Recycling Times Magazine
editorial
RecyclingTimes The magazine by the industry, for the industry.
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Publisher & Managing Director Tony Lee Directors David Gibbons Sabrina Lo Senior Consulting Editor Art Diamond Editorial Team Doris Huang Doris.Huang@iRecyclingTimes.com Tina Chou Jane Yu Jane.Yu@iRecyclingTimes.com Wendy Lee Graphics Design Team Miracle Wei Kevin Deng Sales Team Anna Liang anna.liang@iRecyclingTimes.com Kevin Zhu Sally He Tobee Deng Marketing Team Jessica Yin jessica.yin@iRecyclingTimes.com Tracy Zhang Operations Team Charles Lee charles.lee@iRecyclingTimes.com Frank Yang Sam Lee Joy He Accounts Betty Lee Published by Recycling Times Media Corporation Akara Bldg, 24 De Castro Street, Wickhams Cay 1 Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands
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July 2012
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L
ately, we have published many news stories concerning changes in the imaging industry. Among these, Samsung declared it would enlarge its investment in corporate printer that would challenge the dominance by HP and Canon in world markets. Canon is seeking opportunities among small and medium size businesses (SMBs) by undergoing a brand transition that would capture a larger share of the market. Fuji-Xerox is focusing its Chinese market strategy on product research and development, aiming to achieve its goal of offering printers that are Designed in China, Made in China, and Sold Worldwide. Ricoh has launched a new generation advertising slogan prescribing Imagine, Change thereby heralding its transition into a service-oriented company. And, HP recently announced a massive reduction in it work force that is unprecedented in the company’s 73-year history. It is estimated that 27,000 employees in all regions will lose their jobs by year-end 2014. Indeed, borrowing the words of Confucius, “Nothing endures but change.” There is no doubt our industry is undergoing profound changes every single day and this year’s changes are particularly important as several are existential threats, striking at the heart of the cartridge remanufacturing business. For that reason, we must be aware of their consequences and learn how to roll with each change. What to change? How to change? When to change? These decisions demand serious consideration. Some executives believe the market environment is extremely unpredictable; they seek to switch their operations to a survival mode so their existence will not be threatened. They would rather prepare for future growth by saving their energy and resources. Others regard each challenge as an opportunity, and tend to switch to an expansion mode to preserve sustained business growth. In China, most enterprises normally evolve from a survival mode to an expansion mode. Such a path is relatively easy and straightforward as it avoids unplanned investment, minimizes mid-course corrections and stabilizes product quality. But, as unstable factors enter the market and accumulate, the overall share of competitive, compatible supplies increases. That’s when labor costs climb and profit margins shrink. Consequently, companies might be forced to reverse direction from expansion mode back to survival mode. In the past, product quantity determined success, but now, product quality does. Back then, imitating helped you win over customers, but today, innovation is key. Yesterday, general management earned you market share, but today micro-management may be a better policy. Finally, I must mention an unexpected and unavoidable change we faced this year. Our plans for CIFEX|RemaxAsia 2012 and iPrint ChinaExpo 2012 have been rescheduled to September 23-26 in order to comply with government requirements for a security lockdown at the Zhuhai Airshow Centre during October. The industry summit featuring New Printing Opportunities will now beheld on Sunday, September 23. You have our sincere apologies for any inconvenience might have caused.
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
The Road Ahead
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If you want to see the road ahead you have to trace the path that got us here. Steve Weedon looks back over his 38-year experience in the imaging industry and shares his roadmap moving forward. 8
Just a Minute
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Keeping in Touch
Money From Home
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Keeping UP With Digital Color Printing Digital color printing is revolutionizing every sector of the imaging industry, from home and desktop applications, to the neighborhood quick copy print shops, to in-house corporate production printing, to independent commercial printing enterprises.
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Aim Higher!
Supporting Remanufacturers for 10 Continuous Years
Keeping Up
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The Road Ahead 39
During the last 10 years, ETIRA has worked on improving the quality and standards of its members, providing consumers with better products and is recognized by governments as the industry’s peak body for consultation and legislation advice.
Industry Updates Seine Granted Environmental Labeling Contribution Award
10 DCI is Awarded OHSAS 18001 Certification 12
Diamond Dispersions Names Dr. Verona Head Chemist
OEM News Lexmark Seeks Settlement from Remanufacturers
20 Ricoh Establishes a Thermal Media Business in India
2012 CIFEX|RemaxAsia Expo Changes Show Dates
Dealers File Antitrust Complaint against Canon USA
Product Release
Features
Printer Supplies from Static Control Components
14 MSE Rolls Out Cartridges for Dell
Inks for HP Color Cartridges 15 OCP ILG Unveils 1,800 Page Jumbo Cartridge for HP Printers
Reman Industry Faces Canon Challenge
22 Keeping UP With Digital Color Printing 26 The Opportunity for Supplies in Latin America 31 Profiles
OEM News HP to Cut 27,000 Jobs Worldwide
16 HP Resolves Lawsuit with Brazil's Multilaser New Lexmark App Detects Counterfeit Cartridges
Supplying the Products You Want At the Prices You Need
34 Supporting Remanufacturers for 10 Continuous Years 39 Still Here Facing the Challenges 42
Canon Resolves More than Half of Gear Patent Lawsuits
18 OEMs Raise Ink Prices Faster than Inflation Rate 19
HP Reports Decline in 2Q 2012 Revenue Konica Minolta to Acquire FedEx Kinko's Japan
Tech Zone Remanufacturing the Brother HL-2280 DR-420 OPC
45 Cartridge (DR-2200 Europe and DR-2225 in Asia)
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Recycling Times Magazine
Just a Minute with David Gibbons
Keeping in Touch Just over 36 weeks ago, we started launching a series of news services for industry people like you who are busy, but want to keep in touch. We have used broadcast media, social media and the explosion of apps on smartphones and tablets to help you do just that—keep in touch. But before we had a chance to really promote our new “inTouch” news services, thousands of you have already discovered them … and are using them. More than 8,000 people are now receiving 8 to 10 new stories you should know about as they break every day on FaceBook and Twitter. That’s many times more than any other industry news site. And we know you are reading because we count the number of times you click on a story to read more. Most of you come from the United Kingdom, the USA, China, Canada, Russia, Germany, Australia, India, Philippines, Japan, South Africa, and the Netherlands. The
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rest of you read them in 110 other countries. Every week, more than 5,000 people watch our inTouch TV News service. This 6 minute weekly bulletin delivers the top stories for the week in a fast paced visual format. And now, even before we announced how to download it, 980 of you have put inTouch News on your Apple or Android phone or iPad. And 10 more of you discover it every day. This app has our daily Twitter feed, our weekly TV news broadcast and our monthly magazine installed. And at the moment, it is free. Go to: • www.twitter.com/Recycling_Times (become a follower) • www.facebook.com/recyclingtimes (click LIKE) • www.vimeo.com/intouchnews (watch news) • Look for RecyclingTimes inTouch at Apple App Store or Android Market.
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).
Recycling Times Magazine
Money From Home
Aim Higher! Recently, I heard someone say, “Life doesn’t come wrapped with a ribbon or tied with a bow, but it is still a gift.” Certainly, each day is precious, and how we best utilize our time often determines our destiny. Along with that gift come intelligence, insight and innovation. So as we press forward in this unique and dynamic industry, I call upon you to apply your traits and talents to help it grow and expand on an international scale. Most of us are focused on toner and ink cartridge development, remanufacture and marketing for the office copier and printer aftermarket. In these endeavors, our industry has earned a formidable share of that business over the past 25 years. Indeed, it has been estimated that rechargers worldwide now account for 30% to 35% of these consumable sales. We are proud of this achievement and recognize that it happened for good reasons. We offer quality products that, on a price/performance basis are equal to or better than the OEM supplies. Worldwide, rechargers offer customers not just a choice of vendors beyond the OEM, but also a chance to ensure they do no damage to our environment. We offer green products that create jobs, save money, and are eco-friendly. Our industry has gained strength through networking and communication. Industry players teach each other new tools, new methods and new techniques to better repair and refurbish cartridges. Many government, corporate and educational institutions recognize and support these principles and the benefits
they provide. In my view, if we are to expand our share of the aftermarket, we must focus on five growth sectors: • Color Imaging • Chemical Toner • Managed Print Services • BioToner • Wide Format Imaging In order to identify reliable sources for raw materials, products and services, I urge you to attend the trade shows and workshops that serve our industry. They will give you and your company a growth opportunity, the chance to expand product lines and strengthen the services you offer. The bottom line is: Aim Higher! Shoot for the next level of market share. Let’s make 50% or more our goal. We can do it. We can do it if we follow an 8 point sales strategy: 1. Get behind GRIGA (Global Remanufacturing Industry General Assembly) 2. Take part in GRIGA’s consumer education program 3. Diversify business operations 4. Push back against myths about reman products that OEMs are spreading 5. Develop plans to take part in MPS contracts 6. Sell color toner and ink jet cartridges 7. Offer biotoner cartridges 8. Expand into wide-format, A3 products All but the first two strategies are clear and obvious. Supporting GRIGA and participating in its consumer education program, however,
is hazy because this international assembly has not yet crystallized. It remains in a formative state. Pulling it together is a formidable task complicated by borders to cross, languages to translate and formidable expenses to fund. Once activated, however, GRIGA promises to speak loudly for the industry and to marshal the capital needed to finance consumer education and drive the industry’s message home to every business, every office and every end-user. That’s my vision for the future. Let’s work together to make it happen. But, above all, raise your sights so that we can ultimately enjoy a bigger slice of the supplies and consumables aftermarket.
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.
