Small business multifunction copier

Below is a question that was posted on CNET. I took the time to answer the post on CNET. Here's the link for the entire thread small business multifunctional copier.

We would like to purchase a color/b&w copier for under $1000. Estimating 2500 b&W, 1000 color copies/day. We don't need alot of whistles just volume. Any suggestions. Also where can I find cost/page info for comparisons?

Here's the real scoop, if you get a machine for under $1,000, here's what you can expect based on your volume.

1. Color per page cost at .20 cents per page based on 20% coverage of the page. That means you'll spend $200 per month for color supplies!
2. Black per page cost at .03 cents per page based on 5% coverage of the page. That means you'll spend $75 per month for black supplies!
3. Within two years or less the machine will be worthless and probably be down more often for consumable supplies and maintenance than its running.
4. If this device could last 5 years you would spend $16,500 for a $1,000 system.
5. You would probably replace the system every year, because systems under a $1,000 are not built for that capacity.

Now here's what you should do:

1. Lease a larger machine ie: Ricoh mp c2550 for under $120 per month
2. Black per page cost is .015 with on-site service, means you'll spend $37.50 per month for supplies and maintenance.
3. Color per page cost is .10 or under with on-site service, means you'll spend $100 per month or less for supplies and maintenance.
4. System will be faster, have better reliability, plus add additional features which may stream line your business process.

Summary: That $1,000 system will cost you $275 per month in supplies only and will not last the year. In 12 months you'll need another, here you must also amortize the cost of the $1,000 system over 12 months which equals $83.33 per month. So your TCO (Total Cost of operation) is $358.33 per month. Moving to a larger unit such as the Ricoh MP C2550 your total monthly cost with supplies, on-site service and lease is $257.50. That's more than $130 per month in savings. Keep in mind that if your volume increases so do your costs. If your volume increases at 10% per year for 5 years your savings could be well over $300 per month.

Don't let the small investment price fool you, you need a larger system to meet your needs. Please also keep in mind that the cost per page for the Ricoh device may vary from dealer to dealer and geographical location, the cost per page is only an average of what I have seen in the industry for this device.

Art

Google 411

My compliments to Google!

Just leave it up to Google to come up with something like this!!!

Here's a number worth putting in your cell phone, or your home phone speed dial: 1-800-goog411. This is an awesome service from Google, and it's free -- great when you are on the road. 1-800-466-4411

Don't waste your money on information calls and don't waste your time manually dialing the number. I am driving along in my car and I need to call the golf course and I don't know the number. I hit the speed dial for information that I have programmed.

The voice at the other end says, "City & State." I say, "Garland, Texas." He says, "Business Name or Type of Service." I say, "Firewheel Golf Course." He says, "Connecting" and Firewheel answers the phone. How great is that? This is nationwide and it is absolutely free!

Click on the link below and watch the short clip for a quick demonstration.

http://www.google.com/goog411/

The Cost of Documents

Okay, you just brought in a new client, great! It's smooth sailing from here. But stop for a moment and think, the proposal, the billing statements, the service records...those are all necessary and lord knows you need to keep records.
I have a question for you; have you ever thought of the cost of documents, and I just don't mean the cost to put the toner on the paper. Let's look at some statistics:

A recent study shows that it costs over $2,000 per year to maintain a single 5-drawer cabinet.
Source: Oregon State University

According to The Association of Information Professionals, a 4-drawer file cabinet:
Holds 15-20K pages
Costs $25,000 to fill
Costs $2,000 per year to maintain

The major costs in paper filing systems are:
15% is spent on equipment
10% is spent on space
75% is spent on salaries
Source: Price Waterhouse

Of all the document that are handled each day in the average office, 90% are merely shuffled. Currently, 90% of the corporate memory exist on paper.
There are over 4 trillion documents in the U.S. alone-growing at a rate of 22% a year
Source: Price Waterhouse

Professionals spend 5-15% of their time reading information but up to 50% looking for it.
Source: Price Waterhouse

Corporate paper-based documents are growing at a rate of 200% a year
Source: Price Waterhouse

19 copies are made from each paper document
22% of all documents are lost
7.5% of paper documents are lost completely, 3% of the remainder get misfiled
$20.00 is spent on labor to file a document
$75.00 is spent on labor to process a document(The Gartner Group)
$120.00 is spent on labor searching for the misfiled paper documents.
$250.00 is spent on labor to search for lost files.
Quoted reference: Coopers & Lybrand

Document processing includes labor and materials for the printing, storing, filling out, receiving approval and putting the information into the business system.
A simple form, such as a vacation time request, costs a company over $150 per form to process
(Microsoft study)

The Gartner Group has found that for every dollar spent on producing forms, between $30 and $60 is spent processing those forms, and estimates that $360 billion is spent annually on processing data from forms.

