Basic HTML Version
01732 759725
8
PRINT.IT
Brother 5-year Plan
A demonstration of Brother’s
new 100 pages per minute
inkjet printer was the highlight
of a pan-European event held
in Berlin, at which the office
technology company unveiled
its growth strategy for the
next five years.
The ‘world’s fastest mono
inkjet printer’ still has a few
glitches to be ironed out – it was
shown printing simplex only –
but Brother is confident it will be
ready for launch within the next
12 months.
With print speeds 58% faster
than desktop laser printers,
laser quality output, automatic
two-sided printing, 50% lower
energy consumption than high
end lasers and a low total cost
of ownership, the printer is being
launched at a time of renewed
interest in inkjet technology for
office applications and managed
print services.
Within the broader context
of Brother’s five year strategy,
this flagship product reflects
two key themes, a move into the
enterprise space and greater
diversification within Brother’s
printer offering, as the company
leverages its ownership of laser,
LED, inkjet and thermal printing
technologies.
Brother’s focus on
diversification is not confined
to print but extends to the
development of new product
Turning a page
areas, such as scanners and
cloud-based services.
Back to Growth
Under the strapline ‘Back to
Growth’, Brother aims to double
sales to 1000 billion yen by
2021, with an interim target
of 750 billion yen by 2015 –
nominally 50% higher than
the 492 billion yen turnover
achieved in 2011.
This appears daunting, but
as Toshikazu Koike, global
president and chairman of
Brother Industries (Japan),
pointed out, if figures are
adjusted to take into account the
projected exchange rate in 2015
(1 Euro = 100 yen), today’s sales
are equivalent to 600 billion yen
i.e. only 150 billion yen short of
the 2015 target.
Printers & Solutions
Brother plans to increase
sales of its Printer & Solutions
business, which currently
accounts for 65% of company
turnover, by developing new
markets for print technology and
by expanding into the enterprise
sector with faster machines and
integrated print solutions.
Having had a big impact
in the labeller and A3 inkjet
printing markets, Brother is
turning its attention to the fast
growing mobile printing sector
with the launch of the RJ series
of 4in thermal printers for
field-based applications such as
ticketing, labels and receipts.
These robust printers (and
accessories such as car
mounts and card readers)
join the company’s existing
series of portable A4 printers for
mobile sales people.
Enterprise solutions
To date, Brother
has focused on the
SME sector, but the
development of faster
printers (e.g. the
40ppm HL6180DW and
38ppm HL5400 series)
and a new Brother
Solutions Interface
that allows printers
to be integrated into
applications from
Brother is expanding
into new product areas
as it attempts to
reduce its dependency
on office print
Brother and third parties mean it
is now in a position to meet the
needs of larger customers.
One of the first such
solutions, available exclusively
from Brother in Europe, is the
b-guard cost management,
secure and pull printing
application, which helps
businesses reduce waste, cut
costs and improve document
security. Operated by Windows
log-in, PIN or card-based
authentication, it includes
features useful for today’s more
mobile workers, such as the
ability to submit a print job by
email. When linked to Active
Directory, it can also be used to
scan documents straight to the
user’s email address – a good
way of supporting scanning to
mobile devices.
Because b-guard is vendor-
independent, it can be used
across an organisation’s
entire printer fleet including
departmental A3 MFPs from
other manufacturers.
Diversification
As well as developing existing
product areas, Brother has
set up a new Network Imaging
Device division to address
markets complementary to
office printing.
Its products include Brother’s
first range of single function
desktop and network scanners,
offering features such as duplex
colour scanning, automatic
document feeders, touchscreen
controls, wireless networking
and the ability to scan directly to
cloud-based services including
Brother Online.
Brother Online is a brand
new portal that provides two-way
communication between end
users’ cloud-enabled computing
devices, printers and scanners
and cloud-based services from
Brother and third parties.
One of the first of these
is Brother’s OmniJoin web
conferencing solution derived
from its acquisition of Nefsis.
Available this summer, OmniJoin
combines web conferencing
tools, such as application
sharing, screen sharing, VoIP,
chat and presence, with cloud
storage of documents and
video that makes it easy for
participants to share (and print)
content.
AirScouter
Another offering from this
division is the futuristic
AirScouter. Mounted on a pair of
glasses and connected wirelessly
to an iPad or iPhone, this small
box displays a 2D or 3D image
that the wearer can view while
carrying out other tasks. It also
incorporates a camera so that
colleagues off-site can see what
the wearer sees.
Unlike consumer-oriented
Google Glasses, Brother is
positioning Airscouter as a
business tool suitable for
integration into industrial
applications, such as
manufacturing or servicing and
support. Examples given by
Brother were of an assembly
line worker who could follow a
video demonstration of how to
assemble a particular item; and
a service engineer who could
examine a fault remotely and
advise the on-site engineer how
to resolve it.
www.brother.co.uk
.
RJ Series Mobile Printer
Brother HL6180DW
AirScouter
Mobile Scanner