Western European HCP Market Declines

According to research by International Data Corporation (IDC), the Western European printer and multifunction (MFP) market decreased by 5.8% in unit terms in 1Q19 compared with the same period a year ago. This meant the overall market declined by 286 thousand units and price pressures led value to also decline by 4.1% to just over .5 billion. There were few areas of growth and the negative start to the year will continue throughout 2019.

Inkjet shipments declined 5.4% to just over 3 million units and both A4 and A3 shipments recorded negative growth figures. Most declines were from printer devices, but MFP shipments also decreased more than 4%, but not all OEMs saw declines.

Laser shipments declined by 6.1% and as with inkjets there were few areas of growth. Some markets, such as A4 single-function printers, declined quite heavily, but there was small growth from A3 single function printers and A4 monochrome MFP devices. As fewer overall laser units shipped the value also declined, this time by 2.5%, even though some of the higher speed segments increased.

High speed inkjet devices also contracted in terms of units, but the value was up, and the serial impact dot matrix market continued its decline.

“The decline shown in 1Q19 was in line with expectations and the markets and this negativity is likely to be reflected throughout 2019, but there will be some growth from some segments,” said Phil Sargeant, program director in IDC’s Western European Imaging, Hardware Devices, and Document Solutions group. “The hardcopy markets are still very valuable to many OEMs and some traditional markets such as monochrome and inkjet are still very sizeable even if they are declining.”

Highlights:

·           The overall Western European hardcopy market contracted by 5.8% year on year in 1Q19, recording a shipment figure of 4.6 million units, while the value declined by 4.1%.

·           A4 monochrome MFP showed a small increase of 0.8%, while A4 monochrome printers declined by 11.2%.

·           In line with expectations, the A3 monochrome markets declined by double-digit figures.

·           Most color laser segments saw surprise declines but there was solid growth from the niche A2 printer market.

More information please visit: www.idc.com

Details:https://www.rtmworld.com/news/western-european-hcp-marke-continue-to-contract/

Worldwide HCP Market Declines

According to IDC report, Worldwide shipments of hardcopy peripherals (HCP) decreased 3.9% year over year to 22.8 million units in the first quarter of 2019 (1Q19).

The brightest spot for the quarter was the year-over-year expansion of color inkjet multifunction printers (MFPs) in the 11-20 ppm range, which grew 4.7% to more than 6.2 million units shipped.

Notable highlights from the first quarter include:

·           Ink Tank devices continued their positive momentum recording a 23.4% year-over-year gain in unit shipments in 1Q19. Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) and Latin America were the top two regions for ink tank shipments with 1.7 and 1.0 million units shipped in the quarter, respectively.

·           Inkjet shipments decreased 2.1% year over year to nearly 13.7 million units shipped. Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) was the top region for inkjet shipments, growing 8.8% year over year to more than 3.5 million units in 1Q19. Western Europe, the second largest market, contracted 5.4% while the United States, the third largest market, declined 4.8% year over year.

·           A3 color laser MFPs continued on a positive trajectory with a year-over-year gain of 1.0% to nearly 600,000 units shipped.

·           HP Inc. declined 3.5% year over year with global shipments dropping to less than 9.4 million units. However, two of HP’s top 3 regions, Western Europe and the U.S., exhibited year-over-year gains of 2.8% and 2.6%, respectively.

·           Epson regained the top inkjet position from Canon in Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) albeit at a marginal share advantage of 0.7%. Epson grew by about 210,000 units year over year due to the improved sales of its new generation of more compact ink tank printers, which were largely responsible for the growth of the ASEAN market and the biggest winner in China as the only one with a market share gain this quarter.

Details: https://www.rtmworld.com/news/worldwide-hcp-market-declines/

New Compact Printers from Epson

Epson America has expanded the WorkForce® and Expression® line of printing solutions, including one WorkForce home office model and two Expression printers designed for today’s busy families. Epson’s latest affordable, compact printers – the WorkForce WF-2830 All-in-One Printer and Expression Home XP-4100 and Expression Premium XP-6100 Small-in-One® Printers.

The new WorkForce and Expression models are compatible with Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant for easy hands-free voice-activated printing on command1. The models also support driverless printing from Chromebooks; users can print right from their desktop without installing or maintaining printer drivers for the WF-2830, XP-4100 and XP-6100.

Packed with convenient features, fast print speeds and easy wireless connectivity for printing from tablets and smartphones2, Epson’s new All-in-One and Small-in-One printers offer an affordable solution to enhance the at-home printing experience.

Home Office Solution: An efficient, reliable printer, the WorkForce WF-2830 offers fast print speeds plus wireless connectivity to deliver professional-quality documents, reports and proposals. This compact all-in-one features a convenient 30-page Auto Document Feeder, auto 2-sided printing, and print speeds of 10.3 ISO ppm (black) and 4.5 ISO ppm (color) to enhance productivity. The WF-2830 leverages affordable individual ink cartridges, including pigment Black Claria® ink for crisp black text in professional documents.

