Denver Copier

Lexmark X654de

The Lexmark X654e is definately an interesting device for people used to spending $10,000 on a copier.  Some of the basic features in this product are 55 pages per Minute printing and scanning, standard fax, standard print, duplex scanning, duplex printing…  With this many features, one would think that it would be hard to use…  surprisingly though, it is quite simple.  Plus there is a cool color touch screen.  The cost per print is also very reasonable.

Who this is good for:

Offices or departments with up to 25 people

Uses who will do 15,000 pages a month or less

Users who value an easy to use interface

Who this device is wrong for:

Users who need tabloid printing

Users who need color printing

Users doing more than 15,000 pages per month

This is a great value for companies looking to reduce their copier costs without losing a ton of functionality.

Please see more info at our sister site

HP_CM1312_Color_MFP

Often when dealing with customers here in the Denver area, I get this question… “What color device do you have that is less than $1,000 and works really well?” Unfortunately, with these types of devices, you are not shooting for what works well, but just for what works…at all…

The problem is now you are buying a device really cheap which has 13+ consumable items and tons of moving parts.  Getting one which works is doable…  one that works great, has a simple interface, and is cost effective…  that does not exist yet.

The choice you’ll have to make is which 2 of these do you want?

* Cheaper printing

* Ease of Use

* Reliability

* Durability

You will generally only get 2 of the 4.  At this point in the market, if you can avoid buying a copier which is under $1,000… I would avoid it.  They cause more headaches than they are worth, they are expensive and still a pain to use.

I have watched the purchasing decision for many of the copiers that are going out today change hands from Facilities to IT.  Often this is a tough battle of politics within a company where one person (the Facilities person) has one preferred vendor and the other (the IT specialist) has another vendor they like.  Both can feel an obligation to their business partners and don’t want to see people they have worked hard with get pushed out the door.  Why is this happening?

The primary reason is today’s copier is much closer to a computer than copiers 10 years ago were.  10 years ago, they were more like lighting equipment or another general commodity.  Now, these devices can print, copy, scan, scan to specific software, require being put on the network and essentially become an IT supported device.  What would I suggest a company do if facing this situation?

1) I would try and make sure all parties WORKED TOGETHER within a company.  Competition is good, so giving both vendors a real shot is a valid option.

2) Whoever buys the device needs to be involved in supporting it.  If they are not, then there will be bitterness that develops as one group will complain about everything they have to do now that they didn’t have to before. They complain because they weren’t even involved in the selection process.  If Facilities or Purchasing retains the final purchasing authority for the copier, they need to be given tasks which will make a poor decision affect them directly.  An example might be they are the ones to call for the service calls, etc…

3) Utilize the relative strengths of each group.  The most saavy customers we have use IT to really check out the machine and then IT passes us to purchasing who approves the final contract which is for the item the IT people recommend.  Essentially a company who does this is saying we think our IT staff is best equipped to tell us what will work and our purchasing department is best equipped to negotiate the contract to get what IT said will work best for us.

4) Lighten up a bit.  Everyone complains they are too busy for everything these days.  If a task is getting taken off your plate, relax a little and enjoy having one less responsibility.

5) If your company is going to re-delegate, make sure you bring everyone together and explain what you are thinking and let them voice concerns and work to eliminate those concerns.  Ultimately though, you may have to make someone unhappy to get the best device for your company. (This cuts both ways…  some IT people are only looking at the bottom line and not functionality in a copier as they don’t tend to use them much…  this can be just as bad…)

One of the items that seem to really confuse companies is this question … “What is the right ratio of printers and copiers for this company?”

If you would like some simplicity, this post may not be exactly what you are looking for.  This question grows in complexity as more and more details are considered.  One of the best exercises though, is learning how people are doing their work and making a mix that maximizes productivity and reduces costs as much as possible.  Some starting questions which will help you out…

1) Interview your people to see how many times they go to a copier on average and then see what they do when they get there.  For me, I probably go to one about 3 times a day and it is almost always a scan to E mail function I need.  So, I personally use the copier for scanning.  If you are going to purchase copiers which have scanning capability, one of those should be closer to me than someone who only scans once a month.

2) When making copies, what percentage is tabloid.  Studies show that only 2% of all total copies are tabloid.  The people who use tabloid (engineers, accounting at times, etc…) should have close access to a tabloid capable copier unless they only print that way and already have a tabloid capable printer close by.

3) Everyone SHOULD NOT have a printer on their desk unless one of the following conditions exist…  A) They print at least 4,000 pages per month B) The are disabled C) They are in power and tell you that is the way it’s going to be or D) They are in a speciality application like Marketing where the device they use need very specific settings and you don’t want those to change.

4) It is not always cheaper to print on a copier, so having all printers go away is generally a bad idea.  It spreads the fleet out too far and people spend half the day walking to copiers and chatting to co-workers along the way than just getting work done.

If you start with some questions around the office like this, we can help you with strategic placements and maximum efficiencies if you are here in the Denver/Front Range area.

WorkCentre 73XX

Here are some thoughts on some simple ways to reduce the amount you spend on copiers.  This is true for either color or black and white devices.

1) Look at all associated costs.  Not just cost per print or just equipment costs.  Figure all costs except for paper and compare.

2) Look at maintenance records on machines.  Does one fail 4 times more often?  What’s it cost your company to have a copier not working?

3) Don’t get color unless you need color.  If you do and you don’t really need it, it will be used on everything.  It never seems to be as little as you will expect it should.

