procurement projects and won several bids, including some projects from central government departments. I believe the most important factor in governmental biding is the product itself. As long as we have better printers and consumables than our competitors, we can win contracts regardless.
In the last few years, OEMs have started to capture market share in the Managed Print Services (MPS) and Cloud printing arenas. What are Pantum’s views about MPS and Cloud printing? We have been paying close attention since these are the future of the industry. In terms of MPS, we have no direct involvement in t h i s m a r ke t , b u t w e have been supporting our partners to enter into the MPS market. We will launch printers for large enterprises which we believe can facilitate our partners’ development in the
MPS market.
As an emerging OEM who strives for more market share, what are Pantum’s strategies for the future? Pantum will focus on the domestic market for now and in the foreseeable future, since the market demand in China is quite different from the overseas markets. Currently, the product R&D processes of other OEMs are mainly conducted overseas and some of these products may not be able to meet the demand of Chinese consumers. In ter ms of product, Pantum highly values the demands of our domestic clients and even designs c u s to m i z e d p r i n t er s f o r t h e m , f o r i n st a n c e, t h e customized printers for professional applications in hospitals or banks. In marketing, Pantum will strengthen its links with partners to further our sales channels and networks. In the consumables for our printers, we will fully utilize our inherent advantages as a general consumables manufacturer, in order to provide high quality supplies with reasonable prices to our dealers and consumers.
Closing remarks As a new player in the printer manufacturing industr y, Pantum’s market share is not large when compared with its counterparts. However, Pantum represents a hope as a new breakthrough of the monopoly in the printer manufacturing industry and is significant for the national industry of China.
▲ Promotion activity of Pantum.
www.recyclingtimes.com.cn | August 2011
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Profiles
Talking chips Xiao Hui believes that being able to do what she loves to do is the happiest thing about her life. Her outgoing and talkative personality also fits her current role in the marketing business. Given only this you would probably say that she is blessed, but her lovely daughter and supporting family make her even luckier than a lot of business people. Meet Xiao Hui, the vice president of Zhuhai Jing Xin, Co, Ltd (referred to as Jing Xin). Jing Xin is skilled at product marketing. As vice president, have you been engaged in marketing since the start? I have been in living and working in Zhuhai for more than 20 years. To begin with I was in software design. After graduating from the University of Electronic Science and Technology I worked in a research institute in Hunan Province for a year. Then, I seized the opportunity to work as a software designer for Zhuhai Hotel for quite a long time after passing their entrance tests. My university has an alumni association in Zhuhai and my schoolmates and I often gather to discuss the trends in integrated circuits and the state of the industry here. Since Zhuhai is famous for its printing consumables industry, we believe we can engage most in making chips for printer cartridges since our personal advantages lie in the electronic sciences and Zhuhai offers industrial advantages. From 2001 we paid close attention to the market and finally released our products in 2002.
Did you encounter any difficulties when you changed from doing software design to marketing? Certainly, there were some difficulties. As a software designer, I just dealt with machines and the only task for me was to design software that satisfied the requirements. However, as a green hand in marketing, it is quite difficult to persuade your customers. When our business started out, we didn’t have enough confidence in our products. We found that people didn’t release product information, telephone numbers, and contact names to us as readily as nowadays. Our friends were the only source for possible buyers. I can still remember one time, we heard that there was a possible buyer in Guangzhou, and my partner and I drove there immediately. After a few hours of negotiation, that firm had mentioned in passing two more possible buyers in Dongguang and Shenzhen, so we decided to pay a visit to both of them right away. We didn’t get back to Zhuhai until midnight that day. You can see how tough it was at
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▲ Xiao Hui
the beginning since we did not have enough sources of information and we had to explore by ourselves.
You have such a nice partner! Do both you share similar personalities? Both of us are outgoing, generous and self confident, like intimate siblings. We have been partners for ten years and we have witnessed the unity and separation of many business partners. There is a saying that two heads are better than one, so I can see no reason to work alone and I prefer to cooperate with others if possible. My partner and I have even become a good example of partnership among our alumni association. We both seek common ground while setting aside differences, and cooperate closely. Important company matters are often decided after discussing them, while trifling ones are often decided by either of us tacitly. Many partners go through hardships, but fail to share the fruits when the hardship is over. So I am proud of our relationship.