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Recycling Times Magazine
Keeping Up
The Road Ahead As I sit down to write my first article for Recycling Times my mind goes back 38 years, when at a very young age, I joined an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) who was about to launch a new range of plain paper copiers. I had some previous experience with coated paper copiers and so I got the job. It’s now kind of funny in today’s modern electronic world to think that in those early days of the Imaging Industry the copier came with a free fire extinguisher to hang on the wall next to it in case paper jams in the fuser ignited, which they did from time to time. I had almost forgotten about that, such is the pace at which things change. But if you want to see the road ahead you have to trace the path that got us here. In a series of articles to follow we want to see where our industry is headed, what will change, why, and will our businesses be more profitable in the future. So to start let’s remember how we got here. Xerox, of course, was the first to market the plain paper copier and pioneered an Imaging Industry that will never stop. The 1980’s was the decade of the computer and some visionaries and forward lateral thinkers like Edward De Bono, for example, started talking about the paperless office Why would you want a copier or a printer if you had
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a paperless office? Well, of course, you wouldn’t, but thankfully for all of us, he got it wrong. There is no doubt that we have changed our use of paper. De Bono got that part right. Gone are the filing cabinets that at one time seemed to fill every single square foot of office space that wasn’t taken up with a desk and chair. Gone, are those index cards and filing instructions stuck on the walls everywhere reminding us how to code and file so the original could be retrieved, and gone are those pretty female filing clerks who started their office careers at the bottom making sure the right piece of paper went in the right file and cabinet. Instead we now store the original document electronically and find it whenever we need to in a heartbeat and click the print button. Any time we need to we make a new printed page, content with the knowledge that the “original” is locked away safely in the computer (filing cabinet) where we can always find it. Print on demand was a coined phrase that essentially gave rise to our small part of the imaging industry. Fortunately for all of us, the world likes paper hardcopies. We all feel more comfortable with our hotel booking confirmation on paper just in case we get to the hotel and they have no record of the booking. We all feel more secure if we print a record of our online purchase, just in case what we purchased never arrives but our money is already taken. We just feel more comfortable with a piece of paper in our hand. Despite the pace of today’s electronic world, with expected immediate email responses and the 5 million web site results found in 3.2 seconds or the wonders of cloud computing, we all still make time to click the print button and always will. Of course, time changes and technology never stops moving forward, but the need for that hard copy image is still right there and will always be there. That’s why WE are in the right
Steve Weedon Steve Weedon has had a varied career in the imaging industry since 1973. He has held senior management positions with such companies as, Nashua, Kalle Infotec, Katun Corp, and Gestetner. He commenced The Recycler Trade Magazine in 1992 and the first European cartridge remanufacturing trade show that same year. In 1994 Steve joined Static Control to head the European operations. After 18 years with Static Control, Steve has now moved on to be CEO of his own global imaging supplies company, Discover Imaging Products Limited.
business at the right time, with a great future ahead of us. No fire extinguisher given with each copier now, no 4 hour preventative maintenance visits by your friendly copier engineer either. You remember him, the one with one arm longer than the other from carrying that great big tool case around the city trying to keep all his customers’ copiers going. They are all in there 60’s now dragging their knuckles along the floor as they walk, you can spot them a mile away. COPIER OUT OF ORDER notices frequently displayed on the machine, WAITING FOR THE ENGINEER AGAIN!!! Or some other caustic
Recycling Times Magazine
Keeping Up remark written by the office manager just waiting to “kill” the engineer when he “finally” shows up. Ahhhhh, those were the days! No, thankfully we have come a long way from those days. The filing clerk job has disappeared and copiers don’t come with fire extinguishers anymore. Field copier engineer jobs have disappeared and copiers and printers are now incredibly reliable, cheap desk top models that we have all come to love and don’t want to give up. And now we can print in color. A lot has changed. The All-in-One cartridge technology used today in a wide variety of copiers and printers revolutionized the imaging industry. The OEM’s can manufacture these cartridges very precisely, very quickly and very cheaply. No field engineer needed. No preventative maintenance visits required and no angry office managers. Got a printing problem, then change the cartridge, and the problem goes away. These
days everyone knows what a cartridge is and everyone has changed a cartridge before and everyone uses a cartridge and knows just how expensive the originals are. 370 million laser cartridges were used in 2011 and thanks to the growth of color printers and cartridge use; we can expect to see a growth to about 450 million cartridge units a year by 2015. The numbers are astonishing. Availability of cartridge empties will improve and the genuine cartridge remanufacturing industry will continue to do well and grow in the future. This is especially true in China, India and other growing economic areas. More end user customers will want to save money and have the choice to buy a remanufactured cartridge. Providing the quality is good and the end user has no print problems with the remanufactured cartridge he will come back for more. Guaranteed! Our industry has many problems today but none are insurmountable. Overall our industry's future is bright, but we need to focus on quality
to satisfy our end user customer so he will come back for more and we must learn to embrace “change”. Run toward “change” not away from it; see how the "change" can benefit us, what we can learn, and what new options for your business it can deliver. Change is inevitable you cannot fight it, it will happen. Keep up or fall behind, it’s your decision. I’m going to keep up, what about you?
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Recycling Times Magazine
Industry Updates
Seine Granted Environmental Labeling Contribution Award
O
n May 4th, 2012 representatives of China, Japan and Korea met in Beijing for the 14th Tripartite Environment Ministers Meeting (TEMM) held at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse. On this occasion, delegates signed an Agreement on Common Certification Rules for Environmental Labeling for the three nations. The meeting also hosted a ceremony for the presentation of China’s Environmental Labeling Contribution Award to certain enterprises. Among the Award recipients, Zhuhai Seine Technology Co., Ltd. (Seine) accepted the honor and Mr. Liu Hong, General Manager of Beijing Pantum Technology Co., Ltd.—an affiliate of Seine—spoke on the subject of the contributions Pantum has made to protect the environment.
“As a newcomer to the global printer industry,” said Mr. Hong, “our primary aspiration is to provide the world’s most environmentally friendly printers. We apply the principle of environmental protection to the research, design and manufacture of every one of our products. Pantum has its industry-leading, exclusive technique to substantially lower the generation of waste toner during the image transfer process, which requires operating at a higher toner transfer efficiency.” Mr. Zhou Shengxian, Minister of MEP of China; Goshi Hosono, Environment Minister of Japan; and, Korea Environment Minister Yoo Young-sook, attended the meeting. It was learned that the previous tripartite Mutual Recognition of Implementation Rules was restricted to computer products only. But upon the launch of Pantum— China’s own printer brand, based on proprietary technologies developed by Seine Technology Co., Ltd.—the implementation rules have been expanded to include printers, copiers and MFPs (multifunction printers).
Mr. Tang Dingding, Director of Environment Development Centre of MEP China, declared “China’s Environmental Labeling Contribution Award confirms an enterprise’s dedication to actively participating in China’s Environmental Labeling Project, bearing social responsibilities and proposing green activities. We hope the enterprises will continuously implement the Environmental L abeling Principles, effectively use natural resources and produce environmentally protective products, for China’s great prospect of green economy and sustainable economic development.”
DCI is Awarded OHSAS 18001 Certification
D
CI (Dynamic Cassette International, Ltd.), a UK- and Boston-based manufacturer of compatible and remanufactured ink and toner cartridges, has been awarded the OHSAS 18001 certification. DCI says it was recently achieved this accreditation for their Lincolnshire-UK site. OHSAS 18000 is an international occupational health and safety management system specification. It comprises two parts —18001 and 18002—and embraces BS8800 and a number of other publications. The OHSAS 18001 is an internationally recognized standard and provides a framework for managing occupational health and safety responsibilities to ensure they become more
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efficient and more integrated into overall business operations with improved OHS performance and compliance with legislation. OHSAS 18001 certification ensures a holistic approach to the identification and management of health and safety risks and therefore the potential for a healthier and safer working environment and the avoidance of accidents and occupational health problems to reduce the time lost through employee illness and injury. Alister Constantine, Factory Manager at DCI Limited commented, “We are delighted to achieve this latest certification, which demonstrates our commitment to the health and safety of our employees as well as to overall improvement of our quality
management systems to support our industry leadership.” The OHSAS 18001 certificate adds to DCI’s ISO 9001 accreditation for quality and the ISO 14001 for environmental management, thereby completing the full set. DCI has earned many accolades including BRC, LGA, Nordic Swan and Blue Angel certifications, making OHSAS 18001 the latest in a long list of noteworthy achievements.
Recycling Times Magazine
Industry Updates
Diamond Dispersions Names Dr. Verona Head Chemist
D
r. V icky Verona has been appointed Head Chemist by Diamond Dispersions of Darnall, Sheffield, England. With a BSc in Chemical Sciences, an exchange year spent at the University of Colorado an MSc in Colour Science from the Scottish College of Textiles and a PhD in “Ink Transfer Mechanisms in Flexographic Printing” from the London College of Printing, Dr. Verona joins an elite list of the UK scientists specializing in ink and printing technology. Commenting on her new role, Dr. Verona said: “Diamond is a highly successful business
and I see many opportunities to grow the company and contribute to that success. One of my future tasks will be to expand and improve our range of UV dispersions. This is a complex but growing area of the global ink industry and I know Diamond will continue to increase their presence in this particular sector.” Peter Callahan, Director of Diamond Dispersions, observed, “With her expert knowledge and experience, Dr. Verona is already proving a very valuable member of our team. Like us, she is passionate about inks and understands the exacting demands and
requirements of our clients. I have no doubt that she will be a key player in our pursuit to create the perfect ink.”
2012 CIFEX|RemaxAsia Expo Changes Show Dates
T
he world’s largest trade show for computer printing supplies will now run on September 24-26 in Zhuhai, China. CIFEX|RemaxAsia 2012 has had to change its dates to comply with government requirements for a security lockdown at the Zhuhai Airshow Centre during October—the date and venue
24-26. The local government now recognizes Zhuhai as being the print consumables capital of the world. More printer cartridges are manufactured and remanufactured there than anywhere else in the world. The iPrint (China)Expo, touted
originally planned for this year’s event. Tony Lee, organizer of the CIFEX!RemaxAsia 2012 event says, “We have just received notice from the organisers of Airshow China—the only international aerospace trade show in China which is endorsed by the Chinese Central Government. They now require the use of the venue 6 weeks before their November Airshow due to security concerns.” Consequently, CIFEX|RemaxAsia Expo 2012 has been moved from October to September 24 - 26. But the venue will still remain the same— the Zhuhai Air Show Center, Guangdong, China. Lee says he apologises for any inconvenience caused by the change of dates. CIFEX|RemaxAsia continues to grow every year, and 10,500 trade visitors from more than 80 countries and regions are expected to visit more than 440 exhibits over the three days September
as China’s first digital press and commercial printing show, will also move to the September 24-26 dates, with the iPrint Conference now being held Sunday September 23, when Dr. Edul N. Dalal, Research Fellow at Xerox Corporation, will deliver the keynote speech. Organisers expect 5,000 visitors to visit 120 exhibits from 10 countries and regions. They say that China has more than 500,000 digital press print shops and kiosks, providing some 700,000 jobs, and generating 50bn RMB (US$7.9 bn) revenue every year. Some 500 manufacturers produce hardware and supplies for digital press printing. Charles Brewer, president of the market research firm Actionable Intelligence said, “I would never miss the Zhuhai show. I attend many remanufacturing industry events around
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the world, but I can see the latest products and meet with the leading companies right here. The show is positioned, geographically, alongside 300 cartridge remanufacturing factories. So people wanting to do serious business, travel here from all over the world.” For more information, please visit www. iRecyclingTimes.com For video clips, photos and/or a media kit please contact: Jessica Yin Tel: +86 756 3919264 Fax: +86 756 3220717 Email: Jessica.Yin@iRecyclingTimes.com
Recycling Times Magazine
Product Release
Printer Supplies from Static Control Components
S
tatic Control Components (SCC) has released chips, color toners, OPC drums, wiper blades and other SKUs designed for the remanufacture of major OEM brand cartridges. The new printer components, used in Samsung CLP-660/670 and Dell 2145 MFP color printers, include chips, color toners, OPC drums and wiper blades. The Samsung CLP-660/670 series includes the CLP-610/660, CLX-6200/6210/6240, the CLP620/670/770/775 and CLX-6220/6250. According to SCC, these printers are easy to remanufacture and highly profitable. Static Control customers also get free written remanufacturing instructions for the Samsung CLP-660/670 color
cartridges as well as online View on Demand training and educational webinars, available in multiple languages. Also available from SCC are chips, toners, OPC drums, seals, wiper blades, doctor blades and more for the most consistent, optimum print performance. These parts and consumables can be used for the HP LaserJet Enterprise 500 Color M551 printer. “Color is critical to the future of our customers,” said Ed Swartz, CEO of Static Control. “That’s why we have dedicated ourselves to developing the most complete system of matched toners, drums, blades and rollers required for consistent quality.” The company has also released a system of imaging components designed, engineered and manufactured to work together for optimum performance in remanufactured cartridges for the 30K-yield Dell 5350, which is sold in Europe. The system includes chips, both universal and dedicated toners, OPC drums, wiper blades and doctor bars. Static Control also offers wraps, shipping protectors, foams and felts, tools and fixtures needed to remanufacture this highly profitable toner cartridge.
