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Other Epson News

Epson and MPS

Epson is not a name usually associated with Managed Print Services. Yet, it remains a key growth area for the company. Last year, 400 million pages were printed under contract in EMEA and Epson aims to triple this fgure in the next two years. Just toner

Epson has added 11 new models to its AcuLaser range of laser printers and MFPs including entry level models with drums and fusers that are designed to last the lifetime of the machine. The only item that needs replacing on the B&W Epson AcuLaser M1400 and the colour AcuLaser C1750N and CX17NF MFP is a small cartridge container just toner. Paper Saver

Half the world’s receipts are printed on Epson till printers like the new TM-H6000 IV. An interesting feature of this printer is the Paper Save mode, which reduces paper consumption by 31% by squeezing company information into a smaller area. This feature was the deciding factor in a German bakery chain’s decision to acquire 30,000 units. Coupons on demand Catalina Marketing has 200,000 Epson coupon printers in stores across the US. They are used at the checkout to print coupons based on a customer’s latest purchases so that if you buy some fsh, you might receive a money-off coupon for a bottle of white wine. The TM-C610 prints coupons in full colour, which has been shown to increase redemption rates by a factor of four. DVD duplicator

Epson has added a new model to its growing range of CD/ DVD duplicators. Suitable for organisations publishing up to 400 discs per month, the Discproducer PP-50 can publish up to 50 discs at a time without the need for user intervention. As well as writing data to the disc, the PP-50 prints photo quality images and text directly onto the CD/DVD. It costs £1,800 (ex VAT).

PrintIT Verdict

Business inkjets, also available from HP and Lexmark, are a welcome addition to the printer frmament. They give customers more choice and can be a cost-effective, fexible and energy-effcient alternative to colour laser devices. PrintIT was impressed by the speed of Epson’s Workforce Pro range but found that output on normal copier paper was less vibrant than colour laser prints, with some show-through when printed on both sides. In other words, they are great for everyday printing but for external communications laser might be a better bet, unless you are prepared to pay extra for specialist inkjet media.

This year Epson is targeting business customers with 100 new business products spearheaded by a new brand of business inkjets

Business Inkjets

Built for business

Under its new strapline Engineered for Business, Epson is planning to increase revenue by 200 million euros in this fnancial year and increase sales by between 10 and 20% in key product areas including printers.

Business products already generate 67% of Epson revenues in EMEA, but the company is planning to build on this with the launch of 100 new products – its largest ever in a single year – supported by major expansion of its manufacturing facilities in China, the Philippines and Indonesia.

Last year, 2.7 million customers in the EMEA region chose Epson printing products, including its business inkjet

printers, which Epson is promoting as an alternative to colour laser products with similar quality but lower running costs.

Epson is building on the success of its frst generation business inkjets with a new sub-brand Workforce Pro (available in September) featuring three new Ethernet models for business workgroups and three wireless models for the small offce/ home offce market, all with print speeds of 16 pages per minute B&W and 11ppm colour.

Everything about these devices is designed to appeal to business users – automatic two-sided printing; a paper capacity of up to 580 sheets;

high yield, individually replaceable ink cartridges with yields of up to 3,400 pages; and running costs as much as 50% lower than equivalent laser devices. Workforce Pro business inkjets even look like laser devices – a big change from the slightly strange looking B-510DN business inkjet.

Epson claims that one of the strengths of its business inkjets is the combination of micropiezo printing technology and superfast-drying DuraBrite inks, which makes it possible to print on both sides of the page at high speed.

At the products’ launch, Epson demonstrated the fact by showing one of its small business inkjets printing head-to-head with an HP Offcejet 6500A Plus. The Epson won hands down largely because the HP printer had to stop and wait for the ink to dry before printing on the other side of the page, all the while displaying the message ‘Ink drying please wait’.

Interestingly, and perhaps counter-intuitively, Epson has chosen a white colour scheme for its business workgroup models (the WorkForce Pro WP-4015DN/4515DN/4525-DNF) and black for its wireless-enabled small offce/ home offce all-in-ones (the WorkForce Pro WP-4025DW/ 4535DWF/4545DTWF). PrintIT was told this was because businesses were adopting lighter furniture and cooler colour schemes in their offces in an attempt to reduce the need for lighting and air conditioning. More concrete green attributes include 80% lower energy consumption in printing mode than laser devices.