Recycling Times Magazine
Profiles
Talking of going through hardship, how is Jing Xin going presently? Our company has integrated design, R&D, production and sales. We have cooperated with a domestic IC design company and established a research lab together, so we have strong R&D support for our products. Our chip series for inkjet printers enjoys high market recognition and a large market share and we are continuously developing more new products. 90% of our products are sold domestically through trade fairs and the introduction of new buyers from existing ones, etc. Owing to our high quality products and services, Jing Xin has established strategic partnerships with many cartridge companies, and is taking larger and larger market share.
Is there anything you are particularly proud of during all these years of development? Chips are high-tech products, but they are just components for cartridges, which means that chips are useful only when applied to cartridges. We sell chips to cartridge manufacturers, who install our chips on cartridges to sell worldwide. So to some extent, we can say our chips are selling all over the world. We feel very proud that cartridges selling in supermarkets in foreign countries are using our chips. When we first started to develop chips, the cartridge chip industry in Zhuhai had also just taken off. Starting as a small firm, Jing Xin has become one of the leading chip suppliers in the aftermarket.
In order to suppress compatible manufacturers, OEMs are continuously upgrading the encryption on their chips. What do you think of this? How will Jing Xin deal with this? In my opinion, OEMs’ suppression is destined to fail. There are two reasons. Firstly, consumers accept compatible products. Compatible products contribute a lot to the world in term of environmental protection and resource conservation. If there were no compatible supplies available in the market, customers might even stop buying OEM printers as well as OEM cartridges. Data has told us that when an OEM product has no compatible suppliers, its market share will become smaller and smaller. In order to maintain their leading position in the market, OEMs will have to recognize the existence of compatible products, and we, as a compatible chips provider, should keep up with their advancing chip technology. Secondly, the talents in the compatible industry cannot be underestimated. Even if we cannot solve the encryption problems, we may still find another way to break through the bottlenecks. At present, Jing Xin is focusing on the R&D of new chip series for inkjet cartridges. What’s more, our IPR management personnel are devoting their time to investigate OEM patents. They are trying to
▲ Xiao Hui (right) at workt
find out the key contents as well as to identify what can be overcome and what cannot. In the future, we will continuously focus on the R&D, enhance the technical content of products and manufacture products with independent IPR, which can help us to overcome OEM obstacles.
Have you encountered any challenges during your selling? The industry keeps growing, but there are problems as well. For instance, the low entry barriers for the industry have generated products with uneven quality. Many firms produce cartridges with very low costs and the manufacturers of such products don’t have sales or after sales teams. So they can only attract clients through low prices and even deceptive advertisements, which lead to fierce price competition. What's worse, price competition brings about uncertain product quality and further impairs the whole industry’s image. As a result, ‘Made in China’ will be stereotypically associated with bad quality, which will eventually stop overseas buyers purchasing our products. This is clearly what we do not want to happen. All companies should be self-disciplined and have a bottom price to guarantee product quality. This is not the same as price-fixing cartel, which is prohibited. Our goal cannot be achieved by simply relying on self-discipline. We should try to guide these companies to do business in the right way through industry associations or wellrecognized organizations. People who wish only to make a quick buck are not entrepreneurs. A real entrepreneur develops their company through products and personalities. www.recyclingtimes.com.cn | August 2011
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Recycling Times Magazine
Management
Do you think personalities have contributed to your success? As far as I concerned, one’s job should be closely related to one’s personality. I am outgoing and enthusiastic. I enjoy talking with people. I think my personality happens to fit what I am doing now. Doing what you love is the happiest thing in the world, and if your personality happens to fit your job, you may be one step closer to success. I often teach my child to ‘choose what you like to and what fits you’. However, I believe that if you majored in engineering, you must do the basic work related to technology for the first few years of your career as this can lay solid foundations for your future development.
my clients, it is not right to blame the clients, and therefore blamed myself or talked to my friends privately for solace. However, as time has passed, I have accumulated more experiences that allow me to handle difficulties with ease. I tell myself, ‘what is real is rational, what is rational is real. Then I become more calm and tolerant, which makes me less likely to be dominated by negative feelings.
