Toshiba adds new high-end color copiers

Toshiba, which once trailed the pack in terms of innovative high-end color, is now capable of compete ting with the best. The new e-STUDIO5520c, 6520c and 6520c expand on the power of the -STUDIO5500c, Toshiba’s first made-in-house stab at high-speed color and light production. Unlike the 5500c, however, these models come with printing and scanning standard, not an option.

The e-STUDIO5520c, which runs at 55ppm in both color and black-and-white, has a list price of $24,999. The 6520c (65ppm in color and black) comes in at $30,999. The 6230c is priced at $32,999. These prices are all significantly lower than that of the 5500c.

These machines have a maximum of 3,400 sheets of input, and can handle paper up to 140lb. index in weight. There’s a choice between a simple finisher and a booklet maker. Other features are state of the art. Dual-line faxing is an option. Toshiba has taken a great step with these new speedy and flexible models.

Citigroup: Cut the Color Copies

In what may be a dismaying sign for the industry we cover here, Citigroup recently announced that its employees must cut back on color copying and printing.

The world’s largest bank, suffering billions in losses from the real estate market, has been doing some furious cost cutting. They’ve laid off a host of employees, tightened up expense accounts, taken away Blackberries, and (shudder) demanded that employees use only black-and-white for internal reports and presentations. In addition, duplex copying and printing will be enforced.

The memo sent out from the company includes the following item: “The use of color copying and printing dramatically increases our copying and printing costs. Color presentations are unnecessary for internal purposes; therefore going forward color copying and printing should only be used for client presentations. Also whenever possible, presentations should be printed double sided to reduce unnecessary paper usage. Over time, we will be removing color copiers and printers from the locations where they are not essential for purposes of preparing client presentations.”

The big copier and printer companies have to be concerned. Color pages are now the mainstay of these companies, and a slowdown (or even a reversal) of growth in this area is going to hit hard.

Every survey has shown that most of the growth in the industry has been in color, and the vendors have been eagerly pushing the importance of color in getting the message across. And everyone knows that once color gets established, it tends to get used for everything, from memos to spreadsheets. But with color pages costing between four to eight times more than equivalent black-and-white in most cases, corporations like Citigroup are starting to perceive that while a little color is a great thing, a lot of color is an expensive luxury.

We suspect that the big companies in our industry are going to have rethink their marketing approach or their pricing schemes.

Low-Volume Copier Guide

,p>The 2008 Better Buys for Business Low-Volume Copier and Multifunctional Guide has now been published. This guide covers monochrome machines up to 22ppm in speed, from such manufacturers as Canon, Konica Minolta, Ricoh, and Xerox. This guide includes charts, reviws, a glossary, and an industry briefing. You can order it here.

Ricoh refreshes top-of-the-line color copier-MFPs

Ricoh recently released two new color copiers that are among the speediest in the industry. The Aficio MP C6000 ($29,800) outputs at 55ppm in color and 60ppm in black, while the C7500 3($37,8000) operates at 70ppm in color and 75ppm in black In almost all respects the machines are identical.

These color copiers expand Ricoh’s presence at a level of the market that has few competitors. They replace a pair of slightly slower models, and add a few new enhancements.

The range of paper-handling accessories is also a strong point. You can have up to 7,400 sheets of input total. There is also a choice of three stapler-finishers, as well as an option Z-folder device and a cover inserter.

PostScript printing is standard, Strong scan-to capabilities are standard as well, and (unusual at this speed) a fax board is an option.

Color copiers are getting faster and ore productive with every passing year. Ricoh’s new models set a new standard that others will have to catch up to.

A few industry trends

Talking with Toshiba dealers at their conference last week, I heard the following:
▪ Color units represent between 50-70 percent of units installed. That is even more remarkable when you consider that Toshiba does not sell lo=end color single-function printers and that, as we have noted before, has not had, up until now, a full range of Toshiba-manufactured color copiers (The ones above 55ppm were relabeled Ricoh models.)
▪ Most buyers of color systems are upgrading from current black-and-white systems. Moreover, color devices are being placed through the whole range of customer types.
▪ While buyers are very insistent on demanding access controls and accounting software to regulate color use and cut down on unnecessary color printing, the truth is that, once the systems are installed, most customers don’t use these tools.
▪ Customers are getting more and more used to using copier-multifunctionals as fax machines.
▪ Dealers are well aware of the need to become “solutions providers,” that is, to accompany the sales of hardware with extensive software supports in such areas as document management, accounting, and workflow. Most have allocated technical staff and sales support to that end. But all report that it’s a tough sell, with long lead time and sometimes disappointing results. It’s one thing to get a single exec to sign off on a copier; it’s quite another to get a group of managers to agree on how and when documents will be stored digitally, how they will be protected and accessed. The sales cycle stretches out as the customers starts to redesign the way business is conducted. Yes, if carried out right, it can make you ever more indispensable to our customers, but it does involve a big investment in staffing and training with a long-term payback.

Toshiba rolls out new color copier/MFPs

Toshiba announced last week a number of new models to be released over the next few quarters. At the top of the list is a set of new high-end color copier/MFPs. These models, which range from 55ppm in color and black-and-white to 65ppm in color and 75ppm in black-and-white, bring Toshiba into parity with key rivals.

The new models will replace Toshiba’s current high-end color line, which are relabeled Ricoh machines. Dealers for Toshiba were happy to get Toshiba-made products in this growing market segment, as they were reportedly losing sales to Ricoh, Lanier, and Savin dealers who could claim more expertise with their own machines.

At the same time, Toshiba announced a set of new mid-volume color copier/MFPs. These range from 23ppm to 45ppm in both color and black-and-white, and are upgrades from current Toshiba models.

The complete list of new color models:
▪ e-STUDIO 2330c (23ppm color, 28ppm black-and-white)
▪ e-STUDIO 2830c (28ppm color, 35ppm black-and-white)
▪ e-STUDIO 3530c (35ppm color, 45ppm black-and-white)
▪ e-STUDIO 4520c (45ppm color, 45ppm black-and-white)
▪ e-STUDIO 5520c (55ppm color, 55ppm black-and-white)
▪ e-STUDIO 6520c (65ppm color, 65ppm black-and-white)
▪ e-STUDIO 6530c (65ppm color, 75ppm black-and-white)

Canon releases new color copier

Canon has just released a new color copier-multifunctional aimed at small-to-midsize workgroups. The Color imageRUNNER C2550 prints and copies in color at 23ppm and in black-and-white at 25 ppm.

The controller hosts an impressive 1.5GB of RAM and 80GB hard disk drive. The basic machine supports Canon’s UFR II host-based printing, but can be upgraded to PostScript and/or PCL. A multiposition internal finisher is available as well as a two-tray job separator. A 50-sheet two-sided document feeder (DADF) is also an option.

The list price for this compact new model is $8,000.