Recycling Times Magazine
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RecyclingTimes The magazine by the industry, for the industry.
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Publisher & Managing Director Tony Lee +86 (0)756 3919260 Directors David Gibbons +86 (0)756 3919261 Sabrina Lo +86 (0)756 3919266 Editorial Consulting Editor Art Diamond Editors Johanna Breen Lu Di +86 (0)756 3919268 translator@therecycler.com.cn Tina Chou +86 (0)756 3959286 editor03@therecycler.com.cn Sophia Jiang editor@therecycler.com.cn Jane Yu magazine03@therecycler.com.cn Designer Miracle Wei design@therecycler.com.cn Sales Sales Manager Anna Leung +86 (0)756 3919266 Account Manager Kevin Zhu +86 (0)756 3919265 Sales Executives Sally He +86 (0)756 3919263 Tobee Deng +86 (0)756 3919282 Susi Guo +86 (0)756 3959299 Operation and Marketing Operation Manager Charles Lee +86 (0)756 3919267 Operations Assistant Sunny Zhang +86 (0)756 3959282 Accounting Betty Li +86 (0)756 3919269 Joy He +86 (0)756 3919262 Marketing Supervisor Jessica Yin magazine@therecycler.com.cn +86 (0) 756 3919264 Tracy Zhang +86 (0)756 3959283 Jeven Zhang +86 (0)756 3919272 Published by Recycling Times Media Corporation
H
P appears to be going through troublesome times. Recently, they settled two consumer class actions by giving USD 5 million worth of internet credits for new HP printers and consumables. They ceased production on “hard stop” laser printers, which stopped printing once the cartridge chip deemed the cartridge to be empty—even when it wasn’t. This case reminds me of a similar one in China in 2007, when a consumer sued Epson over a “hard stop” inkjet printer that stop printing even when there was still 30.9% black ink and 58.2% CMY inks remaining in the cartridge. HP has lifted a rock only to drop it on its own feet. Coincidentally, a Chinese consumer expressed his discontent about OEM practices in the Nan Fang Daily. “Dan Sheng Dao” (a pen name) described his terrible experience as a consumer using a printer. He said outrageous consumable prices make the long-term use of OEM products unrealistic. He believed high quality third-party supplies should be readily available as a first choice in such a situation. But many OEMs have locked thirdparty consumables out by integrating the print-head with the cartridge, among many other technical strategies. Of course, he is discontented with such competitive strategies by the OEMs. He believes the OEM lockout strategy is an unreasonable profit model which is not only destined to fail, but also will kill the development of printers into the future as well. But back to our troubled protagonist, HP has announced it is considering spinning off its PC business, ceasing its webOS operations and acquiring of Autonomy in its 3Q11 financial report published on August 18 (please refer to our coverage in OEM news). HP’s shareholders have responded to these strategic moves with their shares—one of the largest drops of HP’s stock price, and the highest discontent sentiment in 13 years. Worries about a spreading of negative influence to HP’s IPG are certain, but the bad performance of HP could be good news for its competitors, especially Canon. According to Gfk’s retail tracker, Canon’s inkjet business took 39% of the market share in 30 Chinese cities in June—and actually gave Canon the leading market share in 15 of these cities. With 36% of market share in the inkjet MFP market, Canon is also in hot pursuit of HP in this sector, aiming for first place by the end of 2011. From a global perspective, the printer market experienced slowdown in 2Q11, while the emerging market maintained good momentum with a 6% year-on-year quarterly growth, and a record 7 consecutive quarters of growth too! In developed economies, printer shipments recorded the first negative growth since 1Q10. So we can clearly see the emerging market is increasingly becoming more important as the driving force for the printer and printer consumables market.
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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
Catching up with color If you are seeking a growth market opportunity, look no further than color printing. While monochrome toners offer razor-thin profit margins, chemical color toners provide a rich return on investment.
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Just a Minute
4
Technical developments in inkjet printing
MPS for the little guys
From the continuous and thermal drop on-demand inkjets to the high resolution piezoelectric drop ondemand array inkjets of today, the growth of inkjet both in sales volume and scope of applications continues to grow rapidly.
Money From Home
5
Catching up with color
MPS compliant - analysis of printer/ copier models This NubePrint report measures to which extend the most frequent network printer and copier models are MPS ready. Based on actual data from printer models in a life MPS environment, the analysis is independent to OEMs.
Industry Updates
8 10
IDC: worldwide hardcopy peripherals market slows in 2Q11 All-in-one laser printer sales climb Laser printer technology for anti-malaria project
11
Monochrome laser printer market prepares for revival Certain MFPs vulnerable to hacking
12
Van Klaveren celebrates 18 year anniversary
OEM News
19 20
Features
Product Release
14
Pelikan releases color toners for OEMs
Highly durable photoreceptor drum from Kyocera Canon invests RMB 1 billion in color laser printer base in China
Sinobase invests in a cartridge remanufacturing plant
Affordable digital printing press launched by ECRM
New OKI passbook printer launched in China
22 26
Global remanufacturing industry general assembly Technical developments in inkjet printing
Goat Labs offers new PCRs
15 16
Profiles
OCP releases inks for Brother LC-1220 and LC-71 cartridges Katun releases toners for Kyocera and Toshiba
30
Sweet fruits from meticulous culturing
ILG launches leak-free alternative color cartridge for Dell China Eternal releases new Minolta and Ricoh parts
Market Data
34
MPS compliant - analysis of printer/copier models
OEM News
18
HP Q3 financial report: IPG revenue down 1% year-onyear
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HP unveils several innovations in China
Tech Zone
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Remanufacturing the Brother HL 2240/2270 series toner cartridges TN-420 & 450 October 2011 | www.recyclingtimes.com.cn
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Recycling Times Magazine
Just a Minute with David Gibbons
MPS for the little guys Managed Print Services—also known as MPS—is the new buzz word in the computer printing industry. But actually it has been around a while. Consumers are the winners because they can have their fleet of copiers, printers, multifunction devices, and fax machines better managed, and save a lot of money too. Essentially, it is another strategy used by the OEMs to capture and keep the print consumables market. Canon, HP, Konica Minolta, Kyocera, Lexmark, Océ, OKI, Ricoh, Sharp, Toshiba and Xerox have all invested heavily into MPS. Retailers like Staples and Office Depot along with other third party consumables suppliers have also moved into the MPS arena to stop the erosion of their consumables sales—some having reported significant reductions. But the other day, I read a blog by John Pulley—a print marketing strategist who works with managed print services. What I read between the lines is that companies delivering MPS need to remember that they
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are not just delivering consumables online. Customers and consumers are real people who expect real service. There is a risk, I believe, that the large companies— which have installed sophisticated software to manage the flow of toner and paper, and correspondingly send through an invoice every month—may be overlooking a basic sales principle. Keep your face in front of the customer. Pulley suggests that companies which trot out the same pitch on MPS to every consumer may miss out, eventually. You have to “bait your hook” according to the fish you want to catch, he says. Ryan Humphrey, Director of MPS at Parts Now says, “I see many companies that struggle with MPS because they haven’t realized that technology, although critically important, is only part of what’s required to succeed.” Smaller remanufacturers have done this pretty well over the last 20 years. They have got to know their customers personally and have continued to enjoy repeat business with them because they have got to
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).
know what that customer really needs. So there may be an opportunity here, remanufacturers. Don’t let the big boys get all the business. Go and do what you have always done. Go and find a good MPS software package and provide the good old fashioned customer service at the same time. I think the “little guys” could provide a better MPS deal.
Recycling Times Magazine
Money From Home
Catching up with color If you’re seeking a growth market opportunity, look Color toners divided by technology & merket level no further than color printing. While monochrome toners, both mechanical or pulverized (CMT), in Technology bottles, bulk containers or remanned cartridges, offer razor-thin profit margins, chemical color toners (CCTs) provide a rich return on investment. Even more important is the fact that these toners are available today from a variety of reputable sources. Renowned industry consultant Graham J. Galliford (Galliford Consulting & Marketing, Oxnard, California) further divides pulverized CMTs between those that are spheroidized (thermally rounded or reshaped) and non-spheroidized (see accompanying diagram in Figure 1). What is important is that the reshaped CMTs Market level have become more competitive with the CCTs. ▲ Figure 1 Readily available aftermarket color toners are being produced by DPI Solutions, Fujifilm Imaging Colorants, IMEX, Mitsubishi Chemical, pulverized method which, they claim, is able to produce toners that can give the same NAND, and others. Although full color (also known as “process color”) printing using image quality as the chemical color toners currently on the market. In addition, there is now increasingly greater interest in the development and use the subtractive primaries (cyan, magenta, yellow) and black toner can get rather complex, companies like Static Control Components (SCC), Uninet and others of modified conventional pulverized toners. Some of these toners are “spheroidized” are offering valuable technical assistance, training and support to encourage their or rounded after fine grinding and classification to give them a more spherical shape. “There is a growing group of manufacturers,” writes Galliford, “notably those supplying customers to enter this profitable market sector. SCC’s “View On Demand” webinars are free to customers and available 24/7. They the aftermarket but including some OEMs that manufacture such products. They claim afford a unique method of getting detailed technical information without the necessity much improved performance of these toners in terms of transfer efficiency and toner of leaving your home or office, or incurring costly travel expenses to attend a course or page yield. Companies involved in this type of technology include Coates Toners, IMEX, Punch Graphix, Tomoegawa and Trend Tone Imaging.” seminar. Production volume of CCT is increasing at a large rate. As current manufacturers expand to produce more CCT, more OEMs and third party toner manufacturers Color Toner Trends Galliford reports that some manufacturers are starting to produce smaller particle size are developing CCT products and business ventures. In 2010, Galliford estimates pulverized toners than previously available. Kao, for example, has launched pulverized (see Figure 2), the production share of CCT reached about 22% of total color and color CMT with a median diameter of 5.5 microns. This is made by their new modified monochrome toner production worldwide. “This share will continue increasing steadily and is expected to reach about 26% in 2015” he noted.
▲ Figure 2
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CCT Market Players Galliford reports that there are 14 manufacturers producing color chemical toner. This includes Samsung Fine Chemicals which began production and shipments of CCT for Samsung's color LBPs in May 2010. Samsung reportedly intends to offer their CCTs to the aftermarket as well. LG Chemical also has a plan to commence production of its suspension polymerized toner sometime this year. By country, there are currently six Japanese, two US (Xerox and Lexmark), one Indian, (NAND ipl), two Chinese, one Taiwanese, one Malaysian and two Korean CCT manufacturers. Out of these, there are only a handful of independent CCT producers that supply the aftermarket, though the number is increasing. The high level of know-
Recycling Times Magazine
Money From Home how and specialized and novel technologies required mean that the barriers for new entrants to this niche market are very high. Chemical toners are the subject of a significant amount of intellectual property and there are certainly issues a third party chemical toner manufacturer must consider to avoid violating existing patents, whether they are owned by OEMs or other assignees. The vast majority of these independent CCT manufacturers are in Asia. There is only one outside Asia (Fujifilm Imaging Colorants) and this company is Japanese-owned. All of these independent CCT manufacturers have limited production capacity. The combination of high demand and limited supply, however, warrants a very thick margin on such products, hence the vast appeal to toner makers. Looking Ahead Evolution and growth of the cartridge component industry has led to the entry of toner, OPC and component manufacturers into each others’ markets. These crossovers have occurred either by manufacturing or distributing another company’s products.
