US Air Traffic Patterns

Lexmark "Lands" BASF for Managed Print Services: Wasn't BASF MIF for Lexmark?

If so, then isn't it just a "conversion"?

I stripped this off of the Business Lexington site.

BASF chooses Lexmark to optimize its print output management.

submitted by Staff - May 14, 2009 | 02:35 PM

May 13, 2009 -- Lexmark International (NYSE: LXK) today announced a multi-year global services agreement with BASF (BASF SE (ADR)). The contract, as part of a Managed Print Services initiative, will enable BASF to reduce its output costs significantly in a sustainable manner, and improve its document processes.

Following a rigorous competitive review, Lexmark was selected because of its thorough approach to total cost of ownership, its worldwide service and support capabilities and its comprehensive set of product features.

BASF is the world's leading chemical company: The Chemical Company. Its portfolio ranges from chemicals, plastics and performance products to agricultural products, fine chemicals as well as oil and gas. With its high-value products and intelligent solutions, BASF plays an important role in finding answers to global challenges such as climate protection, energy efficiency, nutrition and mobility. BASF has approximately 97,000 employees and posted sales of more than €62 billion in 2008.

Managed Print Services is a business model that allows companies to control their print infrastructure, rationalize the hardware they use, and take advantage of an ongoing service level agreement with a strategic partner to deliver continuous improvement.

Lexmark works with companies around the world to optimize and manage their print infrastructure. The printing company's 'Print Less, Save More' message resonates with large, multinational organizations who wish to reduce their paper use, improve process efficiency and reduce costs. With so much to gain from a controlled and less-costly printing infrastructure, more and more companies are turning to Lexmark to support their needs.

Photizo Group Announces MPS Program Benchmarking Study Objective evaluation designed to help dealers find best program partners

Lexington, KY – May 13, 2009 – The Photizo Group today announced the MPS Program Benchmarking Study™ to provide dealers with objective assessments of competing managed print programs offered by vendors and infrastructure providers. This helps dealers make good business choices and promotes profitable, long-term MPS relationships.

The Photizo Group specializes in analysis of the printing and imaging industry and is the market’s main source for ongoing business intelligence about the burgeoning Managed Print Services opportunity.

The Photizo Group is the thought leader for Managed Print Services, providing insight to the manufacturer, dealer / reseller, infrastructure provider, and end user communities.

“Dealers are often at the forefront of MPS engagements and relationships, and they are confronted with an increasing number and variety of program offerings. While there are a number of excellent MPS programs available from vendors, the dealer community has no clear guidance on which programs are right for them based on their specific needs. Different dealers require different programs, but until now, there have been no credible third party assessments of various approaches relative to MPS requirements. This new study provides neutral guidance to help dealers identify vendors best suited to meet the needs of their organization, based upon their stage of MPS adoption,” said Ed Crowley, Founder and Senior Partner of the Photizo Group.

The MPS Program Benchmarking Study begins with the “ideal” deliverables needed for a particular dealer given their stage of MPS adoption, and then maps vendor programs against this standard. The dealer’s stage of MPS adoption is evaluated based upon the proprietary “Hybrid Dealer Adoption Model” developed by the Photizo Group. The evaluation establishes a baseline by matching the dealer’s stage of MPS adoption against the MPS capabilities that are required based on the typical expected customer engagements. The customer needs criteria are based on the lifecycle of the MPS engagement, according to the popular MPS Adoption Cycle developed by the Photizo Group.

Program evaluation criteria include items such as infrastructure assessments, hardware break / fix service, remote device monitoring, and integrating device monitoring into a billing system. The evaluations for each item are positioned on a sliding-scale analysis.

Then the study objectively analyzes program features and execution to determine how well a vendor’s program components as well as support activities addresses each stage. By compiling the individual factors, the study evaluates and scores each overall program relevant to the vendor’s ability to deliver the capabilities needed for that engagement.

