The copier industry is constantly evolving, and staying up-to-date with the latest news and information can be crucial for businesses and professionals who rely on these machines for their daily operations. Here are the latest headlines from the Copier Industry:
Will Feds ban Lexmark products in USA?
- The Wall Street Journal reported that the Department of Homeland Security issued a ruling banning the import of products made by Ninestar in China
- Ninestar of China is the parent company of Lexmark
- The U.S. ban is a result of the U.S. Uyghur Forced Labor Protection Act (UFLPA), which was signed into law in December 2021
- Uyghurs are a Muslim ethnic group in northern China
- The act prohibits the import of goods produced in Xinjiang, China or by companies identified on the UFLPA Entity List unless the importer can demonstrate that the goods were not manufactured with forced labor
- “The use of forced labor (aka slavery) offends our values and undercuts American businesses and workers”; stated Homeland Security Undersecretary Robert Silvers
- “Forced labor is now a top-tier compliance issue, and businesses must know their supply chains.”
- The U.S. Homeland Security Department (DHS) stated that Ninestar, the world’s fourth-largest laser printer engine manufacturer, engaged in business practices that targeted China’s Uyghur population and other persecuted groups.
- “American consumers should not be unwittingly subsidizing the PRC’s (People’s Republic of China) genocide,” said Rep. Chris Smith (R., N.J.) and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D., Ore.), who serve as chairs of the committee.
Signs of recession?
- Allianz Insurance published results of survey:
- Americans are ‘more afraid of running out of money than death’
- 61% of us are more afraid of running out of money in our old age than we are of dying itself
- 56% now consider regular “financial crises” to be an integral part of their retirement planning
- 46% say their retirement planning has been derailed by the most recent crisis, which has been rolling since March 2020
- Members of Gen X — those born between the mid-1960s and late ’70s — have the lowest overall financial confidence among the three generations
- 25% say they still have time to save
- 40% say they don’t have a retirement plan
- 56% say they don’t know where to start planning, beyond having basic accounts like a 401(k) and an IRA.
- Reuters News Service is reporting USA is suffering from anarchy
- $100 billion a year stolen by brazen shoplifters
- And this is money that, according to the National Retail Federation, stores are never getting back.
- As brazen crooks stuff backpacks full of goods unchallenged, the police – cripplingly over-stretched – will likely never even turn up.
- Walgreens debuted a new ‘anti-theft’ design in which only two aisles contain actual products for consumers to place in their baskets freely. Everything else must be ordered at a counter.
- MISES Institute published research:
- Bureau of Labor Statistic (BLS) released report, seasonally adjusted total nonfarm jobs rose 339,000 jobs in May
- unemployment rate rose slightly from 3.4% to 3.7% (month over month).
- Federal Reserve staffers predict recession in 2023
- Individual bankruptcy filings were up 23% percent in May
- Temp jobs were down, year-over-year, which often indicates approaching recession.
- Household Survey showed a loss of 310,000 employed persons
- Self-employment growth dropped by 6.5%
- average hourly earnings in May fell to a 25-month low
- Politico published article on commercial real estate industry:
- $1.5 trillion in mortgages will come due in the next 2 years
- higher interest rates and spiraling office vacancies push down property values
- 70% of bank-held commercial mortgages sit on the balance sheets of regional and smaller lenders
- White House economic adviser Jared Bernstein stated; “The way these loans are structured, you’re mostly paying interest, not principal, so you have to roll over most of the loan” when it comes due”
- “The bank will say, no, the interest rate is now 6% instead of 3%”
- Commercial mortgage loan originations in the first quarter of 2023 were down 56% YoY
- WolfStreet published article on bankruptcy trends
- “BB” junk bond yields have risen to nearly 7%
- means these companies that had trouble producing enough cash flow to service their 3% or 5% debt
- have to refinance this debt when it comes due, or add new debt, at 7%
- S&P Global has released its May bankruptcy statistics for companies that are publicly traded with at least $2 million in assets or liabilities listed in their bankruptcy filings, and private companies with publicly traded debt (such as bonds) with at least $10 million in assets or liabilities listed in their bankruptcy filings.
- 54 of these types of companies filed for bankruptcy
- “BB” junk bond yields have risen to nearly 7%
- Deloitte Consulting published survey results of Gen Z workers:
- Gen Zers (Americans born from 1997 to 2012) listed work as the second-most important aspect of their identity — behind friends and family but ahead of hobbies, music and exercise.
