Sunday, November 17, 2013

Can I Copy Mixed Sized Documents on a Copier?

Even before the dawn of the digital copiers there some were a few copiers that allowed you to mix different size originals in the copier document feeder. For instance if you had a mix of letter, legal and ledger size documents you could place them all in the feeder an as long as you had the corresponding paper in the paper trays. The copier would then pull the right size paper from the correct paper draw.  However, this feature with the older analog copiers slowed the copiers copy process down to a crawl!

Today, there is not that much of a need for copying mixed sized originals, but every now and then we do get someone that needs to enable that feature.  The good news is that all digital copiers should have this as a standard feature.

I sell the Ricoh brand of copiers and the mixed size original feature is located in the "special features" ( I think that's it ) on the home screen of the system.  It's not a feature that a user will see from the home screen.  Users will need to select that feature and then place the documents in the feeder and the press the start button. I'm still amazed at how many customers are still "wowed" by this simple feature.  Copying mixed sized originals is not as slow as the analog systems anymore however you do need to allow some additional time since the paper is drawn from different paper trays.  Usually if a customer needs this feature we will put it into a program key for easy retrieval.

BTW, for those of you that scan a lot, you can scan mixed sized originals with most of the Ricoh systems.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

The Renaissance of Digital Duplicators

It was not that many years ago that industry pundits had declared the "Death of the Digital Duplicator" due to outdated technology, so so print quality and the low cost per page with new print production systems that were coming to market.

Fooey, those who declared that the Digital Duplicator was dead lacked the knowledge of what these systems can really do to help businesses improve a profit, increase productivity and reduce costs associated with out sourcing printed forms and documents.

The Digital Duplicator of today has come a long way in the past few years. The Digital Duplicator of today combines matured technology with excellent reliability.  Most Digital Duplicators can act as a mini press in many Corporate Repro Departments, Print Shops and Direct Mail Centers.

The Digital Duplicators can now print two sided letter documents in one pass, they can print original documents from your pc or mac with excellent quality.  Cost per page is off the charts considering a run off 1,000 11x17 sheets (based on 6% coverage) would average .003 per page for 11x17, thus cutting the 11x17 in half would give you letter sized documents at a cost of .0015 per page.

Digital Duplicators do not use heat and pressure to melt toner onto the paper, they use a soy based ink enables the paper absorb the ink.  Thus when it comes to consumables items there are none expect for a few paper feed rollers.  Virtually any stock can be used to put ink on paper, such as card stock, envelopes, NCR paper, thick paper, the only no no would be a coated stock.

While the world is fascinated by color documents, the duplicator can hold it's own because all of the Digital Duplicators are capable of printing spot color (one color, one pass), there are a few duplicator that can print two colors in one pass also.

Did we talk about speed yet?  120-130 pages per minute and all for a cost that's under $18,000.  While the duplicator of today might have a few draw backs such as no full color output nor the ability to print on to coated stock, the good of the system far out weighs the bad.  The Good equal 120-130 prints per minute with 11x17 size paper, automatic two sided printing for letter size documents, the use of spot color for documents and envelopes.

If you're in need a of Digital Duplicator in New Jersey, please email me and I'd be more than happy to demonstrate one of these power printing systems!

-=Greetings from Highlands, NJ=-

Friday, January 4, 2013

Editor's Choice Award for Ricoh MP4002 and MP5002!


Sum-up:  New monochrome machines with Ricoh’s Web technology platform.
The new Aficio MP 4002 and MP 5002 replaces the older MP 4001 and MP 5001 – they run at the same speed, includes a number of enhancements, such as a new Web interface, mobile printing, and new security options.  The MP 4002 runs at 40ppm, while the MP 5002 copies and prints at 50ppm. Unlike the previous generation, these models come in a basic configuration with standard copying and a different configuration (the Print/Scan configuration) that includes printing and scanning standard. Faxing is optional.
Both models start with 512MB of memory in the copier version that can be expanded to 1GB (which is standard on the Print/Scan version). The Print/Scan configuration also includes a standard 128GB hard drive. First copy time is 4.1 seconds on the MP 4002 and 3.5 seconds on the MP 5002.  There is also a standard 100-sheet automatic reversing document feeder.
Paper supply:  Standard configuration consists of two 550-sheet paper trays and a 100-sheet bypass. You can supplement this with another two 550-sheet drawers or a large-capacity tray that holds 2,000 sheets of letter-size paper. An additional optional 1,200-sheet tray can be added to the right-hand side of the copier. The maximum configuration is 4,400 sheets.  read more here please

-=Greetings from Highlands, NJ =-

Is Your Law Firm Prepared to Handle eDiscovery?