According to Mr. Crowley, “We are providing MPS vendors with an opportunity to sponsor the study. While we require final say on all criteria and analysis, we do encourage input into the definition of the criteria for the study. We have been pleasantly surprised by the response to the study, and in fact, we have already surpassed our initial sponsorship targets. Once again, I believe we have identified a key need in the industry and stepped up with a unique solution.”

Other sponsor benefits include:

· The complete report (150-200 pages) detailing results for all vendors

· Nominating customers for validation

· Special pricing for reprints

The report will be available for purchase by dealers in late July. For more information about the upcoming MPS Program Benchmarking Study and sponsorships, contact Photizo at (859) 873-4518 or info@managed-print-services.com.

# # #

Can Managed Print Services Rise to a Presidential Level: Will the "O" Implement "behavioral modification" software? Hide the toothpicks.

The private sector is losing jobs every, single day. Here in the US, we lost some 550,000 jobs last month - this is considered good news because we didn't lose 600,000+ jobs.

And as much as I think most Public Sector minions couldn't hold a position in the "real world", they do enjoy the comfort of never needing to worry about losing their job.

Additionally, from my experience, most forms of government bureaucracy are stellar examples of waste - waste of intelligence, waste of manpower, wasteful processes, waste of tax dollars.

In a recently released report from Lexmark International Inc. and a survey conducted by Alexandria, Va., marketing firm O'Keeffe & Co. it is revealed that the government is wasting millions of dollars in useless printing. (no way!)

The study, which is based on a survey of 380 federal employees, found that the U.S. government spends nearly $1.3 billion annually on printing.

Of that, about one third, $440 million, nearly $1 million a day, is wasted on useless pages.

"It makes way too much sense," said David Williams, vice president of policy at Citizens Against Government Waste, a Washington-based think tank.

"We see a culture of bureaucracy. When given a choice, even with these huge technological advantages, you don't see the government taking advantage of this. Private industry and business has taken advantage, but this government hasn't," Mr. Williams added.

What is more interesting is the dollar amount wasted, $440 million, is more than four times the amount President Obama recently asked agency managers collectively to eliminate from their administrative budgets.

On average, federal employees print 30 pages of paper every work day and respondents say that they discarded about 35 percent of the pages the day they printed them.

Ninety-two percent of respondents acknowledged they did not need all the material that they printed, and more than two-thirds said they could print less if they tried.

"Printing at work is made very easy, so I tend to print without thinking about it," one respondent said.

Lexmark recommends that federal agencies have a comprehensive printing policy in place, including how to better use digital documents.

"Agencies need to look at how to deploy and manage technology, not just from the perspective of putting a printer out there to be used, but around really understanding it as a service to your employees," said Brian Henderson,Lexmark's federal information solutions director. "How is printing strategically going to enable your mission?"

All is not lost, as 10 percent of survey respondents report a working under formal printing policies, and 20 percent said that their agencies had restrictions on color printing.(LOL)

Additionally, the Homeland Security Department expects to save more than $40,000 in part by printing fewer copies of the fiscal 2010 budget- posting online.(LOL, 40k savings?)

The Agriculture Department is developing a Web-based utility billing system that could save more than $670,000 annually.

"President Obama has called for fiscal responsibility, and identifying and eliminating unnecessary printing is a simple first step," said Marty Canning, a Lexmark vice president.

"Clear, standardized, and enforced agency printing policies, as well as increased reliance on secure digital records, will help change the employee printing habits that have become so ingrained in the government 'corporate culture' and enable agencies to decrease their carbon footprint," Mr. Canning added.


--------

All well and good.

But if I were Lexmark, I would stay clear of the Obama Public Sector Gravity Well - else, Mr. Canning could find himself working for Olivetti or in line with the ex-CEO of GM.

Articles, sources:

Federal workers throw out millions of pages a day.

Report recommends crackdown on excessive printing.