Efficient Everyday Printing: A compact, convenient printer, the Expression Home XP-4100 provides quality prints for on-the-go college students and families. Printing, copying and scanning is right at the user’s fingertips with the 2.4” color LCD. This sleek printer features instant-dry ink for truly touchable photos and documents, and increases productivity with a 100-sheet-capacity paper tray plus auto 2-sided printing. Compatible with the Epson Creative Print App, students and families can easily create custom projects such as photo collages, greeting cards, stationery and more, right from their iOS or Android devices.

Impressive Photo Quality: A versatile, fast printer, the Expression Premium XP-6100 delivers superior photo and document quality for today’s fast-moving families. With affordable, individual 5-color Claria Premium Inks, the XP-6100 outputs stunning borderless photos up to 8” x 10”, plus sharp text. Whether running a creative household or starting your own company, the XP-6100 touts an array of convenient features such as print speeds up to 15.8 ISO ppm (black) and 11.3 ISO ppm (color) †, 4” x 6” photos in as fast as 15 seconds3 and auto 2-sided printing. Built-in USB and memory card slots4, an improved 2.4” color LCD and dedicated photo and CD/DVD trays offer additional convenience.

Details:https://www.rtmworld.com/news/new-compact-printers-from-epson/

World’s First Smart Tank Laser Printer

HP has announced the launched of new toner tank printer series Laser NS 1020 and Laser NS MFP 1005. The company claimed the HP Neverstop Laser is designed for small business owners in emerging markets and a reimagined HP Smart Tank for home.

Key features include:

·           Up to 5,000 pages without interruptions

·           Print up to 5,000 pages right out of the box with virtually no interruptions-perfect for high-volume printing

·           Reload mess-free toner in seconds

·           A revolutionary supply system lets you quickly and easily reload toner levels in 15-seconds without making a mess

·           Original HP quality and unbelievable savings

·           Get original HP quality printing for a cost per page competitive with imitation cartridges, with up to 80 percent cost savings on HP original toner

·           Connected and mobile

·           Easy mobile scanning and printing with best-in-class mobile print app, HP Smart App

HP Neverstop Laser will first launch in China;India and selected countries in SEA, summer 2019; Russia and selected countries in CEMA, July 2019; LAR, August 2019.

The new HP Smart Tank will first launch in June in all emerging market countries in Asia Pacific except India, which will ship in July. Also shipping in July are the APJ developed markets, EMEA emerging markets, and LAR countries.

Smart Tank is now available on HP’s Chinaonline shop. The prices are:

Laser NS 1020: RMB¥1599

Laser NS 1020w: RMB¥1649

Laser NS MFP 1005: RMB¥1899

Laser NS MFP 1005w: RMB¥1949

The refilled toner set is RMB¥199, with two toner tanks of estimated yield of 5,000 pages.

Details:https://www.rtmworld.com/news/worlds-first-smart-tank-laser-printer/

Examining the Quality of Toners

There have been recent reports about the bad quality and health consequences of Chinese produced toner. Where does bad quality come from?

Just as with any product from any country, the quality of toner depends on the manufacturer of that product and the decisions that are made by the formulator, and the purchasing and manufacturing departments. The composition of any powder toner consists of pigment, polymer, wax, charge control agent, bulk additives and surface additives.

In general, lower-cost raw materials, wherever they are sourced, are likely to contain “impurities” that could possibly be undesirable from a health and safety perspective. A variety of such trace materials have been identified as potential health hazards in toner.  One category of the materials of concern includes Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) – including Styrene, Benzene, ethylene glycol, formaldehyde, methylene chloride, tetrachloroethylene, toluene, xylene, and 1,3-butadiene.

Such materials, if present in toner, can be released into working the environment during the fusing/fixing stage of the print process. As the toner that is transferred from the photoconductor to the paper or other substrate is heated reaching 130 to 180°C any VOC content of the toner is volatilized and exhausted from the print engine by the machine cooling system through the fan and duct to the space in which it is being operated.

Other sources of environmental pollutants from toner are toner dust and loose toner surface additives. All toners comprise finely divided particles that have a mean particle size of anywhere from five to ten microns. This mean is only the middle point of the toner particle size range, and toner can contain particles of size well below five microns and well above ten microns

The removal of particles from any source of dust that penetrates into the gas exchange region of the lungs depends on a variety of factors but significantly depends on the diameter of the particle. Hazardous particulate size is primarily less than five microns, and particle sizes of 2.5 microns (PM2.5) are often used in the U.S. to describe non-respirable dust. The particle size distribution (PSD) – the range and percentage content of toner particles by the size of any toner – depends on the toner composition and the toner production conditions. With respect to toner dust less careful, and typically lower-cost manufacturing can be responsible for toners that “dust”. Such toners might have a mean particle size that matches that required for operation in a particular engine. but have a psd that is too broad or has a high fractional content of ultra-small-sized toner particles.