In addition, an empty hopper assembly that converts HP P3005/2430 cartridges from low to high yield, high to jumbo yield, and from low to jumbo yield, is also available. The HP P3005/2430 expanded hopper is designed to increase MPS profits with an increase in page yields of up to 70 percent when used with Static Control toners, drums and wiper blades. The empty hopper comes sealed and ready for filling and includes a seal, hopper cap, two screws, one gear side end plate and one contact side end plate. With these simple supplies, 22 cartridges used in a dozen HP and Canon printers can be converted into higher yield cartridges that are more profitable to remanufacture. For more information regarding this and other SCC products, contact a Static Control sales representative: • U.S. Headquarters -- Toll-Free: +1-800-4882426 • U.S. Headquarters -- Tel: +1-919-774-3808 • Europe Headquarters: +44-118-923-8800 • Asia Headquarters: +852.2427.6011 • Visit: www.scc-inc.com • Visit: www.scceurope.co.uk
MSE Rolls Out Cartridges for Dell
A
merica’s cartridge reman giant, MSE ( Van Nuys, California), has released compatible toner cartridges for Dell printers, saying they offer the same yield as the OEM product. MSE says these cartridges are compatible with Dell 5230dn, 5230n and 5350dn with smart chip. Multiple proprietary technologies and custom fixtures are used to upgrade the cartridges and prevent historical issues with
leakage. Each cartridge is tested to the fuser’s life in order to ensure the toner does not cause buildup on the fuser, as exhibited in many other aftermarket products that have been benchmarked, MSE claims. The company says it deploys many testing protocols to guarantee the quality, including environmental stress testing, accelerated aging testing, shipping simulation, and ISO 19752 testing. Cost per page (US cents)
Product
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MSE Part No
OEM Part No
MSE Yield
OEM Yield MSE
OEM
MSE Brand - HY
02-70-5316
330-6968/330-6991
21,000
21,000
1.1
1.4
Private Label Brand - HY
02-70-5312
330-6968/330-6991
21,000
21,000
1.1
1.4
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Recycling Times Magazine
Product Release
OCP Inks for HP Color Cartridges
O
CP’s research and develop-ment department has found that the following well-known OCP inks are also suitable for use in the new HP No. 932/932XL and HP No. 933/933XL color cartridges:
Equal to HP’s No. 950/951, the new HP No. 932/932XL and HP No. 933/933XL cartridges are installed directly on top of the permanent printhead and not separately as in older HP Officejet models. Shape and technical setup is also the same as with the HP No. 950/951 cartridges. Until now, these new cartridges have been used only in the HP Officejet 6100e, HP Officejet 6600h and HP Officejet 6700h printers. The printers are equipped with a permanent printhead that carries four individual cartridges. They are claimed to have a resolution of up to 4800 x 1200 dpi and are able to print up to 16 black pages and up to 9
coloured pages per minute. For more information: please visit: http://www.ocp.de
Printer
OEM Cartridge
Color/Type
OCP Ink(s)
HP Officejet 6100e
CN057A (No.932)
Black Pigment
BKP 280
HP Officejet 6600h
CN053A (No.932XL)
Black Pigment
BKP 280
CN054A (No.933XL)
Cyan Pigment
CP 280
CN055A (No.933XL)
Magenta Pigment
MP 280
CN056A (No.933XL)
Yellow Pigment
YP 280
HPOfficejet 6700h
ILG Unveils 1,800 Page Jumbo Cartridge for HP Printers
A
lternative Jumbo cartridges for popular HP 4240, 4250 and 4350 series printers are now available in America according to a recent announcement by ILG (International Laser Group). ILG now offers its Jumbo Q5942AJ OEM alternative with an 18,000 page yield. This extended yield quality
cartridge provides an 80% higher page yield, compared to the standard 10,000 page OEM cartridge, ILG claims. The multiple printer application of extended yield allows dealers to conserve inventory space, reduce maintenance calls, and save money on the cost of toner cartridges, according to ILG. Joe Shulman, Senior VP of Client Relations, asks “With the high-yield Jumbo that is ideal for Managed Print Service (MPS) providers, with the consistent quality of ILG’s cartridges backed by our 100% product guarantee, and with same day shipping service available, why continue to pay more to the OEM?” High yield cartridges receive full life, print testing to ensure that stated yields are met, and are based on 5% page coverage. About ILG Established in 1988 by Gary and Cindy
Michaels, ILG employs over 500 team members and is the oldest family-owned cartridge remanufacturer in America. ILG is headquartered in Woodland Hills, California with four additional nationwide distribution centers. For more information on the International Laser Group, contact (800) 937-2880, Ext.3207 or visit www.ilglaser.com . www.iRecyclingTimes.com
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Recycling Times Magazine
OEM News
HP to Cut 27,000 Jobs Worldwide
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ewlett-Packard has confirmed plans to slash 27,000 jobs, 8% of its worldwide workforce, by October 2014. The cuts come 8 months after HP hired Ms. Meg Whitman as CEO. The company expects to save $3 billion to $3.5 billion annually from the job cuts and other austerity measures. Overall, the plan is to “shift the portfolio to a more profitable mix of higher-growth services.” HP will put more money into R&D and marketing in the fields of the Cloud, security and big data, the company said. HP is laying off thousands of employees because its revenue and profits are fading. The Palo Alto, California company reported earnings of $1.6 billion, or 80 cents a share, for its second fiscal quarter, which ended April 30, down 30% from a year earlier. Revenue was $30.7
billion, down 3% from the same period a year ago. After learning of HP’s cost-cutting plans, the consensus of Wall Street analysts forecast revenue of $29.92 billion and a profit of 91 cents a share. Investors liked what they heard. HP shares rose 9% in after-hours trading. According to Whitman, “Workforce reductions are never easy. They adversely impact people’s lives, but in this case, they’re absolutely critical for the long-term health of the company. Our goal is simple: a better outcome for the customers at reduced costs for HP.” HP hopes to soften the blow by offering workers an early retirement plan, which may reduce the number of redundancies. Apart from sacking people, the company said it will “achieve additional savings” by cutting products and platforms, optimizing its supply chain and
improving its business processes. This workforce bloodletting is said to be the largest in HP’s 73 year history. San Francisco’s NewsFix, a KQED’s Bay Area blog, attributes the payroll purge to “the growing popularity of smartphones, the iPad and other mobile devices” which make it tougher for the company to sell personal computers.
HP Resolves Lawsuit with Brazil's Multilaser
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P claims it has amicably resolved patent litigation with Brazil-based Multilaser Industrial Ltda, regarding inkjet cartridges. The settlement is based on litigation filed by HP in the Brazilian State Court of São Paulo on April 12, 2011, alleging the importation and sale of HP-compatible inkjet print cartridges in Brazil that infringe on HP patents. According to the settlement, Multilaser acknowledges HP’s patents are valid and it infringed the patents. The related cartridges include the HP 56, 57, 60, 74, 75, 92 and 93
products. Multilaser has agreed to stop selling the cartridges in question in Brazil and in other countries where HP has corresponding patent rights. Multilaser also will reimburse part of the litigation costs to HP. “HP invests billions of dollars in developing innovative products for our customers and is committed to pursuing legal enforcement to protect our technological innovations—not only the company’s intellectual property, but also the value we deliver to our customers,” said Stephen Nigro, HP’s Senior Vice President, Inkjet and Web Services Business, Imaging and
Printing Group. “We will continue to monitor the marketplace for intellectual property infringements as part of our commitment to worldwide testing and enforcement efforts.” According to market research fir m Actionable Intelligence, Multilaser Industrial was founded in 1987 and is now claimed to be one of the largest third-party supplies vendors in the Americas. Headquartered in São Paulo, the company operates a 22,000-square-meter plant that opened in 2007 in the southern state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, and a facility in Shenzhen, China.
New Lexmark App Detects Counterfeit Cartridges
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new App enables Lexmark customers to use only a smartphone or tablet to verify the authenticity of their cartridges. Lexmark says counterfeiters sometimes illegally reuse and refill Lexmark cartridges and package and sell them as original Lexmark products. Counterfeits can sometimes leak, run out after a few pages,
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or not work at all. Lexmark says this verification will eliminate any doubt that a Lexmark branded cartridge is not a counterfeit. The free App can be downloaded from Android, Apple or Blackberry. After installation, it is only necessary to scan the barcode from the Lexmark box, bag or cartridge. The serial number of the cartridge will then be sent to
the Lexmark database and return with instant verification the product is either authentic or counterfeit.
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OEM News
Canon Resolves More than Half of Gear Patent Lawsuits
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n January 23, 2012, Canon filed complaints with the U S I n t e r n a t i o n a l Tr a d e Commission requesting that the ITC conduct an investigation under section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, regarding certain competitive toner cartridges and components Canon alleged violated two of its patents. Since that filing, more than half of the 34 companies named have settled with Canon over the use of twisted polygonal projections on OPC drum drive gears in Acecom, Inc. Canon and HP printer cartridges. Listed below are 18 believed to have reached a settlement either with the ITC, Canon, or both: Acecom, Inc. Atman, Inc. Deal Express LLC
Dexxxon Digital Storage, Inc. Discount Office Items, Inc. Do it Wiser E-Max Group GreenLine Paper Company, Inc. Imaging Resources Inkjet Superstore.com Ink Technologies Myriad Greeyn LLC Office World, Inc. OfficeWorld.com, Inc. OnlineTechStores.com, Inc. SupplyBuy.com, Inc. TonerZone.com UniNet Imaging, Inc. and UI Supplies, Inc. Among the remaining 16 respondents are: Cartridges Are Us; Clover Holdings; Clover Technologies Group; DataProducts USA; Green Project; and, Nukote, although the tally
continues to change rapidly. From our viewpoint, and those of several companies recently polled, the options seem clear: harvest OEM gears and re-install them under the doctrine of permissible repair, or install non-infringing gears and couplings. Investing in a legal battle at this point will drain funds that might be needed later on, depending upon what, if any action, Canon takes in the future.
