Boosting Copier Capabilities

More features. Better finishing options. Lower cost. Manufacturers of black-and-white copiers see these trends and more.

by Mike Llewellyn

Last year, Drew Bilotta, director of Lockheed Martin Management and Data Systems, oversaw the installation of 150 black-and-white Konica copiers, mostly 7020s and 7030s.

"At the end of the day, everything comes down to cost, and that's where they [Konica] had a significant advantage," says Bilotta. He explains that he was able to use a company-wide contract with Konica to leverage the best price.

But while keeping costs down is certainly important to copier manufacturers, this is not their only strategy. Their black-and-white copiers are changing with the times.

"We're seeing a greater range of stock acceptance, a greater focus on scanning and workflow, a continued expansion of the finishing capabilities and a lower total cost of ownership," says Kevin Kern, vice president of product development and support for Konica.

Trends like these, vendors say, are what keep black-and-white copiers afloat in a rising sea of color devices. In fact, some say, the market is growing.

"We're seeing inside the marketplace a 3 percent annualized growth over the next three to four years," says Greg Jones, Xerox's vice president of marketing for the worldwide monochrome business unit. "Production black and white is still growing."

Digital Is Essential

Driving this growth is a move from analog to digital copiers.

"Clearly, many in-plants are still migrating from analog to digital," says Dennis Amorosano, Canon's director and assistant general manager of copier and networked office systems. "We recommend that they look not only at the capabilities they're accustomed to, but also ways to bring new services to clients."

One such service is scanning.

"The most obvious trend that we're seeing is toward scanning," notes Jay Davinni, product manager for Ricoh Corp. "That's why we've come out with scan-to-file and scan-to-e-mail options."

But while in-plants are finding new uses for their copiers' scanners, the scanners are no longer the only way to input copy jobs.

"The biggest change is how an in-plant is going to input and output electronic documents," explains Amorosano. "In connection with moving to digital, you have to face 'How am I going to receive this job?' "

Amorosano says Canon is seeing print volumes shift to what he calls a more "distributive nature." The advent of print-on-demand has allowed in-plant customers to purchase larger quantities of smaller-run jobs.

"It's creating a good market for light-production machines," he says.

Corey O'Donnell, marketing manager at Océ USA, says that while many managers are reluctant to go completely digital, it's a necessity they will have to come to terms with.

"You have to recognize that digital is a must," he says. "You're flat out forced to do it. Now decide how you're going to do it."

Greg Jones of Xerox concurs.

"The digital transition should have happened three years ago," he says, "but we're dealing with human beings, who are a little unsure."

Jones says the industry on the whole is shifting its focus to the "customers' customers' needs."

He says Xerox is zeroing in on digital books and one-to-one marketing. Plus, he says, finishing options, like a square-back booklet maker, are gaining popularity. Finally, he says black-and-white copiers are able to handle lighter stock than before.

"We came out with DocuTechs that can [handle] 13-lb. paper. The more sheets of paper in the book, the better, and it's cheaper for the customer to mail," says Xerox DocuTech Marketing Manager Mike Murphy.

The evolution of the DocuTech, he adds, provides some clues as to how the market has changed and where it's going.

"DocuTech was a great product, but some said it wasn't 'open' enough," he says. Murphy explains that in the beginning, the DocuTech didn't understand Windows, and it didn't accept PostScript.

"People said they needed to use standards," says Murphy, "so we went out and built the whole thing from scratch. We took the scanners off and moved them elsewhere. We introduced Sun workstations, and we moved the whole thing down to a PC-level interface," he explains.

Jones adds that the integration of electronic data and hard copy output is also driving the market.

"More of the printers' customers are becoming sophisticated, and one of the large growth areas that we see is the ability to create personalized communications," he says. "You need to be able to manipulate a database."

Focus On Applications, Not Speed

"Productivity is the main concern that we see with CRD [in-plant] managers." says Ricoh's Davinni. He recommends that in-plants consider applications available with a black-and-white copier as a higher priority than speed.

"Look at applications more than speeds and feeds. Finishing options, tabs inserted on the fly, spot color," he says. "You have to always be asking, 'What is the end result going to be?' "

Corey O'Donnell says Océ USA is seeing a greater focus on workflow. O'Donnell says when an in-plant manager is in the market for a black-and-white copier, he or she should press vendors to prove that the copier they are selling is ideal for that particular shop.

"First, you've got to have conformity to existing workflow," he recommends. "From a customer's standpoint, say I want to see how my day plays out on this machine."

Océ's focus, says O'Donnell, extends beyond just the copier to incorporate the entire shop.

"We think beyond hardware and software," he says. "Hardware alone does not solve your problems."

To help solve them, says O'Donnell, Océ hosts seminars for in-plant managers interested in a technical self-analysis of their shops.

"We try to coach managers to be the ultimate document arbiters," says O'Donnell. "They deal with this stuff all day."

"You have to think about what you want the product to do," adds Kevin Kern, of Konica. "There are a lot of fast copiers, but you've got to think about durability, service availability—a lot of machines are not designed for easy replacement of consumables."

Like O'Donnell, Kern says it's important for an in-plant manager, when looking for a black-and-white copier, to consider his or her shop's workflow.

"It's not so much features and functions, but 'How will it work in my environment?' " says Kern.

Ricoh's Jay Davinni takes this a step further and encourages in-plant managers to ask, "How is this going to keep my shop running with costs down?"

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