Virtual exhibition BUSINESS-INFORM 2020-2022

Single-Use cartridges, or better single-use by design cartridges, need to be a thing of the past. Delacamp has been actively supporting the genuine office imaging equipment cartridge preparation for re-use, what we call remanufacturing, industry for many years starting at a time when most other players have not been around or have been active in other industries before embarking on the imaging reman industry.

OEM single-use plastic cartridges have been the main target for the genuine reman industry as they come with the OEM printers, replacement cartridges are heavily overpriced and reman companies can fast learn how to remanufacture them as the components used are pretty much standardized around the globe. With a used OEM cartridge (core) you know what you get and with what you need to use and do to remanufacture it as quality aftermarket components distributors like Delacamp will quickly offer full solution of components, spare parts, OPC and toners needed for the remanufacturing.

With the rise of the newly built cartridges (NBC) this picture has changed. NBCs are also single-use be design plastic cartridges. They do not come with the printer and they are very cheap in price and often in quality. But depending on their market share in a given market, they need to become a target for remanufacturing because they are the only easy to get cores. The issue with the newly builds is that unlike with the OEM core each Newly build is a moving target because the inner cartridge design as well as the components used are not only different among the different manufactures of newly builds for a given OEM cartridge type but can also vary within one cartridge type of one manufacturer because of constant pressure to keep low prices.

These moving targets, even if those cartridges seem to be reman friendly because they have a fill hole for example, are in fact a remanufactures nightmare because his standard “tool box” for the cartridge is not fixed but needs to be adopted depending on the innards found in each core.

In order for the newly built cartridges to be a true myth buster, they need to have a stable quality not only in terms of print quality but also in terms of the combination of parts used in any OEM compatible cartridge. To make remanufacturing of these cartridges easier and efficient, each change of components needs to be alerted to by a mark on the plastic (e.g. mark I, mark II, etc.). Even better of course, would be the use of components in a newly build that can survive more than one cycle and a special web site of each manufacturer of newly built cartridges available to cartridge remanufactures with tips on how to best remanufacture each cartridge and their costs driven evolutions (e.g. mark I, mark II, etc.).  Furthermore, newly built cartridge manufactures should start to proactively use non contaminated toners, components and plastic parts and not reluctantly react if industry organizations find out that they are in breach of regulations, laws and accepted health standards.

Without the above, the me-too green mask of newly builds is just a lip service and re-fill shops will keep on refilling the NBCs only because of a lack of OEM cores and to make the cheapest possible cartridge for producing an output for which print quality is not important.

The newly built cartridge players in China have become big corporations and are in most cases even listed companies on Chinese stock exchanges. They have the size, the money and probably also the know how to design and manufacture a much more sustainable product. But their reluctance to do so only stresses that they are in for the quick money and not for the environment and the health of their cartridge users. Their fire and forget mentality still prevails.

This is the main difference between the genuine reman and the newly built cartridge industry: Care (reman) vs. greed (NBC).

The latest product added to Delacamp’s product range is a cleaning tool named LicoJET®.

It is a great tool for cleaning IJ heads and used components. It allows precise cleaning with compressed air and liquids. Super-fast working due to simple switching from liquid to air-drying during the cleaning process is an excellent and timesaving feature.

For more information on the above-mentioned or more of Delacamp’s product range, visit www.delacamp.com or contact us info@delacamp.com.

Volker Kappius, CEO, Delacamp AG,

answers the questions of Information Agency «BUSINESS-INFORM»

1. How in your opinion has the market of printing supplies changed in 2020? How has the COVID-19 pandemic changed the Global market and the work of your organization?

The worldwide pandemic has been a big disruptor. Lock- and shut downs are having a big negative influence on the economic performance and having to work from home is having a big influence on the availability of empties because household electronic waste can hardly be included in collection systems. In addition home office users tend to use very small footprint printers like small Ink Jet and laser printers. And since color printing is very popular, the printers at home are mostly small foot printer Ink Jet color printers for which supplies are being bought mostly online for convenience reasons.

In order to minimize a possible impact of a Covid-19 infection at Delacamp, we have some staff members working from home on certain days but since pretty much everybody is having his own office and we have implemented strict hygiene and social distancing measures at Delacamp the number of people working from home is limited. 

I have to admit that before I never ever had more meetings with people outside of Delacamp per month. Online conferencing has become a standard part of an office day in the pandemic and is definitely here to stay even after the current pandemic is over.

2. How interesting are the quality (and correspondingly more expensive) printing supplies for the modern customer in the pandemic conditions?

