Eight Top Points to Lease or Buy a New MFP Copy Machine

Don't remember where I found this, I did not write it. However it is good information if you are thinking about leasing or buying a new copier.

Flexibility Of Structure - deferred rental payments, seasonal rental payments, balloon payments, quarterly rental payments, unequal periodic rental payments, periodic rental payments that begin low and increase throughout the lease term, and periodic rental payments which begin high and decrease throughout the lease term

Small Initial Cash Outlay - equipment leases generally do not require a down payment as is the case with most loans. The cash which is required at inception of an equipment lease is generally applied to periodic rental payments.

Rent Expense - provided the lease is structured properly you may deduct the entire rental payment as a current operating expense for financial reporting and for income tax purposes.

Warranty Pass Through - although the lessor is the owner of the asset you have the full benefit of all manufacturer’s and seller’s warranties and guaranties.

Expanded Credit Availability - provided the lease is structured properly, the ‘lease debt’ will not be listed as a liability on your financial statements and consequently may allow you to preserve your borrowing availability with your bank and other creditors. This will also result in improved debt-to-equity and earnings-to-fixed assets ratios.

Avoidance Of Financial Restrictions - many loan agreements and credit line agreements significantly restrict additional borrowing or financing. In some instances, a borrower must obtain the permission of an existing lender to do business with another. Equipment leasing, as a rule, does not have these types of restrictions.

Clarity Of Specific Uniform Commercial Code Filings - many banks and commercial finance companies that finance capital equipment acquisitions will file an "all encompassing" financing statement with the Secretary of State in the state where the asset is located and in the state where the business is registered. Generally, these filings which are part of the Public Record are very broad and may convey to the bank or other commercial lender an "interest" in any and all of the other assets of the business. Leasing companies also file financing statements with the same agencies, however, these statements are generally very specific with regard to the asset being financed and are done for information purposes only.

Simplified Credit Process - an equipment lease is generally easier to obtain than an equipment loan. It’s not uncommon for leasing companies to provide up to $75,000 in financing with only an application. Some leasing companies will go as high as $150,000 on the same basis. Most banks and commercial lenders require a complete financial package consisting of several years financial reports and tax returns on the business and the principals.

You can find more information here: Multifunctional Copier Network

Ricoh Eco - Why It Matters

Copier Cabinets "The Flatpack Design"

I'd like to introduce Gary Lucas of Lucas Distribution to all of our readers and Print4Pay Hotel members. Lucas Distribution has signed on as a sponsor the Print4Pay Hotel Message Boards. I asked Gary to give us brief outline of his tenure in the office equuipment business and to tell us about his flatpack cabinets.

I spent 35 years with 3M / Harris-3M / Lanier / Ricoh – starting in the 3M Service Dept in 1972 as a facsimile technician (when 6 minute faxes were considered state-of-the-art!), spent many years in the Harris-3M & Lanier Product Sourcing group and finished up in the Product Marketing Dept in Atlanta, GA.

After retiring in 2007, I started Lucas Distribution, LLC, based in Atlanta, GA, as the exclusive distributor of Kentinental flat pack cabinets for the Ricoh family of products. These patented cabinets are custom-designed for Ricoh family MFPs. My manufacturer, Kentinental Engineering, has been an approved OEM provider to Ricoh Europe and to Lanier. This product line had been sold exclusively through the Lanier channel until 2007, when Kentinental authorized my company to open the products up to all Ricoh family distributors.

In 2008 I brought out a line of Canon cabinets using the proven flat pack design.

Here are some of the reasons customers like to use my flat pack cabinets:
• Can be assembled in less than 1 minute
• Flat pack design allows for lower storage and shipping costs - the 19" FAC16 cabinet ships in a carton 7.5" high!
• Prevents back strain that can occur when removing fully assembled cabinets from the carton
• Less susceptibility to shipping damage - if a cabinet is ever damaged, you can replace the damaged part without having to discard the entire cabinet
• 100% guarantee against shipping damage - if you unpack a cabinet and it has damage, replacement parts will be provided at no cost, regardless of who or what caused the damage
• 2% 10 Net 30 payment terms - products are stocked in Atlanta, GA
• As a small business owner, customer service is very important to me. I want to make it easy to do business with Lucas Distribution!