With increasing regulatory controls, this process will only get worse in government, insurance and financial industries as increasing amounts of information must be extracted and processed from increasingly varied sources.
Source: Digital Publishing Solutions March/April 2001

It is predicted that the sheer amount of information requiring processing will grow at a rate of 200% a year
Source: The Yankee Group


Gartner has indicated that between 5%-15% of a companies total annual revenues are spent for the producing and managing of documents, but that those companies who have implemented a document management strategy can save up to 40% of those costs.

The questions is: do you have a document management strategy?

Ricoh Hits Home Run with New Ricoh 2030 Color MFP

Ricoh's new MPC 2030 will give color copy, color scan and color print to masses! Priced at only $8.00 more a month than a conventional mono chrome device, small businesses will now have the opportunity to have an all in one device for less than 50 cents per day over the cost of a monochrome device.

Ricoh is pleased to announce the introduction of the new Ricoh Aficio MP C2030 Digital Imaging System. Built off of the Ricoh Aficio MP C2050/C2550 mainframe, the MP C2030 is competitively priced and is the perfect solution for first-time Color MFP buyers that require basic copy, print and scan capabilities. Out of the box, the device offers standard RPCS printing, G3 & LAN Faxing plus TWAIN Scanning capabilities for Windows only environments. For accounts that require PCL printing, the MP C2030 can be configured with the Printer Enhance option.

The introduction of the MP C2030 allows Ricoh to continue our successful B2C conversion strategy. Providing color into the lower segments has given us the ability to provide a full suite of products from entry-level to light production environments.


RICOH AFICIO MP C2030 SERIES HIGHLIGHTS;

Equal BW/FC speeds
Compact Design
Fast warm-up and first copy out times
Supports paper stocks up to 140 lb. Index
Reduce paper consumption & filing space with standard duplexing.
Standard RPCS Printing, Faxing & TWAIN Scanning capabilities

Multifunctional Copier Network Launched

While searching the web, I've seen many web sites/aka message boards that cater to technicians, along with many sites having information pertaining to multifunctional systems. But, there is not one site that is dedicated the industry as a whole, merging end users and industry support people. The Multifunctional Copier Network is focused on the end users ability to get immediate information on their multifunctional systems, printers, fax and scanners (technical or support).

So, in short, I've put together a community for end users, technical, sales and support people. Not only is this system designed to help diagnose problems for the end user, the system will also post the latest information from all industry related manufacturers.

Features:

Updated Press Releases
New Product News
Manufacturers Resource Links
Leasing Information
Third Party Software and Hardware Solutions
Support Forums
Where to Lease or Buy a System
Trade or Sell Items
Equipment Lease Calculator

As the site grows there will be more features added, the site is free for all to view. Click here for The Multifunctional Copier Network Community.

PrintShop Mail

For those companies looking for an ideal variable-data solution for personalized letters, brochures, order forms, direct-mail campaigns, serialized and one-to-one mailings that communicate more effectively Print Shop Mail might be the ticket.


PrintShop Mail can process variable data into any kind of print job, merging database information into your document layout to create customized mailings. Integrating quickly and easily with any major design package, PrintShop Mail is extremely simple to use.PrintShop Mail also allows you to create separate layout and database designs -- and by storing layout and images on your printer RAM, you can print at the full rated speed of any Konica Minolta PostScript printer/copier.


Efficiently customizes form letters, direct mail pieces, sales flyers and price lists for a consistent graphic feel on all your business communications and marketing materials.

Lets you create separate layout and database designs before they are integrated into your print document output.

Saves time and cost by maximizing throughput -- eliminating the need to RIP each graphic and layout for every page you print.

Compatible with both PC and Mac computers as well as all color and B&W PostScript printers.

Provides drag-and-drop functionality, instant preview of completed documents before printing, allows fast reprinting and remote printing

Oki Announces Price Busting Color 11x17 System

Below is the Press Release from Oki. I had heard about this system coming to market, and considering price point and features this should be an awesome system for the AEC market place.

Oki Data Americas Tuesday unveiled the MC860 A3 color MFP series, a new set of A3 color multifunction printers Oki Data says are comparable in capability and price to many competitors' A4 printers.

"What we heard most was 'costs,' " said Mike Garofola, senior marketing manager for color products at Oki Data Americas, in a ChannelWeb briefing. "The size is a nice point as well, but people are looking for an affordable solution that allows them to bring an A3-type of device into their [infrastructure] and the consolidation that comes with not having multiple devices."

Oki Data's new MC860 A3 color MFP series is targeted at businesses seeking a color MFP that can provide both A3 and A4 capabilities. Among many features, the MC860 harnesses HD color technology (including 48-inch banner support); allows full print, copy, scan and fax capabilities; offers print/copy speeds of 26 ppm in color and 33 in monochrome; can scan to USB Flash Memory, PC, fax, FTP, folder and e-mail; and has a duty cycle of 75,000 pages.

