The Recycler Issue 305

MARKET DATA: 

CONTEXT and IDC have released a 

series of reports. Starts page 38 

RETAIL COLUMN: 

How to find and keep the best 

people. Starts page 42 

www.therecycler.com Issue 305 APRIL 2018 l £10 

Women in the aftermarket: 

Breaking the glass ceiling and 

building the future 

To celebrate International Women’s Day, we examine 

the place of women in the aftermarket: What progress 

there has been, which doors still remain closed, and 

what more could, and should, be done to open them. 

Starts page 3 

Paperworld Middle East 2018 

Read our review of the 8th edition of the Paperworld ME 

show. Starts page 28 

INSIDE: 

CANON’S LATEST LAWSUITS 

The OEM has filed lawsuits against 

dozens of companies 

DISTRIBUTION PARTNERSHIP 

Delacamp renews distribution 

agreement with MCIC 

ACQUISITIONS AT A PACE 

Visual Edge announced further 

acquisitions made 

WIDE-FORMAT COLUMN 

Inkjet-printed solar cells gaining 

ground 

p12 

p12 

p26 

p44

Feature 

Women in the aftermarket: 

Breaking the glass ceiling 

and building the future 

With the United Kingdom commemorating the centenary of the first women gaining the right to vote, and global 

campaigns movements like ‘Time’s Up’ and #ThisGirlCan attracting media attention worldwide, women are in the 

spotlight like rarely before. 

To mark International Women’s Day on the 8th March, 

The Recycler spoke to women from across the 

aftermarket industry to discover how they came to be 

part of the industry, how they feel it has changed for 

women, and what more can be done to achieve equality. 

“I always knew I wanted to operate my own business,” 

explained Mindy Smith of Illinois-based Liberty Laser 

Solutions, whilst describing how she first entered the 

aftermarket industry, which she was introduced to by a 

friend 24 years ago. After that first contact, she continues, 

“we started slowing learning the aftermarket industry, and 

the business has grown from there.” From those first 

ambitious steps, “Liberty Laser Solutions has grown into 

one of the top USA remanufacturers in the country.” 

For it was also about ambitions to 

succeed in business coupled with an 

encouraging word – beginning in 1983, 

with her partner Don Barker. Heywood and 

Barker founded Kleen Strike (UK), after a 

suggestion from Heywood’s father, who 

owned Maryland-based Kleen Strike Inc. 

Heywood Senior suggested refilling the 

ribbon cassettes in circulation at the time, 

as “being the quickest and easiest way to 

get to know the models that were dominant 

in the UK.” 

Heywood continued: “We did some 

market research going to business shows 

and canvassing offices and the interest 

Mindy Smith of Illinois-based Liberty 

Laser Solutions 

was there but more in the cost they would save rather than 

the environmental aspect. We decided to take the leap and 

purchased the latest Amstrad computer - you remember, 

the ones with the ‘start of the day disk’? - an Adler electric 

typewriter for invoicing, received equipment from Kleen 

Strike Inc. and began refilling ribbon cassettes.” 

She says that at that initial starting point, “it was fairly easy 

to generate interest”, partly down to her own “enthusiasm 

for selling the concept of reusing the highly engineered 

cartridge and refilling it with new ribbon.” Heywood 

explained “with Don’s experience as an engineer we knew 

we could offer something unique- a refilled cartridge as 

good and sometimes better and the customer would 

spend less – a point of sale ribbon we reloaded was 

costing our customer £9.00 ($12.49/ 

€10.13) each and we were reloading it for 

£3.95 ($5.48/€9.44).” 

For other women in the industry today, it 

was not so much an organic process as a 

happy coincidence, with Stefanie Unland, 

Vice-President of ETIRA, describing her 

first entry into the industry as “an 

accident.” 

“I did not know this industry existed or 

would become this passion in my life,” 

Unland explained. “I was about to go back 

home to Germany because after my time at 

uni I didn’t have a job and needed money 

to pay rent etc. So, my arrangement with 

THE RECYCLER • ISSUE 305 • APRIL 2018 

3

FEATURE: Women in the aftermarket: Breaking the glass ceiling and building the future 

my parents was that I had one more month to find a job and 

‘make it in the world’ or I had to come home to a job (in 

microbiology) which was waiting for me.” It was after that, 

that a response to an advertisement from The Recycler’s 

David Connett caught Unland’s attention. 

“David at the time was looking for a German speaker 

because he was moving REMAX from Barcelona to 

Dusseldorf, so I got an interview, and the rest as they say... 

Is history.” 

Uninet’s Estel Casals took a similar path, having finished 

studies at university, and working in her native Spain in an 

export customer service position. 