Examples include toner producers distributing chips and OPC makers producing toner. It is clear that ultimately the cartridge user market will be served by a combination of major remanufacturers working with cartridge distribution companies (including supplies superstores, catalog houses and web-based marketing companies.) These companies are currently suppliers to other remanufacturers and to major accounts such as supplies superstores and catalog houses. As such enterprises grow and gain market share greater pressure will come to bear on pricing and sales terms. Consequently, it is becoming more important to focus on high profit offerings, such as, color toner cartridges. This will prove essential for the survival of the entire manufacturing and distribution chain. However, Galliford notes that, “Appropriate color toners are and will continue to be available is not the major issue at hand. More, it is the ability of the industry to integrate all of the necessary components of the color toner cartridge to provide the user with reliable high quality and cost effective alternatives to the OEM. That, in my opinion, is the key to the future growth of this market.”
Arthur S. Diamond Art Diamond is a 56-year veteran of the 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.
October 2011 | www.recyclingtimes.com.cn
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Recycling Times Magazine
Industry Updates
IDC: worldwide hardcopy peripherals market slows in 2Q11
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merging markets were a key bright spot in the overall hardcopy peripherals (HCP) market in the second quarter of 2011 (2Q11), with unit shipments up 6% year-over-year for the seventh consecutive quarter of growth. In contrast, the developed regions recorded the first quarter of negative shipment growth since the first quarter of 2010 (1Q10), resulting in a year-over-year decline of 0.3% in the overall HCP market. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker, the worldwide HCP market saw shipments of nearly 29 million units in the second quarter with inkjet continuing as the dominant technology at 63% share. While the HCP market is largely shaped by Japanese manufacturers, in terms of both hardware and consumable supplies, Phuong Hang, program manager, Worldwide Hardcopy Peripheral Trackers, expects production decline resulting from the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake in March to be short term..
Technology Highlights • With more than 18.3 million units shipped, 2Q11 witnessed the lowest inkjet shipments since 2Q09. Laser,
on the other hand, enjoyed 4% year-over-year growth in unit shipments and gained 1 percentage point to 32% share over the same time period. • Monochrome laser continued its positive performance from the last six quarters in the second quarter with 5% year-over-year growth and close to 7.9 million units shipped. All regions except Western Europe and the US saw year-over-year growth in monochrome shipments, with Latin America leading the pack at 30%. • Color laser posted a decline of 3% year-over-year in unit shipments, the first negative trend since 2009. With close to 1.5 million units shipped in 2Q11, the best performance region for color laser was Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) (APeJ) with more than 278 thousand units, resulting in 7% year-over-year growth.
Vendor Highlights • HP held the number one position in 2Q11 with a 41.5% market share and over 12 million units shipped. Despite nearly flat year-over-year growth, HP managed to gain one percentage point of market share from a year ago, driven mostly by gains in Latin America and APeJ.
Worldwide hardcopy peripherals market share and yearover-year growth,2Q11 Vendors
2Q11 Unit shipments
1. HP 2. Canon 3. Epson 4. Samsung 5. Brother Others Total
12,007,946 5,630,871 3,546,696 1,722,055 1,617,180 4,404,528 28,929,276
2Q11 Market share 41.50% 19.50% 12.30% 6.00% 5.60% 13.50% 100.00%
2Q10 Unit Shipments
2Q10 Market share
2Q11/2Q10 Growth
11,959,265 5,533,286 4,041,441 1,668,310 1,554,391 4,253,447 29,010,140
41.20% 19.10% 13.90% 5.80% 5.40% 13.00% 100.00%
0.40% 1.80% -12.20% 3.20% 4.00% 3.60% -0.30%
▲ IDC Worldwide Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker, September 2011
US hardcopy peripherals market share and year-over-year growth, 2Q11 Vendors
2Q11 Unit shipments
1. HP 2. Canon 3. Epson 4. Brother 5. Lexmark Others Total
3,059,400 816,042 382,679 356,347 351,606 857,321 5,823,395
2Q11 Market share 52.50% 14.00% 6.60% 6.10% 6.00% 14.70% 100.00%
2Q10 Unit shipments
2Q10 Market share
2Q11/2Q10 Growth
3,502,509 920,154 483,173 364,558 459,011 817,494 6,546,899
53.50% 14.10% 7.40% 5.60% 7.00% 12.50% 100.00%
-12.70% -11.30% -20.80% -2.30% -23.40% 4.90% -11.10%
▲ IDC Worldwide Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker, June 2011
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• Canon continued as the number two vendor with a 19.5% share in the overall hardcopy market, essentially unchanged from a year ago. Canon's share grew 1.8% year-over-year with more than 5.6 million units shipped. Central Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMA) and APeJ were Canon's best performance regions with 14% and 9% growth respectively. • Epson remained the number three vendor in the global HCP market with a 12.3% market share, down two points from a year ago. Shipments fell in most regions, resulting in a 12% year-over-year contraction in 2Q11, the worst trend among the top five. • Samsung strengthened its position as the number four vendor in the total HCP market with a 6.0% share. The vendor grew 3.2% year-over-year and recorded shipments of more than 1.7 million units during the second quarter. • Brother held the number five spot with a 5.6% share, up one percentage point from a year ago and more than 1.6 million units shipped. Brother posted four per cent growth, the best year-over-year trend among the top five.
Notes: • IDC tracks A2-A4 devices in the Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals • Hardcopy Peripherals include single-function printers, printer-based multifunctional systems (MFPs), and single-function digital copiers (SF DC). Data for all vendors are reported for calendar periods. The IDC Worldwide Quarterly Hardcopy Peripheral Tracker provides total market size and vendor share for single-function printers, multifunctional printers (MFPs), and single-function digital copiers (SF DC). The tracker provides insightful analysis along with up to eight-quarter and five-year annual forecasts for both printers and MFPs. Forecast details include units, value, ASV, price band (inkjets) and speed ranges (lasers), and sub-technology information by product per country per region. Regional views are also available for eight regions, including Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan), Canada, Central and Eastern Europe, Japan, Latin America, Middle East and Africa, the United States, and Western Europe. For more information about IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker, please contact Phuong Hang (Phang@idc.com).
Recycling Times Magazine
Industry Updates
All-in-one laser printer sales climb
M
arket research company Context reckons that printer sales across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) have dropped 4.4% year-on-year during the second quarter of 2011. Despite the overall drop, unit sales of all-in-one (AIO) laser printers went against the trend. They climbed 20% year-on-year as buyers moved away from single-function machines. Consumers across Western Europe stopped buying AIO inkjet printers according to Context. ‘Copier-based multi-function printer sales suffered across EMEA’, said Jeremy Davies, CEO and cofounder at Context. ‘This is due to the recessionary effects on businesses which were particularly felt in Western Europe, with a drop in unit sales by 12% in the second quarter of 2011 compared to the previous year.’ At the same time, Context’s report shows that weak consumer demand in Western Europe also affected AIO inkjet sales, which were down 4% in the quarter across EMEA but declining 7% in Western Europe. In Western Europe’s largest economies, results were mixed. Printer sales in France grew 3% yearon-year in the second quarter and both AIO laser and inkjet sales flourished. Germany saw sales drop 8.9%, in Italy they fell 9.2%, while in the UK unit sales dropped by a hefty 15.1%. Worst affected was Spain, where sales fell 17.5% in the second quarter of 2011 compared to last year.
Germany Rank
Spain
Vendor
2Q11
2Q10
Rank
Vendor
2Q11
2Q10
1
HP
38%
33%
2
Canon
20%
26%
1
HP
51%
53%
2
Canon
14%
12%
3
Epson
12%
11%
3
4
Brother
9%
9%
4
Epson
11%
12%
Brother
10%
9%
5
Samsung
9%
8%
5
Samsung
8%
7%
Rank
Vendor
2Q11
2Q10
Rank
Vendor
2Q11
2Q10
1
HP
32%
34%
2
Samsung
19%
15%
1
HP
54%
39%
2
Canon
17%
19%
Italy
UK
3
Epson
16%
21%
3
Epson
12%
20%
4
Canon
15%
12%
4
Samsung
5%
3%
5
Brother
6%
6%
5
Brother
5%
5%
HP maintained its number one position as the About Context Headquartered in London, Context has been vendor with the largest market share in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK for the second tracking the ICT industry since 1983. With satellite offices in many European cities, Context is now the quarter of 2011. In France, HP accounted for 37% of all printer units leading provider of European and US IT facts-based sold in the second quarter of 2011 – down from data and competitive analysis for decision support 40% a year earlier. Epson took second spot with 21% on business and consumer technology markets market share in the second quarter of 2011, followed and channels serving the vendor, user and analyst by Canon, Brother and Lexmark in third, fourth and communities. fifth spot respectively. • Contact details: Context data reveals that the top five General Enquiries Tel: +44 (0)20 8394 7700 vendors by percentage of printer units sold in the second quarter of 2011 in other Press and industry relations major markets were as follows according Funda Cizgenakad Tel: +44 (0) 7876 616 246 to (with comparative second quarter 2010 Email: funda@fundamentalcomms.com percentage share of units in brackets):
Laser printer technology for anti-malaria project
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hooting down mosquitoes with laser printer technology? No, this is no joke. Former Microsoft chief technology officer, now the owner of Intellectual Ventures, Nathan Myhrvoid, has come up with an ingenious idea to apply laser technology used in laser printers to not only identify flying mosquitoes and their gender, but also to shoot down only the female ones. According to CNN World’s interview with
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Nathan Myhrvoid, this idea will be used for anti-malaria projects that have the potential to change the world. He said, ‘People often ask me, “How do you actually steer a laser fast enough to catch a mosquito?” And the answer is in your laser printer – a laser gets beamed very precisely onto potentially millions of different positions on a page in order to print the document. That same little mirror steering mechanism can be repurposed and used to shoot mosquitoes out of
the sky’. The mechanism used nowadays for digital imaging processing in laser printers can be used to track only the female mosquitoes. Shining a laser on a flying bug and measuring its wing beat frequency, size and other parameters, the species and the gender of that bug can be determined. Female mosquitoes that need blood for laying eggs will be shot down while male ones will be spared since they do not live on blood.
Recycling Times Magazine
Industry Updates
Monochrome laser printer market prepares for revival
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he recession hit the single-function monochrome laser printer market hard in 2009. Unit sales fell by about 30 per cent from 2008 levels. But it is predicted that unit shipments will grow slowly through 2013 before declining slightly during 2015. It is expected the adoption of MPS and increased demand for color and MFP devices will have a negative impact on the single-function monochrome laser printer market. Lyra's latest report, Monochrome Single-Function Laser Printer Revival a Short-Lived Affair: Worldwide Forecast, 2008-2015, examines the single-function monochrome laser market in detail. The market is broken out into six categories, including centralized, enterprise, A3 workgroup ($500+), A4 workgroup ($500+), small workgroup ($200 to $499), and small office/home office (SOHO) (below $200). Forecast shipments, revenue, and average sale prices for each segment are provided through to 2015. Regional data for shipments in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific and Latin America are also provided. Lyra also recently published Impact of the Recession on High-End Monochrome Laser MFPs: Worldwide Forecast, 2008-2015. In this report, Lyra provides forecasts for the Segment 5 (70-90 ppm) and Segment 6 (90+ ppm) monochrome MFP markets. The recession impacted these segments earlier than it affected lowerend printer markets. Limited access to credit – which occurred in mid2008 – and customers deferring purchases of these expensive machines through 2010 were major factors that contributed to print volumes dropping dramatically in these segments in 2009 and 2010, leaving commercial printers with excess capacity.