Here's a short snippet of recent blog that was posted on "The Ricoh Leag Blog", please follow the read me more at the end of this snippet.
By Regina Chepalis, National Director, eDiscovery Technology
As every attorney knows, litigation matters often involve some unexpected and demanding challenges. The rapidly evolving issue of eDiscovery is certainly no exception.
In our experience, no two eDiscovery challenges are the same, which is why it is important to ensure that your law firm has robust and scalable eDiscovery capabilities at the ready should the need arise. Developing those capabilities in-house is one option, but not always the most cost-effective and efficient approach. That’s why working with an experienced outsource partner makes a lot of sense for many firms.
Here’s an example:
We recently had the opportunity to work with a premier business law firm located in the Pacific Northwest when an eDiscovery issue arose in an employment matter. The firm represented a company that suspected one of its former sales employees had misappropriated sensitive and proprietary customer information. The company became aware of the issue when its Human Resources department audited the company email account of the former employee and saw what appeared to be transfers of company information to personal data accounts, such as Gmail, Dropbox and iCloud.
In the course of the negotiations between the law firm and counsel for the former employee, an agreement was reached to allow an audit of the personal data accounts of the employee. Not having the resources in-house to accomplish the task, the law firm turned to Ricoh for help, knowing of Ricoh’s comprehensive portfolio of eDiscovery solutions and the national reputation for eDiscovery technology and forensic expertise of HSSK Forensics, Inc., a Ricoh company accredited by the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors/Laboratory Accreditation Board. read more here

=-Greetings from HIghlands, NJ =-

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Ricoh System Training "How to" replace the toner

It happens to all of us, right?  These toner cartridges can sometimes last for month and then the time comes to replace the existing cartridge with a new one, and well....we forgot, can't find the manual (tip: the manual is now located on the cd disks that were delivered with the system) and have no clue what to do.

Here's a good clip I found on youtube for replacing the current toner cartridge on the new "02" istyle Ricoh systems.  Keep in mind that your local dealer probably has a recycling program for the old cartridges, don't throw them in the trash and give your dealer a call so they can assist with the cartridge recycling program.

A great tip is to keep the cartridges in a cool location and shake the cartridge before you install it in the system, this will prevent the cartridge from clogging.

=-Greeting from Highlands, New Jersey=-

Ricoh Print User Code How To Set in New Jersey

Here's another useful video I found on youtube , the video goes on to explain "how to" set up user account codes via Ricoh's Web Image Monitor (WIM).  You can access Web Image Monitor by typing the IP address in your web browser. There are then two sections, one for the client and one for the administrator.  The default user name is "admin" and password is left blank.

Note: If you change the admin password, you'd better be sure you log it somewhere, we've seen too many users who forgot the code and the cost to reset was a pretty penny.

Ricoh also offers and impressive automated and scalable device management software named @ Remote Enterprise.

@Remote Enterprise Pro provides centralized monitoring and device management for your entire network of Multifunction products and laser printers. This server-based solution gives I.T. support personnel the information and control they need to maximize up time and lower support costs. @Remote Enterprise Pro can be paired with the @Remote Connector option* which expands services to include: web-based fleet reporting, toner and service alerts, automated meter submission, and remote firmware upgrades.

-=Greetings from Highlands, New Jersey=-

Ricoh Touch Screen Copier Training in New Jersey

From time to time, I'm able to find some excellent youtube videos that can be a valuable resource for your staff.  I just ran across this video today in reference to training for the new "home screen" touch display for the new Ricoh "istyle" screen.  Enjoy!

Keep in mind that any of the new "02" series systems can print (within your network) from your ipad, iphone or ipad.  If you need help setting this up, call your local dealer and they can assist you with the set up.

If you're looking for a new Ricoh color copier or even a black copier, please send me an email art@p4photel.com.