The MC860 series comes in three models, including a desktop standing model starting at $3,999 (400-sheet paper capacity); a floor standing model with one tray and cabinet, starting at $4,459 (930-sheet paper capacity)' and a floor standing model with two trays and a cabinet, starting at $4,739 (1,460-sheet paper capacity).

"We do have other A3 color MFP series," Garofola said, "but before they were only sold exclusively through our BTA [business technology alliance] channel and are more of a copier-based product that competes with other copier-based MFPs. This is the first tabloid A3 color MFP we've really designed for the 'Comdex' channel."

The MC860 series MFPs will be made available at the end of January through all of Oki Data's North American channels. Oki Data is targeting the MFPs especially at medium workgroup users and space-reliant, cost-dependent verticals such as education, manufacturing, retail, finance and life sciences.

"Print has surpassed copying in terms of functionality, but people are also looking to have more affordable output," Garofola said. "They're doing a lot more scanning, for document management. And while faxing is the function that's used least, when you do need it you have to have it. From a legal standpoint, a fax is still a legal document as opposed to a scan, and still very viable."

Garofola said to expect additional MFP announcements from Oki Data later in the year.

Ricoh MP9000 Demo Sale

This MP 9000 system has only 2,000 pages on meter, includes print, scan, document feeder, and booklet finisher/stapler. System print and copy speed is 90PPM. Contact art@p4photel.com

90 day parts & labor warranty

$17,995 (plus tax & shipping)

Optional Services:
On-Site Training for Hardware and Software $150 per hour
Network Install for Printing and Scanning $150 per hour
Additional Maintenance Agreement can be purchased (Call for price)
Lease Financing for up to 60 months (Based on credit approval from third party leasing company) Call for lease quote
On-Site Setup (remove packaging, install finisher, test, and check operations) $375


General Features:

Dual toner bottles allow change-on-the-fly, uninterrupted output

Dual tray Interposer option provides ability to insert color or preprinted sheets

Dual 160GB hard disk drives (320GB)

Large, user friendly, dual language color touch panel display for simple access to all functions

Large standard memory of 256MB RAM

Desktop control of an extensive list of advanced capabilities

Connect Copy option allows the linking of two Aficio MP9000's to double your output to 180 ppm

Print speed of 90 ppm

True 1200 dpi resolution

Network Scan-to-Email and Scan-to-File with printer and scanner kit options

Copier Features

Seven paper trays with total paper capacity of up to 8,050 sheets

Enhanced Document Server allows you to easily retrieve/merge and edit files in thumbnail format for enhanced productivity

Full finishing capabilities including covers, chapters, tab extension copying, printing, stapling and user selectable 2 and 3 hole punching

Scan black & white or color images at 80 ppm

Scan Once, Print Many with fast, clear output at 90 ppm with 1200 dpi resolution

Printer Features

Perfect for local or network printing with either PC or Mac

PCL6 enables it to work with all popular applications

Works with Windows ME/2000/NT 4.0/XP/Server 2003 and Macintosh 8.6 or higher

Print Resolution PCL5e 300/600 dpi, PCL6 600/1200 dpi, RPCS 200/300/600/1200 dpi, PS3 600/1200 dpi

Optional Accessories:

RT Large Paper Deck

Dimensions 21.2” x 28.7” x 38.5”

Power Source From Mainframe

Supported Paper Sizes All Trays: 5.5” x 8.5” to 8.5” x 11”

Supported Paper Weights 4th Tray: 16 lb. Bond - 80 lb. Cover, 5th Tray: 16 lb. Bond - 80 lb. Cover, 6th Tray: 16 lb. Bond - 90 lb. Index

Total Capacity 3 Trays / 4,550 sheets

Tray Capacity 4th Tray: 1,000 sheets, 5th Tray: 1,000 sheets, 6th Tray: 2,550 sheets

Weight 194 lb.

BY5000 Multi Bypass Tray

Dimensions (WxDxH) 26.7” x 22” x 7.1”

Paper Capacity 500 sheets (based on 20 lb Bond)

Paper Size 5.5” x 8.5” - 13” x 18” (with RT5010 DLT/Large Capacity Tray)

Paper Volume Sensors 100%, 50%, 10%, Near-end

Paper Weight 16 lb. Bond - 80 lb. Cover

Power Source From LCT via Mainframe

Weight 39.6 lb.

ZF4000 Z-fold Unit

Dimensions (W x D x H) 6.9" x 24.4" x 37.8"

Weight 121 lbs.