Certain MFPs vulnerable to hacking
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ccording to PC World, some multifunction printers (MFPs) on the market are vulnerable to hacker’s attacks and can be a potential threat to the information security of their users. During his presentation at the DefCon 19 conference, security expert Deral Heiland demonstrated how to compromise internetready consumer-grade MFPs, including ones that have scanning and faxing functions. What’s more, Heiland says these vulnerabilities are not individual cases, but have been found across all vendors. According to Heiland, even after default passwords have been changed hackers can still gain administrator access to printer by adding extra backslash to the URL. For instance, adding “page=” to a login page URL of a HP OfficeJet Printer can bypass passwords set by administrators and consequently lead to the access of sensitive documents recently scanned or printed. On administration webpages of some printers, the basic coding flaws can expose sensitive information such as passwords in plain text. Heiland explained that using a Firefox browser it is possible to right click a webpage of an HP OfficeJet printer and see the plain text password and the situation is the same with some of the Toshiba models Heiland had tested. Heiland also found that clicking on a homepage tab of a Canon printer’s administrative webpage means the user will receive a cookie that allows hackers retrieve plain text address book information from the printer. Canon has fixed most of its ImageRUNNER line for this vulnerability but two models – the IR3580 and IR4080 – are still open to hacking. Lexmark and Xerox’s printers featuring backup or clone functions can also export their account passwords, while Sharp and Ricoh’s printers can be attacked by intercepting the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) in a sort of man-in-the-middle attack, which can redirect the test pages to hacker and can set the hacker as a valid user. At the end of his talk, Heiland announced the release of PRAEDA, a new penetration testing tool, which can aid the discovery of vulnerabilities on MFPs. This should put pressure on OEMs to patch or fix these problems. October 2011 | www.recyclingtimes.com.cn
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Recycling Times Magazine
Industry Updates
Van Klaveren celebrates 18 year anniversary
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he first company to start collecting empty cartridges in the Netherlands celebrated its 18th anniversary on September 15. Van Klaveren CCC, a Netherlands-based cartridge collector, started out as a remanufacturer and cartridge sales company. In 1993, they were the first to start collecting empty cartridges from consumers in the Netherlands. They have grown to 45 employees busy collecting empty cartridges. In 2010 alone, the company collected more than 3.1 million empties in the Netherlands and Europe. In 2005, Van Klaveren sold its production plant in Bosnia and shifted to the collection of empty cartridges and old mobile phones. The company established a new site in 2010 so they could better serve their customers. In the same year, Van Klaveren added a commercial manager and financial manager to its team. The company became ISO certified. Van Klaveren has registered European trademarks Eeko and Total-Collect and partnered with 14 charities including the World Wildlife Fund to promote environmentally friendly practices.
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Sinobase invests in a cartridge remanufacturing plant
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ong Kong-based Sinobase Group plans to invest in a cartridge remanufacturing factory in Zhuhai, China. Sinobase has set up the new factory, named Zhuhai Dongyue Digital Technology Ltd, to produce remanufactured cartridges. Another factory owned by Dongyue in Shenzhen manufactures compatible, new molded cartridges and components. The 12,000 square meter plant, outfitted with advanced equipment, is capable of producing 150,000 to 200,000 units per month. This means Sinobase can now provide better service for North American and Western European customers. All material and components will undergo a post-manufacturing test protocol. Sinobase says they are very serious about guaranteeing the quality of all products produced in Zhuhai Dongyu.
About Sinobase Group Sinobase is a Hong Kong–based company with a state-of-art, STMC certified factory located in China to serve clients worldwide. It will serve as a single source for remanufactured and compatible toner cartridges.
Recycling Times Magazine
Product Release
Affordable digital printing press launched by ECRM
Pelikan releases color toners for OEMs
E
This color toner has been developed to provide high yields, optimal density, high quality and good fusing properties. It is available in 125g bottles and 10kg bags.
CRM Imaging Systems launched its new affordable digital production press, the DPP1200 digital production press, at Graph Expo 2011 in Chicago (September 11–14). Available for immediate sale, the DPP 1200 is positioned to deliver commercial quality color output to meet the demands of commercial printing. The system offers economically-priced digital printing as a supplement to ECRM’s current print production offerings. This new digital press is capable of producing high-quality business cards, posters, brochures, magazine covers, real estate pages and much more in line screens up to 175 lpi (lines per inch). ECRM demonstrated the new print system at the Graphics of the Americas show in February and the On Demand show in March, as well as at an open house with the company’s European dealer in April. Each exhibit received positive reviews. At Graph Expo, ECRM launched the DPP 1200 as a complete workflow solution for as little as US$300 a month. It is now available through ECRM’s worldwide distribution channels. John Marzec, Director of Product Management, says that ECRM’s DPP 1200 allows the printer to use a common workflow to drive both the DPP 1200 and a CTP for conventional offset printing. The DPP 1200 makes high-quality digital printing a reality for any commercial printer as it offers a low cost of entry and a very affordable cost per page.
About ECRM ECRM Imaging Systems is a global leader in imaging technologies for the graphic communications industry. For over four decades ECRM has successfully applied a broad range of optical, imaging, laser, and digital-electronic technologies to meet the business needs of its customers. Today, ECRM is the patented flatbed violet laser-imaging technology leader. The Massachusetts-based company has sold and supported more than 5,000 computer-to-plate devices and over 27,000 imagesetters in 110 countries around the world. ECRM's Tewksbury, MA facility in the US is ISO 9001:2008 certified and dedicated to maintaining the highest standards in research and development, design, manufacturing, service, and support.
Color toner for Brother HL-4150 / HL-4570
Color toner for Samsung CLP 310 /315 This color toner is compatible with Samsung CLP 310/315 and CLX 3170/3175 and has been developed and produced in the Pelikan production plant in Switzerland. The new toner features high transfer rates, high yields, low consumption, high density and stable quality. The toner is available in 80g bottles for black, 60g for color and in 10kg bags. For further information or for free samples, please contact the Pelikan customer service department at industry@pelikan.com.
Goat Labs offers new PCRs
G
oat Labs has announced a newly-developed high quality toner and OPC drum combination which aims to provide a consistent quality output for the Lexmark T650 series monochrome printers. The combination has easily passed critical quality tests set by Goat Labs’ Quality, Research and Development team with excellent ratings. When matched with Goat Labs’ toner, the new OPC drum provides an outstanding print quality that exceeds the OEM in black image density (average 1.55). This newly developed combination will satisfy the most challenging end-use customer with excellent deep black prints. Meanwhile, high grade plastic resins used in the toner contribute to the excellent fusing of the matching toner. The following replacement cartridges from Goat Labs are suitable for the Lexmark T650 series. The T650A21E is a standard yield (7,000 pages) cartridge, the T650H11E is a high yield (25,000 pages) cartridge and T654X21E extra high yield (36,000 pages) cartridge. Goat Labs offers the following components for this engine: Code
▲ ECRM DPP 1200
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www.recyclingtimes.com.cn | October 2011
Description Unit/pack Toner, Lexmark 210022 T640/642/644/650/652/654/656, 10 in 10kg/bag and in bottles OPC Drum, OptiPrint II, 100133 Lexmark T650/654/656/ and Dell 5 5230/5530/5535 Cleaning Bar, Fuser, 600050 Lexmark Optra 10 T640/642/644/650/654/656
Recycling Times Magazine
Product Release
OCP releases inks for Brother LC-1220 and LC-71 cartridges
O
CP, the German ink manufacturer, has released new ink products for refilling Brother’s LC-1220 and LC-
71 cartridges. Like the LC-1100, LC-1240 and LC-1280XL cartridges, the Brother LC-1220 and LC-71 also contain Brother’s Innobella inks, which guarantee photo printouts that are accurate in every detail as well as brilliant colors and ideal printing quality. The LC-1220 and LC-71 cartridges have been developed for the new Brother MFC/DCP Printer model
Brother DCP-J725DW, J925DW MFC-J623DW, J825DW
series multifunction printers, which are all equipped with a touchscreen panel for better usability. The OEM page yields of the LC1220/LC-71 cartridges for each of four colors (CMYK) stand at 300 pages at 5% coverage. OCP’s Research & Development department has found the following inks are also suitable for the new LC-1220/LC-71 cartridges:
OEM cartridge
Color/Type
OCP inks
LC-1220BK/LC-71BK
Black pigment
BKP 45
LC-1220C/LC-71C
Cyan dye
C 139
LC-1220M/LC-71M
Magenta dye
M 139
LC-1220Y/LC-71Y
Yellow dye
Y 139
October 2011 | www.recyclingtimes.com.cn
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Recycling Times Magazine
Product Release
Katun releases toners for Kyocera and Toshiba
K
atun Corporation is pleased to introduce a Katun Performance toner kit for Kyocera Mita KM 3050/4050/5050 and TASKalfa 410i-series digital copier/printers. With this introduction, Katun has developed a complete toner kit – including toner cartridge, waste toner bottles, cleaning cloths, etc. – that provides good image reproduction. ‘Katun now offers a new “with chip” version that provides an operational toner gauge and the ability to communicate with MPS systems,’ says Bob Moore, Vice President of product development. ‘In addition, Katun’s cartridge design reduces the chance of toner leakage – a problem that has affected some aftermarket toner kits for these machines. The Katun toner cartridge’s dispensing mechanism also reduces the chance of unwanted toner spillage during the removal process.’ A ‘No-Chip’ version of this product is still available for interested dealers. Katun has also introduced color toners for the Toshiba e-Studio 2820C/4520C-series digital copier/printers.
Katun Performance color toners for use in Toshiba color applications are appropriate for use in departments and workgroups that primarily print business color documents, including spreadsheets, presentations, office memos, etc. These toners offer OEM-equivalent image density, overall print quality and yields, and are excellent for the sharp text and line details necessary to add emphasis to important business documents. ‘Customers will be impressed by the outstanding color reproduction and print performance, featuring OEMequivalent image density, overall print quality and yields plus significant cost savings versus the OEM toner,’ says Moore.
for the office equipment industry. With more than 30 years of expertise, the privately held Katun now serves more than 16,000 customers in more than 135 countries. For more information, visit Katun online at www.katun.com.
▲ Toshiba-C2820-TNR
About Katun Corporation Headquartered in Minneapolis, Katun Corporation is one of the world’s leading suppliers of OEMcompatible imaging supplies, photoreceptors, fuser rollers, parts and other select products and services
▲ Kyocera-3050-TNR
ILG launches leak-free alternative color cartridge for Dell
I
LG (International Laser Group) now offers alternative color cartridges for the Dell 3130cn. The Dell 3130cn compatible cartridges are: 330-1195 black, 330-1199 cyan, 330-1200 magenta and 330-1204 yellow with 9,000 page yields for all colors. The 3130dn printer prints at a fast rate of 25.3 pages per minute (ppm), and has duplex print capability. The Dell 3130dn OEM alternative color series from ILG provides crisp and dark print resolutions with sharp, vivid color output matching that of the OEM.
ILG says its alternative Dell cartridges offer OEM quality at substantial cost savings over OEM pricing. ILG applies the Leak-Guard System to its alternative cartridges. This is a leak-proof system with a durable airtight seal that prevents toner leakage, streaking or toner buildup and assures each cartridge performs to OEM standard. It is said that ILG is the only company in the aftermarket supplies industry to apply the proprietary Leak-Guard System that can eliminate leakage during transport.