Olivetti

Wednesday Morning Federal Newsstand

Survey: US government could save millions on printing

The Lexmark report


Click to email me.

Xerox Color Cube: Broken Down by P4P, Art Post

Art has an excellent break down of the Xerox color Cube. And he has a nice "10 Commandments" post.

I am re-posting here. If you are not part of Art's 2,000 world-wide membership, go here and become one.

Xerox launched the world’s first A3 color wax MFP, the ColorQube 9200 series formerly codenamed Jupiter.

Details:

- Advertised as offering full color pages at 85ppm for $23,500

- Called “Solid Ink” technology, it was first developed by Tektronix Corp. of Wilsonville, Oregon, in 1991, in its original Phaser 300 and 500 series of desktop A4 color printers.

- Xerox bought Tektronix’s color printer division in 2001 for $925 million

- Uses 4 colors of wax chunks (cyan, magenta, yellow & black), which are placed into holes in the top of the unit.

- Each color is a different shape, so you can not put the wrong color in the wrong hole, similar to the Fisher-Price Mailbox toy.

- The machine can hold enough wax to generate up to 58,000 pages based on 5% fill per color per letter size page.

- The wax chunks/crayons, each fall into their own cast iron bathtub, where an internal heater warms up the tubs until the wax melts into a liquid state.

- The hot, liquid wax is then sprayed onto a large metal drum.

- The metal drum then rolls over the sheet of paper applying the 4 color image.

- The wax cools and solidifies before the paper exits the machine.

- If the machine is bumped while the wax is hot, the wax can splash out of its cast iron tubs inside the machine, causing damage. Therefore, machine must be unplugged, and allowed to cool down before it is moved. This is also true if technician is going to service the device.

- The machine must stay on all the time. While it does have a lower power mode, it must still generate heat to keep the wax liquid, otherwise if it hardens, the machine must purge itself of the hardened wax. This purging can use up most of the wax loaded into the unit. This purging is also done during the units cleaning mode, and puts unused wax into an end user replaceable cleaning cartridge, and this is not reusable.

- From a cold start, the machine has a very long warm up time, up to 20 minutes.

- As the unit keeps generating heat all the time, it most likely will not earn the federal government’s Energy Star certification as it still uses 360 watts in standby mode.

- When warm, and not in lower power mode, its first copy out time is 7.2 seconds.

- From sleep mode, it takes 3 and ½ minutes to warmup.

- Unit uses wax spray print heads with 900 nozzles per head, with each nozzle is only 37.5 microns wide.

- Xerox spent 5 years and $24 million to build plant to make the wax for this unit.

- Xerox claims that in 4 years the unit will produce only 88lbs. of packaging waste versus the average color laser MFP which supposedly generates 815lbs. of waste. Since most packaging and cartridges used by color laser printers are recyclable, this is very misleading.

- Xerox claims that it will save a customer up to 62% over using a traditional color laser MFP.

- Image quality is advertised as offering 600x600dpi, but high quality only achieved when engine slows way down and does not offer true 8 bits per pixel.

- Since the device uses wax, instead of toner, the output can have a waxy look and feel which may be less than desirable. In addition, there is the risk that the wax could re-melt and cause pages to stick together, for example, if the pages were left on the dashboard of an automobile.

- The waxy pages may also stick together if too much pressure is applies, perhaps in a large ring binder.

- Pages that come in contact with the vinyl cover of a folder or ring binder may also stick to the surface as well due to the waxy image.

- Image is not permanent any may smear (in a review of the Phaser 8400, PC World magazine said; “gave the printers a Poor rating as the waxy, solid ink scratches off more easily than does plastic toner fused to paper”.

- May have trouble getting waxy pages to run through the document feeder of a copier/MFP.

- The waxy pages may also cause difficulty with mailing, handling, archiving, recycling or writing notes on pages.

This feed was supplied to me by a p4photel remember, do your research and collaborate on all of this information. There's an old saying "believe nothing of what you hear and only half of what you see"

-=Good Selling=-

If any of the above details are incorrect, I suspect your comments will enlighten me.