In addition, the surface additives that are used to promote toner powder flow, durability and charging need to be processed in the production of the toner such that they are sufficiently well attached to the toner particle surface to prevent their release from the surface of the toner particles during the entire printing process.

This process is highly agitating: starting with the agitative processes in the print engine of delivery from the toner reservoir, application to the developer roller, transfer to the paper or substrate and on to the downstream processes of printing. The typical surface additives used in toner are ultra-small in size compared to the toner, with sizes ranging from eight to 250 nanometers, well below the PM2.5 particle size considered to be dangerous from a respirability perspective. Typical materials used include silicon dioxide, aluminium oxide and titanium dioxide.

In addition to the dust respirability factor, there has been recent attention to the question about the foregoing gives some idea of the range of issues regarding the development and manufacturing of toner, and these matters concern all toner manufacturers worldwide. That the manufacturing of toner, particularly for the aftermarket, has shifted geographically from Europe and North America to Asia brings the focus to that region. Production in China is, of course, an important development of this trend. The other aspect of this shift is that there has been the development of raw material supply in Asiain support. Sources of locally manufactured toner ingredients have been established and developed. Some of those companies are new to the toner manufacturing industry and have been on a “learning curve” regarding the requirements for materials for toner

the effect on the health of ingestion of titanium dioxide. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) picture below shows surface additives as very small white dots on the toner particle.

With this geographical shift, new manufacturing capacity, as well as transferred production capacity, has been established. Simultaneously, there has been a constraint on production caused by softening of demand, particularly for types of toner most popular in the aftermarket. This imbalance in the “push-pull” between the available capacity and market demand has generated severe price competition and depressed profitability in the toner manufacturing industry, particularly in the more recently developed toner manufacturing in Asia.

The natural response by toner manufacturers in attempts to mitigate this is to economize and attempt to reduce unit cost by reducing raw material and manufacturing costs. For some manufacturers, this means that they are using lower quality polymer, pigment, magnetite, wax, and other ingredients and increasing production throughput rates with consequential degradation of PSD and integrity of the toner and its additives.

In general, but not universally, lower cost raw materials, and the use of raw materials, that are not designed for toner use, results in issues of high VOC content and content of undesirable trace materials. The changes made in raw material compounding conditions to increase throughput rate resulting in higher heat and energy input can cause degradation of raw materials and the creation of VOC fractions.

Higher production throughput rates in fine grinding to reduce energy cost content per kilo and changes to classification to maximize product yield, both strategies to reduce product cost potentially increase the likelihood of “dusting” of toner in use.

There is no such thing as “Chinese Toner” as a homogenous set of products. As has always been the case in the toner industry, irrespective of the location of manufacture, there are within toner manufacturers professionally oriented, responsible manufacturers, which develop and manufacture their products responsibly with the objective of maintaining standards of performance and minimization of any environmental or health impact.

There are also those companies that do not follow the same policies. It is important in any purchasing decision, whether as a reseller or user, that the full cost of purchase rather than the price is considered, as poor quality can significantly impact the cost. The efficacy of Chinese toners just like toner from any other geographical regions vary. Not all are bad or good. Buyers should be conscientious in their evaluation of products before they purchase.

Details:https://www.rtmworld.com/features/examining-the-quality-of-toners/ 

Dealing with China: two leaders respond

Vincent Chen says building trust is the key—he is president of the HK HaoYinBao Group, known better as HYB Toner

Do you see China taking on a more or less of a significant role in the imaging supplies industry in the future? Why?

Yes. The Chinese products and their manufacturers are definitely getting more and more important to the imaging supplies aftermarket. There are many different reasons, but in my opinion, some Chinese manufacturers have improved their engineering development and strength. At the same time, of course, we also notice that those who fail to deliver quality products are fading away.

What questions are you asked the most from foreign companies wanting to deal with you as a Chinese company?

Most of our customers don’t treat us any differently from other international suppliers. It’s true that some have had bad experiences with some Chinese suppliers and became more cautious. From the questions we are asked I can tell you that the worst experience they suffer from is the stability of the products.

What advice would you give to an international company wanting to deal with any Chinese company?

There are always good and bad business people in every nationality and our customers have suffered serious problems with their suppliers in other countries too. So, we shouldn’t “label” companies simply by their nationality. As long as the manufacturers or suppliers are working with a principle that is in line with your standards, then you can get a deeper approach to understand these companies, business styles and how they manage their quality control. Gradually, you can decide if these companies are trustworthy or not.

How important is it for foreigners, wanting to do business with China, to actually visit China?

From the outset, all buyers should have done some research and had a conversation with the experienced representative of the suppliers. In my experience, our smartest customers have their own “FAQs” which help them to identify if a supplier is worthy or not. E-commerce, however, has seen many businessmen become lazier in communicating with their suppliers. They are doing less due diligence to discover if suppliers are suitable or not. I think this is the reason why problems are occurring more. It’s like the marriage between a boy and a girl who only know each other for a week. You can imagine how risky the marriage will be.