With ILG’s quality assurance and two year warranty, the company believes its resellers can offer ILG’s quality OEM performance at compatible pricing. ILG’s recent Dell compatible releases include: Dell 5230/5350 series 330-6968 monochrome, Dell 2330 printer cartridge 330-2667, as well as the color series Dell 3110 colors: 3308093 (black), 330-8095 (cyan), 330-8097 (magenta) and 330-8099 (yellow) compatible cartridges. For more information please call (800) 9372880 ext. 3207 or visit www.ilglaser.com.
China Eternal releases new Minolta and Ricoh parts
C
hina Eternal (CET) has released new drum unit rebuild kits for the Minolta Bizhub C250/252 (with a rated yield of 50,000 pages) and Bizhub C203/253 (with a rated yield of 70,000 pages). The company also now stocks OEM Developers for the Bizhub C250/C252, Bizhub C203/C253/353, Bizhub Pro C5500/6500.
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www.recyclingtimes.com.cn | October 2011
CET has also released a compatible fuser film for iR2535/2545 with a page yield of 100,000 pages. This was developed successfully together with a Japanese professional factory, For Ricoh’s laser printers, CET presents the Ricoh Type MP4500 toner cartridge for the Aficio MP3500/ MP4500 with a page yield of 30,000 pages. This uses
toner imported from Japan. The long-expected drum for Aficio MP9000/ 1100/1350 from Japan is also available, and its page yield can reach 1,000,000 pages. In addition, toner cartridges for HP and Samsung laser printer series’ are available. Product information is available on the CET website at: www.chinaeternal. com.
Recycling Times Magazine
OEM News
HP Q3 financial report: IPG revenue down 1% year-on-year
H
P announced financial results for its third fiscal quarter ended July 31, 2011. It also detailed in separate press releases plans to transform t h e c o m p a n y. R e p o r t s s h o w t h a t H P ’ s Imaging and Printing Group (IPG) revenue declined 1% year-over-year. HP unveiled the details of a plan to accelerate the strategy it introduced in March. The plan introduced will: • move HP into higher value, higher margin growth categories • sharpen HP's focus on its strategic priorities of cloud solutions and software with an emphasis on enterprise, commercial and government markets • increase investment in innovation to drive differentiation. As part of the transformation, HP announced that its board of directors has authorized the exploration of strategic alternatives for the company's Personal Systems Group. HP will consider a broad range of options that may include, among others, a full or partial separation of PSG from HP through a spin-off or other transaction. HP will discontinue operations for webOS devices, specifically the TouchPad and webOS phones which have not met internal milestones and financial targets. HP will continue to explore options to optimize the value of webOS sof tware going forward. In addition, HP announced the terms of a recommended transaction for all of the outstanding shares of Au t o n o m y C o r p o r a t i o n p l c f o r £ 2 5 . 5 0 ($42.11) per share in cash. ‘ We ' r e f o c u s e d o n i m p r o v i n g per for mance across the business’, said Léo Apotheker, HP president and chief e x e c u t i v e o f f i c e r. ‘ H P i s t a k i n g b o l d , transformative steps to position the company as a leader in the evolving
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Q3 FY11
Q3 FY10
Y/Y
Net revenue ($B)
$31.20
$30.70
1%
GAAP operating margin
8.10%
7.60%
0.5 pts
GAAP net earnings ($B)
1.9
1.8
9%
GAAP diluted EPS ($)
0.93
0.75
24%
Non-GAAP operating margin
9.80%
11.20%
1.4 pts
Non-GAAP net earnings ($B)
2.3
2.6
11.40%
Non-GAAP diluted EPS ($)
1.1
1.08
2%
information economy. Today's announced plan will allow HP to drive creation of long-ter m shareholder value through a focus on fewer fronts, thereby improving its ability to execute and invest in i n n o v a t i o n a n d d r i v e a h i g h e r- m a rg i n business mix.’ HP's commercial businesses remain healthy with 5% revenue growth year-overyear. HP's consumer businesses, within PSG and IPG, were collectively down 15% year-over-year. Personal Systems Group (PSG) revenue d e c l i n e d 3 % y e a rover-year with a 5.9% operating margin. PSG remains the PC market leader in terms of units, revenue and profit share. Commercial client revenue grew 9% and Consumer client revenue declined 17%. Imaging and Printing Group (IPG) revenue d e c l i n e d 1 % y e a rover-year with a 14.7% operating margin. Commercial revenue was down 7% y e a r- o v e r- y e a r w i t h commercial printer
hardware units up 1%. Consumer printer hardware revenue was up 1% year-overyear on 7% unit growth. IPG continued to drive innovation and momentum with digital presses and web-connected printers. For the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011, HP estimates revenue of approximately $32.1 billion to $32.5 billion and a GAAP diluted EPS of approximately $0.44 to $0.55. HP expects full year fiscal 2011 revenue to be in the range of $127.2 billion to $127.6 billion, with a GAAP diluted EPS of $3.59 to $3.70.
Recycling Times Magazine
OEM News
HP unveils several innovations in China
H
P held its annual global imaging and printing conference and announced several new innovations, collaborations, apps and solutions for all types of users – from consumers and small to midsize businesses (SMBs), to enterprise organizations and graphic arts customers. HP also announced that customer adoption of its cloud-enabled, web-connected print technologies has reached the mainstream, with more than 10 million printers sold to date. New HP LaserJet printers and Scanjet workstation for businesses of all sizes HP introduced two HP LaserJet printers and an HP Scanjet workstation that facilitate mobility and workflow for businesses. • HP LaserJet Enterprise 600 M601, M602 and M603 printer series – a secure, easyto-use web-enabled monochrome printer series engineered to help businesses increase efficiency and improve document workflow. • HP LaserJet Enterprise 500 color M551 series – an HP ePrint-enabled printer ideal for enterprise and SMB work teams that want professional-quality color and document
management tools. • HP Scanjet Enterprise 8500fn1 Document Capture Workstation – a scanner optimized for workgroups with high-volume scanning needs, featuring an easy-to-use, large color touch screen. Mobile solutions for consumers and businesses HP’s new and enhanced mobile solutions allow people to bring print into their digital lives no matter where they are. • The new HP ePrint Home and Biz app unifies the HP ePrint experience with a mobile app for Apple iOS, Android or Symbian smartphones and tablets, available at no additional cost, making it easy for customers to print documents and photos. • The new HP Printer Control mobile app for Apple iOS devices delivers wireless access and control of a printer through a robust mobile printing experience. Customers can scan photos and documents to Facebook or Google Docs and scan to email from their mobile devices. They also can monitor printer and supplies statuses. • In a mobile printing first for enterprises, the cloud-unified HP ePrint app for BlackBerry
smartphones allows BlackBerry users to print with one app to three cloud solutions: HP ePrintenabled service printers, enterprise service printers and public print service printers. • Through HP’s collaboration with St. Joseph Communications and PrinterOn, mobile printing is now a reality for the more than 32 million annual travelers using Toronto Pearson International Airport, courtesy of new ePrintit Kiosks, the latest addition to HP ePrint Public Print locations. Creating growth in graphics industry Furthering the analog-to-digital transformation in graphics printing, the new HP Wall Art Software-asa-Service offering enables print service providers to diversify their portfolios to include custom wall coverings and artwork. Austin, Texas based New Era is the largest limited-edition fine art publisher, printmaker and artisan framer in the world serving design professionals. The first company to adopt the solution, New Era’s interior design customers can create easy and affordable removable wall art that meets precise sizing and design specifications, expressing their clients’ personal style.
New OKI passbook printer launched in China
O
KI has announced a new passbook printer – the FP21X – for financial institutions in China. It meets
growing demand for automated terminals at Chinese financial institutions and also offers a page mark reading function, the first available in China. The product will be available from December 2011. ‘The trend to automate reception tasks at financial institutions in China in recent years is expected to drive growing demand for automated terminals. This new passbook printer offers page mark reading functions and is capable of handling high-resistance
magnetic stripes’ says Shinya Kamagami, Executive Officer and General Manager of the Systems Hardware Division at OKI. The newly-developed FP21X printhead incorporates printing technologies previously applied only for high-end and high-speed models and a printhead pin drive optimized for highspeed print throughput. OKI manufactures electronic parts such as the printhead, sensors and motors, as well as major parts such as power units and page mark reading units itself. The overall quality of the device, from components to final product, can therefore be centralized, resulting in a qualified product. October 2011 | www.recyclingtimes.com.cn
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Recycling Times Magazine
OEM News
Highly durable photoreceptor drum from Kyocera
K
yocera Corporation has announced the availability of its Kyocera Mega Surface Series amorphous silicon (a-Si) photoreceptor drum, which offers record durability as a core component in electrophotographic printing equipment – including laser printers and multifunctional products (MFPs). The A4-sized a-Si dr um is now available for shipment to equipment manufacturers worldwide. The new product represents an industry first in successfully employing a hard amorphous carbon (a-C) thin film to form the drum’s surface-protecting outer layer. In Kyocera’s own testing, this development makes it possible for a single A4 drum to print approximately one million sheets – more than triple the life of Kyocera’s conventional A4 a-Si photoreceptor drum, which was already the industr y ’s most durable, with a lifespan estimated by Kyocera to be approximately 300,000 A4-sized sheets.
The film employed as a surface-protecting layer in the new series provides hardness and durability that were impossible to achieve previously due to the difficulty of forming thin film coatings evenly on the surface of a drum. Kyocera has become the first in the industry to achieve an even formation of a-C thin film on the drum’s surface using its proprietary DC discharge technology. A s w e l l a s h i g h d u r a b i l i t y, t h e n e w product also lowers energy consumption by eliminating the use of drum heater. Humidity reduces print quality in many types of imaging equipment. To prevent this, a drum heater is often installed to warm the unit’s photoreceptor drum. However, Kyocera’s a-Si photoreceptor drum provides highquality printing even in humid conditions by optimizing the thin film composition of the drum’s surface-protecting layer, eliminating the need for a heater, and reducing power consumption.
Kyocera will continually improve the per for mance of its a-Si photoreceptor technology to meet customer demand for higher-resolution printers that are smaller, faster, more durable and more powerefficient. The thin-film technology may be applied to the company ’s entire line of photoreceptor dr ums in the future, including negatively charged drums and large-dimension units with greater length and/or diameter. Further, the company plans to expand this technology from office document equipment to commercial printing applications that require high-speed, highresolution printing.
Canon invests RMB 1 billion in color laser printer base in China
C
anon has furthered its investment in China’s Pearl River Delta by investing RMB 1 billion in Zhongshan City for a manufacturing project. According to a director of the Zhongshan Torch Development Zone, the administration committee has signed a cooperation deal with
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Canon Inc. already and Canon will construct a mega production base that will mainly engage in the manufacturing of high-end color laser printers, with an estimated annual output of over RMB 12 billion when put into operation in 2012. Canon has conducted operations in
Zhongshan City since 2001 with the establishment of Canon (Zhongshan) Office Equipment Co., Ltd in the same development zone. Initially Canon (Zhongshan) was manufacturing laser printers and their components. Currently it has become an important manufacturing base for Canon’s high- and medium-end monochrome and color printers, accounting for 20% of Canon’s total output. Canon (Zhongshan) has already done well. By 2006, it had made 50 million laser printers, and become one of companies with the largest revenue in the city. It has been granted the Prominent Export Contribution Award by the Guangdong provincial authority, and has been listed one of Top 100 printer exporters in China.