If you're looking for information about managed print services, come on over to Walters & Shutwell.


 **** UPDATE ****


- It has been suggested that the ColorCube does not need to be on continously and that it possess a feature called "Intelligent Ready" and learns when to turn itself on in the morning.
- The unit is 2009 Energy Star Certified.

- The melting temperature of the wax is the same as the boiling point of water. So unless you are in the practice of holding your prints over your oven, I wouldn't be too worried about it.

- Pages printed on a Color Cube will pass through any mfp on the market today.

Original Post.

Click to email me.

Canon Profit Down 88%

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Canon reported an 88 percent fall in quarterly profit, hit by slumping demand for copiers and printers, but it raised its annual outlook on cost cuts and a weakening yen.

"...Demand for office machines and their supplies such as toner cartridges remained weak as the global financial crisis made the replacement cycle of copiers and printers longer and prompted corporate clients not to use them as heavily as before..."

"...Ricoh last October bought major U.S. office equipment distributor Ikon Office Solutions for $1.6 billion, delivering a heavy blow to Canon, whose machines had represented 60 percent of the products Ikon handled before the October acquisition but have rapidly been replaced with Ricoh equipment since then...

"...Canon, whose other competitors include Xerox and Ricoh, earlier this month delayed the construction of a toner cartridge components plant in western Japan for a second time, underscoring weak demand..."

Press here.

Fear The Cube or Don't Fear The Cube: In The End, It Won't Matter

5/2009

Xerox ColorCube -

I prefer not to get into the hardware vs hardware debate, after all, all copiers are the same.

But this "wrinkle" in the continuum is worth mentioning.

The Xerox ColorCube is not a contender, it is a game changer - and I haven't even seen a unit yet.

It doesn't matter.

Xerox could release a monkey in a crate with a box of crayons, and somebody, somewhere would buy it.

But this is not the case - there's no monkey in the Cube.

Let us not forget the end user really won't care what the technology is - like always, they will want to print or copy in color or B/W as easily and as simply as possible, at a reasonable cost.

The only folks calling this a "big" issue are those inside the industry.

Simple.

The strong point that Xerox puts forth here with ColorCube is variety of product - just look at the finishing capabilities.

Even though today there are only 3 units with multiple flavors, one need not stress when considering the Xerox product line, next year or the next decade.

This is just another change, iteration, evolution all expected and predictable as we head down the path towards total color output - just like the days of B/W TV were numbered, so to are B/W prints.

For that matter, so too, are the days of print in general.


See:

The Death of Xerography

Clients, Edgeline vs Xerography...

Xerox is NOT Afraid of Edgeline...

Is Anyone Really AFRAID of Edgeline?

Click to email me.

Kyocera Mita America and GreatAmerica Leasing Corp. Sign Program Agreement

(Cedar Rapids, IOWA) – GreatAmerica Leasing Corporation today announced that it signed an agreement with Kyocera Mita America, one of the world's leading document solutions companies, to become one of its financing partners.

Though GreatAmerica has worked with independent Kyocera Mita America dealers over the last sixteen years, today’s announcement solidifies Kyocera Mita America’s confidence in GreatAmerica.

Kyocera Mita America, headquartered in Fairfield, N.J., is a leading provider of computer-connectable document imaging and document management systems, including network-ready digital MFPs/printers, laser printers, color MFPs/printers, digital laser facsimiles, and multifunctional and wide format imaging solutions.

“Our ability to bring additional financial tools and services was one of the key elements that drove this program agreement,” said Jennie Fisher, senior vice president & general manager of the GreatAmerica Office Equipment Group. “Kyocera Mita America recognizes the value we bring with our managed print services (MPS) platform, and knows of our experience with many of their dealers.”

