Will Demuth, President & COO of Metrofuser
If you’re an MPS provider or sell, service and need a source for parts, toner, and remanufactured printers, Metrofuser www.metrofuser.com should be on your radar if it isn’t already. If you’re not familiar with Metrofuser, the company remanufactures and distributes laser printer parts, remanufactured printers and offers service training for HP, Lexmark and Canon brands. Metrofuser offers multi point distribution and same day shipping, two big plusses. The company has also been named to Inc. magazine’s fastest growing companies for five consecutive years so they must be doing something right.
Last week I caught up with Metrofuser President & COO Will DeMuth to learn more about the company, what’s new, as well as why dealers and resellers find Metrofuser their go-to source for parts, toner, training and remanufactured printers.
How’s this year shaping up for Metrofuser?
DeMuth: The year started out surprisingly strong through June then in July went to where it should have been due to the seasonality in our industry.
Looking ahead towards the rest of the year do you have any expectations?
DeMuth: I try to stay away from expectations. I’m optimistic. There’s less competition in the industry, which is healthier, so I’m very optimistic about the future of parts.
What’s specifically going on this year that should be of particular interest to TWII’s readers?
DeMuth: We got into the printer remanufacturing industry about five years ago and it’s now one of our fastest growing business segments. We just launched our MpsClass printers and are marketing them under that brand. They’re doing very well.
We offer printer repair training, training technicians from around the country, including technicians for the U.S. Army, NSA, FBI, and Lockheed Martin on how to repair printers. That business unit is still strong. Then parts overall; in the past where certain models were stronger, it’s kind of being diffused. Some of the new models are starting to take hold and some of the entrenched, 4250’s—that velocity of parts is being diffused over two generations, which is healthy for the industry and us.
How would you describe your customer base?
Demuth: It runs the gamut from a small one or two-person owner/operator coming in from the copier business all the way up to national service organizations. They’re all dealers, but their size and market segment is diverse. There’s also some resellers—folks who buy our products and resell them through the Internet or catalog.
Why do they like doing business with you?
DeMuth: Number one is quality. You hear that over and over, but it’s not a standard anymore. There have been a lot of changes in our industry where a lot of our competitors outsource to Mexico and quality is no longer a standard. The quality of remanufactured product from vendor to vendor is different. Unlike OEM where OEM is OEM and you just negotiate price and you get what you get; it’s diverse in the remanufacturing world.
Next, we have many unique products. We introduce solutions to solve industry problems. It’s always been in our DNA. When the 4200 printer was released there was a problem with the fuser film tearing prematurely. We were one of the first companies to come out with a solution for that.
The HP LaserJet 4700 Series transfer belts are programmed to generate an error message reading “REPLACE TRANSFER KIT” when the page count hits 120,000 pages. The only way to remove that message and restore the lifecycle, up to now, has been to purchase a costly new transfer kit. We have a device that resets the machine so you don’t have to go out and buy a new transfer belt. A lot of dealers and MPS folks are purchasing these and resetting devices as opposed to replacing the transfer belt.
We’re big on those types of tools and proprietary technology, and coming out with new solutions that nobody else has. It gives us a foot in the door because that’s something to talk about besides price and offerings.
What trends are affecting your business?
DeMuth: The trends are small and coming from every direction. We keep our eye on everything and plan accordingly. We’re monitoring inkjets such as the Memjets and Officejet Pro X Series and seeing how that’s taking hold. New compatibles are another interesting trend. We’re monitoring them and every change HP makes. They’ve been increasing their supplies costs over the years and that’s directly impacting our business. I should also include the move by Fedex and UPS to start charging based on dimensional weight and the effect it will have on OEM parts and supplies.
What is the biggest challenge that you’re facing this year?
DeMuth: We’ve grown to a point where we’ve outgrown our current facility, unfortunately there’s not a lot of the size [facility] we need in our area. There’s some much bigger or much smaller, but the size we need is difficult to find. Also the cost of Chinese goods and knockoffs—they’re knocking off everything. It’s amazing the depth. In the past it was the top ten products. They’ve now gone deep into mid-range, mid-velocity parts. That’s a big problem. They look like OEM and smell like OEM, so we have had to develop an incoming material inspection department to QC new OEM products.
How long have you been doing printer remanufacturing?
DeMuth: Five years.
Is there any one thing you know about printer remanufacturing now that you wish you knew at the beginning?
DeMuth: Sourcing was a big obstacle for us. We’ve gotten a lot better at sourcing than when we first started. I also would have done it earlier. We were hesitant at the beginning, but once we got in and through the learning curve, it was a good move looking back.
If someone isn’t currently doing business with you, what else do you think they ought to know about you that might make them take a closer look?
DeMuth: We don’t compete with our customers. Most of our competitors sell to both service dealers as well as the dealer’s customers. Many of their Websites are openly displaying pricing or available after simple form registration with no qualification. We have made the decision to partner with our dealers. We have generic packaging and blind drop shipping to protect our dealer.
What else can we expect to hear from you in the next 6-12 months?
DeMuth: We’ll have some big news later this year, but it’s too early to say anything right now.