Recycling Times Magazine
Features
Global Remanufacturing Industry General Assembly See our industry from a global perspective With the success of its charter event held last year, GRIGA will again rally in Zhuhai on October 12, 2011. Organized by the Recycling Times Media Corp., the annual GRIGA event is an international conference for the global cartridge remanufacturing industry. Its mission is to convene national leaders to enhance worldwide understanding of trends, directions and standards aimed primarily at the growth of our industry. Other goals are to promote eco-friendly, remanufactured products and to educate consumers, businesses and government agencies on the economic, environmental, and employment benefits of remanufacturing. By publicizing the remanufacturing philosophy and by uniting leaders in many nations, GRIGA's efforts will consolidate the industry, enable it to speak with one voice, help sustain a robust demand for remanufactured imaging products around the globe and develop policies and promotional efforts that will result in an expansion of our industry's current market share. Three important features highlight this year's GRIGA event: A Gathering of Industry Leaders from the Four Corners of the World GRIGA 2011 will be co-chaired by two iconic leaders of the cartridge remanufacturing industry, Art Diamond, an imaging industry veteran with 56 years of experience, and Arnald Ho, Chairman of Print-Rite Holdings Ltd as well as Chairman of the Consumable Committee of the China Computer Industrial Association. In the presence of the two chairmen, the organizer, industry experts, trade associations and news media, industry players from around the world will again gather in Zhuhai to discuss key issues facing this dynamic, growth industry. Planned for this year’s GRIGA event, those industry experts sharing their knowledge and insight include imaging industry market research expert, Charles Brewer, renowned US patent attorney, Ed O’Connor, and international marketing expert, Sharon Williams, will detail the latest market data for the imaging industry, the legal information related to printer consumables, and the marketing strategy to improve the position of
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www.recyclingtimes.com.cn | October 2011
remanufactured products in the consumer market. National leaders of industry associations as well as regional industry media from Australia, China, India, Spain, Russia, UK and US, etc, will present updated market information for their respective home countries. Key industry players attending the assembly include Clover, Future Graphics, IMEX, Integral, LG Chemical, Mito, Ninestar, Print-Rite and Static Control Components, among many others. To meet and share knowledge with all these industry leaders in a single day, GRIGA is truly a unique and most valuable gathering for everyone in the remanufacturing industry. An Interactive Meeting Format This year, GRIGA will adopt a more collaborative program, featuring keynote speeches and on-site Panel Discussions. The new format is aimed at facilitating a more interactive experience than with conventional meetings. Open discussions and debates will be able to provide the ideal opportunities for audiences to engage in the probing of critical issues, such as color printing, firmware upgrades, Managed Printing Services, chemical color toner, biotoner, and educational efforts to promote remanufactured products. A Consumer Education Campaign Against a backdrop of global economic recession, surging costs, suppression by OEMs and cut-throat competition among remanufacturers, the tremendous pressure faced by the remanufacturing industry can only be resolved by uniting all members, and by jointly seeking a breakthrough in our
Recycling Times Magazine
Features consumer education program, in order to win a greater share of aftermarket sales. At GRIGA 2010, a consensus was reached that the remanufacturing industry should join forces to launch consumer education initiatives, in order to improve our image and to gain a greater market share. After a year of continuous efforts, Recycling Times has managed to finish the first promotional video clip and will present it to our distinguished guests at GRIGA 2011. Meanwhile, marketing expert Sharon Williams will also elaborate on her insights and suggestions concerning consumer education. It is hoped that these efforts can facilitate the unity of all players in the industry to actively respond and participate in the educational program, which is a critical issue for the future of the entire remanufacturing industry. Profile of GRIGA’s Co-Chairmen Art Diamond President, Diamond Research Corporation Art Diamond is a 56-year veteran of the imaging industry, having worked in this field continuously since 1955. He is currently President of Diamond
Research Corporation (DRC), a high technology consulting and chemical engineering firm he formed in April 1968 specializing in toner, ink jet ink and media R&D, production and marketing. Diamond was also Chairman of The Tiara Group, LLC a trade show management firm he spun off of DRC on July 1, 2001 to perpetuate a series of seminars and trade shows held in Australia, Belgium, China, Mexico, Switzerland and the USA since 1984. Diamond holds 15 US patents in the field of reprography. He has authored more than 75 articles, talks, and publications relating to imaging materials and processes. He is Editor of the reference text, Handbook of Imaging Materials first published in July 1991 by Marcel Dekker, Inc. The Second Edition was released in January 2002. Arnald Ho Chairman, Consumable Committee of the China Computer Industrial Association Chairman, Print-Rite Holdings Ltd Arnald Ho is the Chairman of the Consumable Committee of the China Computer Industrial Association and Chairman of Print-Rite Holdings, the world’s leading and largest player in the aftermarket computer printer consumable industry. He
October 2011 | www.recyclingtimes.com.cn
23
Recycling Times Magazine
Features pioneered the industrial standardization movement which is considered as a major impetus to the rapid development of our industry. He is also an advocate of technology innovation and intellectual property protection as the major driving forces for the future growth of the consumable industry in China. These concepts are firmly put into practice at Print-Rite and have become its core competences. Profile of Key speakers Charles Brewer President, Actionable Intelligence With nearly 20 years covering technology, Mr. Brewer was an editor for Inc. magazine and ComputerWorld. More recently, he was the managing editor of The Hard Copy Supplies Journal, a monthly newsletter on digital imaging consumables published by Lyra Research. In 2008, Mr. Brewer founded his research firm and last year the company launched Action-Intell.com. With 10,000 visitors each month, it has quickly become one of the digital imaging industry's preferred destination sites. Mr. Brewer is a popular industry speaker and regularly appears at events in China, Europe, and North
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www.recyclingtimes.com.cn | October 2011
America; his articles and columns have been featured in all of the leading industry publications. Mr. Brewer also produces research papers and reports about the markets for hardware, toner and inkjet supplies. Ed O'Connor Partner, Trial Group Chair, Eclipse Group LLP Ed O’Connor serves as chair of The Eclipse Group’s litigation department. His expansive career includes ser ving: as a public defender in Palm Beach County, Florida; with the Air Force JAG (Judge Advocate General) office, where he wrote patent applications in computer technology, space exploration and advanced weapons systems; and in the capacity of senior intellectual property and litigation attorney with Intel where he was responsible for managing the organization’s worldwide litigation. Ed O’Connor has represented clients before the United States Supreme Court and the International Trade Commission and has won patent infringement, antitrust, and other intellectual property cases throughout the United States. He is an internationally recognized expert on intellectual property law, with a lecture circuit that includes New York, Los
Recycling Times Magazine
Features Angeles, Zurich, Düsseldorf, Rome, Prague, Shanghai, Zhuhai, and Singapore. He holds a B.S. in physics, calculus minor, from the University of Michigan, and received his J.D. from Indiana University. Sharon Williams CEO, Taurus Marketing Public speaker, trainer, CEO, media commentator, international marketer, entrepreneur, editorial contributor and single mother–Sharon Williams’ experience and knowledge brings an unbeatable combination to GRIGA Panelists also include Graham Galliford Ian Goddard Jan Hagemann Tony Lee Mary Ouyang Velliyur Sankaran Qiu Shengli Zhang Xiping Scott Zang
2011. Ms. Williams is a pioneer in the Australian public relations business. In 1995, after a successful career in marketing and management, she established Taurus Marketing, a boutique, public relations, creative and integrated marketing firm. With clients across the UK, Europe and Asia, Taurus Marketing is now recognized as one of Australia’s highest profile agencies, offering unparalleled levels of service to global corporations including QBE Insurance, KAZ and Napoleon Perdis. Her professional experience includes management training with renowned UK retailer Marks and Spencer, and various marketing management roles in the IT, shipping and travel industries.
Galliford Consulting & Marketing Static Control Components Integral International Recycling Times Media Mito Color Imaging Sankaran Consulting Consumables Committee of Shanghai Computer Industry Association Zhuhai Printer Consumables Industry Association Ninestar Management Co., Ltd. More to be confirmed
Conference Program Session 1
9:00-9:05
Welcome speech
David Gibbons
Session 2
9:05-9:20
Opening remarks
Art Diamond
Session 3
9:20-9:35
Session 4
9:35-10:15
Session 5
10:15-10:55 10:55-11:10
Opening remarks Keynote speech 1: Key Trends Shaping Global Hardware and Supplies Markets. Panel Discussion 1: Color Printing & Firmware Upgrade Tea Break
11:10-11:50
Panel Discussion 2: MPS
11:50-12:30
Keynote speech 2: Legal Updates
Session 6 Session 7
12:30-13:30 Session 8
Arnald Ho Charles Brewer
Ed O'Connor
Lunch Break Regional Updates
13:30-13:40
Regional Update: China
13:40-13:50
Regional Update: Eastern Europe
13:50-14:00
Regional Update: India
Gopi Varma
14:00-14:10
Regional Update: Australia
John Duffy
14:10-14:20
Regional Update: Spain
14:20-14:30
Regional Update: UK
14:30-14:40
Regional Update: USA
Charles Brewer
14:40-15:00
Tea Break Panel Discussion 3: Biotoner & Chemical Toner Keynote Speech 3: Global Conversations - The Aftermarket Printer Consumable Industry Panel Discussion 4: GRIGA Consumer Education Program Gala Dinner
Sharon Williams
Session 9
15:00-15:40
Session 10
15:40-16:20
Session 11
16:20-17:30 19:00-21:00
Arnald Ho Aydan Bekirov
Jose Bustamante Neil Coulton
October 2011 | www.recyclingtimes.com.cn
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Recycling Times Magazine
Features
Technical developments in inkjet printing by Dr. Ray A. Work III, President, Work Associates Inkjet has come a long way since the first successful desktop printer, the HP ThinkJe,the airbrush billboard printers from Vutek and continuous industrial marking printers from Markem in the early 1980's. Today the inkjet marketplace is several tens of billions of US dollars in annual sales. As the technology has developed from the continuous and thermal drop on-demand inkjets of the last century to the high resolution piezoelectric drop on-demand array inkjets of today, the growth of inkjet both in sales volume and scope of applications to which it is being applied, continues to grow rapidly. These new wide printhead scanning printers and the emerging full width array presses enable development of viable analog printing alternatives to traditional screen printing, offset printing and other analog printing systems in a wide range of applications. Simultaneously, they are making totally new decorating and patterning applications feasible at the production level. Here we discuss some of the new applications being developed along with the printhead and ink technologies enabling these developments. The Market IT Strategies , a Massachusetts-based consulting firm (www. it-strategies.com), has been following the development of ink jet applications and markets and forecasting their growth
for many years. Below is a chart showing the major ink jet applications and their size. When we think of ink jet printing, we think of desktop applications as it is, by far, the largest sector of the business at this time. It is mature and growing at a very slow rate reflecting replacements and growth in the developing world on a very large installed base. The inks are nearly all waterbased, pigmented black inks with color inks being offered both as pigment- and dye-based versions. Both piezoelectric and thermal ink jet printheads are used with HP being the dominant player using their thermal ink jet technology. Wide Format Ink Jet Wide format ink jet is a term frequently used to describe the equipment rather than the application. In the accompanying IT Strategies chart, Wide Format includes Wide Format Graphics, CAD (Computer-aided-design) and Textile Printing. The cumulative sale of equipment and ink at the manufacturer’s level for these applications exceeds $5.5 Billion US Dollars. The basic equipment used is similar in all these applications, differing only in width and resolution and, in some cases, transport mechanism. Manufacturers adapt the equipment to the specific application and choose printheads and inks specific to that end-use. Applications
Inkjet printing in relative market size context (worldwide 2010 revenues, in billions of US Dollars)
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Features range from engineering drawings to posters, textiles to billboards, art reproduction to wedding portraits and trade show booths to banners. It is clearly in second place in annual revenue. For engineering drawings, graphics and other graphic applications, water-based pigmented inks, which evolved from the desktop application, provide the high resolution and great color gamut required for these types of applications but due to the expense of the coated media required for these water-based inks (e.g., HP Latex and *Sepiax) more and more applications are moving to mild solvent, UV-curable and resin type inks. Vinyl Substrates For billboards and vinyl banners the inks used are designed to work primarily on vinyl substrates and have been based on low boiling somewhat aggressive solvent-based pigmented inks. These were chosen to provide rapid drying on the nonporous uncoated vinyl and to solubilize the plasticizers on the surface of the vinyl to enable the ink to adhere. Vinyl plasticizers are generally organic liquids added to the vinyl matrix to make them flexible. They exude from the vinyl over time and if the binder in the ink has not been able to attach itself to the vinyl structure through the surface plasticizer it will be released over time and ink adhesion will be poor. These inks, though cheap and effective are neither friendly to people nor the environment. As a result, ink chemists have worked to produce "friendlier" inks with higher flash points and less aggressive additives. These "mild" or "eco" solvent inks provide a somewhat safer solution but in most cases with a sacrifice in performance.