You have shared a lot of valuable experiences. Do you have something to say to young people who have just started working?
As I mentioned before, personality will somehow decide your destiny. You should choose what you love and what your personality As a female manager, what feminine fits with. Suppose you are introverted but good at execution, you might be suited to engineering or designing and may be best characteristics can be helpful for business? Except for the physical differences, women and men are equal steering clear of careers like marketing. If you are outgoing, friendly in terms of intelligence and in many other ways women can and good at socializing, you may do well in marketing. I have three perform just as well as men tips for young people. if not better. Among my First of all, do what you are classmates, more girls did good at. Second, do what better than boys in exams. you love. Third, start from In the workplace, women the basics. Even if you are have advantages. Firstly, they millionaire, you should do tend to be more thoughtful some basic work. This will and considerate than be invaluable to your life, men when dealing with and give you an opportunity clients. Secondly, women to learn how to get along are generally more patient with colleagues, bosses and than men when dealing customers. ▲ Xiao Hui (left) and her colleges at Jing Xin’s booth. with tough clients. Thirdly, women are more humanistic in management. They tend to treat How to keep balance between your family and colleagues and workers like family members, which may harmonize career? internal communications and enhance internal unity. I am very lucky that my family supports me and I have a lovely However, women also have disadvantages. First of all, women daughter studying abroad and she can take good care of herself and have more difficulties than men when it comes to socializing for enjoy her current life. I often tell her to take good care of her own business in China. In Chinese culture, women are not supposed to business and I will take care of mine. drink too much and are expected not go home too late, since they may have to take care of their family. Secondly, women’s physical Closing remarks: conditions generally decline faster than men following the growth of Very few people in this world know themselves and do what age. We do not want our employees to be overloaded, but there is a they really like to do. Many people have spent their whole life time need to work overtime in reality. Men may be in a better position to searching for what they really like, and only the lucky ones may find work overtime late at night. Thirdly, when dealing with difficulties, it while the rest may muddle through their lives. Definitely, Xiao women are more likely to suffer depression than men. Hui is blessed for being able to do what she loves to and what she is
How do you deal with situations like work overload or overwhelming pressure? In the past, I just felt sad when I faced difficulties. If these difficulties are generated by misunderstandings between me and
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good at, as well as living a balanced happy life with her family. She is talkative, but her seemingly simple words carry great significance for life. We can strongly feel her understanding and attitude to her work and her life, just like what she says to her daughter, ‘take good care of your own business and I will take good care of mine’.
Recycling Times Magazine
Market Data
World peripherals market update Martin Hingley, ITCandor Peripherals market highlights Q3 2011 •2010 world revenues were USD 168 billion – growth 6% •China grew 11% to USD 3.3 billion •India grew 14% to USD 2.0 billion •A highly seasonal market with strong Q4 sales •49% of revenues derived from consumers in the last year •HP leads the market, with Canon catching up •Newer players Dell and Samsung have joined Hitachi and Ricoh as second tier layers (The topics below will be published in our next issue ) •MPS proved recession proof, but revenues have fallen back in the recovery •Growth will be low single-digit until 2014, followed by slight declines in 2015 and 2016 •The market is driven by digitisation of analogue processes •The market is slowed by the falling relevance of permanent physical pint-outs
The worldwide peripherals market grew by 6% in 2010 At ITCandor we’ve been providing a few market development research papers over the last month or so, which we provide free to our readers as an introduction to our capabilities in sizing, discussing and forecasting specific markets. We last looked at the worldwide peripherals market a year or so ago and thought it would be a good chance to update you on what’s been happening. We should say from the outset that we’ve increased our sizing of the overall market (which covers Ink Jet and Laser printers and other peripherals – but not traditional photocopiers if they have no network or PC attachments). The 2010 market was worth some USD 168 billion, growing 6% from the USD157 billion in 2009. The rationale is that we’ve added a number of new vendors who had been included in the ‘other’ category in last year’s research.