Providing consistent quality and non-infringing products are important for your company, yet not all Chinese companies hold the same values. Why?

Many company owners didn’t realise the industry potential when they started out in business. They only wanted a piece of market share and were surprised at how quickly this industry developed.

While our initial purpose at HYB was not to build a company that would sit on top of the industry pyramid, I found our people are not the kind that likes to lose the trust of our customers. The relationships we have with our customers are mutually beneficial with many customers helping us to further develop our products. With such a huge responsibility, you always try to find every means possible to invest in and improve your quality systems to ensure the consistency of your products. Customers are very demanding in their expectations for “trouble free” products. This thinking is reasonable so we will never stop the development of patents and systems to meet the needs of our customers.

Ding Li invites you on a field trip—he is Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Apex Microelectronics Co.,Ltd

Do you see China taking on a more or less of a significant role in the imaging supplies industry in the future? Why?

China must take on a more significant role in the imaging supplies industry in the future. Its huge population and booming economy have caused China to have a more a significant role on the world stage. In keeping with this trend, both for homes as well as business there is a growing demand for the imaging industry too. Chinese enterprise has the advantage of resources and commerce from its huge domestic market. This is all true for Apex which has developed, mass produced and released controller chips for multifunctional laser printers in 2018. Another kind of controller chip is in its validation phase. We expect to continue being more active in meeting both domestic and international demands required by the imaging industry.

What questions are you asked the most from foreign companies wanting to deal with you as a Chinese company?

The speed of releasing new products, patents, and product quality is the biggest issue among our customers. In response, I would like to say Apex has accumulated a significant 18 years of deep understanding about chip technology. Our highly-educated, experienced chip design engineers are able to accelerate the speed to release the new products. At the same time, our well-qualified and experienced IP engineers focus upon patent analysis, risk avoidance, and patented product design. We verify the chips in our Provincial Printer SoC Chips Engineering Center and Provincial Research Center using newly equipped test and analysis devices, valued at .5 million in 2018. By providing a strong quality system we can address any concerns customers might have.

What advice would you give to an international company wanting to deal with any Chinese company?

Have a field trip. I welcome any foreign friend to visit and explore the full process of chips development and the breakthroughs we made in technology innovation. Visitors tell us their on-site visits to Apex opens their eyes to the level of commitment in terms of research, development, manufacturing and quality control. I believe such a real, face-to-face communication will make us strong partners.

How important is it for foreigners, wanting to do business with China, to actually visit China?

There is an old Chinese saying, “To see one time is better than to hear a hundred times”. For foreigners who want to do business with China, it is not enough to simply contact a company online. There is only one way to experience Chinese culture and advances in technology. You must visit and travel on China’s high-speed trains, climb the Great Wall and visit Apex’s experimental and testing centers, and automated production lines. I urge visitors to use Apex’s 3D X-ray analysis equipment to take a stereogram of chips… I believe the impression formed by foreign friends will have a deep impact upon them and they will be encouraged to do business with Chinese companies.

Providing consistent quality and non-infringing products are important for your company, yet not all Chinese companies hold the same values. Why?

Most Chinese companies hold such values about providing consistent quality and non-infringing products. Having values is easy, however, but it is hard to realize. We have gained our current market position because we have focused on intellectual property rights and technical competence. This includes encryption analysis, chip design, product testing and patent analysis technologies. This is why Apex can design non-infringing patented products with high quality and firmware resistance. Those Chinese companies that cannot realize the above values are limited in technology or patent knowledge. As an industry leader, Apex is willing to work with more Chinese companies to achieve common development and to provide clients with design consistent quality and non-infringing products.

Details: https://www.rtmworld.com/features/dealing-with-china-two-leaders-respond/

China’s Long History of Innovation Leadership

China only joined the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 1985. Some, when learning of this, are surprised and that’s because in the West can trace back the origins of patents at least 2,500 years ago to the City of Sybaris, originally part of Ancient Greece and now part of southern Italy.

The elders of the city granted protection rights to anyone who “invented” something of a luxury. Usually recipes for meals or refreshments. The inventor would get exclusivity for a year and therefore have a short-term monopoly to exploit, but the inventor had to lay open the exact process, ingredients and steps for all to see.

The question is why did it take Chinaso long to join the WIPO? Was it that they were not inventors or was it more to do with the open culture and the way in which totalitarian rule decided how the civilization should be controlled?

Throughout history, the Chinese have been recognized as prolific inventors: gun powder, the compass, paper, print and so on. So, this is not the reason. The fact is that the through the ages the ruling dynasties didn’t believe that useful inventions should be monopolized for the financial benefit of a few when the masses could benefit from the new modern technology.