OEMs Raise Ink Prices Faster than Inflation Rate
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ccording to PC World, Epson, Kodak, and Lexmark have raised prices on some of their inks—in many instances, faster than the rate of inflation. HP’s prices also seem to inch upward when the company releases new models. Melissa Riofrio, the author of “Ink-flation: Printer Cartridge Prices Are Climbing Quickly,” says Lexmark and Kodak hiked prices the most while some inks, such as, those from Canon, Brother and Dell, seem more stable in retail charge. Ms. Riofrio found that, for Lexmark’s 100 and 100XL ink cartridges, the price went up $1 a year. For example, the cartridges were $16 in 2009, and now in 2012 they are selling for $19, changing the cost per page (cpp) from 9.4 to 11.2 cents. That cpp is very high for black ink. The price of Lexmark’s ink is not all bad news, however, as they were the first to launch a $5, 510-page ink cartridge which is still the same “penny-a-page” as it was when introduced. As for Kodak, its tri-color high-yield (30XL)
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cartyridge was the least affected among Kodak inks. The largest jumps were with Kodak’s 10B and 30B black cartridges which went up 29 and 30 percent, respectively, says Riofrio. Epson has raised the price of inks for its 124, 125, 126 and 127 cartridge lines used by popular Stylus and Workforce models, including the recent Stylus NX430 and Workforce 845. From late 2010 until now, all of the Epson black inks have increased in price by a reasonable 4 to 5 percent. Meanwhile, the cpp for color has shot up by 10 to 12.5 percent. Conversely, the price of the company’s 124 Moderate-Capacity Black ink cartridge dropped a bit—from $8.54 to $8.49—during the same period. Unfortunately, that small decrease does little to balance out the increased cost of the color inks for the same product line. HP’s ink prices present an interesting case. The price of its ink cartridges tends to remain steady over time. Riofrio noticed, however, that when a new printer model replaces an old
one, the neophyte often uses a different type of cartridge--and the new cartridges cost a little bit more. In other instances, the new printer model’s cartridges cost the same as the older ones, but the yield has changed--sometimes for the worse.
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OEM News
HP Reports Decline in 2Q 2012 Revenue
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P reported a 3% decline year over year ( YOY ) in 2Q calendar 2012 with net revenue of $30.7 billion. These are the financial results for HP’s second fiscal quarter ended April 30, 2012. Personal Systems Group (PSG) revenue was flat YOY with a 5.5% operating margin. Commercial revenue increased 3%, and Consumer revenue declined 4% while Workstations revenue was down 1% YOY. Desktop units were up 5%, Notebook units were down 6% and Total units were down 1%.
Services revenue declined 1% YOY with an 11.3% operating margin. Technology Services revenue was flat YOY while Application and Business Services revenue grew 1% and IT Outsourcing revenue declined 3% YOY. Imaging and Printing Group (IPG) revenue declined 10% YOY with a 13.2% operating margin. Commercial hardware revenue was down 4% YOY with Commercial printer units down 7%. Consumer hardware revenue was down 15% YOY with a 13% decline in Printer units. Enterprise Servers, Storage and Networking (ESSN) revenue declined 6% YOY with an 11.2% operating margin. Networking revenue was up 2%, Industry Standard Servers revenue was down 6%, Business Critical Systems revenue was down 23%, and Storage revenue was up 1% YOY. Software revenue grew 22% year over year with a 17.7% operating margin, including the
results of Autonomy. Software revenue was driven by 7% license growth, 17% support growth, and 72% growth in services. Autonomy saw a significant decline in license revenue.”We are making progress in our multiyear effort to make HP simpler, more efficient and better for customers, employees, and shareholders,” said Meg Whitman, HP President and Chief Executive Officer. “This quarter we exceeded our previously provided outlook and are executing against our strategy, but we still have a lot of work to do.”
Konica Minolta to Acquire FedEx Kinko's Japan
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n April 26, 2012, Konica Minolta concluded a sales agreement with U.S.-based FedEx Kinko’s International, Inc. to acquire a 100% stake in FedEx Kinko’s Japan Co., Ltd. (FKJ). This acquisition will give Konica Minolta the largest business convenience store provider in Japan, further expanding and strengthening its production print business. FKJ is a leading on-demand print services provider with unique skills to deliver highly effective business proposals and sales programs tailored to various types of industries. The company has 49 stores in Japan including 6 print production centers in metropolitan areas for a wide range of corporate customers. Through its acquisition of FKJ, Konica Minolta aims to strengthen the proposal-based sales systems that meet the requirements of various types of industries with ever-changing business operations, help improve its customer-driven services and programs and provide diverse solutions for the CRD market. FKJ’s company name will become Kinko's Japan Co., Ltd. from June 1, 2012, onwards and its service stores and online services will continue to run under the "Kinko's" brand. www.iRecyclingTimes.com
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OEM News
Lexmark Seeks Settlement from Remanufacturers
Dealers File Antitrust Complaint against Canon USA
s the end of May approached, many remanufacturers who bought spent cartridges (cores) from Greentec International (Cambridge, Ontario, Canada) in the past received a letter from Lexmark warning that the cores they purchased and remanufactured might have been sold originally in a country other than the United States. If this is true, then recharging and reselling these cartridges violates one or more of 31 U.S. patents. The doctrine of patent exhaustion on first sale only applies if the spent cartridge was originally sold in the USA. If so, remanufacturers are free to repair and refill the core. If not, Lexmark is entitled to damages for patent violation. Because Greentec is one of the largest core collectors and brokers, Lexmark filed a request with the Ontario Supreme Court of Justice. Having been granted that request on March 22, 2012, Lexmark was able to view Greentec’s extensive customer list and use it to broadcast its warning to a huge segment of the remanufacturing community. Coming on the heels of Canon’s allegations of infringement of its twisted gear projection patents, Lexmark’s aggressive attack on rechargers large and small is another existential threat to the reman industry. The complex details of this matter are thoroughly examined and explained in a brilliant post by Actionable Intelligence ( June 5, 2012) www.action-intell.com The International Imaging Technology Council (i-ITC), a not-forprofit trade association that represents the interests of the imaging supplies industry, has offered to help by posting a notice on its website. Those who received a letter from Lexmark regarding a settlement that involved purchases made from Greentec can contact them at www.i-itc.org.
wo office equipment dealers filed a complaint against Canon USA Inc. alleging antitrust activity and breach of contract. The two dealers claim Canon stopped selling them needed parts and supplies after they were acquired by Xerox Corporation’s subsidiary Global Imaging Systems Inc. (GIS), according to a Law360 report. The complaint alleges violations of Iowa and Wisconsin law, the Sherman Act and the Robinson-Patman Act, as well as breach of contract. The two dealers are Merizon Group Inc. and R.K. Dixon Co. which were acquired by GIS in December 2011 and February 2012, respectively. The Sherman Antitrust Act (1890) prohibits unfair competition by restraint of trade or monopolistic practices. The Robinson-Patman Act (1936) forbids unfair competition by virtue of price discrimination. The lawsuit asks for a preliminary injunction that would allow the plaintiffs to keep buying the parts and supplies they need to service Canon office imaging equipment at existing customer installations. According to the plaintiffs, R.K. Dixon received a letter from Canon stating that its retail dealer agreement was terminated at the end of March 2012, while Merizon received a termination notice in December 2011. The plaintiffs allege Canon USA’s actions violate both its contracts with them and applicable state and federal law. “Merizon and R.K. Dixon are entitled to a good faith mediation with Canon USA to resolve these issues, but Canon USA refuses to mediate in good faith and refuses to continue to sell necessary parts and supplies to Merizon and R.K. Dixon pending resolution of this matter. Canon terminated the sale of parts and supplies when Merizon had some 3,000, and R.K. Dixon about 5,000, Canon printers and copiers under lease.
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Ricoh Establishes a Thermal Media Business in India
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icoh will begin producing and selling thermal transfer ribbons in India by establishing a new company in the sub-continent. Ricoh says it sets up Ricoh Thermal Media Asia Pacific Private Limited (RTM-AP) in Mumbai, India on June 1, 2012. RTM-AP is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ricoh Company Ltd., responsible for thermal media and related business. RTM-AP will also launch the marketing of thermal paper through its own distribution
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network in India. The new company will not only cover the Indian market, but also the entire Asia Pacific region in the future. Yasu Takashima, Managing Director of RTM-AP said, “Demand for high quality thermal transfer ribbons and thermal paper is expected to increase significantly in the future in fields such as food, logistics and production management. This leads to opportunities for Ricoh to provide products tailored to specific applications. Ricoh aims to grow its net sales of thermal media
business in the Indian market by 10 times in three years.” Ricoh is already domiciled in India through its subsidiary, Ricoh India Limited. “Investment in RTM-AP is yet another example of Ricoh’s contribution toward India’s growth story”, says Tetsuya Takano, Managing Director & CEO of Ricoh India, “Although RTM-AP is in a completely different business category, Ricoh India and RTM-AP will explore opportunities to work together in areas which are mutually beneficial.”