UV-Curable Ink Jet Inks Another approach is the use of UV-curable ink jet inks. These liquid inks are solvent-like, comprised of a mixture of monomers, oligomers (dimers, trimers, tetramers) which when printed and exposed to UV light polymerize to form a solid resin. Most UV-curable inks have no volatile solvents and provide good adhesion to vinyl. Just as with solvent inks, porous surfaces are problematic. The ink is absorbed into the porous material in the liquid form so that the UV light cannot reach it, hence the absorbed ink remains uncured. This results in poor adhesion and can present a health risk since the skin should not be exposed to liquid UV-curable inks. However, UV-curable inks present a particularly attractive opportunity for rigid substrates. Direct printing on a flat bed, wide format printer allows the user to avoid mounting and laminating films to rigid substrates. This saves time, materials, space and manpower for the service provider. It is the fastest growing segment of the wide format printer market. As with all ink jet applications, the substrate and the ink need to match so that the final performance meets the customer needs. UV-curable inks require prime coats on substrates like polyolefins (e.g., polyethylene and polypropylene) and glass to achieve good performance. UV- curable inks must also be formulated to suit the end-use application. For example, when printing a rigid board, the cured ink must be scuff-resistant; therefore, a very hard ink is required. On the other hand, when printing a vehicle wrap the ink must be capable of stretching over rivets without cracking upon being applied to a car or truck body. Since the ink is laminated between two pieces of vinyl, scuff resistance is not an issue. Stretchable inks scuff and hard inks crack so two different ink formulations are required to achieve the trade-offs in properties required for these two very different applications. Digital Ink Jet Presses Several companies have developed full width array printhead systems which allow sheet-fed and roll-fed printing in a single pass. Thermal ink jet by HP, piezoelectric ink jet by Oce' (now part of Canon) and continuous ink jet by Kodak are all being used to allow color printing on a web- or sheet-fed press at speeds as high as 75 meters/minute. They are seeking to compete with analog presses as well as toner based presses, such as HP’s Indigo. All use water-based inks and pigment colorant technology. The development of these presses shows that there are few analog printing technologies that will be spared the onslaught of digital ink jet technology. In addition to digital ink jet presses for graphics on paper October 2011 | www.recyclingtimes.com.cn
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Features and film, full width array printhead technology has now been adapted to the printing of various media other than waterbased, organic pigmented inks. One example is the jetting of mineral pigments onto ceramic tiles. This is a 4 to 5 spot color, full width array application as a drop-in replacement for traditional analog printing using silicon roller printing onto the tiles. The inks use the same mineral pigments as in analog printing dispersed in oil but they are ground to a much finer particle size. The tile printing and manufacturing industry is rapidly converting to ink jet and ink jet is expected to exceed analog presses in market share within two years. The Future As applications for ink jet printing technology continue to unfold, several trends are clear. First, there is a shift away from the traditional water-based, pigmented ink jet ink solutions like those used in the desktop printer market. The move is to other technologies to reduce cost by avoiding the need for relatively more expensive coated ink jet media. Second, for solvent printing applications the move is away from the strong solvent inks to inks which are odorless, have higher flash points, contain no HAPs (Hazard Air Pollutants), have little or no VOCs ( Volatile Organic Compounds) and are biodegradable. Much bold advertising claims are being made for inks which are "greener" and "sustainable." The trend will likely continue. Third, perhaps one of the most interesting trends is a move toward resin inks. These are water- based inks which contain more co-solvent than desktop printer inks and more binders. They can be printed like solvent inks on non-porous substrates since the substrate is heated during the printing operation. It is then heated to an even higher temperature after printing to fully cure the ink by evaporating the cosolvent and allowing the ink to form a film much like the drying of latex house paint. This works well on some media but for porous substrates and some plastics a "hold-out" treatment is required to keep the ink on the surface while it
is being dried and cured and to provide a surface to which the resin can bind. The objective with these resin inks is to achieve the performance of a solvent ink by replacing it with a much greener and safer, water-based ink. HP's Latex printers and printers using Sepiax technology are leading the way in this technology. Fourth, UV-curable ink technology is continuing to develop with the implementation of LED (Light Emitting Diode) UV sources to provide cooler, low power curing. The inks and the LED output must be matched to allow curing optimization to achieve printing speeds comparable to traditional UV ink jet printers. Traditional UV ink light sensitivity and the LED UV sources are very different and work continues to improve the curing efficiency so that printing speeds can be maximized. All things considered, the future of ink jet as an alternative to analog printing technologies is bright and the opportunities for its application appear endless. Development activity continues to be brisk, opening a door to opportunities for us all to prosper by providing the appropriate supplies and substrates.
Ray A. Work, III Ray A. Work, III Ph.D., heads Work Associates, a consulting firm specializing in ink jet printing technologies, applications and markets. He worked for more than 28 years in research, research management, business development and business management with DuPont. Dr. Work holds a Ph.D. in physical inorganic chemistry from the University of New Orleans. He can be reached via e-mail at workassociates@comcast.net or visit his Web site www.workassoc.com. Much of this information was presented at the PIRA Toner Conference in Santa Monica, CA earlier this year.
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Profiles
Sweet fruits from meticulous culturing As a professional toner cartridge remanufacturer, Retech Technolog y International Ltd (Retech) has always focused on product quality and client demand. Years of development has given Retech a solid position in the highly competitive toner cartridge market. Recycling Times Magazine was privileged to interview the president of Retech, Mr. Jacky He, to get a closer look at this toner cartridge “incubation center” in Pinghu Town, Longgang Dist, Shenzhen.
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What do you think is the major difference between the domestic and overseas m a r k e t ? A n d i n p a r t i c u l a r, what is Retech’s view on the domestic market? Retech is specialized in the remanufacturing of compatible toner cartridges which perform as well as OEM ones, so we are targeting the high-end market in Europe and America. However, there is a growing potential in the domestic market with China’s development in the last 30 years. There is still an increasing demand for high quality toner cartridges. So we will keep our eyes on the domestic market trends.
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How many employees are now working for Retech? Specifically, we would like to know more about your R&D team. Retech has about 500 employees, 380 of whom are professional workers on the production line. We have a sales team of about 30 employees. In terms of the R&D team, we have about 30 employees as well, all of whom are experienced firstclass engineers in the industry lead by the only STMC certified instructor in China. We have assigned R&D staff to monitor all processes from injection molding to formulation development, from material inspection to product quality control. Retech has formed its own tooling department, which can produce tailor-made new moulds and plastic casings, as well as adjusting plastic tooling in a timely manner to avoid defects.
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▲ Plant overview
3
Tell us about Retech’s production workshops and facilities?
Retech covers about 15 thousand square meters, with a monthly capacity of 300 thousand toner cartridge pieces. We are also looking for a new site so we can expand to 500 thousand pieces per month within two years. Currently our workshops include tooling design, fully automatic injection molding, assembly preparation, semi-automatic toner filling, recycling, mono toner cartridge assembly, color toner cartridge assembly, packaging and testing. All the workshops have airconditioning and constant temperature and humidity systems. Retech has a complete series of quality control systems for the inspection of raw materials, finished products, the environment and packaging. Quality systems are also in place for production including tooling design to injection molding, and from numeric control to semiautomatic toner filling.
Recycling Times Magazine
Profiles
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How can Retech make sure quality of your services? In order to maintain service quality, we provide: • products with stable quality and performance; • one-to-one service with each of our clients through an account manager; • free technical consulting by technicians with good English; • a quick email within 4 hours with any complaints being resolved within 24 hours; As for product quality, we: • strictly implement an ISO 9001 quality management system; • follow the strict quality control procedures right from the time an empty cartridge and components arrive, through the manufacturing, final inspection, packing, storage, 3rd party inspection and quality tracking and improvement processes; • randomly, on behalf of our clients, inspect the products before shipment— we also welcome 3rd party on-site inspections, like SGS, organised by our clients or our clients’ QA engineers in China; • use a system to track each toner cartridge product which has our own unique ID numbering system. We can give a timely solution on any defective products with this ID tracking system; • provide an online, real-time, video monitoring service to our clients to oversee any on-site inspection, random QC, and cargo loading processes. With the help of these product quality control measures, Retech successfully maintained a defect rate less than 0.34% in 2010.
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Can you share with us an example of a real case where you solved a problem for a client? We now have a loyal Spanish client who was not originally buying our products. After winning a toner cartridge bid in his home country, he purchased 1500 Lexmark E250A21A toner cartridges from a supplier in China. However the boxes were missing the sample test prints for each cartridge. It was a breach of quality control. The original supplier could not solve this problem and even started to avoid the responsibility by ignoring contact requests. Facing a tough delivery schedule and a high penalty for contract violation, the Spanish client turned to Retech for help as we are able to provide free technical consulting services.
▲ Workshop
We organized a team to analyze his problem and came to two major conclusions. Firstly, the size of the compatible toner hoppers was a bit smaller than it should have been, so the hopper could not “kiss” the OEM drum unit properly. Secondly, the aging of the spring on the closing door caused a failure of not providing enough support to the toner hopper. Our solution was to add extra support to the toner hopper. However there was no time to modify it. But our technicians came up with a good idea to provide the support needed by sticking a 3.5mm PU foam onto the location where the closing door touches the toner hopper. After repeat testing, the idea was proven to be the required solution. We quickly sent 1500 pieces of PU foam to the Spanish client, together with a detailed instruction of the solution. The problem was solved and the client met the deadline, with no further problems reported for the following two years. It helped him win the bid again each year. Out of gratitude and confidence, the Spanish client has become one of our most loyal clients.
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Retech was certified by STMC in 2009. Can you share the story behind this? Retech set STMC as our target since our establishment. After several years of effort, we had the privilege of Dr. John Wyhof—the former chairman of STMC— giving us systematic training in STMC practices. In 2009, Retech was granted the STMC certificate, and the manager of our laser department, Mr Jerry Ding was also granted an STMC instructor certificate by I-ITC. He became the only Chinese STMC instructor. Since then, Retech’s R&D has upheld the STMC standards and methods. So far, Jerry has contributed all of his time to Retech by leading the R&D team. He is also available, by invitation, October 2011 | www.recyclingtimes.com.cn
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Profiles to provide STMC training for other enterprises.