-=Greetings from the Highlands, NJ=-

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Attorney Leases a Copy Machine in New Jersey

I guess when you're in the business of selling and supporting imaging technology like multifunctional copiers and software sometimes I tend to forget that the potential customers that I visit maybe technology illiterate.

Take for example a recent law practice I visited a few weeks ago.  They had a 7 year old digital multifunctional copier that they were using for network printing and scanning.  The time had come when Old Betsy had delivered more than 800,000 pages to our customer and she was ready to retire to a third world country where Old Betsy would see limited activity.

The law office was small in size, however they were trial attorneys and pumped out reams upon reams of paper each week.  The initial thought track was to replace Old Betsy with a new and improved Ricoh MPC5002SPF, and of course they would benefit from many of the new features that included USB/SD card support, the ability to print from their iphone and ipad, and the increased scanner speed.   The law office had been scanning for sometime with the help of Abacus Law Software.  With Abacus they were utilizing the TWAIN scanning support, meaning that they would walk to the copier, place the originals on the glass and then walk back to the PC, engage the scan software that would tell the copier to scan the documents and then walk back to the copier again to retrieve their originals.  That's how it was done and the staff had assumed that this was the norm when it came to scanning documents.

Somewhere along the way I asked about how many pages were in each document.  I found out that each document could have from 50-200 pages.  With that, I then asked "when you access the document for review are you currently thumbing (using the mouse) to look at every page for a particular thread of information"? When they answered yes, I knew that they were a prime candidate for having those scanned files turned into search able .pdfs, the next question centered on "When you have these documents for review, can you markup or redact any of those documents electronically"?  I was asked "do you mean edit the document"?, I replied no (not yet), but to add highlights, do a strike through, or do a redaction?  The answer was no, and I moved to my next question, are you able to take a .pdf document and change it back to a word document?  Another no, but this time there was a question tied to the no, "do you mean that your machine will do this"?  I stated not only will it do the .pdf to word conversion (I later told them that this was OCR), but you'll be able to turn every scanned .pdf into a search able .pdf and you'll be able to markup .pdf documents at will.  Of course the law office could see the value of their new lease.  Countless hours could be saved with the help of software and in this case the attorneys would save time allowing them to bill more hours per week and month.

To make a long story short, we were able to secure the order on the first visit, we had to work out a couple of kinks as to if they wanted a server based installation or a local based solution.  The end result due to cost was a local based ecopy solution that resided on each client. But more importantly we've now opened the door to have a discussion for document management software solutions like Doculex, Intellinetics and maybe MS Sharepoint.

Looking back, I guess the key move was to dig a little deeper as to what they scanned and then what was the work flow once the documents were scanned, which led to talk track of the solutions that are available.

If you're looking to buy or lease a copy machine in New Jersey please give me a call or fill out this handy form.

=Greetings from Art=-


-=Good Selling=-

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Architect Buying a Ricoh Copy Machine in New Jersey

Last week I had the chance to visit one of my favorite Architects in New Jersey.  It was that time again and he was interested in upgrading his present leased Ricoh Color Copier/Printer/Scanner for something newer.

I don't like to release the names of my accounts so we'll use Bill for the of the name of the Architect.

Bill had some unique needs for a new color multifunctional copier.  For years Ricoh has had a feature in their multifunctional copiers called the "Document Server".  The Document Server is a partition on the hard drive of the multifunctional copier that allows users to scan and print documents to that portion of the hard drive.  You also have the ability to name the document, name the user and password protect the document.  The main benefit to the end user is that these documents now reside at the copier for easy re-print access, plus you can embed features like folding, stapling and magazine.

Bill has this unique need that most his documents were hand created renderings of visual concepts that he as working on.  Thus, the ability for the Ricoh multifunctional copiers to store and reprint these at any time enabled Bill to reprint the documents with the correct finishing applications for each visual concept.

Bill was also a MAC user, thus he was excited to hear that he would be able to print from his network to his iPhone and iPad without any additional cost.  The icing on the cake was the new booklet feature for MAC users, yes now MAC users are can print booklets to the Ricoh Color Multifunctional Copier for the first time! Before, Bill had to scan his hand created visual renderings to the document server and then have them print in a booklet format. 

Thus the new Ricoh MPC3502SPF was quite the buy for him,  with architects TIME is money, and the new Ricoh MPC3502 will save him many hours per month to work on additional projects and or create additional visuals renderings that may help him get additional projects this year.