“Our program agreement with GreatAmerica is one of many strategic steps we are taking to strengthen our dealer-based programs,” said Ed Bialecki, senior vice president, Sales, Kyocera Mita America. “We are very pleased to offer new and enhanced financial opportunities to our dealership channel to support their sales efforts, whether it’s an MPS customer account or a standard lease transaction.”

ABOUT GREAT AMERICA

As the largest independent small ticket leasing company in the US, GreatAmerica (www.greatamerica.com) is focused on helping office equipment dealers and resellers sell equipment and solutions, and operate their businesses in a way that makes them more successful. GreatAmerica specializes in administrating print management programs and is the home of FleetView®, www.info-zone.com®, and InTune®. Founded in 1990, GreatAmerica is headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and is known for its culture of hard work, integrity and excellence.

ABOUT KYOCERA MITA AMERICA
Kyocera Mita America, Inc. (www.kyoceramita.com/us), headquartered in Fairfield, N.J., is a leading provider of computer-connectable document imaging and document management systems, including network-ready digital MFPs/printers, laser printers, color MFPs/printers, digital laser facsimiles, and multifunctional and wide format imaging solutions. Kyocera Mita America is a group company of Kyocera Mita Corporation. Kyocera Mita Corporation is a core company of the Kyocera Corporation, the world's leading developer and manufacturer of advanced ceramics and associated products, including telecommunications equipment, semiconductor packages and electronic components. Kyocera Mita America, the first document solutions company with third-party certified sales data, has earned numerous honors for its products’ high performance, reliability and cost efficiency. Kyocera Corporation's consolidated net revenues exceeded $10 billion for the fiscal year ending on March 31, 2008.

The Water Training Institute Set to Launch Its Certified Managed Print Services Seller(TM) Sales Training and Certification Program [CMPSS(TM)]

It was only a matter of time. 

I have never heard of the Water Group. For 2 years now I have been scouring the internet looking for any mention of "managed print services" and today is the first time this group pops up. 

No surprise, "where the is mystery, there is margin...". 

Today's mystery is MPS and as much as I believe there are a few "unique" aspects to selling MPS, selling is selling. Well, "solution selling" is "solution selling". One thing is for sure, this group is not short on content. 

And although the content looks and sounds good, I still can't help but be skeptical about anyone claiming to be in MPS for more than 11 years - that would be...since when, 1996?

Somebody help me out, were copiers even digital back then? Wasn't Apple running "ads" showing the difference between an Apple and PC user?(see above) 

Was I using a Palm Pilot back then? 

Didn't Office 97 ship on 45, 3.5-inch floppy's back then? 

And don't remember anybody offering to manage a fleet of IBM-Pro Printer; service and ribbons that is. And as I read through their squeaky new, freshly painted website, I could not help to think "HP"; it has the look and smell of SPS, which pretty much, well...smells. 

And then there is this, 

"...The team of Water Training Institute associates whom have designed and will deliver the Certified Managed Print Services Seller(TM) program curriculum have collectively sold nearly $1Billion in MPS business...Collectively, our brain-trust have more experience and success in sales and selling MPS than probably anyone in the world...” 

Wow...I mean...wow. Go ahead, divide $1billion by 0.0120 and then divide that by 11 years...whaddya get? I don't know, I ain't doing it. Of course, these numbers are accurate, you can't put it out there like that if it ain't true - but then again, it all depends on how one defines "MPS", doesn't it? 

According to their documentation, there are 5 separate modules of training - one is webinar-based and the test module is $500.00 and must be attached to Module #3, "In-Class Certified Managed Print Services Seller Program" If taken individually, the total cost is $4,975.00 - but act now by enrolling for September's classes, and the price goes to $2,490.00. 

These guys know how to market. 

At the recent MPS Conference, the most popular "off-line" conversational subject was "...can someone tell me how to effectively put an MPS Practice together?" Maybe this can be a great first step for rookie salespeople - or maybe even old "salts" of the copier world can get trained on moving "solutions" instead of boxes. Or better yet, perhaps some "Sales Reps" with IT VARs can get acclimated to real solution selling by attending and getting certified. 

