As we wrap up this month’s focus on printing consumables, we’d like to take a look at how certain technology changes have helped shape and positively (and negatively) impact consumable offerings for dealers and their end-user clients. While many of our panelists note there haven’t been fundamental changes to consumables architecture—some OEMs rely on chips to help lock out third-party consumables, which isn’t revolutionary in itself—most changes are geared toward creating parts and duty cycles that are longer lasting.
Doug Johnson,
LMI Solutions
Doug Johnson, chief strategy officer for LMI Solutions, sees the greatest technological changes falling into two buckets: component technology and big data analytics. On the component side, he notes that advances in toner manufacturing processes, new types of toner technology and advances in drum coating are enabling longer life, lower-cost and high-quality solutions for the market.
“Big data analytics on consumables-related data variables is improving the use and utilization of consumables in the end user client’s environment,” he said. “It also provides improvements in supply chain efficiencies for consumables replacement and much better analytics for the dealer to truly understand their consumables cost envelope in page-base MPS offerings.”
The Good and Bad
Christian Pepper,
LD Products
Some technology advancements act as a double-edged sword, according to Christian Pepper, president of the Channel Partner Division for LD Products. On the plus side, OEMs such as HP have built laser engines with more efficient toner transfer technology that has shrunk the footprint of color devices, in particular. In turn, this has driven an increase in color device shipments globally, along with a rise of business color documents. With color pages being 5 to 10 times the price of monochrome, it has helped resellers increase revenue and margins in some hardware segments and market verticals.
The HP PageWide business inkjet technology has enjoyed significant development. However, in conversations with various resellers, Pepper’s takeaway is that the technology benefits OEMs and end users more than the resellers, as the margin opportunity for supplies and service is dramatically reduced in comparison to laser.
Moreover, Pepper believes that many technology changes driven by the OEMs—cartridge-based changes protected by patents—negatively impact dealers. “While the OEMs will argue that their technology is beneficial to the printing process—and much of it is—many components are designed to prevent the consumable from being remanufactured or built new by other third parties,” he said. “These activities are both legally and morally acceptable business practices to help the OEMs protect their market share, (but) the effect for resellers and end users is that their choice of alternative providers and lower prices/greater control of their margins is inevitably restricted.”
Opportunities Abound
Joe Contreras,
Toshiba
Joe Contreras, vice president of product and solutions marketing for Toshiba, believes there is plenty of opportunity and range for growth within MPS, particularly in areas of operational efficiency. Platforms for dealers such as Toshiba’s Encompass MPS program can provide greater leverage and strengthen their capabilities in the realm of consumables.
“We’re focused on providing dealers with the necessary tools and programs like Encompass, which seamlessly guides dealers through the optimization process with their clients,” he said. “With Encompass, dealers can conduct an assessment and map out what a client’s current and future print fleet will look like, provide recommendations, configure products, and create a proposal that would have all the pertinent and compelling information to make a decision. Furthermore, the rich reporting and analytics within Encompass provides actionable insights that serve as the basis for quarterly business reviews with clients.”
Future of Consumables
The proliferation of M&A activity may continue to impact the consumables network, according to Charles Brewer, president of Actionable Intelligence. A number of companies on the inkjet side have gone out of business, and Brewer notes many manufacturers have changed their business model and have become more involved on the distribution side.
Charles Brewer,
Actionable Intelligence
“They continue to sell cartridges, but they import them rather than remanufacture them,” he said. “As the quality of new-build improves and the market accepts them, I would expect to see the few remans that remain go that (merger) route. I expect we will see some shakedown, some attrition in the western reman industry.
“There are a few large Chinese companies that will benefit from having assets in the west. There’s already been a trend that way with Ninestar buying Static Control and Lexmark. These Chinese companies are well positioned to acquire distressed properties in the U.S. They certainly are interested in this market.”