“It had nothing to do with the printing industry,” Casals 

told The Recycler, “but this position made me realise that I 

would like to work with languages, with people and in an 

international environment.” This led to her joining Uninet, as 

a customer service representative, “where I could continue 

solving problems and providing service to the fast-growing 

international account base.” 

April Gottsagen, of US-based company April Toner, 

meanwhile, was already within the industry when her 

passion was ignited. 

“I worked for a small company, selling 

remanufactured toner cartridges to 

business for almost four years,” Gottsagen 

told us. “I asked a lot of questions and 

paid attention to everything while I was 

there. I wanted to be involved in all 

aspects of the business, not just the sales, 

so I would talk to the tech that made the 

product.” 

After being shown the ropes, 

Gottsagen’s newly-stoked belief in the 

industry drove the company success, but 

it was not all plain sailing. 

“I tripled their sales numbers. When they 

Uninet’s Estel Casals 

laid me off because they could ‘no longer sustain the 

operation’, I decided to take my knowledge with me and 

start my own remanufactured toner business.” Once the 

legal side was complete, there was no looking back. “I 

crossed all of my t’s and dotted all of my i’s, and I have been 

in business for myself for six years now.” 

The view on the inside 

Such different inroads into the industry suggest it is not as 

straightforward for women seeking to become involved as it 

is for men. There is a risk, in industries like this one, that 

such a significantly male-led environment could produce a 

so-called multiplier effect, thereby making it exponentially 

harder still for women to get a foothold. In a 2017 survey of 

female engineers in the United States, the National Science 

Foundation Study found that many women didn’t pursue 

careers in engineering following graduation, due to a belief 

that the engineering workplace culture was inflexible, and 

non-supportive of women. 

Yet despite the aftermarket remaining one such “maledominated 

industry”, as Smith and Casals both described 

it, the general consensus from our interviewees was 

that in 2018, it is increasingly becoming a welcoming 

place for women. 

“I have always been received with open arms, in places 

treated like a queen,” said Unland, who called the industry 

“mostly welcoming.” It was not without its exceptions, 

though – “in some areas men only want to speak to men.” 

Yet Unland clearly felt that the level of dialogue within the 

industry was contributing to its openness. “Overall, it is like 

this mini NATO, that meets on regular basis (trade shows, 

conferences and visits),” she elaborated, “and we all talk to 

each other to make the industry a better place.” 

“In my region of the United States (Baltimore, Maryland,) 

I have found it to be pretty inviting,” concurred Gottsagen. 

“There are only a couple of other local businesses that I 

have come across as competitors - one is also womanowned, 

and one is veteran-owned. We don’t usually run into 

each other unless we are at the same bid meetings or 

MBE events.” 

However, Gottsagen spoke of receiving a 

more judgemental response than Unland at 

these types of meeting. “I think I am looked 

at as young, white, female, petite, weak, 

and unknowledgeable. Sort of like I am out 

of place and that I don’t know what I am 

doing,” she lamented. 

Fortunately, she has refused to let this 

sort of reaction puncture her confidence. “I 

am a tough woman, and I think you have to 

be in order to work in a male-dominated 

field. When I introduce myself, ask a 

question, make a comment, I think people 

4 THE RECYCLER • ISSUE 305 • APRIL 2018

are surprised at what comes out. It is very 

unusual to see someone that looks like me 

talking toner and printers, fuser kits and 

part numbers.” 

For Estel Casals, the key to success 

came through the slightly different way of 

thinking. “I never really looked at myself as 

a woman in a men-dominated industry - I 

always felt just another member of a young 

dynamic and international team,” she 

explained, attributing this feeling of 

inclusion to her colleagues at Uninet, and 

the “unique and great work environment 

where everybody worked very hard but 

kept a good office ambience.” Casals 

stressed to The Recycler the importance of acceptance, if 

not from the wider industry then from your colleagues, 

saying: “The guys really made me feel a member of a great 

team and [I] had a lot of fun working with them.” 

The importance of the team work ethic was also 

highlighted by Smith, who spoke glowingly about “having 

been able to promote and empower woman through my 

business.” 

“I am happy to say that half of my employees are woman,” 

Smith continued. “I am very proud of the team I have 

created and the fact that many women hold key positions in 

my company.” 

A changing industry 

Whilst key positions were well-balanced at Liberty Laser 

Solutions, there remains questions about how the place of 

women has shifted in the industry at large, particularly in 

recent years. Speaking to The Recycler during January’s 

Remanexpo trade show in Frankfurt, Felicity Rabbitte, 

director of UK-based Effective Consumable Solutions, said 

that “now, there’s a much better mix” in an industry that was 

previously “very male-orientated.” 

Rabbitte was effusive in her praise for the transformed 

landscape. “It’s not just they have little girls handing out 

brochures, they have girls who know what they’re talking 

about, who can talk technical, which I think is fantastic.” 

