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Paperworld review
One of the highlights of
Paperworld 2012 was the
opportunity to see two
new entrants to the printer
market, Seine Technologies
and Lomond Evojet, both of
which were exhibiting in the
Remanexpo show-within-a-
show.
Seine Technologies was
showing its Pantum range
of laser printers, the first
laser printers to be designed,
developed and manufactured
in China. Created in partnership
with Legend Capital and
computer company Lenovo,
these printers have apparently
proved so popular in China that
Seine has had to establish a new
manufacturing facility to service
the export market.
John Davies, Ninestar
Image International sales and
marketing director (Europe),
told
PrintIT
sister publication
Business Info
that Seine would
be launching Pantum through
a small number of resellers
(UK distributor Badger Office
Supplies had a model on its
stand and was awaiting samples
to show customers).
“Seine has limited capacity
at the moment so we won’t be
launching to everyone. We will
probably take a select number
of B2B resellers and launch it in
a focused way to get feedback.
Then we’ll take it from there,”
he said.
The range, which had its
official worldwide launch at
No surprises
Memjet and Seine aim to bring more choice to the
desktop printer market. James Goulding reports
CeBIT in March, includes 16, 20,
30 and 33 pages per minute
single function printers and
16 and 20ppm multifunction
models in a choice of grey and
black (business) or two-tone,
patterned (consumer) finishes.
All models are B&W only
and feature metal frames for
durability.
At the time of going to press,
PrintIT
had been unable to get
more information on pricing or
the cost per page, but it looks
as though Seine is going to
promote the printers as long-
lasting, economical alternatives
to existing models from US,
Japanese and Korean printer
manufacturers. In other words,
it won’t be offering customers
anything radically different.
This need not be a barrier
to success – just look at
Samsung – but it might be a
missed opportunity to offer
an alternative model: Seine
Technologies, a manufacturer
of compatible printer supplies,
has even developed robust chip
technology to protect its supplies
revenue.
Evojet
The Lomond Evojet Office does
offer something out of the
ordinary. Based on Memjet
technology, this stylish inkjet
printer provides high speed, 60
pages per minute colour output
and low running costs of about
3p per colour page and 1.4p per
B&W page.
Although the cost per page
is lower than that of entry-
level laser devices, it is not
much cheaper than a business
inkjet. The cost per mono page
on an HP Officejet Pro 8000,
for example, is just 1p and
the colour page only slightly
higher at about 4p. This on a
printer costing less than £100
compared to £736 for the Evojet.
Running costs on the Evojet
may fall slightly when the
CartRegen cartridge refilling
system is rolled out to resellers.
Unlike conventional inkjet
printers, Evojet’s cartridges
are designed to be refilled by
authorised resellers. Because
refilling is cheaper for Evojet
than supplying new cartridges, it
is able to pass savings on in the
form of higher margins for refills
and a lower cost per page for
customers.
Where the Evojet trounces
the HP Officejet Pro 8000 and
other business inkjets is print
speed: it prints at 60 pages
per minute; has zero warm-up
time; a first print out speed of
5 seconds; and a drying time
of less than 1 second, meaning
that the ink is dry as it comes
out of the printer.
Evojet Direct UK channel
sales director Adrian Rollin
told
PrintIT
that resellers had
identified a number of users
who would be attracted by the
combination of low running
costs and fast print speeds.
“In medium-sized businesses we
are seeing a trend where larger
A3 devices that were installed
to centralise print and achieve
a lower cost per page are being
de-centralised and local printing
brought back to the desktop.
With our devices you can bring
low running costs back to the
desktop too,” he said.
Rollin added that Evojet
would also appeal to small
and medium-sized businesses
that are reluctant to sign up to
contract commitments – “This
is great for people looking for
commitment-free reduced
printer costs” – and service
providers requiring a dedicated
printer for walk-in, print-on-
demand customers while their
larger machines are occupied
with long print runs
One major limitation of
Evojet in its current form is that
it only prints on one side of the
page, though Rollin told
PrintIT
that Memjet plans to launch a
duplex printer with a reduced
output speed in Q3 or Q4 2012
and hinted that there would be
interesting software solutions
before then.
Another weakness (compared
to laser printers) is the need
for special paper to achieve the
best print quality. This is one
reason why Memjet appointed
Russian paper company Lomond
as its distributor, viewing its
printer and Lomond paper as the
perfect bundle.
Expect to hear much more
about the Evojet in coming
months as resellers roll-out their
marketing campaigns.
Seine Technologies
Pantum P2020
Memjet printhead
and Evojet Office printer