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Features
Reman Industry Faces Canon Challenge Will the “M” Card Be Played? by Art Diamond, Senior Consulting Editor When word came down that Canon had filed suit on January 23, 2012 for patent infringement, naming more than 30 defendants, it triggered a shock wave throughout the industry. This was a challenge to cartridge remanufacturers as an estimated 60% to 70% of all Canon and Hewlett Packard laser cartridges use these drum drive gears. Whatever the method or motivation, it seems to me that once again, in the face of an existential OEM challenge, the reman industry is pushing back. All things considered, it appears that the best solution is to either re-use the OEM gear, or a non-infringing one that is now available from at least one source and likely to be offered from other component suppliers as well. Many Jobs Threatened Canon’s multiple lawsuits present a serious threat to the entire cartridge remanufacturing industry and to the secondary suppliers and vendors that serve and support it. If almost 3 dozen lawsuits are just the first round in an extended battle, then at stake is the livelihood of an estimated 51,000 American workers of which about 47,000 are employed by toner and inkjet cartridge remanufacturers, dealers and distributors and roughly 4,000 who work for manufacturers of inks, toners, machine parts and components. Playing the “M” Card? Imaging industry history teaches us that patents, trade secrets and intellectual property (IP), in general, must be
respected and honored. However, when a patent owner seeks to monopolize (“M”) an industry in the United States, the FTC has stepped in to bar such unfair competition. It happened in 1954, when Eastman Kodak controlled an estimated 90% of the Kodachrome and Kodacolor photofinishing business in the USA. The government decree forced Kodak to train enough independent labs in the complex development and printmaking procedure to bring their competitors’ market share up to 50%. It occurred again in 1975 when Xerox Corporation, with its voluminous portfolio of toner formulation and manufacturing patents was forced to issue royalty-free licenses to competitive producers, both U.S. and foreign. In each of the two actions, the defendant was shown to have market power, a term defined in numerous court actions to mean the ability of a company to manipulate price by influencing an item's supply, demand or both. In each of the two cases cited, the patent owners’ rights, however valid, were trumped by the doctrines of a free market and fair competition. But today’s Canon challenge is vastly different from the Kodak and Xerox issues of the last century. For one thing, only two Canon patents are being cited. For another, remanufacturers have alternative solutions whereby Canon’s market power is profoundly diminished. In the view of expert legal counsel, playing the “M” card would be a bad idea. That point of view could change if future Canon actions are deemed in restraint of trade, unfair competition, or antitrust. Clover Won’t Roll Over The late Jack Dempsey, an American prizefighter, has been credited with the aphorism, “The best defense is a good
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Features offense.”Thus, Clover Holdings and its affiliated companies, perhaps the world’s largest cartridge remanufacturer, is not taking the infringement allegations lying down. Clover won’t roll over and play dead. Instead, they have decided to stand and fight the Canon action. On May 31, US-based market research firm Actionable Intelligence (AI) reported that “Clover’s official answer to Canon’s ITC complaint indicated that the company will defend itself not only by looking to prove it did not infringe but by asserting that Canon’s ‘803 and ‘454 patents are invalid, that Canon had exhausted its patent rights, and that Clover’s products are protected under the doctrine of permissible repair.” AI, tracking the markets for digital printers and consumables, further revealed (May 31, 2012) that Clover filed an emergency motion “to depose 25 individuals who were or are Canon employees or who were involved in the inventions behind, prosecution, or re-examination of U.S. patents 5,903,803 and 6,128,454.” This could be the first step in a prolonged legal battle should Clover decide to pursue such a strategy. Canon Girds for Litigation Also, according to Actionable Intelligence, on May 22, 2012, Canon filed a motion before the International Trade Commission (ITC) asking for an order to be issued requiring those 15 respondents, having failed to answer Canon’s original complaint, to show why they should not be found in default. In a May 23 post on the AI website, www.Action-Intell. com, the firm writes “Whatever the reasons, the pool of active respondents in the ITC case is shrinking, and Canon undoubtedly sees the large number of respondents that may default as good news.” It indicates, AI claims, “that many fewer firms will contest the allegations of infringement, and the defaulting defendants will thereby help the OEM prove that there was a widespread pattern of infringement.” In short, a smaller number of contesting respondents will reduce the strain on Canon’s legal resources. Strategies &Solutions Among the sobering events and insights that have since occurred, industry experts now can see 5 practical solutions to Canon’s enforcement of the 803 and 454 patents: • Reusing Canon’s “twisted polygonal prism” gears and couplings salvaged from spent OEM cartridges • Replacing the Canon part with Static Control’s patented, non-twisted, non-slanted coupling
• Claiming that Canon exhausted its patent rights on first sale • Claiming that the permissible repair doctrine applies to non-infringing gears and couplings • Reaching a settlement with Canon The first solution falls under the doctrine of “permissible repair” and thereby circumvents the OEM’s patents. The second solution substitutes a non-infringing gear coupling, such as the one being offered by Static Control Components (SCC).As SCC claims, “To avoid infringement, a gear must have zero twist and a 90-degree angle (zero slant). SCC has been granted two U.S. patents (7,813,676.B2 and 8,073,364 B2) for OPC drum gears that have absolutely no twist, or slant, and the gears have a 90 degree angle.” Print-Rite has an innovative solution of their own, although they have been cautious to avoid publishing any details. However, a recent note from CEO Arnald Ho states “Print-Rite has always respected the IP rights of others and continues to do so. We have developed our own innovative designs, formulas and processes which are protected by issued patents. With the Canon challenge as an example, I trust that our entire industry should understand the importance of IP and should invest more resources in these endeavors, rather than copy what others have done.” Depending upon the terms and conditions, Item No. 5may not be a “solution” at all, especially if it requires the remanufacturer to cease and desist operations involving the recharge and reuse of Canon and HP printers covered by the aforesaid patents. If we consider the substantial percentage of Canon and HP machine models addressed by the lawsuit, settling could spell the demise of a company and the consequent loss of jobs here in the United States. From the viewpoint of several companies recently polled, their options seem clear: either harvest OEM gears and reinstall them under the doctrine of permissible repair, or install non-infringing gears and couplings. Note that there is no guarantee either or all of the other www.iRecyclingTimes.com
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Features solutions proposed will avoid any further legal action by Canon. Indeed, if Canon decides to take action against these two popular options perhaps the industry will be compelled to play the “M” card. Possible Consequences Canon’s aggressive action could have some positive consequences for the reman industry, more specifically, if it leads to a general exclusion order (GEO) that would: • Block the import of compatible cartridges into the United States • Stop poisoning the spent cartridge pool with counterfeits, compatibles, new builds or new molds Canon originally filed for a GEO on June 28, 2010 in a complaint against Ninestar and its affiliated companies, to block imports of infringing cartridges. Ninestar responded by requesting a reexamination of the two Canon drum drive gear patents. However, after reviewing the USP 5,903,803 (“803”) and 6,128,454 (“454”) patents, the USPTO held that a reexamination was warranted as both patents met the requirement of raising a Substantial New Question (SNQ) of patentability which was determined to exist. On April 25, 2011, however, Examiner PiaTibbits concluded that claims 128-130, 132, 133 and 139-143 of the 803 patent
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were confirmed, as was independent claim 139. Subsequently, on May 3, 2011, Examiner Tibbits ruled that independent claims 24 and 139 of the 454 patent were likewise confirmed. In short, all claims contained in both patents were declared valid. With both patents now validated—although not yet tested in a court case—Canon has a better chance of getting the ITC to issue the requested GEO. The consequences of a GEO, in terms of jobs lost, would be more serious outside the United States for companies exporting new molds, counterfeits or remanufactured compatibles. However, stopping the influx of compatible cartridges and thereby cleaning up the spent cartridge pool, would benefit the industry in general.. Bottom Line Dr. Aydan Bekirov, Publisher of RechargEast magazine, once said, “OEMs win individual battles, but they will never win the war.” Indeed, cartridge remanufacturers have often demonstrated that no matter the challenge, they will find a solution. Nevertheless, in the 25-year history of the reman industry’s evolution and growth, it is doubtful that it ever faced a challenge as grave as this one.
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Features
Keeping Up With Digital Color Printing by Art Diamond, Diamond Research Corporation Digital color printing is revolutionizing every sector of the imaging industry, from home and desktop applications, to the neighborhood quick copy print shops, to in-house corporate production printing, to independent commercial printing enterprises. Today’s lineup of major non-impact printing (NIP) technologies is shown in Table 1:
Looking three years ahead (see Table 3), it seems that the front runners, in terms of new installations, could well become LED array electrophotography and Memjet printhead ink jet. This 7th addition joins the list as a result of a recent agreement between Memjet and Silverbrook Research announced on May 4, 2012.
Major NIP Technologies, 2012
Major Digital Color Printing Technologies, 2015
1
Electrophotography, Laser beam
2
Electrophotography, LED array
3
Ink jet, liquid, piezo
4
Ink jet, liquid, thermal
5
Ink jet, liquid, MemJet
6
Ink Jet, solid ink
7
Ionography
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Magnetography
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Photography
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Thermal Imaging ▲ Table 1
All of the processes listed above are in active use, although some, such as Ionograpy and magnetography are relegated to rather specialized applications (e.g., Delphax printers) and serve niche, monochrome markets. Transactional printing is an example, for high-volume, variable mages such as, tags, tickets, labels, checks, statements and invoices. When it comes to digital color printing, the list narrows to the 6 candidates shown in Table 2, which represents, for 2012, the leading technologies shown in order of decreasing installations. Major Digital Color Printing Technologies, 2012 1
Ink jet, liquid, piezo
2
Ink jet, liquid, thermal
3
Electrophotography, Laser beam
4
Photography
5
Ink Jet, solid ink
6
Electrophotography, LED array ▲ Table 2
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1
Ink jet, liquid, piezo
2
Ink jet, liquid, thermal
3
Electrophotography, Laser beam
4
Photography
5
Ink Jet, solid ink
6
Electrophotography, LED array
7
Ink Jet, liquid, MemJet ▲ Table 3
There were also a number of other deals inked at Drupa 2012, wherein Memjet forged agreements with such firms as Canon, Fuji-Xerox, Lomond and Océ as reported by Actionable Intelligence in a post on May 23, 2012 titled “Memjet’s Future Looking Considerably Sunnier Post-Drupa.” A New Dimension in Color Printers However, the growing popularity of portable printers for mobile applications might influence the ranking of favorites. Indeed, portability is the new dimension in printer design. With a multitude of applications for sales personnel, architects, building contractors, executives, and real estate assessors the demand is expanding for an affordable, lightweight, reliable, robust color printer. Chances are a liquid inkjet device will be among the top choices. HP has already entered this market with its OfficeJet 150 Mobile All-In-One Printer. This inkjet device operates at speeds up to 22 pages per minute (ppm) in black and 18 ppm in color, for draft mode images. For higher resolution (letter mode) the corresponding speeds for black and color are 5 and 3.5 ppm, respectively. The OfficeJet 150 weighs 6.8 pounds, with battery and is list priced at $399.00.