- 34% are satisfied with their work-life balance
- 61% had flexible or remote work patterns
- 30% are satisfied with their employers’ societal impact
- 35% are concerned with their cost of living
- 22% are concerned with unemployment
- 17% are concerned with crime/personal safety
- 56% said it will become harder to ask for a raise
- 53% said it will become harder or impossible to get a new job
- 50% said it will be harder or impossible to get promoted
- 50% said starting a family will become harder or impossible
- 61% said it will be harder to buy a house
- 46% said they feel stressed or anxious all or most of the time
- 36% said they feel exhausted or low-energy at work
- 42% said they struggle to perform at the top of their ability.
- Gen Zers (Americans born from 1997 to 2012) listed work as the second-most important aspect of their identity — behind friends and family but ahead of hobbies, music and exercise.
- The World Bank reported that global economic growth has slowed sharply in the face of higher interest rates, chronic inflation and continued fallout from the banking crisis
- world economy is expected to expand just 2.1% this year after growing 3.1% in 2022
- advanced economies, including the U.S., are projected to also cool to a growth rate of just 0.7%
- a marked drop from the 2.6% rate recorded in 2022
- one of the weakest growth rates in the last five decades
- “The global economy remains in a precarious state”
- “The world economy remains hobbled”
- “Besieged by high inflation, tight global financial markets, and record debt levels, many countries are simply growing poorer.”
Mega dealer wins cyber security sales award
- Artic Wolf, headquartered in Canada, is provider of cyber security solutions for dealer channel
- Announced that mega dealer, Pacific Office Automation, has been named Arctic Wolf’s Managed Service Provider Partner of the Year for 2023
- recognizes the company’s commitment to improving its customers’ cybersecurity posture through a strategic partnership with Arctic Wolf that focuses on joint business growth and planning, engagement and training, demand generation, and executive and security practice alignment.
- “Working with Arctic Wolf over the past three years has allowed us to offer a level of protection to our customers that we couldn’t provide prior. It has been a great experience for Pacific Office staff and our customers. As the need for more cyber security products increases, we know that we have a great partnership and a great product suite to offer,” said Chris Miller, Vice President of Technology and Services.
Ricoh wins design awards
- has won this year’s iF DESIGN AWARD 2023 for the Ricoh Pro Z75 & the Ricoh THETA from Hannover-based iF International Forum Design Gmb
- RICOH Pro Z75, which will launch in near future, is a production color inkjet system
- can output up to 4,500 sheets per hour on paper sizes up to B2
- Ricoh THETA X is a digital 360-degree camera
- touch screen and a boost in resolution
- changeable battery supports prolonged shooting, and an external memory card provides additional storage.
Ricoh wins production print contract
- award from IM Print Hub of Delhi, India
- installed new Ricoh Pro C7200X production color laser system
- will be used primarily for book and magazine printing
Canon and Foxconn deal with blackouts
- Power blackouts in Vietnam have hit global manufacturing giants, prompting some business chiefs to urge the country’s state utility to find a solution quickly.
- The rolling power cuts have hit industrial parks in the country’s northern provinces where Taiwan’s Foxconn, parent of Sharp, and Japan’s Canon have factories, as a surge in consumption amid a heatwave stretches the Southeast Asian nation’s power supply system.
- Canon has three factories in Vietnam, and they produce A4 MFPs, inkjet and laser printers, and document scanners
- “Vietnam’s industry ministry should take urgent measures before the country’s reputation as a reliable global manufacturing hub is undermined,” Jean-Jacques Bouflet, deputy chairman of EuroCham Vietnam told Reuters on Monday, adding that the power cuts seriously disrupted industrial activities.
- The country has been turning off street lights and manufacturers switching operations to off-peak hours to keep the national power system running, with more than 11,000 companies having agreed to cut consumption where possible.