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Despite our uplift for the overall market size, the trends in shipments and the deep effects of the downturn still show clearly in our findings. As usual we collect (but have not included) the proportion of revenues each vendor gets in OEM business from other suppliers. The peripherals market is quite ‘incestuous’ in this respect, with Canon still manufacturing all laser engines for HP: Samsung is also a major OEM player. Each quarter we track the revenues, net profits and employee numbers of the following peripherals suppliers Apple, Canon, Dell, Hitachi, HP, Konica Minolta, Lexmark, LG, NEC, Océ, Oki Data, Polycom, Ricoh, Samsung, Tandberg/Cisco, Telecom Italia, Toshiba and Xerox.
Recycling Times Magazine
Market Data
Asia Pacific leads in continental spending on peripherals We took each supplier’s revenues and split them by country, before regrouping them at the continental and sub-continental level - in fact we do this for all of our statistics, although we don’t always publish at that level on this site. Our findings (shown in Figure 1) are that Asia Pacific leads in terms of spending on peripherals, followed by the Americas and Europe. BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) are ‘double counted’ in this chart – they have not yet delivered on the promise of substantially greater growth opportunities for peripherals suppliers. The Middle East and Africa are both small regions for sales of these products. The peripherals market – like all ITC hardware areas – was significantly affected by the credit crunch and downturn, which is shown in Figure 2. Following a strong recovery in Q4 2009 and Q1 2010 market growth has fallen back somewhat. In terms of continental spending growth, Asia Pacific has led for some quarters, followed by the Americas, with Europe somewhat behind. To a certain extend the regional growth numbers are affected by exchange rate changes, which we track closely but are not publishing here. Contact us if you need more detail.
HP leads the worldwide peripherals market, but Canon is catching up Our market model now formally assesses the performance of some 20 peripherals suppliers, the largest of which we will discuss here. HP and Canon are the largest, generating revenues of USD 26B and USD 25B respectively from the sales of peripherals in the year to the end of March 2011. Of the other major vendors, Hitachi and Ricoh are long term players whose market positioning has fallen, while Dell and Samsung are both relative new-comers improving market standing
following significant investments at the beginning of the 200s. A view of long-term revenue development for these 6 vendors is shown in Figure 3. Market shares for the peripherals market are shown in Figure 4 for the annual periods ending with Q1 2010 and Q1 2011 respectively. Market growth was just 6% (unlike the PC market’s 13%). HP gained share, but not as much as Canon: other vendors were squeezed. The rest of the report will be published on the September Issue of Recycling Times.
Martin Hingley Martin Hingley is the owner and Chief Research Officer of ITCandor Limited-a market research company dedicated to reporting on the Information Technology and Communications (ITC) industry. Martin is a veteran researcher of the ITC market. Starting his career with Inteco in 1983, he moved to IDC in 1986 and stayed there until leaving to form his own company in 2009-latterly as its Chief Research Officer. He has extensive experience in researching, analysing and reporting the ITC market at a country, regional and worldwide level. His key focus has been hardware products such as PCs, servers, enterprise networks, thin clients and peripherals.
www.recyclingtimes.com.cn | August 2011
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Recycling Times Magazine
Market Data
IDC: China’s overall printing consumables market will grow 11.2% in 2011 Source: IDC China The recovery of the Chinese economy in 2010 has brought new opportunities for the printing consumables market in 2011. According to IDC ’s report on The Fo r e c a s t a n d A n a l y s i s on the Chinese Printing Consumables Market 2010 to 2015, the revenue of the consumables market in 2010 reached CNY 9.62 billion (about USD 1.49 billion), with a modest growth of 3.0% in the shipment of inkjet cartridges, and a much larger growth of 10.5% for the toner cartridges which had a poor showing in 2009. An increase in printer ownership and the gradual recovering economy are the major reasons for IDC’s positive forecast for the consumables industr y. IDC predicted that the shipment of inkjet and toner cartridge will be able to maintain a five-year compound growth rate of 10.6% and the revenue of 2015 could reach CNY 14.22 billion (about USD 2.21 billion). Huo Yuanguang, the senior analyst with the PCs and peripherals market research department of IDC China, commented that the financial crisis has generated great changes to the structure of the inkjet cartridge segment. Before the crisis, the market segment was structured with the mainstream brands and a few smaller brands, but now the segment is dominated by three major players, HP, Epson and Canon. As for the toner cartridge segment, it was more complicated with intensifying competition between OEMs and general consumables manufacturers triggered by the opening of governmental procurement.