Cai Lun is said to have invented paper in China more about 1,914 years ago. He decided to use plant fibers in his process resulting in a thinner, whiter parchment that when dried and cut created a perfect substrate for painting, printing, drawing, writing, flying (kites) and a host of other uses. He took his invention to the emperor, who decreed that every village should be taught how to make it so that the greater population could benefit. No patent, no exclusive period for exploitation, just a decision to allow the people to benefit. Lai received perhaps the greatest reward of all in being known as the inventor of paper for eternity.

As with most inventions, there is no such thing as an original thought. Someone somewhere has had the same thought, taken past technologies and inventions and made them better, faster or cheaper. Lai was certainly aware of papyrus parchment used by the Egyptians 2,000 years before. He improved it, used what was local and made history. Today a sheet of paper goes a long way, has thousands of uses and costs about half a cent. You will find it in every corner of the world and it goes down as one of man’s most successful inventions. A bit like the wheel or fire.

Had paper been invented in modern times in the West, no doubt it would have been patented and exploited and far less successful. It is not a stretch to envision a paperless world many decades ago since the need to have a substrate to draw or write, upon is universal. Paper’s success as an intrinsic part of global life for almost 2,000 years prevents the newer patented technologies which are already here, from creating the paperless world. The entry cost is simply too high compared with half a cent, and of course, you need a source of power. No batteries needed to read a sheet of paper. By the way, did I mention you can use both sides, recycle it, screw it up and throw it in the wastepaper basket only to be able to retrieve it, flatten it out, and use it again? What an invention! We won’t see a paperless society any time soon.

China was a late starter to patents. The U.S. led the world in patent filings, double that of European countries for many, many decades. Now the table has turned. The Chinese file more patents than any other country. Three times as many as the U.S. who are now in second place. Now China wants to protect its own technologies as it morphs from a replicator of products invented elsewhere to a technology-driven economy leading the world into the future. The sleeping giant has awakened. In 1979, Deng Xiaoping declared an open policy for China. “To be rich is beautiful,” he declared. The West was quick to exploit the cheap labor and moved production from Taiwanand Hong Kong to lower-labor-cost Chinese factories. Chinese government-supported, state-owned enterprises, giving land and money for building factories filled with German-made machines.

Thousands upon thousands of companies began producing whatever the Western consumer needed. A typical worker would work six days a week at ten-hour shifts, sleep in dormitories holding up to 16 people to a room for about 0 a month in pay. Today it is a little different. Dorms give way to high-rise apartment blocks for workers, salaries have quintupled, the pedal bikes have given way to motor cars to a point where there are so many cars, it is quicker to use a pedal bike. Infrastructure investments over the years have built good highways, fast “bullet” trains up and down the country, the world’s longest bridge from Hong Kong to mainland China, and space landings on the dark side of the moon. The small towns have become new cities, the skyscrapers fill the horizon and the pace of change is phenomenal. What’s next?

China achieved in a decade what it took the British 150 years to accomplish in the industrial revolution in order to bring people out of abject poverty. It hasn’t happened by chance. Every step has been carefully planned and thought through. China has a 50-year plan, it has patience, it is determined and it sits on three trillion in U.S. dollars. It has invested much back into the US, prompting Warren Buffet to say, “Whether we like it or not, we all work for the Chinese.” The Chinese consumer market is now growing fast, they have plenty of money and there is nothing they won’t buy. They now have more millionaires than the U.S.and Prada, Channel, Dior, Louis Vuitton, Rolls Royce and Bentley are all selling more in China than any other marketplace. Chinese workers now get more paid time off than a typical US worker. GDP value in Chinais now nearly 20 percent of the world economy, and sets China on a course to be world’s biggest economy soon, taking the top spot from the U.S. When this happens, it will signal the first time that a “developing country” nudges a leading “developed country” to the sidelines. China will want its say on the world stage, the West will not be happy about it. The world is being all shook up, as Elvis used to sing.

I figured out a long time ago that you can’t compete with China, so run toward it and see what it can do for you.

The Chinese ideology of building “cluster” cities to dominate world markets in one government supported area is something not replicated in the West, but it has huge benefits and impact. Sock City, located in Datang, Zhejiang Province, dominates the world sock markets producing 19 billion pairs a year, Shenzhen dominates the world electronics’ markets and Zhuhai dominates the world’s cartridge consumable markets with more than 600 companies located in and around the city. Zhuhai is not going away. It is impacting the global marketplace. It produces a range of qualities, very poor, poor, not so bad, ok, pretty good, very good, outstanding and excellent. Some world class companies produce the best, patent-safe compatibles that fully comply with E.U. and U.S.regulations at prices far below a remanufactured cartridge price. These world-class companies will continue to grow while patent infringers will get sued and forced out and poor quality companies disappear as they lose customers.

China is a dominant force in our industry. There is the worst and the best there. There is as much fear for them doing business with the West as the West is fearful of doing business with them. But it is the place to do business if you want to survive and prosper in the year of the pig.