Muratec MFX-C3400

I can see this box as a big seller in the AEC market place. A3, scan2email, scan2folder and fax. This is an Oki product, and I for one am hoping that Muratec also has the embedded print solution software. This would make this a tremendous value for AEC (Architect, Engineering and Construction).

One pitfall of this system is there is no LAN fax, LAN fax is very popular now, and the ability to send faxes from the PC and forward faxes to a folder or email address is valued point when discussing a customers business process.

Here's the specs:

Muratec announced it will relabel an Okidata color LED MFP, and call it the Muratec MFX-C3400 featuring:

- Base MSRP of $9995.00
- 26ppm color speed and 34ppm b/w
- Uses LED instead of laser technology
- Pulverized toner infused with wax
- Built-in print controller
- HP PCL and PostScript print drivers standard
- 40GB hard drive
- 512MB RAM
- Scan to email/PC/FTP
- Scan to PDF/TIFF/JPEG/XPS
- USB & 10/100BaseT ports
- Auto duplex standard
- 600x1200dpi (does not offer true 8 bits per pixel)
- Up to 11”x17” paper handling
- Banner print mode up to 42.7” long
- Offers smallest footprint for an A3 color device, only 22” wide and 26” deep
- 4 tandem OPC drums
- 50 sheet RADF
- ID card copy feature
- Fax board
- Comes standard with 100 sheet stack bypass and 300 sheet drawer
- Can add more drawers to make the unit floor-standing
- Maximum paper supply of 1,460 sheets
- Uses a 5.8” monochrome LCD control panel
- Bypass supports up to 110lb. index
- drawers and duplexer support up to 46lb. only
- Black toner yield of 9,500 based on 5% coverage
- Color toners yield 10,000 each
- Each drum yields 20,000 images
- No finishing options offered

Small Business Multifunctional Copier

Below is a question that was posted on CNET. I took the time to answer the post on CNET. Here's the link for the entire thread small business multifunctional copier.

We would like to purchase a color/b&w copier for under $1000. Estimating 2500 b&W, 1000 color copies/day. We don't need alot of whistles just volume. Any suggestions. Also where can I find cost/page info for comparisons?

Here's the real scoop, if you get a machine for under $1,000, here's what you can expect based on your volume.

1. Color per page cost at .20 cents per page based on 20% coverage of the page. That means you'll spend $200 per month for color supplies!
2. Black per page cost at .03 cents per page based on 5% coverage of the page. That means you'll spend $75 per month for black supplies!
3. Within two years or less the machine will be worthless and probably be down more often for consumable supplies and maintenance than its running.
4. If this device could last 5 years you would spend $16,500 for a $1,000 system.
5. You would probably replace the system every year, because systems under a $1,000 are not built for that capacity.

Now here's what you should do:

1. Lease a larger machine ie: Ricoh mp c2550 for under $120 per month
2. Black per page cost is .015 with on-site service, means you'll spend $37.50 per month for supplies and maintenance.
3. Color per page cost is .10 or under with on-site service, means you'll spend $100 per month or less for supplies and maintenance.
4. System will be faster, have better reliability, plus add additional features which may stream line your business process.

Summary: That $1,000 system will cost you $275 per month in supplies only and will not last the year. In 12 months you'll need another, here you must also amortize the cost of the $1,000 system over 12 months which equals $83.33 per month. So your TCO (Total Cost of operation) is $358.33 per month. Moving to a larger unit such as the Ricoh MP C2550 your total monthly cost with supplies, on-site service and lease is $257.50. That's more than $130 per month in savings. Keep in mind that if your volume increases so do your costs. If your volume increases at 10% per year for 5 years your savings could be well over $300 per month.

Don't let the small investment price fool you, you need a larger system to meet your needs. Please also keep in mind that the cost per page for the Ricoh device may vary from dealer to dealer and geographical location, the cost per page is only an average of what I have seen in the industry for this device.