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In the next five years, the printing consumables market in China should maintain a growth momentum while demonstrating the following characteristics:
Photo printing will become the mainstream of the inkjet market segment, and CISS will have large potential. Inkjet printers will still be used for document printing and the popularization of commercial inkjet printers will bring further development for this segment as well. The improvement of ink technologies and inkjet printer’s speed and quality will greatly enhance the demands on photo printing, while the segmentation in home and professional inkjet printer market will continue. Photo printing generally uses 20 times more ink than document printing. The cost of ink makes up the largest proportion of the total costs for photo printing, and therefore the CISS (Continuous Ink Supply System) with excellence cost-effectiveness, is a popular option among users. The improvements in the quality compatible ink and the stability of CISS have facilitated the popularization of CISS, which consequently has become a booster for photo printing.
Recycling Times Magazine
Market Data
The continuous growth of ownership of laser printers will guarantee a compound growth of 17.5% in the toner cartridge segment from 2010 to 2015 Toner cartridges are among the few high growth IT products. In the next five years, the laser printer and MFP ownership should maintain a compound growth rate above 10%. Such a strong growth will cause an even larger demand for toner cartridges, and the compound growth rate of toner cartridge could eventually reach 17.5%.
New opportunities for general consumables manufacturer generated by the change of governmental procurement China has become the largest production base of general consumables in the world. Following the promotion campaigns by their manufacturers, the domestic sales of general consumables has expanded, and formed a stable market structure featuring several leading large enterprises and dozens of medium companies. The overall strength of the compatible manufacturers as well as the quality of their products has improved, which is favorable for the standardization and scaling-up of the whole industry. More importantly, China is actively adopting
environmental friendly, green and energy-conservation policies, which facilitate the change of governmental procurement system. From the second half of 2009, the joint contracting system previously used in the governmental procurement of printers and printer consumables, was changed to the separated contracting system which now permits consumable manufacturers to compete with OEMs for the separated consumables governmental contracts. And because several compatible manufacturers have since won governmental biddings, the new system for offering contracts now will provide a significant influence on the industry, bringing new opportunities for consumable manufacturers. The stable development of the overall peripheral market has given a good environment and opportunity for the printing consumables market. With the help of their technological dominance and their initiative with product upgrading, the OEMs will maintain their strong position in the market. However, the general consumables manufacturers should also be able to enjoy the new development opportunities brought by the separated contracting system. As for counterfeit consumables, the new anticounterfeit technology of the OEMs as well as the strengthening of law enforcement should see this illegal segment of the market suppressed, which can only help provide a healthier market.
www.recyclingtimes.com.cn | August 2011
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Recycling Times Magazine
Tech Zone
Remanufacturing the Samsung ML-2525 toner cartridge By Mike Josiah and the Technical Staff at Uninet Imaging First released in Januar y 2009 the Samsung ML-2525 series of printers are based on a 24 ppm engine with a maximum resolution of 1200 x 600 dpi. The first page out is stated to be under 10.0 seconds. Depending on the model number, other options/specs are available. The MLT-D105L/S cartridges do not have a drum cover, and come new with a piece of heavy paper with a thin sheet of foam on the inside taped around the cartridge. (See Figure 1) All new cartridges opened so far have shown some toner leakage on the drum that would have shown on any prints for at least a few pages. These cartridges while look similar to other Samsung Cartridges have taken a dramatic change in that there are no screws in the outside of the cartridge at
all. There are plastic rivets that need to be cut off, holes drilled and screws installed to hold them back on. It’s not a hard process and it’s covered completely in the instructions. See Figure 2 The standard cartridge (Samsung Part MLT-D105S) is rated for 1,500 pages. The HY cartridge (Samsung Part MLT-D105L) is rated for 2,500 pages. As with pretty much all cartridges these days the cartridge has a chip and it has to be replaced each cycle. The OEM chips are regional so be sure to get the proper chip for your region. These machines when new ship with a 1,000 page starter cartridge. The MLT-D105S has a list price of USD 62.99 and the MLT-D105L has a list price of USD 74.99(Pricing as of September 2010).