Details:https://www.rtmworld.com/features/chinas-long-history-of-innovation-leadership/

Right or wrong, headlines questioning Chinese product quality are likely to continue

There is no underlying reason why products manufactured in China should be of lesser quality than similar products manufactured in more mature economies elsewhere in the world.

Chinese technology has advanced rapidly over the last few decades, an advance no more vividly demonstrated by way of a Chinese launched, and Chinese operated, robotic lander on the far side of the moon, currently conducting research that may one day help lead to the development of a permanently manned lunar base.

To possess the cutting-edge technology necessary to place a robot on the moon should conclusively disprove the notion that Chinese products are inherently inferior. Of course, this is just one example but, for anyone who has seen and experienced Chinese infrastructure in terms of architecture, transportation, manufacturing facilities, and scale, etc., they also should know there is no underlying reason why any of the products made in China should be inferior.

200 million iPhones are made in China every year. How many other globally recognized, high-tech, mass-market devices are produced with such consistently high-quality anywhere else in the world? Except, perhaps, for ink and laser cartridges already manufactured in China by various OEMs!

So, why is it, in our less than glamorous world of ink and toner, that we constantly experience new headlines for poor-quality aftermarket cartridges coming out of China? Whether it is for claims of poor print performance, infringement of third-party intellectual property, toxic materials in plastics, carcinogens in the toner powder, etc., the list of headlined deficiencies seems never-ending.

The reasons for this are two-fold.

First, because some of the products are undoubtedly poor-quality and regardless of how isolated these occurrences may be, they represent a short coming that justifies some of the headlines and, second, because Chinese new-build cartridges (NBC’s) are a disruptive threat toward the old order.

Let’s deal with these two sets of circumstances separately.

We all know that prices (for example in the Amazon marketplace) for new-build cartridges are often at, or below, what we would expect the bill of material (BOM) cost to be. This means two things. Firstly, manufacturers are skimping on the materials to reduce the cost and, secondly, poor-quality (inconsistent) products, that didn’t meet their original customers’ requirements are being liquidated, at or below cost, rather than being re-worked or destroyed.

We all know, at least for the three or four Chinese top-tier manufacturers (with a combined market capitalization in excess of US billion), there’s no excuse for an inferior design that results in poor-quality performance, and there’s no excuse for ignoring the build requirements necessary to consistently meet a specified performance standard.

There is no reason why a Chinese new-build cartridge from a top-tier manufacturer should not consistently match the performance of an original brand cartridge.

Few should doubt the ability of a top-tier Chinese manufacturer to develop a specification for manufacturing a product that is at least the equivalent, in terms of performance, to that of the original brand product it’s designed to replace. However, more may doubt the commitment, or current ability, of a top-tier manufacturer to utilize technology to ensure it consistently meets that manufacturing specification.

Technology may, for example, involve the use of robotics designed to eliminate human error in the manufacturing process but, perhaps more importantly, it may also require the use of information technology to help manage (for example) the raw material supply chain. If the right materials are not in the right place at the right time, how often may an agreed bill of materials have been sacrificed to meet a customer committed delivery date rather than delaying production until the specified components become available?

Whichever way you look at it, it’s no good spending money implementing world-class Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software, and then limiting its use to store data that is later downloaded into Excel spreadsheets for mission-critical operating decisions. This approach doesn’t work, it sidesteps the controls and efficiencies that effective use of software brings and can often be a shortcoming responsible for inconsistent product quality.

If the Chinese manufacturers wish to remove themselves as targets for headlines denouncing the performance of their products, then they must implement the processes and discipline necessary to achieve consistent quality performance.

Until enough controls and processes are in place to prevent these issues, those who stand to lose the most from the threat of disruption will continue to do everything possible to exploit the weaknesses. This will be accomplished, at least in part, by sponsoring headlines designed to cast doubt on the capabilities of the potential disruptors. It’s no different from the Tesla detractors headlining a negative story about an auto-pilot incident, the Airbnb detractors headlining a client who trashed a room, or the Uber detractors headlining a rogue driver incident. Those who stand to lose the most will invest some of their profits to highlight incidents that harm the reputations of the disruptors because this is where the greatest threat to their future profit comes from.

However, it’s not just the negative headlines centered around product quality that serve to limit market penetration of Chinese built alternative cartridges. There’s a legacy distribution system in place that protects the existing manufacturers, the wholesalers, the distributors, and the buying groups, and that serves to protect the old order to the detriment of the resellers and their customers. Until alternative technology is available to the resellers that allow them and their customers to “pull” the products they prefer instead of being “pushed” the ones their suppliers are currently motivated to provide, Chinese alternatives, regardless of their quality, are likely to continue to experience limited success.

If technology solutions become available which are subsequently embraced by the resellers, the barriers that have helped preserve the legacy players’ market share are more likely to be broken down. However, even if these technology developments do occur, it will be to no avail unless the Chinese-manufactured alternatives that could, in these circumstances, finally be facilitated into the distribution network are not 99.9 percent reliable, 99.9 percent of the time.