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How about the corporate culture, as well as the employee training at Retech? The average age of our employees is 23, while the average employee service year in Retech is about 3 years. But the longest serving employees have been here 10 years. With such a young and energetic team, our construction of the corporate culture is centered mostly on employee activities, such as badminton and basketball competition, to strengthen physical health and team spirit. We also run a toner cartridge knowledge contest to encourage employee lear ning. We also encourage and promote a “green” working environment at Retech, with low consumption of water and electricity, and a garden-style green working place. In terms of employee training, our new employees receive orientation on corporate regulations, culture, w o r k f l o w, s k i l l s , b a s i c t e c h n i c a l a n d i n d u s t r i a l knowledge for 2 to 4 weeks. After that, each of our departments conducts internal training courses as well. For instance, the foreign trade dept regularly organizes special courses concerning L/C (letter of credit), sales techniques, and international business etiquette. We also invite external experts or lecturers to give courses to our employees from time to time. For instance, the production department has just invited an external
lecturer to provide a course on fine management.
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We have heard that Retech has selected about 30 employees to train and build an “employee fire fighting team”. Why is this program necessary for Retech? The plastic casing and the packaging materials of toner cartridge are all flammable substances that require special attention. To ensure the safety of our employees and properties, we believe the building of an inter nal “fire fighting team” is important. It improves the overall awareness of fire safety while training our employees how to manage fire accidents and how to escape correctly. Ever y year, Retech conducts fire drills with our employees. We have equipped our offices, workshops, canteen and dormitor y with appropriate fire fighting facilities, which are checked and maintained regularly.
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What is Retech’s view about the balance between production and environmental protection? What about the green economy? Low carbon consumption and environmental protection are major global trends, and Retech as a highend toner cartridge provider bears some responsibility to protect and conserve our planet for future generations. In fact, product manufacturing and environmental protection are not in antithesis with each other. Product manufacturing conducted under eco-friendly principles can deliver a low consumption and high productivity industrial model. Let me illustrate. Retech has been granted an ISO14001 environmental system certificate, and now we strictly follow the standards of the system to set appropriate air conditioning temperature for our office and workshop, to conserve water and electricity, and have installed an advanced dust collection system for a better working environment.
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What are the competitive edges as well as the driving force of Retech? Retech has built up a good reputation— our greatest asset—in the last 10 years, by providing stable product quality, excellence in after-service and reasonable pricing. We believe our goal to become a top consumables enterprise, and belief in constant innovation, is what motivates us. ▲ Dust collection system
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Profiles
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In terms of patent issues, what are Retech’s achievements recently? Retech highly values the patent by constantly and actively participating in R&D. We currently have more than ten new patent applications ready to file with the SIPO (State Intellectual Patent Office).
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▲ Workshop
As a long term player in the printer consumables industry, what do you see for the future in our industry? The printer consumables industr y, I believe, is a promising industry featuring constant development. Following the technological developments, the overall market of our industry will surely become bigger and bigger, which means a bright future for remanufacturers who can provide good quality products.
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Recently, the Korean government said all elementar y and secondar y schools will achieve “paperless teaching” by 2015. What is your response, and how will this impact the printing industry? Paperless teaching will no doubt affect the printing industry, but the actual impact may not be as serious as people believe it to be. Just as newspapers and magazines will not extinct, when facing the popularization of electronic news and magazines. Retech is mainly targeting high-end market with professional clients of Europe and America as major business sources. So I believe Retech will not be seriously affected by the paperless procedure. Yet, I do believe this news is a good reminder to our industr y to be more eco-friendly, innovative and to keep up with the fast advancing world.
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As a provider of finished products, does Retech produce components itself? Will Retech try to complete its industrial chain through acquisition? Producing components and business acquisitions are all possible options for Retech’s future moves, if all the conditions are right at the time.
How about the color toner market? Does Retech have a positive prospect for this
market? Retech has been engaged in the color toner cartridge business for years and we plan to invest even more resources in it. We believe color toner cartridges are a solid, promising market, with a high growth rate.
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Many printer consumables enterprises have targeted emerging markets such as Brazil, Russia and India, etc. How about Retech? Retech started to keep a close eye on these emerging markets 5 years ago. Currently we have some good results from these markets. We have stable clients in these countries now, and we will continue our promotion in order to have find out what other opportunities may exist.
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Does the appreciation of the RMB currency affect the business at Retech? What plans
have been made to reduce the negative impact? The appreciation of the RMB has substantially increased our costs, which consequently affects our profitability. To reduce this negative impact, our technicians and IE engineers tried to optimize the production line and the facility layout to enhance our efficiency. On the other hand, about 20% of our current clients deal in RMB currency. Closing remarks Retech has illustrated the six alphabet letters in its name: Reasonable price, Excellent quality, Top technology, Enjoyable communication, Customeroriented service and High efficiency. These are also the key words which sharpen Retech’s focus on its goals as it journeys as part of the printer consumables industry. After eleven years of relentless efforts and meticulous culturing of its products and reputation, Retech has started to taste some of the sweet fruit rewards in this highly competitive industry. October 2011 | www.recyclingtimes.com.cn
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Market Data
MPS compliant - analysis of printer/copier models By NubePrint MPS is a business that depends on the capacity of the printer or copier to be monitored from remote, combined with the capabilities of the service provider to deliver supported by the right technology. The NubePrint Report measures to which extend the most frequent network printer and copier models are MPS ready. The analysis is fully independent to printer and copier vendors, and is based on actual data from printer models in a life MPS environment. The data contained in the graphs should be relevant enough. Narratives are provided just as guidance for a better understanding of the graphs. This report provides relevant information to printer and copier vendors, MPS service providers, future MPS providers, endcustomers and in general anyone interested on getting inside information of the MPS business. Definitions Managed Print Services is the active management and optimization of document output devices and related business processes” MPS compliant status is the ability for a document output device to be fully serviced by a service provider remotely with zero intervention from the printer or copier user. As a consequence,
only network connected models are considered. Each device is graded according to the following criteria: • No MPS: the lack on providing relevant data makes the device model not suitable for MPS. This device model cannot be part of an MPS solution. • Major issues: the device has limitations to the extent that it produces a severe impact on costs control and therefore on the profitability of an MPS program on this printer/copier model. MPS workload full automation is not possible. • Medium issues: the device has limitations to the extent that it does produce an impact on costs control, although the impact on the profitability can be limited. MPS workload automation is possible only partially. • Minor issues: the device has limitations to the extent that it prevents from providing certain MPS services like maintenance, billing per page color and monochrome separately, or printer / copier identification. • Full MPS compliant: the document output device model can be fully managed automatically for MPS. Costs and profitability are under control. Workload is fully removed (tasks can be automated).
Limitations of the analysis The analysis focuses on the ability of the printer to provide enough data so that a good MPS technology can potentially drive the services. The quality of the data provided is ignored working under the assumption that it is stable and accurate. N u b e P r i n t r e p o r t d o e s n o t t a ke i n t o consideration the technology used by the service provider to handle MPS services. It is assumed that if the device can provide the data, the service provider will find the right technical resources to trigger the service. This analysis has been performed over 500 document output device models of 17 different vendors. All models have been analyzed using an average of 18 individual units each.
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Market Data
The models analyzed are classified in 4 different types: monochrome printers, color printers, monochrome MFP (multifunctional) and color MFP. 38% of the population analyzed is MFP while 62% is printer, divided almost by halves between monochrome and color.
Market compliance Overall: The overall picture of the population analyzed shows that 41% of the models are full MPS compliant, while the remaining 59% have some kind of limitations. There has been no model identified not compliant to MPS, meaning having a showstopper for MPS. While 51% are models for which an MPS service can be delivered with no serious impact on the profitability of the service itself, 49% do require a much advanced technology that would some-how compensate the lack of the device model capability for MPS. In other words, half of the models analyzed do expose the service MPS provider to risks in terms of the quality of the service and profitability or competitiveness. These models are significantly less efficient in controlling the device needs, the associated costs, and in terms of managing remotely in an automated way.
Per type of device: The limitations found per type of device make the single function printers as the most MPS friendly devices: 49% are full MPS ready, compared to 29% of the MFP. Color printers get the highest level with 52%. Monochrome MFP get the worst results: 41% do show major limitations to MPS. Comparing color and monochrome devices, color get the best results with 45% showing full MPS capabilities and just 6% with major limitations. 38% of monochrome devices are full MPS ready, while 37% do show major limitations.
Multifunctional Color
Color
Monochrome
Multifunctional Monochrome
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Market Data
Per vendor: Figure 5 represents the detail per vendor. It immediately raises the attention how different each one positions. The greener is the bar of a vendor, the more MPS friendly are its printer and copier models. It is relevant the fact that there is no significant difference if the vendor origin is copier industry or printer industry, although we would have tendency to think that copier vendors should be in a more advanced position. The area of the most advanced MPS compliancy is populated by vendors like HP, Sharp, Epson or Dell. On the opposite side are Gestetner and Brother. The middle range is covered by companies like Lexmark, Ricoh or Oki.
Overall: Figure 6 is showing how frequently each type of limitation is found among the device models having limitations. Other consumable level is not available in 34% of the devices. More surprising though is that 25% of the printer and copier models analyzed do not show the black toner / ink level. And even more relevant is that 10% of the color devices do not provide a color counter and 11% do not provide levels for the color cartridges.
Multifunctional Color
Color
Monochrome
Multifunctional Monochrome
Per type of device: The bars on the figure bellow do show similar distribution for MFP and their correspondent printer. Color printer and color MFP have a similar distribution of missing data. Something similar can be said for the monochrome printer and the monochrome MFP. Color device models do frequently miss the level of other consumables (54%), and the color counter page(23%). In the case of monochrome devices the most frequent limitation is the lack of black toner / ink level (39%).
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Market Data
Type of limitations: Limitations to MPS ready are driven by the capacity of the device to provide relevant data so that an expert MPS technology can automatically trigger and manage the services. The data required has been grouped in the following major categories: ● Black toner / ink level ● Color toner / ink level ● Other consumables level (drums, developers, kits…) Access to the display of the device A separate color counter ● ● ● s/n identified
Per vendor: An analysis of the limitations per vendor reveals the weaknesses of each one in terms of being MPS compliancy. Some vendors can make a big step forward by just focusing on a specific aspect; as for example, Lexmark would remove 80% of its limitations to MPS ready product by just ensuring that level is provided to non toner consumables. The picture for other vendors do show a more complex situation, where no specific limitation concept is assuming a prominent role. This is the case for example of HP and Gestetner.
Conclusions The explosion of MPS demand during 2010 should be followed by an effort from the printer and copier vendors to have their products MPS compliant. With only 41% of the models analyzed being fully compliant, there is room for improvement. If this does not take place, the demand may long term be redirected to those devices that can be efficiently managed by the service providers. But meanwhile
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a bad experience from the end customer due to a deficient service may cause a negative impact on the growth of the market. The NubePrint Report will come out every six months on January and July, in order to facilitate the most updated information and the market trend. Any related question regarding the NubePrint report can be sent to info@ nubeprint.com.