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Features At the Low End Associated Press journalist Stacy A. Anderson, writing in the Ventura Star ( June 12, 2012, p. 11A) highlights a niche market in On Demand book publishing. Evidently, local bookstores, libraries, universities and many other retailers are now selfpublishing titles for new authors, for out-of-print books, for those in the public domain, or those under copyright for which royalty payments can be arranged. Driving this trend is the Espresso Book Machine (EBM), now being marketed by On Demand Books (www. ondemandbooks.com). The EBM is a Xerox 4112 black-andwhite Copier/Printer modified to deliver a perfect bound, paperback in a few minutes. Book dimensions range from 4.5 x 5.0-inches to 8.25 x 10.75-inches. Page counts can range from 40 to 830 pages on the smaller sizes to 40 to 240 pages on the largest trim size. The book cover is printed separately in full color, using an ink jet printhead and tabloid size (11 x 17-inch) cardstock for which the Xerox 4112 Version 2.0 has been adapted. At the High End Commercial printing, whether in-house or in an independent plant, appears to be where the big action is. For decades, the production printing industry has been dominated by offset lithography as it continues to offer excellent print quality at a competitive cost, provided that runs are above about 5,000 impressions. For shorter runs, however, digital printing is more attractive due to its fast turnaround, variable image capability and high image quality. We are witnessing a transition from offset lithography to digital printing; the race is on to upgrade hardware worldwide. Although speeds well over 100 pages per minute (ppm) are now possible with today’s high end digital printers, they still cannot compare with the latest sheet-fed offset presses, such as the Heidelberg Speedmaster CX 102, which is capable of delivering 16,500 sheets per hour (~275 ppm). Clearly, there is much competition at the high end of this market as the printing and publishing world converts from analog to digital, and from offset to ink jet and electrophotographic processes. Among the “big iron” machines demonstrated at Drupa 2012 in May were these contenders: From Xerox • Xerox Nuvera 200/288 produces 200 to 288 impressions per minute (ipm) • Xerox iGen4 EXP Digital Printing Press, produces 40 ipm at14.33” x 26” wide
• Xerox DocuColor 8080 Digital Press, 70/80 pages per minute (ppm) • Xerox Continuous Feed Printers (e.g., CiPress 500 Ink Jet Printer) One of the most interesting aspects of Xerox’s 4th generation digital press is its use of Image-on-Image (IOI) technology to accomplish image transfer from the photoreceptor belt to the receiving paper or film substrate. According to Xerox scientists Rick Lux and Huoy-Jen Yuh, “It is capable of offset print quality due to its gentle powder cloud development system and single point transfer” (Is Image-onImage Color Printing a Privileged Printing Architecture for Production Digital Printing Applications? Proc. IS&T, NIP 20, pp. 323-327 (2004). First introduced in the Xerox iGen3 Production Press, the new IOI technology was carried forward into the iGen4 with significant upgrades that include automatic density control, streak detection and correction, inline spectrophotometry, more consistent color printing, less service and more production time.
▲ Xerox iGen3 110 Digital Production Press
From Eastman Kodak Kodak’s NexPress 3900 Photo Press features a 5-color electrophotographic engine capable of delivering up to 131 pages per minute (ppm) running 3-up. Kodak’s NexPress system rivals offset lithography in image quality and in print productivity. With a duty cycle of 4.4 million pages per month, the NexPress 3900 Is a flexible and powerful system ideal for photo specialty printers, professional photo labs, commercial printers and others serving customers in the photo space.
▲ Kodak’ s NexPress 3900 Digital Photo Press
From Hewlett Packard • Indigo 7600 Digital Press, uses liquid toner to deliver120 ppm in 4-color mode www.iRecyclingTimes.com
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Features From Océ • Océ 3500 ColorStream Ink Jet Printer delivers 1,073 ppm, supports MICR readable symbols for document security. Sources for Color Toners The limited availability of high quality toners to non-OEM dealers and distributors has inhibited aftermarket sales of color toners. Over the past few years, however, reliable sources have emerged with several offering chemical color toners (CCTs) and others providing rounded mechanical color toners (RMCTs): Among the current list of color toner producers are: • Color Imaging (Norcross, GA) • Dainippon Ink & Chemical (Oak Creek, WI) • Future Graphics (MKIC) ( Van Nuys, CA) • IMEX (Salem, OR) • NAND ipl (Delhi, India) • Tomoegawa ( Wheeling, IL) • Xerox Corporation ( Webster, NY ) Of course, several OEMs, such as, Canon, Kodak, Océ and Ricoh, do produce either CCTs or RMCTs, but have not offered these products to the aftermarket.
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iPrint China Expo 2012 iPrint China Expo 2012 (Zhuhai Airshow Centre, September 24-26) will bring together the latest in digital printers, presses and consumables. With China’s commercial and production printing industry numbering more than 300,000 plants, shops and kiosks, workers, owners and prospective entrepreneurs will have a chance to view what’s out there and what’s planned for the future of digital printing and publishing. On display, will be a variety of imaging technologies and hardware, narrow and wide-format, supported by expert operators and market consultants. This first ever event for commercial digital printing in the Asia Pacific region will feature as Keynoter, Dr. Edul N. Dalal, Research Fellow, Xerox Corporation, Webster, New York, and as Speaker, Dr. Xiaoying Rong, Associate Professor of Graphic Communication at Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo, California along with other experts in the industry to be announced shortly. For first-hand information on what’s new in digital color printing, iPrint China Expo this Fall will enable Visitors to get up close and personal with the experts in the imaging industry and the hardware on display.
Recycling Times Magazine
Features
The Opportunity for Supplies in Latin America by John Shane, InfoTrends Inc. In April 2012, InfoTrends conducted a Web-based survey in specific regions of Latin America, including Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina. This Multi-Client study offers an in-depth view of the supplies market in Latin America, including consumers’ preferences about supplies and aftermarket activities. In conducting this survey, we hoped to gain a better understanding of the dynamics within this market, which include widespread supplies counterfeiting and heavy use of refill services for supplies. A total of 600 home respondents and 900 office respondents qualified for participation in this survey, with respondents from Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina being equally represented (200 each for home; 300 each for office). During the course of this survey, home customers were asked where they purchased their OEM and aftermarket supplies. Although there was almost no difference in terms of laser and ink supplies, the purchasing patterns for original equipment manufacturer (OEM) versus alternative brands were quite different. More than half of home users reported purchasing their OEM products at an office supply store. For aftermarket products, however, roughly half of respondents relied on independent supplies vendors. The Latin American supplies market includes a multitude of small shops providing remanufacturing and refilling services, which suggests that the market for aftermarket supplies is quite fragmented.(See Figure 1)
▲ Figure 1
In terms of the individual countries, InfoTrends’ research confirms that home users in Brazil use a more varied assortment of outlets for their OEM supplies. This was especially the case for laser printers — although half of the home respondents in Brazil that own laser printers report buying their supplies from an office supply store, the remaining half reported purchasing these supplies at a variety of channels. In Mexico and Argentina, home laser printer users were more likely to frequent office supply stores when purchasing supplies. It seems that ink and toner supplies in Brazil are more widely distributed than those in Mexico and Argentina. Respondents in Brazil also reported a lower mean household income than Mexicans or Argentinians. As a result, InfoTrends speculates that home printers in Brazil might be subjected to broader use than those in the other two countries. Although this research was not structured to gauge printer use penetration in the household, these results suggest a wider penetration of home printers in Brazil. InfoTrends suspects that a significant share of the OEM-branded products sold in Latin America are actually counterfeit, so it is difficult to assess whether respondents are actually buying OEM products from the channels that they reported. When respondents were asked why they purchased supplies from a particular location, price was the most commonly selected reason. Although price was the most important factor for respondents in all regions, Brazilians www.iRecyclingTimes.com
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Recycling Times Magazine
Features were especially likely to buy their supplies based on price. Business respondents were asked a similar question. For alternative brand supplies, businesses also reportedusing independent supplies vendors a significant portion of the time, but this option was not selected by half the base as it was among home users. As would be expected, all businesses reported a significant use of business-to-business. Many businesses also reported buying OEM and aftermarket supplies at retail. For home and office respondents alike, Internet supplies purchasing appears to be extremely low. (See Figure 2) Company size had an impact on supplies purchasing behaviors. Smaller businesses were more likely to buy their supplies from retail shops, while larger businesses typically relied on B2B dealers and equipment manufacturers. This was true for ink and laser cartridges alike. Although home respondents showed different purchasing patterns based on their country of residence, this trend did
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â–˛ Figure 2
not extend to business respondents. Regardless of country, office respondents generally reported purchased their supplies from the same places. For more information on InfoTrends’ Multi-Client study entitled The Opportunity for Supplies in Latin America, please contact Scott Phinney at scott_phinney@infotrends.com or +1 (781) 616-2123.
Recycling Times Magazine
Profiles
Supplying the Products You Want At the Prices You Need Introducing Discover Imaging Products Limited by Steve Weedon, CEO, Discover Imaging Products Limited We are veterans of the industry but the “new kids on the block” with modern global distribution methods, cutting the costs of distribution, so our customers don’t need to sacrifice quality to find lower prices. At Discover Imaging Products we have redefined the imaging supplies distribution channel for toners, OPCs, blades, chips, rollers, and finished cartridge products for the laser, inkjet and copier aftermarket. In fact, we have turned the traditional distribution chain on its head, removing all the un-necessary extra add-on costs, that exists throughout the current supply chain, that always become part of the item cost, passed on to you the customer, in the selling price. This cost is in each kilo of toner or each and every drum or every other component part that you purchase. Removing the “Empire Costs” It’s an “Amazon.com” mentality brought to the imaging supplies channel, its unique, never been done before and it’s a win – win for our vendor partners as well as for our customers. At Discover Imaging Products we understand the reasons why remanufacturers need lower prices particularly those that are servicing the retail channel with remanufactured products but are under enormous price pressure from retailers who have large volumes and big demands. Remanufacturers servicing the retail channel are used to the pressure and have over the years looked for ways to reduce their own costs any way they can to remain competitive and profitable. Low labor cost areas for production, in-house empty collections programs to supplement cartridge empty costs and tight management controls on all operational costs are just some examples of what these remanufacturers have had to do to survive. 80% of all remanufactured cartridges are sold via the retail channel and only 20% are sold directly to the end user. As a result retailers are relentless in their demands for cheaper prices and bigger profits as their
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▲ Steve Weedon, CEO Discover Imaging Products Limited.
cartridge volumes grow and grow. They have the real power in this industry since they have the end user relationship; they collect the empty cartridge from the end user and have the biggest cartridge volumes to negotiate the best purchase prices. Worldwide, cartridge volumes are set to expand to about 450 million by 2015 growing by 70 million units from 2011. Retailers will win the biggest volumes in the future as they have done in the past and so there is a lot a stake for remanufacturers who play the game. But now remanufacturers find it more difficult than ever to find ways to cut their costs, what else can they do? Move production to even lower labor cost areas of the world? Many have tried sourcing themselves, bypassing the distributor and finding the vendor themselves. It is a logical thought process, but in many cases it becomes an additional burden
Recycling Times Magazine
Profiles of increased overhead costs. Most high quality vendors manufacture their products in the Far East making time zones impossible for efficient communications. Language difficulties create mis-communication and misunderstandings, and of course vendors like to get 3 months forecasts for orders in advance, which is difficult for remanufacturers. Before you know it, the remanufacturer has added a whole team of people to deal with direct sourcing that need to travel and build new relationships with unknown vendors. So whilst logical this is not the answer that most remanufacturers are looking for. “The imaging industry as we know it today is slowly dying!” Remanufacturers have little option but to put pressure on traditional distributors to get lower prices. As a result the market has become very competitive and distributor margins have become thin. Some distributors have already given up, unable to see a way to get a return on their investment. So now the remanufacturer has even less choice of where to shop. Distributors average selling prices have fallen year on year at a 30-degreeangle. It is easy to plot where it is headed. It is inevitable that even more distributors will go out of business in the future as a result. Distributors of course put pressure on the vendor manufacturers, forcing lower purchase prices and better terms in order to sell their products. No loyalty exists as everyone fights to survive. At the end of the supply chain is the vendor and he is facing some very difficult decisions. Should they continue to give in to distributors or do they close down now that margins are extremely low and their cash cycle gets longer and longer. Does the future look any brighter than the past? Will the price pressure ever stop? Can they make the products cheaper knowing that it’s only quality performance that keeps customers coming back for more? It’s been a very difficult few years for most vendors.