Gottsagen agreed with this assessment, and also felt that 

the change of recent years had been mostly positive. “More 

women are becoming interested in STEM indices, so there 

are more women working in the aftermarket industry than 

there were 5-10 years ago,” she explained, and added that 

“that number can only go up.” 

“The people that have been in the aftermarket industry for 

years and are not used to seeing women as their equals, 

should get used to it because they now have competition,” 

she further elaborated. 

Stefanie Unland also concurred, although added that the 

phenomenon was not strictly limited to gender. “Not just for 

“ 

‘Now, there’s a much better mix’ in an industry that was 

previously ‘very male-orientated’. 

Laura Heywood, MD of Kleen 

Strike (UK) 

“ 

women but overall,” she explained, “the 

industry has become much more open, 

modern and young.” 

Unland described the shift as “vibrant 

and exciting,” and said it had further 

increased the sense of openness and 

dialogue that she touched upon previously. 

“People talk much more than they did when 

I first started. It’s more about sharing with 

each other, collaboration and togetherness 

than a secret society environment.” 

For Mindy Smith, the benefits of this were 

bigger than simply the aftermarket industry 

itself, describing the change as having 

made “a positive impact not only in this 

industry, but in many industries nationwide.” She also 

echoed Rabbitte’s comments on the role of women in the 

industry, praising the development that has led to “more 

woman involved in key positions, from our vendors and 

marketing, to research and development.” 

Casals, however, disagreed on whether much progress 

had been made in this respect. She called the male-heavy 

balance of the industry as “understandable, since it is a 

highly technical sector”, and said that although women were 

beginning to see wider representation, it was “mainly in the 

back office, support, purchasing or customer service roles.” 

Yet, despite that, Casals remained positive on the impact 

that women in the aftermarket could provide, regardless of 

their actual position. 

“Maybe decisions are made by men but more often than 

not the women’s touch in the background is more important 

than what it seems. Behind many leaders there are strong 

women who make things happen in the background, and 

without them things would not work the way they do.” 

Taking the torch forward 

Such is the status of the gender-balance issue, that the 

United Nations saw fit to build it into their Sustainable 


5


Development Goals, published in 2015 as a 

manifesto to “transform our world” by the 

year 2030. Amongst the seventeen 

ambitions and targets, which included plans 

to tackle climate change, famine, and 

poverty, were a set on gender equality, with 

particular focus on empowering young 

women at an early age. 

In the aftermarket and wider industry, the 

consensus seems to be that the industry is 

moving forwards; on the OEM side of the 

industry, Lexmark was recently praised by 

National Association for Female Executives 

as one of its 2018 NAFE Top Companies for 

Executive Women, a honour recognising those businesses 

where women possess significant decision-making, futuredefining 

power in an executive capacity. The key question 

for those hoping to see a more even gender-balance 

within the industry, then, is how to not only sustain this 

momentum, but to build upon it, for the years and 

generations still to come. 

For Unland and Gottsagen, part of the problem is how the 

industry is perceived from those outside of it. 

“The industry is often perceived as a dirty industry,” said 

Unland, giving the example of “toner powder on the walls” 

as one of the misconceptions that can appear off-putting. 

“I believe many women don’t even want to look into 

getting involved because it is perceived to be like that. But 

actually, if they would look beyond the front door they would 

see that in the modern times, factory floors, refill operations, 

etc., have become incredibly clean and modern, with 

amazingly engineered technology.” 

Gottsagen also believed the issue lay partially in people’s 

expectations, and suggested several ways that that could 

be countered. “I don’t think the aftermarket industry is even 

something that women think about when they are thinking 

about work,” she said, calling it “more of a man’s niche.” 

“I would say that career centres on college campuses 

should push it more. That would start a young 

woman’s interest in it. Job fairs are places that could 

also help motivate women to become more interested in it,” 

she added. 

Gottsagen also called on the industry itself to do more to 

attract women: “The drug companies for years have made 

their industry ‘sexy’. Everyone wanted to be a part of it in 

some fashion - manufacturing the drugs, selling, promoting, 

marketing, chemistry, pharmacists, pharma techs. The 

aftermarket industry needs to make itself ‘sexy.’” 

“It’s taken some time to get here,” Felicity Rabbitte 

reflected, when considering the reasons behind recent 

progress. “I think, I don’t know about Europe, but it all 

happened in the UK about seven years ago, when they 

changed everything over and started 

inviting all the females in for engineering 

positions. And when that happened, it 

seemed to empower a lot of young ladies 

at that time, and now, the world is their 

oyster, because they can get all these 

positions, and they can be engineers, 

and it’s not looked down on, or frowned 

upon, and they can get good technical 

positions within this industry as well.” 

Unland agreed, adding that the key to 

unleashing potential was to not 

“put[women] in a pigeon hole of where 

they would sit in your organisation.” It is 

all about remaining “open-minded”, she added, reminding 

employers that women in the industry “might do it differently 

than men, but they will do just as good a job.” 