▲ Figure 1
▲ Figure 2
There are quite a few machines that use this cartridge. • ML-1910
• ML-1915
• ML-2525
• ML-2525W
• ML-2580N
• SCX-4600
• SCX-4623F
• SF-650
• SF-650P
Cartridge troubleshooting will be listed at the end of these instructions Required Tools
Required Supplies
• Toner approved vacuum.
• Samsung ML2525 Toner
• New doctor blade (Optional)
• A small Common screw driver
• New ML-2525 replacement chip
• Conductive grease
• A Phillips head screwdriver • Needle nose pliers
(Check for the proper region)
• 99% Isopropyl alcohol
• New OPC drum (Optional)
• Drum lubricating powder
• New developer roller (Optional)
• Small tube of Silicone caulk
• New PCR (Optional) • New wiper blade (Optional)
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Recycling Times Magazine
Tech Zone
1
step >
Place the cartridge with the handle up, facing towards you. With the chisel blade knife, slice off the heads of the 3 plastic rivets. Leave the end cap in place for now.
2
step >
On the left side end cap take the chisel blade knife and slice off the heads of the 4 plastic rivets.
4
step >
6
step >
step >
While still on the left end cap, locate the top tab. Press in on the tab, and remove the end cap.
7
3
step >
Remove the drum axle arm from the right or large gear side of the cartridge. The drum Axle will most likely come with the arm. Remove it completely.
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August 2011 | www.recyclingtimes.com.cn
step >
On the right side end cap, Remove the remaining arm and press in on the top tab and remove the end cap.
5
Remove the gears.
Separate the two halves slightly, and lift off the middle top cover.
Recycling Times Magazine
Tech Zone
13
step >
Remove both the PCR holders by pressing in on the tabs at the bottom of the holder. These holders need to be removed to allow access to the wiper blade.
Blow off or vacuum the PCR cleaning roller. Install in the waste hopper.
19
Place a small amount of conductive grease in the holders, and install the
PCR.
15
Clean out all the waste toner from the hopper. Make sure the seals are clean.
Remove the drum.
step >
16
Install the cleaned or new wiper blade and two screws.
Remove the PCR from the assembly.
Remove the PCR cleaning roller.
17
Install the two PCR holders. There are slots in the holders that fit over tabs in the cartridge.
step >
step >
11
21
Install the drum and axle from the small gear side of the drum into the waste hopper. Make sure the keyed end of the shaft is on the small gear side.
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On the supply hopper, carefully pry out the fill plug and dump out any remaining toner. The fill plug can be difficult to remove as it is recessed. Take a small common screwdriver and work it around the edge lifting slightly until it comes loose.
step >
10
20
The large gear side of the drum axle shaft has conductive grease on it. Regardless of if you are replacing the drum or not, clean the old grease off, and replace with new.
step > step >
Remove the two screws from the wiper blade, remove the blade.
step >
9
14
step >
step > step >
18
8
Lift up on the drum/waste hopper and remove. Be careful to hold the drum so it does not become damaged. Remove the drum/waste assy.
step >
step >
step >
Clean the PCR with your normal PCR cleaner. WARNING: Do not clean the OEM PCR with alcohol, as this will remove the conductive coating from the roller. If the PCR is an aftermarket, follow the cleaning methods recommended by the manufacturer. If the PCR is an OEM, we recommend it be cleaned with your standard PCR cleaner.
step >
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Recycling Times Magazine
Remove the developer roller.
28
Install the doctor blade and two screws.
30
Fill the hopper with ML-2525 toner, replace the fill plug and check for leaks.
31
Install the gears as shown. Do not install the large white floating gear yet.
26
Fit both sides of the waste hopper tabs into the toner hopper.
33
Slide the middle top cover/PCR assembly into place. Make sure all the middle tabs fit under the edge of the waste hopper.
27
Clean the Dr. Blade edge so there is no evidence of build up along the edge. If any buildup exists, the cartridge will streak. No chemicals should be used. We have found using a clean ice cream type wooden stick works great for scraping the blade clean without damaging it.