Although buying online is very convenient, having to return products that do not work as expected and having to buy a replacement is troublesome. I hate to admit it, but printing and printing supplies are low involvement items. Users want to order and print. They do not want to worry about the supply until the supply runs empty. This insert-and-forget mentality and demand can only be satisfied by high quality and OEM supplies. But because users do not only want to insert-and-forget but want to save money as well, high quality aftermarket supplies are the product of choice during the pandemic. On top of that, the pandemic has revealed that global supply chains are prone to disruptions. The local and environmentally better alternative is in most cases the better choice.

3. On what (in terms of Global market) do the sellers base the evaluation of quality of consumables sold: their own experience, the colleagues’ opinion, testing results, advertising? Can all consumables sold on the Global market as “quality” ones be really attributed to being quality materials?

“Quality” is not a registered trademark and everybody can use it. Quality cannot be proclaimed but needs to be proven and earned. The perceived quality of consumables is dependent on many factors. The factors include:

·        Quality (print output and emissions) of the components used in the consumable.

·        The way how these components are being assembled to manufacture the consumable.

·        In-house testing routines and methods.

·        Paper used for testing.

·        Level of regulatory compliance, etc.

Only testing in-house or by a trusted laboratory will give you security.

4. Is it a must for distributors of quality supplies to have their quality control laboratories? Or is it enough to have statements by manufacturers confirmed with their certificates?

Testing by distributors of quality supplies only really makes sense if the distributor, like Delacamp, offers the full range of products needed to remanufacture a printer cartridge. If a supplier of toner only is doing testing, it will very probably only be with an OEM cartridge where the toner is being dumped and replaced by their own toner. This is not a realistic testing set up and scenario. The same is true for all manufactures or distributors who only offer PCRs, OPCs, etc. The only exception is chips. They can pretty much be tested with any cartridge.

          And the impact of paper quality on testing must not be underestimated. Testing with a soft white hue 80gr. smooth surface paper with little amount of chalk as a filler will produce very different results than a 75gr. rougher surface and high chalk content cheap paper.

5. Who must explain to the customers the value of quality consumables: manufacturers, distributors, resellers? Is it worth the money and energy at all?

The quality benchmark is the OEM. But the OEM is also the most expensive and together with Newly Built cartridges from the Far East the least environmental sound alternative. If we are to promote quality and educate the end-user on quality it needs to be a team effort. The End-User has to understand that the cartridge is made by a quality focused manufacturer using quality oriented manufacturing and testing methods with the highest quality components available with great service quality supplied by the distributor.

If one decides to save money and energy on quality he chooses to enter the price-only ball game only. This is a game where you can only lose because someone will always be cheaper. The shark tank is open to be joined by anybody who wishes to throw quality over board.

6. Should the customers trust the testing done by the supplier of customers, since this type of testing almost always confirms “the high quality” of the supplied product?

If the supplier has built track record of reliably supplying quality products, than this supplier can be trusted and regular random checks can be enough. But if the supplier has not be able to build a positive track record and/or is selling different products/build specs under the same product code you cannot afford not to test. It is your reputation that is at stake. The reputation you have been building over many years.

7. What in your opinion must be included in the term “quality of printing supplies”? The quality of prints? Or the wider set of characteristics: the convenience for remanufacturing, environmental friendliness, informational safety, etc?

For printing supplies there is an easy answer for me:

·       Repeatable quality of the print (ID, fixation, yield, level of background, color gamut, gloss level, etc.).

·        Emissions (none or low) of printing consumable (Ink or Toner).

·        Regulatory compliance (in the target country of the printing supply).

·        Environmental impact of manufacturing and transportation.

·        Complaint management.

·        EOL (End-of-Life) solution.

Delacamp AG, the largest independent supplier of quality components and consumables to the genuine printer cartridge remanufacturing industry has been chosen again by Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation as their sole and exclusive distributor of OPCs and Chemical Toners for Europe, CIS, Middle East and Africa.

“We are very delighted to continue this long-term successful partnership and are proud to mark the 15^th year of successful cooperation with Mitsubishi in 2021.

The year 2020 is a difficult year. It presents us all with new challenges. The global spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the measures to slow the virus spread affect both social life and the global economy. We are all affected in some way and most of us have had difficult months this year. I had been promoted to Sales Manager at the beginning of this year and honestly speaking I expected my first year in the new role to be quite a bit different. However, it makes me very proud working with such a good team, customers and business-partners that let us get through this challenging situation and year. I would like to use this opportunity to thank our long-term business partners and absolutely loyal customers – thank you very much!” says Susanne Dannehl, Sales Manager of Delacamp.