Details:https://www.rtmworld.com/features/right-or-wrong-headlines-questioning-chinese-product-quality-are-likely-to-continue/

European Trade Association is Growing its Marketplace through the EU’s Green Initiatives 

The European Toner and Inkjet Remanufacturers’ Association (ETIRA), has represented the interests of remanufacturers of (Original Equipment Manufacturers) OEM cartridges and related service providers across the European Union (EU) since 2003. We work on topics like quality/standardization, legal and regulatory advice, public relations, member contact platforms and more. Our code of conduct, depicted by the ticked-R collective mark, gives our members a competitive advantage in the industry.

To enhance our outreach, ETIRA is also active in the CER, the Brussels-based European remanufacturing council. ETIRA now has 40 members.

2018 was another busy year for the European Toner and Inkjet Remanufacturers Association (ETIRA).  In summer, we thanked outgoing President Christian Wernhart for 12 years at the helm of our association. Industry veteran David Connett is now leading ETIRA on its path to growth.

Last year, the EU made the circular economy a key policy initiative. This was music to our ears, as cartridge remanufacturing is textbook circular economics. A February 2018 EU Commission report on cartridge reuse, which we had asked for, clearly called for more EU action to promote remanufactured cartridges.

If you reuse your cartridge as a cartridge for as many cycles as possible and thereafter recycle its materials, you have the lowest environmental footprint possible. Building on that study, ETIRA is now actively lobbying the EU to facilitate the reuse of cartridges. We call for an EU ecolabel for remanufactured cartridges, and for public procurement programmes to give preference to remanufactured products.

We also called for an end to OEM anti-remanufacturing practices such as the empoyment of smart chips, unfriendly cartridge designs, patents on cartridge reuse, market lockout sales structures, refusals to honor printer warranties and more.

For too long, the OEMs have refused to further “green” the printing process. The only thing they did was to reduce printer energy use, but we argued that doing so has delivered little environmental benefit. If we really want to “clean up” printing, you need to reuse the paper and the cartridges!

We also insisted that the EU acts against the patent-infringing, non-OEM new-build cartridges, or “clones” as we call them. These products from Asia have achieved a large market share, mainly because they are very cheap.

But this fast growth came with a cost: the quality of many products is not so good. Also, many do not respect OEM patents, so if you buy them you too can be sued by the OEM.  ETIRA published a free “Guide to Clones,” which educates our members on the risks they run when buying non-OEM new-built cartridges.

Recently, we identified another worri some issue with the clones. In late 2018, ETIRA and others had a German laboratory test eight to nine clones purchased off the internet, and it turned out that most of them contained levels of the flame retardant DecaBDE above the allowed EU limit. DecaBDE has been  banned in the EU for many years, and may be used in materials of products like electronics but up to only .1 percent. It was shocking to see that some contained levels up to 14 to 17 times the allowed limit!

This problem occurred not only under the small suppliers, but also the well-known large Asian names apparently use too much of a chemical that is basically prohibited in the EU for health and safety reasons!

This is why we are telling the EU that now is the time for them to act. We are being squeezed between the OEMs and the clones, as a result the European cartridge remanufacturing industry is able to remanufacture only 10 to 20 percent of all OEM cartridges put on the market. Yet, if all the aforementioned market barriers were removed, that number could be 75 to 90 percent!

So at a time when the EU wants more products to be reused, and citizens and companies are trying to lower their carbon dioxide footprint and reduce their use of natural resources, a remanufactured OEM cartridge should be the first choice of all business and personal cartridge users in the European Union.

Under the 2018 circular economy initiative, the ETIRA message is coming across. We are seeing growing interest in our work from authorities at the EU and the national level. Our work will result in more opportunities for cartridge remanufacturing, and a cleaner Europe. Follow us on Facebook and Linkedin to stay tuned! For more information, visit www.etira.org.

Details:https://www.rtmworld.com/features/european-trade-association-is-growing-its-marketplace-through-the-eus-green-initiatives/

INDEPENDENT TESTS REVEAL: NEW-BUILD CARTRIDGES COMPARE FAVORABLY WITH OEM

            Following extensive, confidential testing by Buyers Lab (BLI) on two very popular laser printer cartridge series, LD Products is boasting it’s Chinese-made, new-built cartridges (NBCs) will be a winner with US dealers looking for high-yield, non-infringing, quality cartridges targeted for use in MPS environments.

            In order to complete the testing objectively and from a true end user perspective, BLI confidentially sourced NBC print cartridges from dealers during the first quarter of 2019 and compared them with the genuine OEM cartridges. According to BLI, the evaluation process took one month, with devices running at accelerated volumes and using an industry standard target, to accurately compare the cartridges on print quality, yield and overall value.