With Proof Tray Sizes: 8.5” x 11”, 8.5” x 14”, 11” x 17” SEF Paper Weight: 17 – 20 lb. Bond

With Shift Tray Paper Size: 8.5” x 11”, 8.5” x 14”, 11” x 17” SEF
Paper Weight: 17 – 20 lb. Bond

With Staple Tray Paper Size: 11" x 17"
Paper Weight: 17 – 20 lb. Bond

GBC StreamPunch III

Available Die Sets GBC 3-hole Die Set, Ring Binder, GBC 11-hole Die Set, VeloBind, GBC 19-hole Die Set, CombBind/GBC Type, GBC 21-hole Die Set, WireBind 2:1, GBC 32-hole Die Set, WireBind 3:1, GBC 44-hole Die Set, GBC 32-hole ProClick

Dimensions (WxDxH) 12” x 28.5” x 38.5”

Power Consumption 340W

Power Supply 115V AC, 60 Hz, Single Phase, 3.0 A

Punch Capacity Single Sheet

Punch Edge 11” edge of 8.5” x 11”

Punch Stock Weights 20 lb. Bond - 80 lb. Cover

Sheet Size 8.5” x 11” (no tabs)

Speed 90 sheets per minute

Weight 154 lb.

RT5010 (DLT/LCT) Ledger Sized Large Capacity Tray

Dimensions (WxDxH) 34.7” × 28.8” × 38.6”

Power Source From Mainframe

Supported Paper Sizes All Trays: 5.5” x 8.5” to 13” x 18”

Supported Paper Weights All Trays: 16 lb. Bond - 80 lb. Cover

Total Capacity 3 Trays / 4,000 sheets

Tray Capacity 4th Tray: 1,000 sheets
5th Tray: 2,000 sheets
6th Tray: 1,000 sheets

Weight 363.8 lb.

SR5000 3,000 Sheet Finisher w/100-sheet Stapler

Dimensions (WxDxH) 31.5” x 28.7” x 38.5”

Output Jogger Standard

Power Consumption Less than 120W

Power Source From Mainframe

Proof Tray Stack Capacity: 500 sheets (8.5" x 11" or smaller), 250 sheets (8.5" x 14" or larger)
Paper Size: 5.5" x 8.5" – 13" x 18"
Paper Weight: 14 lb. Bond – 80 lb. Cover

Shift Tray Stack Capacity: 3,000 sheets (8.5" x 11"); 1,500 sheets (8.5" x 14" – 11" x 17") 1,000 sheets (13” x 18”) 500 sheets (5.5" x 8.5" LEF) 100 sheets (5.5" x 8.5" SEF) 30 sheets when Z-folding
Paper Size: 5.5" x 8.5" – 13" x 18" Paper Weight: 16 lb. Bond – 80 lb. Cover

Staple Capacity per Set 100 sheets (Letter) 50 sheets (11" x 17", 8.5" x 14", 8.5" x 11" SEF) 10 sheets when Z-folding

Staple Positions Top, Bottom, 2 staples, Top Slant

Weight 165 lb.

BK5010 Production Level Booklet Maker

Dimensions (WxDxH) 55.9” x 27.6” x 35.4”

Finishing Speed Maintains rated engine speed of 90-ppm

Maximum Booklet Capacity 30 sheets (120 pages based on 20 lb. Bond)

Power Consumption Less than 200W

Power Source 100/100/115/127/220/230V 50-60Hz

Supported Paper Sizes Width: 8.1" to 12.6" Length: 10.8" to 18"

Supported Paper Weights 16 lb. Bond – 172 lb. Index*

Weight 286.6 lb.

*BK5010 supports up to 172 lb. Index in Off-line mode only. The Pro 906EX/1106EX/1356EX support up to 80 lb. Cover (120 lb. Index) On-line when combined with the BK5010.


Optional BK5010 Production Booklet Maker Accessories

BF5010 Book Folder Creates a square fold from a saddle stitched book

BK5010 Rail Unit Eases finisher docking/undocking

CF5010 Cover Feeder Inserts preprinted/color sheets as covers

TR5010 Trimmer Unit Trims edge of the booklet for a professional finish


PU5000 Hole Punch Option for the SR5000 Finisher

Hole Positions 2 or 3 holes, switchable

Punch Paper Size 5.5" x 8.5" – 13" x 18"

Punch Paper Weight 16 lb. Bond – 90 lb. Index

TK5000 11" x 17" Tray Kit

Function Converts Tandem Tray to an additional short edge feed (SEF) tray

EB-135 Print Controller (Optional)

CPU Intel Celeron

Hard Disk Drive 80GB

Memory (Std./Max.) 512mb

Network Protocols TCP/IP, Novell IPX?SPX,SMB, AppleTalk with auto-switching

Printer Languages PCL6/PCL5e

Standard Interface 10/100/1000BaseTX

Utilities Command WorkStation 4.5, Fiery Web Tools, Fiery Scan (TWAIN plug-in, Remote Scan), Fiery FreeForm 2, Fiery WebTools, Fiery Mail Port, & Fiery Printer Delete Utility