▲ Discover is able to reduce overhead costs by delivering cheaper products to remanufacturers
▲ Discover Imaging Products logo
No single vendor makes everything that is required; most are just single line product manufacturers making toner or drums or blades or chips but not everything that is needed. Not every product that they make is the best in class for performance either and so every vendor is relying on the distributor to qualify matched products for good cartridge performance and help them make better products. The whole supply chain has too many companies with too many costs looking for too much profit when there is not enough margin to go around to satisfy everyone involved. It has to change! Inevitable Conclusion The imaging Industry as we know it, is slowly dying as Vendors go out of business and distributors go out of business, leaving remanufacturers with less choice. Inevitably some remanufacturers lose their retail business and will also disappear. Discover Imaging Products has the answer and will change the way the supply channel works to partner with vendors and customers so everyone can win. Discover Imaging Products changes the way products are distributed and our global organization is structured without the “empire costs” that burdens our competitors. Uniquely, we are a consortium of high quality product vendors, veterans of the industry and technical experts that recognize that the “old” way is simply not sustainable for the long term. Change is needed and the time for change is now. We at Discover Imaging Products have put into action what others can only talk about. We have partnered with the best imaging vendors in the world who realize that a change is necessary for this industry to survive and for them to survive. Vendors can no longer subsidize the traditional distributors “empire” costs and funds their stock in various warehouses worldwide as well as carrying the debt load. Vendors want locked-in distribution and by becoming an invested equity partner, Discover Imaging Products offers them security of product distribution and www.iRecyclingTimes.com
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Profiles
▲ Hong Kong is the base for Discover Imaging Products operations
the technical feed back they need to continuously seek improvements in product performance. The future is suddenly brighter. Now the bridge between the vendors and the remanufacturers is in place. We can work together with our customers and our vendors to provide all the products that you want at the prices you need. It’s a whole new way of doing things that this Industry has not seen before. Discover Imaging Products has central distribution warehouse facilities in Hong Kong, close to all our vendor partners, who can supply regularly and quickly reducing the need to finance several months of stationary warehouse stock, thereby, reducing our operational costs and the vendor debt load. Just one more way we can reduce our price to you. Sales offices are established for Europe, USA, India, Pakistan, China and Middle East with more offices planned to open soon in other areas of the world. Opportunities exist for country distributors looking to sell to local remanufacturers needing next day delivery. Also “Sales Agents” wanted for many areas of the world. All our direct associates are hand picked industry veterans. We have over 130 years of accumulated technical expertise on board and ready to support our customers and our vendor partners. Time never stands still and so it’s true with businesses and industries also. You are either moving forward or going backwards. We only understand when we look “back” but we have to live in the future, looking “forward”. It’s time for change. Our industry has done an incredible job over the last 20 years to create a dynamic and vibrant market place that brings good quality remanufactured cartridges to end users. By offering them a viable choice between an Original OEM cartridge and an aftermarket remanufactured cartridge we save them money and they become a little bit greener at the same time. Recycling for “reuse” is the best form of recycling,
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and has become accepted just about everywhere. No matter what country I have visited, during my38 years of experience in the imaging supplies industry, I have always found someone wanting to reclaim used OEM cartridges and either sell them to someone who wants to remanufacture them or do it themselves and supply their own local customers. Every end user wants to save money and be more environmentally friendly at the same time. Our industry offers them that choice. If an end user gets a good experience with good print quality he WILL come back for more and so the local remanufacturer builds his business. But by far the biggest volume of imaging cartridges is sold through the retail channel. The retailer is also a customer of the OEM. So to sell remanufactured cartridges he wants to make more money selling a remanufactured cartridge than selling an original OEM cartridge. It’s constant and relentless pressure. We do have a bright industry future to look forward to, but we need to embrace change. Change is good, change make things happen. At Discover Imaging Products I have used all my past experience to understand where this industry is headed. By looking “back” we can understand. All the signs are there all the statistics are there to see. The results were not good; the inevitable conclusion was that it is slowly dying. I checked my sanity by talking to other industry experts that I admire, only to find that they agreed completely. I discussed the issue with many remanufacturers and vendors alike, it was unanimous, everyone agreed. In fact for many, the situation is worse than I had originally thought. In business we have to look forward to live in the future. Remanufacturers need lower prices; vendors need distribution and a viable business model. The distribution model needs to change. No remanufacturer can afford to pay for the “value add” that today many tell me they don’t need. The traditional distributor “empire costs” cannot continue to be subsidized by either the vendor or the remanufacturer. It’s a huge problem. Discover Imaging Products has no “empire costs”, just high quality products at great prices and a unique infrastructure that makes it all possible. It’s what you have been waiting for. For more information: Email: sales@discoverimaging.com Website: www.discoverimaging.com Tel: USA. +1 919 379 1488 Europe. +44 1342 841936 India/Mid East /Pakistan/ +44 0755 387 7049
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Profiles
Supporting Remanufacturers for 10 Continuous Years By the time you read this, the European trade association will have held its Focus on Europe conference in Nice, France, marking 10 continuous years supporting remanufacturers in the region. Vincent van Dijk’s face is probably one of the best known industry faces, not just in Europe, but in Africa, China and the USA for his tireless efforts to see European remanufacturers get a better deal. Van Dijk has served as Secretary General of ETIRA—short for European Toner and Inkjet Remanufacturers Association— since the organization was created in 2003. The Association boasts its members collectively produce more than 60% of the total remanufactured products in Europe. ETIRA was created to develop a clear identity for the European remanufacturing industry and to facilitate the representation of its interests and views to politicians, regulators, business stakeholders, the media and consumers. Today, after 10 years hard work lobbying and promoting the industry, the Association is recognized by governments as the industry’s peak body for consultation and legislation advice. Its statutory seat is in Brussels, the de facto capital of the European Union, but van Dijk’s office is in Breda, The Netherlands. During the last 10 years, ETIRA has worked on improving the quality and standards of its members, providing consumers with better products. It has also provided its members with legal and regulatory advice, public relations, and networking opportunities to grow the industry.
▲ ETIRA Code of Conduct Logo
▲ Vincent van Dijk, Secretary General of ETIRA
Ticked Off The remanufacturing Code of Conduct and the wellrecognized ticked-R collective brand and logo was one of the first achievements of the Association. Its members must agree to a code of professional conduct, a commitment to best business practice, product quality, product warranty, safe working places for staff, and environmental standards. “The ETIRA Code of Conduct represents a collective vision and set of values for companies in our industry, many of which are small and medium-sized enterprises,” says van Dijk, adding “The code defines what we are and what we want to become.” In line with European-wide standardization, van Dijk expects the Code could be used in the future to cover more detailed product quality requirements. Fair Play The ETIRA website clearly states that it supports patent infringement action by OEMs. But there are some actions, by both OEMs and aftermarket players, ETIRA does not support. “We do not endorse patents that make no sense as they lack the key element of comprising a technical innovation,” van Dijk says. “We also reject patents that serve no other purpose than to monopolize a non-existing business www.iRecyclingTimes.com
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Profiles
▲ London 2011: A record 105 delegates attend ETIRA industry meetings
activity.” He argues that where OEM cartridges are “intended for single use only” and an OEM does not remanufacture them that OEM should not then try to attempt to patent their remanufacturing. To this end, van Dijk says ETIRA will continue to vigorously oppose such patents at the European Patent Organization and before the courts. In keeping with European Union law, an OEM can not argue a printer warranty is voided only because non-OEM cartridges were used, as is the case in many countries around the world. Only when the remanufactured cartridge was the single and direct cause of the printer defect can the warranty perhaps be questioned. A Persistent Watchdog Over the last 10 years, ETIRA has been a persistent watchdog looking out for misleading information. In February 2010, for example, an OEM in the Netherlands used harsh language in a flyer on their website denouncing remanufactured cartridges as being “fake toners”, poor in quality and likely to damage the consumer’s printer. They even said the use of non-OEM toners would void the printer warranty. ETIRA intervened, protested and reminded the OEM case law where this kind of activity was found illegal. The OEM realized its mistake and quickly removed the false statement from the flyer. Neither does ETIRA support the importing of illegal, newly-built cartridges that infringe patents. A flood of such
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cartridges continues to flow from South East Asia into Europe, hurting the market share and the credibility of the genuine remanufacturing industry. “The aftermarket share in some East European countries is more than 50%, but this consists of mainly newly-built clones,” van Dijk told a world gathering of industry leaders in Zhuhai China in September 2010. “If patent-infringing ‘newbuilts’ are sold in Europe, your business is at great risk,” van Dijk says, “OEMs now actively sue importers and distributors in Europe. This Spring, Samsung sued dozens of companies regarding the CLP-310 and 315, and HP attacked many Spanish firms selling 21, 22, 27, 28, 56 and 57 inkjets. These firms had to destroy all products and pay a major fine to the respective OEMs.” Van Dijk also argues for an end to false packaging. “Some of the “newbuilts” are incorrectly labeled as “remanufactured”, thus benefiting from the ‘environment-friendly’ reputation without doing the work for it or providing the greenhouse gas emission savings.” Further, many newbuilt clones are inferior in quality to the OEM cartridge, making it impossible for them to be used again. ETIRA views the illegal newbuilt cartridges as being a hazard to the environment. And, because the illegal newbuilt cartridges infringe OEM patents, remanufacturing them is an offense and a potential financial liability to the remanufacturer. ETIRA continues to call on buyers to source only genuine OEM cartridges for remanufacture. “We will continue to take action against the newbuilt products claiming to be remanufactured,” van Dijk says. “We have sued a number of companies and web shops in Europe. Wherever we have found illegal products, we wrote to the supplier(s) involved and insisted on an end to their trade. In several cases we have taken legal action which resulted in a large fine for the selling company.” But ETIRA is not just about “suing” companies. Moving forward, ETIRA is more about promoting product quality. ETIRA will continue to actively contribute to the work in DIN and ISO, with the firm objective of setting the highest quality standards for the remanufactured product. ETIRA will also continue to lobby public bodies “to be green”: through their contributions in EPEAT (USA) and Eco-design/Ecolabel (Europe), and by calling for criteria to stimulate public institutions worldwide to buy remanufactured when they put out a tender for cartridges. Our industry proudly salutes the magnificent 10 year contribution ETIRA has made, and continues to make, to the remanufacturing industry in Europe and in many countries worldwide.