If you're an architect and you're shopping for a new copier in New Jersey or if you're looking to lease or buy a new copier in New Jersey.  Please feel free to give m a call 732.977.1211 and see if I maybe able to help you increase your efficiencies, lower your total cost of operation or help with a placing a new wide format copier system for your architectural firm in New Jersey.

If you're looking for a copy machine in New Jersey please give me a call or fill out this handy form.

=Greetings from Art=-



Thursday, September 6, 2012

Church Leasing a new Copy Machine in New Jersey

Just this week I was able to help a New Jersey Bayshore Church that was shopping for a Ricoh Copier (multifunctional system).  As with many churches the economy has taken it's toll with lower donations, and higher operating costs. 

The current scenario found the Church with an outdated PC (which they owned), that was slow, and working with an outdated Operating System along with outdated Microsoft Office Applications.  The Church also had an existing copier lease that had nine payments remaining, the copier at the New Jersey Church was performing ok but it was evident that they could benefit from a new system that would offer them color scanning, scan2dropbox, scan2officedrop, scan2email, OCR and fillable forms. Th fillable forms turned out to be a BIG thing, each year the church would upload the new CCD forms to their web site, from there the parishioners would be able to download the forms, fill them out and then return them to the church.  When the office staff reviewed these forms they had to muddle through the handwriting on the forms, granted that 80% of the forms were legible but there were many forms that required a phone call to the parishioner to validate a name, phone number and or birth date.

A great feature that came with the Ricoh copier was the ability for the Church to create a .pdf fillable form from a word document and then upload that document to the web site. Thus when the parishioner opened the document they were able to type the required information on the form, then print the form for delivery or even email the form to the Church staff.  The end result was neater forms, and less call backs for unreadable information.

Even though the software that came with the Ricoh copier was helpful,  the Church had also expressed that they could not pay anymore than what they were already paying on a monthly basis.  I had my homework cut out for me.

After reviewing their maintenance and supply costs, and the monthly lease cost we were able to put a package together that include a new DellOptiex PC, Mircrosoft Office Professional, and a new Ricoh SP5210SR multifunctional copier that included delivery, installation of the Ricoh copier, and installation of the Dell OptiPlex PC.  The cost?  The cost per month was the same as the current copier lease (zero increase in cost), the benefit was new equipment, time saving software and a new PC with all of the extras that they were hoping for.

If you're shopping for a new Ricoh copier in New Jersey, or you may need some new PC's, IT support or Managed Network Services. We'd like to speak to with you to present our award winning New Jersey support and to see if we can lower your total cost of operation.

-=Century Office Products-



Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Copiers and Printers in New Jersey "Envelope Printer"

A few weeks ago I had a call from one of my customers. 

He emailed me asking if we had a machine that would print envelopes at a reasonable cost.  He had just meet with Pitney Bowes and they wanted to lease him an ink jet printer (basically, I'm sure there was something else to to this), however they wanted $279 per month on a 69 month lease!!  That's almost $20,0000!  Thus he called me looking for a an alternative solution.

As always I did my homework, as to what type of envelopes they would use, do they need color, how many envelopes they looking to print at a time, what size of envelopes, what type of software are they going to use, and a few more questions that I need to keep close to the vest (I can't divulge all of my secrets).

At $20,000 I knew that I would be able to save my customer a TON of money and still provide a reliable printer.  About four months ago I had placed a trial of a printer in a Central New Jersey print shop that was just dedicated to printing envelopes for the trade.  After 3 weeks and many tests the system proved to feed envelopes without wrinkles, no jams and excellent quality.  This Ricoh printer was the right printer for the right job!

I had some questions about doing a mail merge from excel, took the time to learn the specifics and within 30 minutes we were printing envelopes at 42 per minute or about 2,400 per hour. 

I positioned the system with four paper trays, and a caster table.  I then presented my findings to my customer and went over all of the pros's can con's. However, in this case the pros's far outweighed the con's and my customer was happy with the price point, the system and the guarantee that we'll stand behind our product.

-=Art Post=-

BTW, if you're interested in a new multifunctional copier or printer and working with the most knowledgable and professional rep in New Jersey, then please send me and email art@p4photel.com

Document-Driven Processes Affect Revenue and Not Just Cost