Recycling Times Magazine
Tech Zone
Remanufacturing the Brother HL 2240/2270 series toner cartridges: TN-420 & 450 By Mike Josiah and the Technical Staff at Uninet Imaging Released in November 2010, the Brother HL-2270 printer engine is based on a new 24/27ppm, 1200 dpi laser engine. These machines have a first page out in less than 8.5 seconds, and come standard with 8 or 32Mb of memory depending on the machine. The HL-2270dw printers also have duplexing built in. Our HL2270DW machine came with a starter cartridge which is rated for 700 pages. (A low yield TN cartridge without a reset gear) The first section of this article covers the theory behind these cartridges. The first three paragraphs have some interesting information on the reset gears and how they work. The rest is standard Brother theor y. If you are not familiar with Brother cartridges, it would be best to read through this entire section. It may save you a few very frustrating hours. Current machines released so far are: • HL-2130 (Listed in service manual, but not seen anywhere as of 11/10/2010) • HL_2220 (Listed in service manual, but not seen anywhere as of 11/10/2010) • HL-2230 • HL-2240 • HL-2240D • HL-2250DN • HL-2270DW Besides the starter cartridge, there are two different yielding toner cartridges available for these machines, the TN-420/450 (TN2210/2220 Europe). The TN-420 cartridge is rated for 1,200 pages at 5%; The TN-450 is rated for 2,600 pages at 5%. The drum unit is new as well; Part # DR-420 (DR-2200 Europe) and is rated for 12,000 pages. It will be covered in a future article. The Fuser assembly, paper feed assembly and laser unit’s all have a stated life of 50,000 pages. The printer itself is rated for 50,000 pages so basically when these parts are done so is the printer. The Fuser assembly, paper feed assembly and laser unit’s all have a stated life of 50,000 pages. The printer itself is rated for 50,000 pages so basically when these parts are done so is the printer. There is a reset gear that resets the printer each time a new toner cartridge is installed. In our machine, the starter cartridge was marked just TN and had the reset gear section completely blocked off. (See Figure 1). In order to recycle starter cartridges, the proper reset gear and the end cap must be replaced. Both
the TN-420 and the TN-450 cartridges use different reset gears. The TN-420 gears have 3 flags on them VS two flag for the TN-450. That is how the machine knows if there is a STD or HY cartridge installed. New reset gears and an end cap are being developed so that LY cartridges can be made into HY, and Starter cartridges can be recycled into either one. See Figures 2 & 3 These cartridges also use a completely new developer roller cover. See Figure 4 An interesting point in the reset process is what happens in addition to the counter being reset. When the printer senses a new toner cartridge, the bias voltage is set to a high voltage. As the cartridge is used, the bias voltage is reduced gradually down. This process is necessary because according to Brother, a new toner cartridge has a tendency to print light. As the cartridge is used, the density increases. To keep the density level even throughout its life, the density bias voltage is reduced accordingly. Each time a
▲ Figure 1
▲ Figure 2
▲ Figure 3
▲ Figure 4
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Tech Zone
Eject roller 2
Eject Pinch Roller
Exposure drum
Develop roller
Supply roller
Laser unit
<Front side>
Registration rear actuator Back cover
Manual paper tray cover
Eject roller 1
Registration front actuator
Regist roller
Eject actuator
Paper edge actuator Heat roller Paper tray
Pressure roller
Halogen heater
DX feed roller
Duplex Tray
Transfer roller
DX feed roller
Pick-up roller
Plate
Separation roller
Separation pad
â&#x2013;˛ Figure 5
new cartridge is installed, the bias voltage is reset to the high voltage point, and the cartridge page count is reset to zero. Since different yields would dictate different decreases in density over time, Brother uses different reset gears. This was also done in other Brother cartridges, but after a time Brother just went with the HY gear for both cartridges. Time will tell on what they do with these cartridges. Figure 5 shows how the toner and drum cartridges relate position wise to the rest of the printer. (Figure 5) Basic Brother Print Theory:
As with previous Brother cartridges, the waste toner is repelled out of the drum cartridge and picked up by the developer roller in the toner cartridge and brought back into supply chamber. That is why there will always be a good amount of toner left in the supply chamber when the cartridge is finished. This remaining toner MUST be completely removed from the supply chamber before adding new toner. Failure to do this will cause back grounding. In addition to contaminating the toner cartridge, this will also contaminate the cleaning section of the drum cartridge, which in turn will contaminate the toner cartridge again. The reasons for this are explained in the following cartridge theory section. The cleaning section of the drum cartridge consists of a "cleaning brush" (also known as a â&#x20AC;&#x153;Charge Feltâ&#x20AC;?) and a recovery blade. The cleaning brush has two opposite charges placed on it during the print cycle. The first attracts any remaining toner off the drum. The second repels the toner off the brush back onto the drum where it then transfers back into the toner cartridge. This is all done in a timing sequence that does not interfere with the printing process. If the cleaning brush becomes contaminated with bad toner that will not accept a charge, the brush will not be able to clean itself and back grounding will occur. It seems to be the nature of contaminated toner that it will accept most of the charge to be cleaned off the drum, but it will not accept the charge that would allow the brush to clean itself off at all. A properly working cleaning brush will at any given time have only a small amount of toner on it. Once contaminated, toner will accumulate, which will only cause the problems to get worse. Since the waste toner is transferred back into the supply of the toner cartridge. Once
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you print with a bad toner cartridge, the drum unit will become contaminated. Even when you change out the toner with a good properly recycled or new OEM cartridge, the drum unit will transfer some of the bad toner back into the good toner cartridge, which will again cause back grounding. Both cartridges will be contaminated again. It can be a vicious circle. The remaining "toner" in the toner cartridge is just below the bare minimum that can maintain the proper charge level. When the change toner light comes on, the toner will not charge up to the proper level and will cause the back grounding. As the toner cartridge reaches the end of its useful life, the printer senses the low charge level in the toner supply and will try to keep the charge level up. This constant charging keeps an almost "empty" cartridge from back grounding. Once the printer cannot get the remaining toner up to the minimum charge, the change toner light comes on. The cartridge at this point will still be printing properly. If you were to take that same cartridge out of the machine for a few days, and then put it back in the printer with out doing anything to it, the cartridge will shade. This will happen because the charge level that the printer was trying so hard to keep up has dissipated out and the materials left can no longer accept a proper charge. What does this all mean?
1) Make sure that your cartridge technicians thoroughly clean out the supply chamber of the toner cartridge. 2) In the event that they forget, and you have a shading cartridge. The toner must be completely cleaned out again. (Do not use the toner over!!), and NEW fresh toner MUST be installed. 3) The drum unit has to be taken apart and cleaned out with emphasis on the charge brush. This is a very simple process but very necessary once it is contaminated. According to our tests, there will be approximately 50-60g of toner left when the cartridge is spent. This is normal. The toner left however as stated above is waste only and must be thrown out or there will be backgrounding issues. How to run test pages, Printer trouble shooting, common cartridge problems as well as how to read the cartridge serial number will be covered at the end of this article.
Recycling Times Magazine
Tech Zone
Required Tools • Toner approved vacuum
• Phillips Head Screwdriver
• Small Common jewelers Screwdriver
• Needle nose pliers
Required Supplies • Developer roller cover
• Lint free cotton cloths
• Toner magnet cloths
step >
• Dedicated Brother HL-2270 Black Toner
1
• White Lithium Grease
Vacuum the exterior of the cartridge.
step >
step >
Remove the fill plug from the toner cartridge. Dump the remaining toner and vacuum/blow out the cartridge. Even though on these cartridges the gears are covered, we have found it best to keep one hand over the gear side to protect them.
2
4
Remove the drum axle plate by lifting up on the two tabs as indicated, pry the
plate off.
step >
The reset gear is spring loaded and must be positioned correctly for the printer to accept a new cartridge. Our printer came with a starter cartridge that did not have a reset gear, and the end cap blocked added a new one in. Starter cartridges will need to have a reset gear and replacement end cap before they can be used. As stated above the TN-420 and TN450 cartridges both have different reset gears. All 3 types are shown here:
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step >
step >
On the NON GEAR side of the developer roller remove the 2 screws. Remove the 2 plastic arms. The smaller arm needs to be turned to release the lock.
3
5
On the GEAR SIDE, remove the two screws and cover plate.
6
Recycling Times Magazine
Tech Zone
step >
Completely remove all remaining toner from the toner hopper, foam feed roller, and Db foam seals.
13
step >
Remove the black plastic spacer from the developer roller shaft. Press in on the back tab to release.
7
step >
Inspect the magnetic roller felts. If they are compressed (shiny), rough them up with a small screwdriver.
14
step >
On the gear side of the developer roller, Press in on the locking tab, and rotate the developer roller lock up.
10
8
Remove the E-Ring.
11
Remove the developer roller.
Clean the developer roller with a lint free cloth and a dedicated Brother developer roller cleaner. Do not use any chemicals other than a dedicated cleaner for Brother rollers to clean the roller. Re-install the developer roller long shaft side to the gear side, and white lock pointing up. Turn the lock towards the doctor blade until it locks in place. step >
step >
step >
step >
Carefully wipe the doctor blade down with a lint free cloth be very careful not to bend or damage the blade in any way. Install the blade and 2 screws.
step >
step >
Remove the 2 doctor Blade screws and the doctor blade. Unlike previous TN cartridges, the DB is not physically attached to the seals, so it can be removed for cleaning.
9
Remove all the remaining gears. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t lose the reset gear spring!
12
15
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October 2011 | www.recyclingtimes.com.cn
45
Recycling Times Magazine
Tech Zone
step >
On the non gear side, install the 2 plastic arms and screws. The smaller arm is installed last and has to be turned from the bottom up so that the lock engages.
20
step >
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www.recyclingtimes.com.cn | October 2011
step >
Install the gear cover plate, and two screws. for the TN-420 and for the TN450. Make sure the black arrow on the cover is aligned with the white arrow marked #3 on the TN420 gear and #1 on the TN450 gear. step >
step >
18
Set the reset gear spring as shown.
23
Replace the fill plug. Wipe the cartridge down to remove any remaining toner dust.
Install the developer roller gear, E-ring, black axle spacer, and the rest of the gears in the order shown. Make sure all the gears are meshing properly.
19
Fill the cartridge with the proper load of Brother HL-2270 Black Toner, (High yield or low yield). step >
step >
Depending on the cartridge you have, set the reset gears as shown. for the TN-420 and for the TN-450. Note that the gear teeth are not meshed when set. This is how it should be. The gear is spring loaded and will turn when driven by the printer.
22
24
step >
step >
Install the non-gear side axle plate. Make sure the tabs lock in place. Clean the gears, making sure that they have no toner on them. This is a good time to also check the gear shafts to make sure there is enough grease. If the shafts appear dry, or the grease is contaminated with toner, clean the shaft and inside of the gear. Replace the grease with white lithium grease.
17
25
21
Install the developer roller cover.
Recycling Times Magazine
Tech Zone Test Pages Press the â&#x20AC;&#x153;GOâ&#x20AC;? Button 3x within 3 seconds with the front cover closed, and the ready light on. A printer settings page will print
Bottom surface of Paper tray
Defect Chart OPC Drum
94.2mm
Upper fuser roller
53.4mm
Lower Pressure roller
78.5mm
Developer roller
32.5mm
NOTE: If you are experiencing horizontal black streaks, and changing cartridges does not help, look in the bottom of the paper tray. There is a small metal ground terminal. If it gets bent or dirty, it can cause this.
Paper tray ground terminal
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.
October 2011 | www.recyclingtimes.com.cn
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CIFEX | RemaxAsia 13-15 Oct 2011 huhai China
Zhuhai China
Why you can't miss CIFEX|RemaxAsia Expo 2011 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 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; October 13-15, 2011 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 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