            “Dealers know and trust BLI’s extensive testing methodology and, to our knowledge, this is the first time any new-build or extended yield cartridges have successfully completed BLI’s testing,” says Matt Daniel, VP Product Development at LD Products. “Now that we have these reports, we’re excited to refute the misleading claims made by OEMs and remanufacturers with fact-based information about how well our GOLD Line new-build cartridges perform in both reliability and yield attainment,” he added.

            According to Christian Pepper, President of the LD Products Channel Partner Division, the BLI results confirm what they already knew from their own internal lab testing which followed an extensive product sourcing process in China. “We have recently published a series of testimonials from leading dealers as to the results they saw in their fleets, and now we have irrefutable data of how our cartridges performed against OEM in a head to head test by the industry’s leading 3rd party testing organization,” he stated.

            “This report further positions the LD Gold Line as a clear leader in the aftermarket supplies industry and we are excited to share the results of BLI’s testing with our customers.”

The two cartridges involved are the 9,000-page CF226X and the 40,000-page extended-yield toner cartridges (compared with the 25,000-page original HP CF281X toner cartridge).

The BLI report included comments such as, “LD Gold Line cartridges produced good overall quality. Solids from the LD Gold Line toner were darker and richer than those produced by HP … All LD Gold Line cartridges tested operated reliably, completing testing with no malfunctions, and they surpassed their rated yields.”

            Pepper says the full results will be made available to dealers at the ITEX Expo in Las Vegas on April 24 and 25. In 2018, LD Products claims it achieved the industry’s lowest return rate of 0.1%.

 Details:http://www.rtmworld.com/2d/news/independent-tests-reveal-new-build-cartridges-compare-favorably-with-oem/

HP DEFENDS ITS INK JET PATENTS IN CHINA… AGAIN

                Following a much-publicized case in April 2016, HP is going back to the courts in China to once again defend its intellectual property (IP) rights against a cartridge supplier based in Zhuhai, China. HP has used its Chinese entity, China HP Co., Ltd. 中国惠普有限公司 (China HP) as the plaintiff in the Shanghai IP Court (established in the last four years) against Zhuhai Sharing Color Printing Consumables Co., Ltd. 珠海市韶运打印耗材有限公司 (Sharing Color).

                China HP officially docketed two complaints on March 20 and served Sharing Color on April 12, 2019. Two complaints have been filed because there are two patents involved, being ZL200680056896.9 and ZL200580011727.9 respectively. China HP has filed two separate cases because each patent has to have its own case in China. HP’s patents relate to “addressing and multiplexing circuitry on the inkjet printhead.”

China HP is accusing Sharing Color of infringing the two patents with the distribution and sale of “clone”, or copycat, 803 integrated inkjet cartridges—HP’s current generation print cartridges with a printhead. HP views this popularly used, latest hi-tech version of its print cartridges as a “bread and butter,” mainline cartridge.

                In RT Media’s view, the allegedly infringing products have been, and continue to be, distributed and sold primarily within the Chinese domestic market. Even though the manufacturer of the cartridges has not been identified in the complaint, a source close to HP has told RT Media they know who it is.

            HP is requesting RMB ¥ 1.5 million in each case for a total of ¥ RMB 3 million in damages and also requesting an injunction against any further sales of what it considers to be infringing products. The docket numbers are (2019) Hu 73 Zhi Min Chu No. 174 and 175.

                HP considers the ZL200580011727.9 patent to be particularly strong in China. This same HP patent was involved in a complaint against Speed Infotech of Shanghai in 2015 in a highly publicised case—being the very first case to be heard in the newly formed Shanghai IP Court. HP’s patents were validated. But Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.  (惠普发展公司有限责任合伙企业) and Speed Infotech settled out of court.

            At the time, Speed Infotech was accused of distributing and selling infringing integrated inkjet cartridges manufactured by MicroJet Technology Co. of Taiwan. Microjet filed invalidity requests at the China Patent Office, and the Patent Office ruled that the patents were valid.  This ruling was then appealed at the Beijing Intellectual Property Court, which also ruled, in HP’s favour, the patents were valid.  It can be assumed HP believes it has a particularly strong patent having withstood the most rigorous scrutiny in the Chinese court system and found to be both valid and infringed.

                Because of the good press back in 2015 and 2016, it would appear there have been no further cases of infringement. Certainly, HP has not pursued any Chinese companies in China, until now. Others had been found to be infringing within the Chinese domestic market in the past, but all have either ceased that activity or gone out of business, probably because of the publicity HP has generated with its success in China and worldwide litigation.

Despite the many criticisms China has received in the past over the protection of IP rights, HP’s recent experience with the Chinese legal system would suggest otherwise. The establishment of intellectual property courts in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhouin 2015, to more efficiently adjudicate cases related to the infringement of patents, copyrights, and other intellectual property, must be seen as a priority for the Chinese government.

Details:http://www.rtmworld.com/2d/news/hp-defends-its-ink-jet-patents-in-china-again/