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34
Clean the contacts on the left side end cap, and replace the conductive grease. Snap the end cap into place.
step >
step >
Make sure the doctor blade sealing foam and the developer rollers seals are clean and intact.
step >
32
Clean the developer roller with a dedicated DVR cleaner, and replace into the hopper. Place the long shaft side to the gear side of the cartridge.
step >
Clean out all the remaining toner from the hopper.
step >
25
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Remove the 2 screws from the doctor blade, remove the blade.
29
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step >
24
step >
step >
23
step >
step >
Tech Zone
Recycling Times Magazine
Tech Zone
38
step >
Drill 3 small holes that correspond to the screw size you’re using. Install the three screws into the end cap.
35
Install the large white floating gear on the gear side of the cartridge.
37
step >
Clean the hubs on the gear side end cap, and replace the conductive grease. Snap the end cap into place.
40
step >
To replace the chip, slice the top of the plastic river off with the chisel blade knife. Drill out the plastic rivet with a small drill, remove the cover, and chip.
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Install the two drum axle arms as shown. The white starter drum separator is different since the cartridge is shipped inside the printer when purchased. There is a shipping lock inside the printer that forces you to remove the starter cartridge from the printer in order to remove the printer shipping lock. Once the printer shipping lock is removed the cartridge is then reinstalled. When the starter cartridge is removed, the separator is adjusted to prepare for printing. The standard and high yield replacement cartridges are different in color (black color compared to white in the starter cart.) and shape. The drum separator in the replacement cartridges is adjusted when the cartridge is installed not like the starter cartridge that is adjusted when the cartridge is removed. We recommend you position the White starter cartridge drum separator in the “Used” position this will insure that the drum is at the proper distance from the developer roller.
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Install the new chip and cover, insert a small screw that corresponds to the hole drilled to hold everything in place. It’s very easy when drilling the hole for this screw to drill through into the waste chamber. Place a small amount of silicone caulk in the hole and screw before install the screw.
step >
36
step >
step >
step >
Drill 4 small holes that correspond to the screw size your using. Install the four screws into the end cap.
www.recyclingtimes.com.cn | August 2011
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Recycling Times Magazine
Tech Zone
Common Cartridge Problems Repetitive defect chart:
Printing test pages
Upper heat roller
77.5mm
OPC drum:
75.6mm
Lower pressure roller
75.4mm
Supply roller
49.0mm
Transfer roller
47.0mm
PCR
37.5mm
Developer roller
35.0mm
Demo Page: With the printer in the Ready State, Press and hold the cancel button for about 2 seconds until the status LED blinks slowly. Release the button. Configuration Page: With the printer in the Ready State, Press and hold the cancel button for about 5 seconds until the status LED blinks fast. Release the button. Cleaning Page: With the printer in the Ready State, Press and hold the cancel button for about 8 seconds until the status LED blinks fast. Release the button. Supplies Status Page: With the printer in the Ready State, Press and hold the cancel button for about 10 seconds until the status LED blinks fast. Release the button.
Mike Josiah Mike Josiah is the East Coast Technical Director at Uninet Imaging. A global distributor of toner, OPC drums, wiper blades and other supplies. An industry veteran since 1987, Mike is a member of ASTM committee F.05, the STMC Technician Certification Committee as well as an STMC trainer. He regularly contributes articles and teaches seminars at association meetings and trade shows.
Exhibition Time Table September 15th to 17th, 2011 Paperworld China
October 13th to 16th, 2011 Hong Kong Electronics Fair (Autumn Edition)
Shanghai, China
Hong Kong, China www.gd-dzsh.com
January 28th to 31st, 2012 Paperworld Frankfort, Germany www.messefrenkfurt.com
China Souring Fair
October 15th to 19th, 2011 Canton Fair
March 6th to 8th, 2012 Paperworld Middle East
Hong Kong, China
Guangzhou, China
Dubai, UAE
www.chinasourcingfair.com
www.cantonfair.org.cn
www.paperworldME.com
October 12th to 15th, 2011
October 13th to 15th, 2011 CIFEX|RemaxAsia Zhuhai, China www.visitremax.com.cn 48
August 2011 | www.recyclingtimes.com.cn
CIFEX | RemaxAsia 13-15 Oct 2011 huhai China
Zhuhai China www.visitremax.com.cn
March 22nd to 24th, 2012 ReIndia Expo Bombay, India www.rechargermag.com