Inkjet Wholesale News aims to provide updates on the latest significant occurrences in the field of printing. Whether it’s the launch of a new technology or volatility of market prices, we’ll be here to give you the lowdown on what happened, when it happened, and what it means!
New MFP Series Introduced By Brother Contains High Yield Ink Tanks
Ink is a major problem for most people who use printers because cartridges cost so much and need to be replaced so often.
It seems that Brother’s strategy of ‘customer first’ has resulted in another great boost for printer users. Brother has decided to launch a new series of Multi-Function Printers (MFPs) that are supported by refill tank systems.
If you’ve been tuned into the printing industry, then you most probably already know that, in many places, printer owners have access to these externally located high yield ink tanks, which are connected to the actual cartridges located inside the printer.
These external high yield ink tanks basically prevent the cartridges from running dry.
The new machines from Brother, in essence, take this concept and make it a part of their inherent design. The new series consists of three machines which are DCP – T300, DCP – T500W, and DCP – T700W. The new products feature ultra – high yield ink tanks that have been designed into the machine in a way that it becomes easier to refill them.
The fact that ultra – high yield ink tanks are a major component of these systems means that they have a yield of approximately 6,000 pages for black ink and about 5,000 pages for colour ink.
This, in turn, means that these machines can help save a considerable amount of money, particularly for those users that print a lot. As can be seen with the features of these devices, they have been categorically targeted at high volume users.
The features of the new devices dovetail well with the image of Brother being focused on the comfort of its consumers. For instance, the high yield ink tanks are embedded in such a way in the printers that it becomes easier for users to refill them.
This is largely a design feature. First and foremost, these high yield ink tanks can be accessed from the front portion of the printer. This will directly make it easier for users to take the high yield ink tanks out and refill them when required.
Furthermore, another comfort focused design feature is that the cover over these high yield ink tanks is transparent which allows users to judge the level of ink inside the tanks with a quick glance.
Another quality of the machines in this new Brother series is that they have a relatively small footprint. This is in direct contrast to using third party ink tanks. Third party ink tanks are almost always located outside the printer (usually behind it) and connected to the cartridges inside the printer through tubes.
However, this isn’t the case with the DCP series of machines from Brother. The high yield ink tanks in these machines are actually a part of their design which means that they’re embedded in their body. This is how they have a smaller footprint.
Brother has even taken into account the actual action of refilling these high yield ink tanks because once the tanks are pulled out, they can be filled at an angle of 45 degrees. Supposedly, this is the best angle for filling out ink tanks as it prevents spillage, staining, and ink wastage.
The print speed of these new devices is also considerable as they can print out about 12 monochrome and 10 colour pages every minute. The paper tray in these new printers has the capacity to hold 100 sheets at one time.
Finally, the usual features of modern day printers such as automatic document feeder and Wireless LAN connectivity function are also a part of the Brother DCP series of printers.
Forbes Analyses What Will Happen To Lexmark Stock Prices through Multiple Future Business Scenarios
In the last few years, Lexmark has switched its strategy of manufacturing and marketing printers from the inkjet segment to the laser segment. In addition, they’ve stepped up their focus on managed print services as well as process management software services.
This shift has allowed Lexmark to steer clear of the declining inkjet market to a point where 82 percent of its profits come from printer machines and printing consumables.
However, even this shift in strategy can’t protect Lexmark completely from the dynamic nature of the market. This is possibly why Forbes decided to analyse the future of Lexmark from the perspective of their equity values.
While Forbes did an elaborate research into the Lexmark business, they covered three main scenarios – increase of Lexmark’s share and margins in the laser printer market, improvement of revenue and margin in the Electronic Content Management (ECM) industry, and a decline in share and margins in the laser printer market.
According to Forbes, Lexmark has redirected its efforts to focus on large workgroup segment in the laser printer industry which usually comprises standalone laser printers and Multi-Function Printers (MFPs).
In this industry, laser printer hardware demand is often accompanied by additional memory storage, added finishing capabilities, increased input and output capacities, and high performance internal network adaptors. Because of this, MFPs have shown an increase in demand in the industry.
Since Lexmark has positioned itself as a leader of this segment of the laser printer industry, Forbes predicts that the chances of its market share and margins increasing in the future are relatively good.
Overall, Lexmark’s market share of the laser printer market is about 4.5 percent while its margins are around 24.8 percent. Forbes says that if Lexmark can increase its market share to five percent and its margins to about 28 percent, then its stock value would rise by 35 percent.
Within the ECM and the Business Process Management industries, Lexmark operates with Perceptive software division in the forefront. In the last few years, Perceptive has grown leaps and bounds because it operates in an industry which has flourished.
Perceptive grew by about 31 percent in 2014 while the average growth of the industry it operates in is expected to grow at 11 percent in the coming years. Furthermore, Perceptive and through it Lexmark has grown organically as well as through acquisitions, the benefits of which will be delayed.
According to Forbes, as of now, Perceptive is expected to take its revenues from $313 million in 2014 to a massive $750 million in the current or the next year. In the same period, Perceptive’s profit margin is expected to be around 14.5 percent.
However, Forbes says that if Perceptive and Lexmark can make these revenues touch the $1.5 billion mark and its margins reach 17.5 percent, then it expects Lexmark’s per unit equity value to increase by 23 percent.
Forbes also covered the worst case scenario for Lexmark where its share value dropped by 25 percent. In order for this to come to pass, Lexmark needs to suffer significantly.
For instance, this scenario requires Lexmark’s laser printer market share to drop by 3.9 percent and its laser printer margins to remain stagnant. Moreover, this scenario also needs Perceptive Software division’s revenue to only reach $1 billion by 2021 and its margins to drop to only 10.5 percent.
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