Sharp launches 3 new A4 devices
- Sharp, a division of Foxconn (aka Hon Hai Precision of Taiwan) is announcing the launch of three new A4 color laser MFP and printer solutions
- new MX-C428F and MX-C528F color MFPs
- 7” color LCD touchscreen on C428 and 10” version on C528
- 42ppm and 52ppm top print speeds respectively
- 4.3” color LCD touchscreen on printer model
- Document feeder scans both sides of original at same time
- new MX-C528P color laser print only device
- 52ppm top speed
Dealer acquisition/merger update
- Atlantic, Tomorrow’s Office, headquartered in New York City, NY, announced it has acquired ACP Technologies, headquartered in West Seneca, NY
- Also has locations in Rochester, NY and San Antonio, TX
- ACP is a managed IT and cybersecurity services provider
- Purchase price not announced
- Midland-based Zeno Office Solutions, Inc., headquartered in Midland, TX, announced it has acquired UCI Lubbock, headquartered in Amarillo, TX
- UCI is a technology solutions and document shredding provider
- DocuWare, a division of Ricoh, announced it has acquired DocuScan of Erftstadt, Germany
Dealer partners with Color-Logic
- Color-Logic is partnering with mega dealer, UBEO, to showcase production color laser system technology
- Will conduct a series of training sessions in key cities
- graphic design personnel will demonstrate Color-Logic metallic design software and Touch7 expanded color gamut software
- guests can see metallic print files being generated automatically, with white ink masks produced in just seconds
- Color-Logic/UBEO events are scheduled in the following cities:
- Pleasanton, California: June 7 and 8
- Hartford, Connecticut: June 7 and 8
- Owings Mills, Maryland: July 18 and 19
- Tysons Corners, Virginia: August 8 and 9
- Denver, Colorado: August 30 and 31
- Las Vegas, Nevada: September 13 and 14
- Fresno, California: October 10 and 11
- Los Angeles, California: November 7 and 8
Kyocera to buy shares and build ceramic plants
- Kyocera is also known as the Kyoto Ceramic Company of Japan
- Announced that it has spent 43 billion yen ($308 million) to repurchase its own stock shares
- Also announced plans to invest 1.3 trillion yen ($9.77 billion) for manufacturing facilities and development of semiconductor-related ceramic products over three years starting in the 2023/24 business year
- looking to borrow up to around 1 trillion yen
Managed print services revenue growth
- report published by Research and Markets
- global managed print services market is expected to grow from $39.02 billion in 2022 to $42.65 billion in 2023
- compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.3%
- expected to grow to $59.65 billion in 2027 at a CAGR of 8.7%.
Customers need help with cybersecurity
- research published by Cyberseek
- Organizations in the U.S. havea a shortfall of skilled cybersecurity workers that will reach 466,000 open positions in 2023
- persistently tight cybersecurity labor market with a supply-demand ratio of 69% (69 workers for every 100 job openings)
- Employers deployed 663,434 job postings for cybersecurity positions over the past 12 months, building on the growing base of 1.1 million U.S. cybersecurity professionals
CYBERSECURITY & HEALTHCARE VERTICAL NEWS
Ransomware on the rise
- Verizon published annual cybersecurity report
- ransomware was tied to 16% of all incidents – about double compared to its previous report
- ransomware continued to be a factor in 24% of all data breaches
- 7% of victims reported to IC3 a median loss of $26,000, or double what victims reported two years prior
eClinicalWorks wins EHR contracts
- Award from AssociatesMD of Florida
- multi-specialty physician practice with more than 12 locations in South Florida
- includes Healow patient web portal
- award from Chicago Stem Cell Therapy & Pain Management Institute
- implemented cloud-based solution for clinics and ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs)
Allscripts wins EHR contract
- award from Columbus Community Hospital of Nebraska
- implemented new version of Paragon EHR
Epic wins EHR contract
- award from Hamilton Memorial Hospital of McLeansboro, IL
- received $895,000 in taxpayer funds via a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to pay for it
Epic to open new campus in England
- the EHR maker wants to build a new ‘campus’ on fields between Long Ashton and Ashton Vale
- near a new ‘garden village’ being created with thousands of homes being built.
- currently the land has pasture fields and includes the home of the village cricket club
Oracle Cerner wins EHR contract
- award from Seneca Healthcare District, based in Chester, CA
MEDITECH wins EHR contracts
- award from The Bellevue Hospital of Ohio
- award from Box Butte General Hospital of Alliance, Nebraska
Fax volumes still high in healthcare
- Bloomberg Law published results of research
- reports that just one patient’s faxed PHI (protected health information, aka medical records) following discharge from one health-care facility to another can be 200+ pages
- usually causes a bottleneck of manual fax data entry
- (Konica Minolta’s Healthcare MFP, powered by Kno2, can scan, convert and send paper PHI documents as digital, interoperable Direct Messages, rather than using fax)
HIPAA/cybersecurity breaches in the news
- Peachtree Orthopedics in Atlanta, GA notified an unknown number of patients that their PHI was stolen after ransomware attack.
- The City of Oakland, CA announced that it has been hit with multiple class action lawsuits over a ransomware attack and data breach that involved the theft of the personal and protected health information of 13,000 current and former employees
- Ascension Seton Hospital in Austin, TX is notifying an unknown number of patients that their PHI may have been exposed after cyber attack.
- Columbus Regional Medical Center in North Carolina is notifying an unknown number of patients that their PHI may have been exposed after cyber attack.
- Columbus Pain and Addiction Centers of Ohio is notifying an unknown number of patients that their PHI may have been exposed after paper PHI was found left in a dumpster.
- MercyOne Hospital in Clinton, Iowa is notifying an unknown number of patients that their PHI may have been exposed after cyber attack.
- Petaluma Medical Center in California is notifying an unknown number of patients that their PHI may have been exposed after cyber attack.