Multifunction printers defy economic downturn to record solid worldwide sales growth

Colour laser multifunction devices (MFDs) were Q1 2009 leader of the global printer market, with sales growing six per cent year on year.

According to IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker, MFDs dominate the overall hardcopy peripherals market with a 62 per cent share and 16.3 million units shipped in the quarter.

“The MFD market has fared much better than the single-function printer market, as products continue to make the transition towards multifunction,” the market watcher reported. “HP continues to lead the worldwide laser MFD market with a 19.2 per cent share based on Q109 shipments of 541,042 units.”

HP has now led for nine quarters. Samsung and Brother came next, with 16.4 per cent and 13.5 per cent, respectively.

GfK figures suggest that MFD success, particularly via mass merchandisers, has underlined a single-function printing market fall of more than a year.

“In March 2009, A4 inkjet single function printers were down 47 per cent in volume and 37 per cent in value on March 2008,” GfK reported.

MFDs with wireless or photo printing functionality are also boosting sales, according to GfK.

Fast, versatile and highly cost effective the network ready MB290 delivers printing, copying, faxing and scanning for all to share. You can print high quality mono documents using PCL/PostScript at an impressive 20 pages per minute. And with a 50 sheet automatic document feeder copying or faxing multi pages documents is quick and easy. Colour scanning provides an efficient document management solution, allowing documents to be digitally archived directly on the network or sent by email.

Add to this OKI Printing Solution’s unique 3 year warranty and competitive running costs and the MB290 offers both peace of mind and real value for money.

For high efficiency working in the small office, sit back and let the MB290 take the load

Digital office equipment firm Ricoh Ireland has completed a nationwide printer network for Postbank, Ireland’s community-based retail bank. Ricoh has rolled-out multi function printer, copier, scanner and fax devices to support Postbank services in close to 1,000 Post Offices around the country. The new multi-function printer network will allow post offices to speed up the application process, ensure full compliance with required regulations across the network and allow for electronic management of paper. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

Canon USA, the leading manufacturer of a range of printers, scanners, and digital cameras has made a daring and an excellent initiative to Go Green in their entire product line. They have also launched a website for the same which portrays the global warming scenario and the necessity and importance of the present generation to act keeping the future generations in mind.

Generation Green is said to be Canon’s environmental initiative that aims to reduce the environmental burdens in all stages of the product life-cycle. This program encompasses eligible Canon Pixma inkjet printers, Canon Scanners, and imageCLASS laser printers, copiers and fax machines, and image-formula DR-Series scanners. Generation Green is designed to provide business partners, customers, and consumers a way to identify and learn about the various green products and solutions Canon offers. Canon aims to create a cost advantage to its users by energy efficiency.

Canon has categorized its product range into five categories and in each category, a number of products finding a place in each category. The categories that are prevalent are those shown below:

• Quick Start- The energy efficient Quick Start feature makes it easy to start up the printer in a matter of seconds, making it more convenient to keep the printer off, thus reducing energy consumption.
• Energy Saving Mode- When an applicable imageCLASS product enters Energy Saving Mode, it has low power consumption.
• On-Demand SURF Technology- On-Demand SURF (Surface Rapid Fixing) technology uses a linear ceramic heater that heats instantly for fast warm up speeds and Quick First Prints. This will result in up to a 75% reduction in energy consumption compared to conventional roller-fixing systems.
• White LED- The White LED allows the scanning unit to be smaller and have no warm up time, resulting in lower energy consumption, and allowing users to start scanning immediately (excluding film scans).
• USB Powered- The low power requirement of these scanners allow them to be powered solely through a USB cable. The elimination of the external power source also reduces the amount of materials needed during production.

The products in the product line of Canon Green are also either Energy Star rated products or are RoHS Compliant. It is evident that Canon has already made its way through into the European markets.  With all such environment-consciousness, Canon is sure to create waves in the field of Printing Technology and change the competition landscape as a whole.

Konica Minolta has said it can now “rival the Xerox Nuvera” in the mono production space after launching the latest addition to its bizhub Pro range, the 1200.

The new system, which can print at speeds up to 120pp a minute complete with a maximum duty cycle of 3m prints each month, will be commercially available from August.

Handling stocks between 40 and 350gsm, the machine features an LED print head, which is said to offer high quality screening and exposure quality leading to stronger greyscales.

Konica Minolta is pitching the new addition to the bizhub Pro range at commercial digital clients, print for pay businesses and customers in the Corporate Reprographic Department (CRD) environment such as schools and local authorities..

Jason White, production print region manager for Konica Minolta Business Solutions UK, said: “Previously, we’ve never really been able to rival the Xerox Nuvera but now we have a machine that can do just that.

“The Nuvera has always been the benchmark for quality within mono digital print but we feel that the new bizhub Pro machines move that benchmark.”

Konica Minolta’s new production press sits between the 95pp a minute bizhub Pro 950 and the higher-volume 2500P.

The new bizhub is also available with a selection of online finishing options including folding, punching and booklet making in more than 40 configurations.

Pauline Brooks, product manager for production print for Konica Minolta Business Solutions UK, said: “The launch of the bizhub Pro1200 clearly demonstrates Konica Minolta’s continued commitment and investment in the mono digital print market.”