Art

MFP Copier "Brand Poll"

We've just released a new poll on our new Multifunctional Copier Network community.

We want to hear your thoughts on what brand you would pay more for considering feature and benefits were equal. Would you pay more for a Xerox, Ricoh, Canon or KonicaMinolta?

There's is no cost to take the poll, and membership is not required. You can vote here Multifunctional Copier Network.

Art

New Color Laser MFP from Fuji Xerox

Fuji of Japan announced a couple new color laser MFPs, that may show up in the U.S. under the Xerox name:
- DocuCentre C1101
- 16ppm full color or b/w
- Uses “Imari” 4 drum engine, which is also found in many current Xerox color MFPs
- Fully loaded MSRP of $12,310
- DocuColor 5151
- 51ppm color or b/w
- Based on engine used in current Xerox DocuColor 242, 252, etc.
- Fully loaded MSRP of $73,400.00.

Okidata Launches New C830 Color Printer

- Okidata launched a new color LED printer, the Okidata C830 series that includes:
- all models are A3, or able to handle 11”x17”
- use LED, instead of laser technology (Okidata owns most of the patents worldwide for LED printing technology)
- use pulverized toner infused with wax, called Okidata High Definition Color
- supports banner printing up to 52” long
- all are desktop models
- 30ppm top speed full color and 32ppm for b/w
- First page out time of 10 seconds for color
- 1200x600dpi (not true 8 bits per pixel)
- 4 tandem OPC drum design
- Handles up to 220gsm or 80lb cover stock (can not handle 10 point)
- Advertised as offering a 5 year warranty, but this is just on the LED printhead
- Optional automatic duplex
- 75,000 page per month maximum duty cycle
- Built-in print controller
- 256MB RAM standard (maximum of 768MB)
- 40GB Hard drive is optional
- PCL and PostScript print drivers standard
- Front loading 100 sheet stack bypass comes standard
- Front loading 300 sheet paper drawer comes standard
- Can add one or two 530 sheet paper drawers
- Becomes floor standing unit with optional storage cabinet
- Base MSRP of $2199.00
- soon launch MFP version of this engine

Riso launching two high speed inkjet systems

Riso announced it plans on launching two new high speed color inkjet systems to replace the existing HC-5500.

The new model will feature:
- Like current model, is not a Riso made duplicator, but an inkjet engine made by Olympus
- 120ppm and 150ppm versions if set at 300dpi
- The company claims that the existing models account for 24% of its sales and $100 million in revenue
- The Americas only count for 13% of Riso’s global sales of all products, and that U.S. sales declined 11% in 2008
- The Americas division lost $3.7 million in 2008
- Unlike previous models, the new versions will use oil-based inks to improve print quality
- New models are smaller and weigh 30% less
- Come standard with three 500 sheet paper drawers
- Built-in print controller
- 1.86MHz processor
- 512MB RAM (can upgrade to 1GB)
- 160GB hard drive
- Optional external PostScript print controller
- Optional HS4000 scanner (made by Epson) allows unit to scan and make copies (top speed of 40opm)
- Pricing not yet announced

Multifunctional Copier Network Community

While searching the web, I've seen many web sites/aka message boards that cater to technicians, along with many sites having information pertaining to multifunctional systems. But, there is not one site that is dedicated the industry as a whole, merging end users and industry support people. The Multifunctional Copier Network is focused on the end users ability to get immediate information on their multifunctional systems, printers, fax and scanners (technical or support).

So, in short, I've put together a community for end users, technical, sales and support people. Not only is this system designed to help diagnose problems for the end user, the system will also post the latest information from all industry related manufacturers.

Features:

Updated Press Releases
New Product News
Manufacturers Resource Links
Leasing Information
Third Party Software and Hardware Solutions
Support Forums
Where to Lease or Buy a System
Trade or Sell Items
Equipment Lease Calculator

As the site grows there will be more features added, the site is free for all to view. Click here for The Multifunctional Copier Network Community.