Recycling Times Magazine
Profiles
Still Here Facing the Challenges “You cannot expect things to remain the same,” says John Duffy, Owner and Director of Precision Toner Products Pty Ltd in Botany, Sydney, Australia. “And they are not!” In 1998, like many other remanufacturers around the world, Duffy started his operation in his garage; a small mom and pop operation. Fourteen years later, in his factory premises, it is still a family owned business. His 9 staff produces 3,000 remanufactured cartridges every month for the reseller market. “The main difference today is the big profits are no longer there,” Duffy says. “You can still make good margins on cartridges but you must have volume.” The other thing that has changed is the number of companies actually remanufacturing in Australia. The market share is stable at about 25% for monochrome and a small 3% for color. Most remanufacturers now focus on retail sales and marketing, outsourcing their remanufacturing to just a few larger companies or importing finished products from China and Vietnam. Color is an obvious potential market for growth. The OEMs continue to have 97% market share, mainly due to the unreliability and poor quality of some colored remanufactured and compatible cartridges. “We are able to enjoy a very low failure rate because we are remanufacturing on demand getting the product to the end user promptly reducing stock control and shelf life issues. What have not changed are challenges placed in front of the industry by the OEMs. “Lock out chips, the huge array of cartridges to master and hold in stock and now the drum gear issue. There is always something to keep us focused.” Duffy says. He holds up a Canon drum with the patented gear: “At one stage we were pulling off the majority of gears from the used drums and reusing them. This is a permissible repair. It is difficult to find enough gears in good condition so we have to look to our industry supply partners for other solutions.” Precision Toner reuses as much as it can, but also sends scrap metals and plastics to other recycling industries through their waste reduction program. Precision Toner is doing its remanufacturing smarter these days. “We have focused on and specialized in the niche and color markets across the board as well as top end Lexmark, Xerox and various other hard to source hi-tech products including the HP9000. Rebuilding products is what we do best!” Duffy says.
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▲ John Duffy, Owner and Director Precision Toner Products Pty Ltd
“We have started outsourcing a few select products from China, although more than 90% of our product range is still locally remanufactured” Duffy says. He travelled to China to personally select a remanufacturer who could provide consistent quality and volume. He laughs when he remembers some of the factories he visited, watching the technicians “mishandling” critical components. “It is the same anywhere you go in the world,” he says, “there are those who are quality conscious with their remanufacturing processes and there are others who are either ignorant or simply don’t care.” Duffy found many possible suppliers in China but settled on one company who will rebuild cartridges to HIS specifications, using his intellectual property procedures. The big threat to the aftermarket industry is in identifying the difference between newly made compatible cartridges and remanufactured cartridges. “Many sales people do not know the difference” Duffy explains, “so how can you expect the consumer to understand? In Australia users generally prefer to buy the locally made product, particularly if they can be in contact with the actual remanufacturer for customer support. Today sales people and their customers find it difficult to tell the difference between locally remanufactured and imported new compatible product.” “We have a great relationship with our resellers and consider them distribution partners rather than just customers” Duffy insists. “It is based on trust, they are happy for us to be available to talk to their customers, the end users, to provide after sales support.” “It works,” he says. “We’ll be around for a while continuing to provide top quality remanufactured products and services for the Australian market.”
Recycling Times Magazine
Tech Zone
Remanufacturing the Brother HL2280 DR-420 OPC Cartridge (DR-2200 Europe and DR-2225 in Asia) by Mike Josiah and the technical team at Uninet Imaging. First introduced in December 2010, the HL-2280 laser printers are the next generation of Brother’s newer higher quality engines. As with all previous Brother engines it has its quirks but is better than the previous engine. See below for an explanation of a very large quirk in this cartridge. The HL-2280 series of printers are based on a 21-27ppm, 2400 x 600 dpi machine that comes standard with a duplexer built in. With a list price of $149.00 including the duplexer, these machines are going to be very popular. The DR-420 has a list price of $104.99*. *As of September 2011 Currently there are quite a few machines based on the HL-2280 engine: • DCP-7055 • DCP-7060D • DCP-7065D • HL-2130 • HL-2220 • HL-2230 • HL-2240 • HL-2240D • HL-2270DW • HL-2280DW • MFC-7360N • MFC-7460DN • MFC-7860DW The OEM stated yield is ESTIMATED at 12,000 pages. This number is based on the number of actual drum revolutions, not the pages printed. There is a start rotation at the start of every job, and a stop rotation. So if one page is printer, there is the start 3 ½ for the page and the stop for a total of 5 ½. The larger the average print job, the longer the life the drum will have. Just keep this in mind if your customer is complaining about a short drum cartridge life. This is all spelled out in detail in the user’s manual and also the service manual. IMPORTANT!!! Brother print systems have always been different, and this one is no exception. It’s even different from the traditional Brother systems. In the past, the drum cartridge had a “Charge Brush” that attracted the waste toner to it, and at the correct time repelled it to the drum so the developer roller could pick it back up. This cartridge has
▲ Brother DR-420
done away with the Charge brush! There is no mention of any theory in the service manual so we are looking into (The many) Brother patents to see how this works now. My personal educated guess is this: The developer roller has always put the toner out there for the drum to print with, and they have always picked up the waste toner from the charge brush through the drum. I believe that Brother has just eliminated the middle man so to speak. The developer roller still presents the good toner in the same way, but it also is picking up the waste all pretty much at almost the same time. Time will tell, but if this is how it works, then the multi use life of the drum cartridge has been greatly extended. This is a simpler but also timing wise much more complicated system. As I get more info on this, I’ll update these instructions. The cartridge theory below has been modified to fit the explanation above. I also left in the charge brush theory so you see what previous potential issues were. This is all important to know as failure to clean the toner cartridges properly causes backgrounding. I believe this will still be the case, the culprit this time instead of the charge brush will be the developer roller. It is more important than ever to clean out the toner cartridge properly, and to also make sure the developer roller is clean. There are dedicated brother developer roller cleaners on the market that are perfect for this. We do not recommend any kind of alcohol as it will remove some www.iRecyclingTimes.com
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Tech Zone
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1
Remove the E-ring from the Non Gear side of the drum axle shaft.
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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 developer roller must be cleaned with a dedicated developer roller cleaner. Tools required • Small common screw driver • E-ring pliers • Vacuum approved for toner
Remove the drum axle from the Non Gear side of the drum. If you try to pull it out from the gear side, the shaft will jam up on the drum ground contact and damage the contact. step >
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Supplies required • OEM DR-420 drum in good shape. (New Drums should be available soon) • Cotton swabs • Isopropyl Alcohol • Drum padding powder
toner from the drum. Again, it will be critical for the developer roller to be clean! The rest of the print theory is the same as previous engines. The remaining 80g or so of “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.
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step >
of the conductive layer and cause issues with density and now also backgrounding. The cleaning section of typical Brother drum cartridges consists of a “cleaning brush” and a recovery blade. This 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 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 developer roller actually contacts the drum, some toner is transferred back into the supply of the toner cartridge. Once 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. The DR-420 cartridge since it does not use a charge brush, has the reverse charge on the developer roller which allows it to pick up the waste
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cover!
Be careful not to lose the round drum bushing from the non gear side of the
Recycling Times Magazine
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Carefully pry up and lift off the top cover/corona wire assembly from the
Check the outside of the cartridge to make sure that the small black spacer is correctly positioned. step >
step >
Tech Zone
cartridge.
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Install the drum hub side first. You will have to compress the hub spring slightly for the drum to fit properly.
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With compressed air, blow off the Transfer roller. Unless you have a statically grounded vacuum, do not vacuum this roller.
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Clean the primary corona wire and grid with a cotton swab and alcohol.
step >
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IMPORTANT: Note that there will be a small white bushing with an internal black plastic spacer left in the cartridge. This spacer keeps the transfer roller touching the electrical contacts on the left side of the cartridge. Be very careful not to loose this spacer! The cartridge will either print very light or 1/2 pages if it is missing. It is best to remove this spacer and bushing while cleaning the cartridge.
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Install the top cover pressing down so it snaps in place.
step > step >
Carefully lift out the transfer Roller from the gear side. Be very careful not to touch the roller with your skin. As with any transfer Roller, the oils naturally present in your skin will be absorbed by the roller and interfere with the transfer process, causing light print.
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Reinstall the small black transfer roller spacer and bushing.
step >
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Carefully remove the drum. Note that unlike all previous Brother drums there is a one piece drive gear not 2 as in previous units. The hub side is also spring loaded, and is not easily removable.
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Install the transfer roller. Make sure that both the white plastic bushings
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are clean.
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Tech Zone
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Install the black drum axle spacer.
step >
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Install the E-ring on non gear side of the drum axle shaft. Press the axle bushing in slightly so that the e-ring slot is accessible.
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Install the drum axle from the drum gear side of the cartridge.
Reset procedure If the machine is saying to change the drum unit, do the following. If the drum unit was cleaned because of contamination, the reset is not necessary. For the HL-XXXX units: After replacing the drum unit, keep the front cover open (make sure the power is on). Press and hold the “GO” button until all four LEDS are lit. Once the four LEDs are lit, release the GO button and close the front cover. Make sure the Drum LED is off. The counter is reset! For the HL-228X, MFC-XXXX and DCP-XXXX machines: Open the front Cover and press CLEAR. To confirm you are installing a new drum unit, press the UP arrow. When the Screen shows ACCEPTED, close the front cover The counter is reset! Troubleshooting Back grounding: (Gray Streaks) This is usually caused by contaminated toner. See the explanation at the beginning of this article for more information. With the removal of the charge brush from this cartridge, backgrounding can now also be caused by a worn or dirty developer roller. This is also explained at the beginning of this article. Dark Black Vertical Streaks: This is normally caused by either a dirty primary corona wire, or the blue corona wire cleaner is not in its “home” position on the left side of the cartridge. Light Print: Can be caused by a dirty or worn Transfer Charge Roller. These rollers are located inside the cartridge. So far in our tests, they should last at least 2-3 cycles. See next section also. Light or 1/2 page prints: This is caused by a missing transfer roller spacer. The spacer is a small piece of black plastic that sits next to the right
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end of the transfer roller. This piece keeps the transfer roller touching the electrical contact on the opposite side of the roller. If missing, the roller will move and can cause light or 1/2 page prints. Black or white horizontal Lines: Black lines normally appear when there is a build up of toner, White when there is a dead spot, or contamination of the roller. Solid Black Pages: Bad drum ground contact. Probably from the drum axle shaft to the contact gear inside the drum. Perfectly straight thin black lines down the page: Scratched drum. Black dots that repeat every 94.2mm: Chipped drum or something is stuck to the drum surface. Repetitive defect chart OPC drum
94.2mm
Lower pressure roller
78.5mm
Upper fuser roller
53.4mm
Developer roller
32.5mm
▲ Brother DR-420