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New contract for copiers saves Lackawanna County $83,000

BY CHARLES SCHILLINGER
STAFF WRITER
Published: Thursday, March 12, 2009
Updated: Thursday, March 12, 2009 6:48 AM EDT

Lackawanna County will save $83,000 a year on copier machines, eliminating 15 of 78 copiers in county offices with a new contract approved by commissioners Wednesday.

Among the 64 departments of county government that takes up 27 buildings, there are 438 copiers, printers and fax machines, said county deputy director of purchasing Jim McLaine. But through efficiency checks and competitive bidding, he said the county is finding some savings.

The county asked for bids to replace 78 of the approximately 100 copiers the county owns or leases. Scranton-based Topp Business Solutions won the contract, which will eliminate all county-owned copiers and give county offices new, leased copiers.

Mr. McLaine said when the county bids out the remainder of the copiers, printers and fax machines, he expects there to be even more savings for the county.

“I think we’re on sound track here for the future,” he said.

The county also bid out printing of the 2009 county newsletter — but only two companies bid, and one was disqualified. Printing 70,000 copies for each edition of the quarterly county newsletter will cost the county $37,100 this year. The newsletter is funded by the hotel tax.

The bid was won by Dunmore-based Universal Printing Co.

Contact the writer: cschillinger@timesshamrock.com

Ricoh cuts 2010/11 operating profit target by 32 pct

TOKYO, March 13 (Reuters) - Japan's Ricoh Co Ltd (7752.T), the world's largest copier maker, said on Friday it had cut its operating profit target for the year starting April 2010 by a third due to a firmer yen.

It now expects profit of 170 billion yen ($1.7 billion), compared with its previous goal of 250 billion yen announced a year ago.

Ricoh also said it aims for 2.3 trillion yen in revenues for the 2010/11 business year, compared with its previous target of 2.5 trillion yen.

The new targets are based on foreign exchange assumptions of 90 yen to the dollar and 120 yen per euro. Its earlier assumptions were 105 yen to the dollar and 155 yen per euro.

WA state agency pays 10 times more per photocopy

They're starting to catch on up there in Washington.

One department is paying for 950,000 images per month, "...the Department of Ecology pays four cents per copy and must pay for 950,000 copies a month, whether it prints that many or not.

Last December, this department was billed $15,493 for copies it never made.

In an article here the good people of Washington state have lawmakers who are really looking out for their taxpayers.

Where one department is paying 4 cents, another is paying 0.004/image.

The Department of Printing billed agencies $50,000 for assessments done by OkiData and Lexmark -- but some departments have taken advantage of "free" assessments.

Pam Derkacht, Assistant Director of Customer Services for the Department of Printing says, "It's really easy for any agency or any large organization to want to take the free assessment but it always results in "You need more equipment or you need newer, upgraded equipment."

Text of the TV article is here.

Canon cuts 2010 profit outlook by 75%

Canon Inc. (CAJ: News ) lowered its profit outlook for 2010 by 75% to figures more in line with the economic downturn as the company grapples with the impact of a stronger yen and weak demand on its operations, according to media reports Thursday.

Accordingly, for 2010, Canon now forecasts net income of 150 billion yen, down sharply from its prior outlook for net income of 600 billion yen set in 2007. The company also lowered its outlook for revenues for the year to 3.7 trillion yen from the prior forecast of 6 trillion yen.

Canon had recorded profits for eight consecutive years through fiscal 2007 on stronger demand for copiers, digital cameras and other products. However, the company has since witnessed a sharp fall in demand for its cameras and copiers as the global economic crisis hit its major export markets.

Worldwide Hardcopy Peripherals Undergo Double-Digit Decline in the Fourth Quarter of 2008, According to IDC

IDC - Press Release
FRAMINGHAM, Mass., March 11, 2009 –

Worldwide hardcopy peripherals shipments declined 17.0% year over year to 32.6 million units while revenue from these shipments fell 13% to $15.0 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008 (4Q08), according to IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker. This is the second consecutive quarter that the worldwide hardcopy peripherals market has experienced a decline in shipments.

"IDC expects the market to bottom out in 2009, in response to the international economic crisis, and then start a recovery in 2010," said Alyson Frasco, director, U.S. Hardcopy Peripheral Trackers & Forecasts.

According to Phuong Hang, program manager, Worldwide Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker, "Over the next year, vendors will employ several strategies to weather the downturn. The battle will continue in the channel as vendors seek to gain go-to-market strength and capacity. Vendors will also focus on offering cost-cutting and productivity enhancements to customer’s existing document infrastructure as well as driving managed print services."

The inkjet market remained the dominant segment in 4Q08, with 22.8 million units shipped, but it was also hit the hardest with –18% year-over-year growth.

Monochrome laser was the second largest technology segment with 7.2 million units shipped and year-over-year shipment growth of –17.3%.

Color laser shipments, the third largest segment, was essentially flat year over year and was the only segment not to experience a decline in the quarter.

The MFP market remains the dominant product type in the overall hardcopy peripherals market with 63.3% of the 20.7 million unit shipments in 4Q08, and was the least impacted of the product types with a –12% year-over-year decline.

The printer market was hard hit with a –24% growth rate resulting in shipments of 11.8 million units as the market continues to move to MFP devices.

Vendor Highlights

* HP – HP remains the leading vendor in the total hardcopy peripherals market with 41% share, down from 43% in 4Q07. The brightest spot for HP was the color laser MFP segment, where HP grew unit shipments 82% year over year and gained nearly eight points in market share.

* Canon – Canon did quite well compared to its competitors in 4Q08 and remained the number two vendor in the hardcopy peripherals market. Canon's unit shipments declined only 8% year over year, resulting in an increased market share of 19%, up 2 points from 4Q07.

* Epson – Epson rounds out the top three with 15.4% market share in 4Q08, an increase from 14.8% in 4Q07. While its overall year-over-year growth fell 14% worldwide, Epson's inkjet MFPs experienced 43% sequential growth in 4Q08 – the best percentage expansion among the top 5 and across regions.

* Brother – Brother took a distant fourth place in the hardcopy peripherals space, with 6.2% market share. However, Brother is the only vendor in the top 5 showing a positive trend year over year. While growth is stalled in the Americas, Brother's units shipments grew, sequentially and year over year, across Asia/Pacific and EMEA in both single-function printers and MFPs.

* Lexmark – Lexmark rounds out the top five worldwide market players, losing nearly two points in total market share this quarter (4.7%). The strongest growth for Lexmark was the global Laser MFP segment where its shipments grew 20% year over year.