Xerox Laying Off - Ceases Toner Production

At the plant in Oklahoma...

About 100 of the 170 employees at the Oklahoma City plant will be laid off and toner manufacturing will cease.

Officials say consumers are using newer equipment that uses different toners and the need for black toner product has decreased.

The Xerox facility broke ground in Oklahoma City 34 years ago.

Couple this with X's announcement last month of 3,000 layoffs globally, and the new plant in Webster and there really isn't any surprise here.

Xerox Reports Third-Quarter 2008 Earnings

(Norwalk, Conn.) -- Xerox Corporation announced third-quarter earnings of 29 cents per share.

Xerox said the profit edged up 2 percent, topping Wall Street's forecast, as sales to smaller businesses helped offset weakness in large U.S. corporations.

-Bigger companies bought less new equipment from the printer and copier maker-

crimping the Norwalk, Conn.-based company's sales growth and causing it to miss the consensus revenue prediction.

Xerox's sales grew just 2 percent, to $4.37 billion, short of the $4.47 billion that analysts polled by Jhomson Reuters were expecting. Sales would have been flat were it not for a weak U.S.
dollar.

Net income was $258 million, or 29 cents per share, a penny per share higher than the average analyst estimate. In the year-ago period, net income was $254 million, or 27 cents per share.


Check these out:

The Death of Xerography

Opinions, Everybody's Got One

Imaging Industry Wall Street Insider - New Blog

"Sub Prime"

In our industry, 95% of our transactions are leased and have been since the beginning.

Most customers and most selling professionals really do not know the intricacies involved with leasing and lease agreements and how the overall economic environment effect these basic pillars of our trade.

Well, I scrounged up a pretty good post over at Imaging Industry Wall Street Insider regarding this subject.

Enjoy.

And check out the Team at Woodford Group

Starbucks and HP?

"Put that Coffee Down...Coffee's for Closers

LOS ANGELES, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Starbucks Corp (SBUX.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Thursday that Chief Financial Officer Pete Bocian will leave the coffee chain at the end of the month to join computer maker Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) as chief administrative officer.

Bocian, 54, had a short tenure at Seattle-based Starbucks, which has been closing U.S. stores as it grapples to revive its flagging domestic business amid the weak economy.

Bocian joined Starbucks in April 2007 from NCR Corp (NCR.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), a maker of automated teller machines (ATMs), and became CFO in October 2007, a company spokeswoman said.

Troy Alstead, 45, Starbucks' senior vice president of global finance, will succeed Bocian.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Larry Miller said he held Bocian in very high regard.

"I'm a little surprised. He hasn't been there very long," Miller said, noting that it seemed like Bocian was moving on to a good position.

Still, Miller said, "Nobody likes change on the investor side ... Anytime there is a change in management it brings questions."

Toshiba Business Solutions Establishes New Market Presence with Its 55th Dealer Acquisition in Indianapolis HPS Office Systems

IRVINE, Calif., Nov 03, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Further growing its nationwide network of wholly owned subsidiary operations, Toshiba Business Solutions (TBS) today announced that it secured its 55th organization through the acquisition of substantially all the assets of Indianapolis-based HPS Office Systems (HPS), a key market player in the upper Midwest.

HPS will transition to join TBS-KY/IL, under the leadership of subsidiary president, John Applegate. The acquisition of HPS is a strategic market entrance into Indiana that will enable TBS-KY/IL to provide continuous service coverage from Lexington to Chicago. Prior to this acquisition, HPS was an authorized independent Toshiba and Savin dealer with a successful 35 year history selling and servicing Toshiba products.

"HPS has had a long-standing reputation for outstanding customer service in Indiana that extends back to the late 1930s, so it is with great pride that we announce this tactical move to make HPS an official member of the Toshiba family," said Wayne Wilkinson, senior vice president/general manager, TBS. "This acquisition is a strategic move for Toshiba that will allow us to apply greater focus on this previously untapped market in Indiana, while further strengthening Toshiba's national market presence through its TBS channel."

With nearly 70 years of experience in servicing the Indiana market, HPS has a large clientele between its offices in the "Hoosier state," which includes locations in Indianapolis, Muncie, Bloomington, Terre Haute and Columbus. Previous owner, Leon Mordoh, began his career with HPS in 1965 and will continue to provide leadership at HPS headquarters as vice president and general manager.

"TBS-KY/IL is thrilled for the opportunity to integrate HPS into our organization, extending Toshiba's ability to reach Midwest businesses and provide them with world-class products and services," said Applegate. "HPS is well-known for its commitment to its customers, which perfectly aligns with Toshiba's culture and standards of excellence in innovation, service and support to its customers."

Recently, TBS also completed the acquisition of the assets of Rocky Mountain Copiers Inc. (RMC). RMC now is a fully integrated component of TBS-CO's existing operation in Colorado Springs, Colo. RMC was the 54th acquisition by TBS since its inception.

Canon Officially "Nixes" IKON

The letter -

"October 31, 2008

TO:

Canon Office Imaging Dealers and Office Product Dealers

SUBJECT: Acquisition of IKON Office Solutions, Inc. by Ricoh Co. Ltd.

On October 31, 2008, Ricoh Co. Ltd. ("Ricoh") announced completion of its acquisition of IKON Office Solutions, Inc. ("IKON").

Canon USA and IKON have entered into a confidential agreement regarding the terms of their relationship following the acquisition of IKON by Ricoh. Effective upon the closing of the acquisition, the retail dealer agreements between Canon USA and IKON terminated, and IKON is no longer an authorized retail dealer of or authorized service provider for Canon-brand business equipment. IKON will no longer be able to place new orders for Canon-brand business equipment with Canon USA.

However, IKON is not precluded from selling and may continue to sell its inventory of Canon-brand business equipment, spare parts and supplies, and is not precluded from providing and may provide maintenance and repair services for Canon-brand business equipment. In addition, Canon USA will continue to sell spare parts and supplies to IKON for three years, and will provide certain technical support to IKON for Canon brand business equipment for at least one year.

Sincerely yours,

CANON U.S.A., INC."

So, what does this mean?

It means that RiKON will be able to service existing Canon clients for a max of three years, unless RiKON decides to purchase "years" of service part stock.

RiKON can not sell any new Canon devices.

For any Canon service issues that may require escalation, RiKON is as high as it will go.

I do not know what this does to the Re-Man plant down in Mexico - last I knew, it was all Canon re