But I keep going back to what one of my old sales managers once told me, "...sometimes we just overcomplicate what we do..." - FIVE modules? Oh well, if I could get HP or CISCO or VMWARE to pay for it, I would go. 

Here is the Press Release: 

Voorhees, NJ, May 07, 2009 --(PR.com)-- Beginning September 16, 2009, The Water Training Institute (a division of Water, a New Jersey-based Professional Services firm) will offer the Certified Managed Print Services Seller(TM) Sales Training & Certification Program, designed for sales professionals that sell and promote Managed Print Services solutions. 

Managed Print Services (MPS) is a solution that bundles office printers, copiers/MFPs, fax solutions, software, services, supplies, consumables, usage tracking, support, and management all for a single monthly invoice. 

The CMPSS(TM) program is designed to provide sales professionals with a thorough understanding of MPS, comprehensive MPS sales training, a tailored MPS sales acumen evaluation & development plan for each participant, and a Certification Exam that – combined with the other aspects of the program - would substantiate that the successful candidate has demonstrated a certain standard of MPS sales performance and comprehension. 

 According to Jon Reiser, a Principal at Water, “Our customers tell us the Managed Print Services sales training seminars they send their sales reps to are ineffective and don’t really prepare the reps to effectively sell MPS solutions. 

###

So they hire Water to come in, re-train the sales reps properly, get them prepared, and give the managers a written analysis of each sales rep’s preparedness to sell MPS. In the end, the customers end up paying twice for something they should have gotten in the first place.

Click to email me.

N.Y. Times to File Notice It Will Close Boston Globe

Gray Lady Down -

"From the moment the Times Co. purchased The Globe in 1993, it has treated New England's largest newspaper like a cheap whore," former Globe columnist Eileen McNamara wrote last month in the Herald.

"It pimped her out for profit during the booming 1990s and then pillaged her when times got tough. It closed her foreign bureaus and cheapened her coverage of everything from the fine arts to the hard sciences."

So it continues, from Denver to Detroit to Boston to New York - a main staple of news and one-way communication is vanishing.

Truly remarkable times.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009
The Death of Print Continues -

Wednesday, December 31, 2008
2009: The End of Print - Andrew Keen

Synergy, Down Under: HP Edgeline's and Pull Printing Save Money, Energy and Paper

Less energy, no toner. CM8060's and CM4730's - not bad.

Synergy out of Australia.

Synergy building services manager Wayne Perry says, the company had about 80 printers in use.

Most were laser printers, which were turned on all the time to keep the toner cartridges warm and usable. After researching and testing a range of options, they decided to adopt a new fleet of multifunction devices from HP.

"One multifunction printer uses less energy than five laser printers," Perry says. This made them a logical choice.

The company has also opted to introduce a "pull-printing" environment to reduce print wastage. "When I print now, I issue the print command, that goes to the print queue and is held on a central server that all the printers access," Perry says.

"To actually print the documents requested, Synergy employees walk to a printer and swipe their building access card in order to execute the printing. "This has really cut down on paper usage."

Full article, here.

ATM Book Machine launches in London

Just when I thought "Print is Dead" along comes this thing - the Espresso Book Machine.

Billed as the most revolutionary development in books for 500 years, this machine can print a bound version of nearly 500,000 titles.

Each in five minutes, while the customer waits.

Currently available titles are out of print, but the creator of the machine is looking to work deals with publishers and hope to get a list of around 1 million titles available.

The applications are mind boggling.

Airport bookstores, magazine racks, college bookstores and the traditional bookstore could be all wrapped up into one, somewhat large, coin operated, vending machine.

The NewStand of the future. Kindles some thought, doesn't it?

Connect this little hummer to the "cloud" and you have yourself the future of print - on demand and nearly anyplace on the planet.

The PrinterNet?




OnDemandBooks