4) Don’t buy tabloid capable copiers if letter/legal will suffice

5) Let your rep know if you work for a large company as there are often “major account” pricing distinctions.

This is a good starting point.  Please give us a call if you are in the copier market.

Chester Carlson Picture From Xerox Website

This month marks the 70th anniversary of the technology that really made this site possible along with massive amounts of money being put into an economy on the basis on copying. Chester Carlson created creating the first “xerographic” image by using the elements of static electricity, crystalline sulfur and lycopodium powder and the heat of a Bunsen burner. That was 1938.  What was the copy?  “10-22-38 ASTORIA.” — The Birthplace of what we called a Xerox for years.

How many copies do you think will be made this year?  If you guessed 3,000,000,000 you’d by way off…

Try 3,000,000,000,000 if you believe Infotrends.  If each copy were to cost $.02 each (VERY VERY conservative), it’d put $60,000,000,000 (60 Billion) into the economy.  If you took this number and just hired people at $40,000 a year to write out these, you could hire an army of 1.5 million scribes. (The only problem is they’d have to produce 200,000 copies each.  WOW.

Why this article, I write this because without Mr. Carlson’s invention I wouldn’t have a job and you wouldn’t be on this site.  Happy Birthday Xerox.

Lexmark Multifunction Device

Lexmark has just done a product refresh of massive proportions.  80% of their product line have received a refresh.  The Lexmark X642e/X644e have been replaced by the X652e/X654e.  Even the Lexmark T640, T642 and T644 have been replaced by a T65X series.  I am always skeptical when a manufacturer does a refresh as it is generally more about having products which a compatible toner cannot be used rather than massive product upgrades.  This seems a little different.  Some upgrades to an already awesome X644e are as follows…

The 8″ color touch screen has been upgraded to a 9″ color touch screen

The scanner has shown a 250% improvement in quality labs

The ADF has gone from a 50 page max to a 75 page max

Speed has gone from 50ppm to 75ppm

Real finishing and mailbox options now exist

Some vertical market applications are simply added (even at a later date now).  There is a solution for Education, Medical and Legal markets.

The drawer system now works without a massive headache if you were going to have multiple drawers

The improvements made were definately noticeable on this line.  If you want more information on the Lexmark line of printers and multi-function devices, you can visit our sister site and choose which device you want to see and get detailed specs including a downloadable .pdf file.

http://www.laserprintercenter.com/printers_models.php?manufacturer=Lexmark

One of the most aggravating things for most copier customers is dealing with the leasing companies.  These companies do not make money via service and products like we do, they make it via interest and charges.  It is important to realize this and to prepare yourself so that you don’t end up paying a ton of money because you weren’t completely aware of the leasing nusiances.  I have included a .pdf here for our customers in Denver which should help you save hundreds to thousands of dollars.  We can help you make sure the lease you are signing for a new copier makes sense and meets your objectives.

Here is the money saving link:

Leasing Pitfalls

Color Laserjet CM6030/CM6040 Series

With speeds as fast as 40 pages per minute the HP Laserjet CM6030 / CM6040 is a copier series worth keeping an eye on.  At this time, it appears that the cost per print is a tad high on this device, but the image quality and reliability seem to be good.  Of course for the HP only office, this device will add both tabloid capability and color capability to an already robust line of products by HP.

When the market leader begins to introduce products into new markets, there are 2 concerns.  1) The reliability of the product itself.  I would not be concerned with HP on this point because the HP Laserjet 5500, HP Laserjet 5550 and HP Laserjet 9500 have all been rock solid in terms of printing for color tabloid capable printers…  all HP is doing is adding a scanner to an already sucessful printer line.  Pretty straight forward when you have HP’s engineering budget. 2) The other concern is for the competitors.  Anytime HP, Apple, or Microsoft do something in the computing world, it is automatically relevant.  So, it will be interesting to see how product sales in this class go for HP.

Product rating — 4.5 stars out of 5 for performance

3 stars out of five for pricing.

For more information on the HP Laserjet CM6030 or HP Laserjet CM 6040, including spec sheets, please visit our sister site at or if you are in Denver or the Front Range of Colorado you can call the number above:

http://www.laserprintercenter.com/LaserPrinters/HP_Color_Laserjet_CM6030_6040_340163.htm

As usual, when HP does something, it changes the game.  When HP came out with the Laserjet M4345, other manufacturers who did letter / legal copiers  we building machines like this that only went 18 pages per minute.  HP built this machine and it became apparent very quickly there was a new dog in town in the copier world…  a dog who everyone likes and would be a force in this sector as well.

HP hit the nail on the head…  they sell more of this unit than almost any other printer manufacturer sells in their whole line.  It has also paved the way for other similar devices (i.e. the Lexmark X644e, Xerox WC 4140, Xerox WC 4260, Lexmark X646e, Lexmark X642e, etc…) to gain a major foothold in this market.  So, why did this machine becoming so popular?  There are some simple reasons.

* It’s fast at 45 pages per minute

* It’s easy to use.  It doesn’t have 1,000 options on the interface screen.  It simplifies things!

* It’s HP. If HP started selling pet rocks, they’d probably catch on again…

If you don’t need tabloid, HP has proven it’s a market leader.  For more detailed specs, please visit our sister site:

http://www.laserprintercenter.com/LaserPrinters/HP_LaserJet_M4345_MFP_series_1039.htm