Stefanie Unland, Managing Editor 

The Recycler 

Rabbitte referred to various initiatives launched that 

aimed to encourage a greater level of interest in the 

industry, and wider technical industries generally. 

Gottsagen agreed, and called the STEM (science, 

technology, engineering and mathematics) programme in 

the USA “a good start,” as it meant that “young girls are 

learning more about science and technology; they are 

engaging in it and enjoying it.” 

“Career centres and placement agencies can easily push 

people looking for jobs towards the aftermarket industry,” 

she opined. “It can be a chapter in the textbooks of all 

students that are in a science and technology class. They 

can have speakers and career days focussed on it.” 

The focus on promoting STEM is seemingly starting to 

produce results: A study by the Girl Scout Research Institute 

reported that 76 percent of women who chose engineering 

as a career path were convinced to do so after 

encouragement from their parents. Yet still, in the USA, only 

25 percent of STEM positions are held by women, a figure 

that falls to just 16 percent globally. 

Although not related to the aftermarket industry, Bechtel, 

the USA’s largest construction company, announced a 

“mission” earlier this year to encourage female participation 

in STEM subjects, saying “we believe only a collective effort 

from an ecosystem that includes community organisations, 

non-governmental organisations, academia, industry, 

foundations, and government agencies will build the STEM 

pipeline for the future.” 

Despite Estel Casals believing that the current industry “is 

a business environment, where the market decides”, Mindy 

Smith argued for a top-down approach to increased 

participation, arguing that “more government initiatives that 

support woman-owned businesses and USA companies, 

could help to promote and encourage platforms that would 

allow these women-owned, USA companies to succeed 

while competing with overseas product.” 



There are various bodies in the 

United States that already serve 

connect and unite those with a similar 

mantra: The National Waste and 

Recycling Association has its own 

NWRA Women’s Council, whilst the 

WBENC – the Women’s Business 

Enterprise National Council – boasts 

hundreds of members, and describes 

itself as “the largest certifier of 

women-owned businesses in the U.S. 

and a leading advocate for women 

business owners and entrepreneurs.” 

“We believe diversity promotes 

innovation, opens doors, and creates 

partnerships that fuel the economy,” 

stated the body. “That’s why we 

provide the most relied upon certification standard for 

women-owned businesses and the tools to help them 

succeed. Our mission is to fuel economic growth globally by 

identifying, certifying, and facilitating the development of 

women-owned businesses.” 

WBENC also adheres to its ‘CORE platform’, referencing 

an acronym for Certification (validating that a business is at 

least 51 percent woman-owned, controlled, or operated); 

Opportunities (including a range of networking events); 

Resources; and Engagement. 

In Europe, meanwhile, the European Union has published 

its EU Gender Action Plan 2016-2020, which described 

women’s involvement in industry and the economy as 

“essential for sustainable development and economic 

growth.” The plan also cited a study by the OECD, which 

estimated that losing the labour force gender gap by 2030 

could yield a potential average gain of 12% in relation to the 

size of the total economy across OECD countries.” 

“Overall,” it added, “evidence shows that when women are 

given equal opportunities and access to resources and to 

decision-making, communities are more prosperous -- and 

more peaceful.” 

UKCRA’S Laura Heywood gave the example of various 

women who had come to be seen as role models, and 

declared that the key to encouraging more women “to 

embrace our industry” was ensuring that such role models 

“are strongly supported by, not only Government, but 

Corporates, to take note of the important messages they are 

advocating. 

Two of the examples of role models Heywood gave were 

Dame Caroline Spelman MP, and Dr. Winifred Ijomah. 

Spelman, the former Environment Secretary in the British 

Government, previously co-chaired an eight-month inquiry 

into the potential of remanufacturing. Following the 

publication of the inquiry’s report, Spelman declared the 

United Kingdom had the potential to be “a world leader in 

remanufacturing excellence, but 

only if government and industry set 

themselves ambitious targets 

and commit to working together.” 

She added that an improved 

remanufacturing sector had the 

potential to create thousands of 

skilled jobs, “particularly at SME 

level”; this job creation could easily 

provide a platform for many women 

to enter the industry for the first time. 

Strathclyde University’s Dr. 

Ijomah, meanwhile, is Initiator and 

Director of the Scottish Institute for 

Remanufacture, a public body 

that encourages remanufacturing 

throughout the nation and is funded 

and supported by the Scottish Government at Holyrood. 

Looking ahead 

With an eye not just on the future prospects of women in 

the industry at the present moment, but also those of 

generations still to come, who are yet to begin their journey 

through the aftermarket, there were differing markers of 

what would constitute further progress. Casals stated that 

in 2018, “European society is more equal than ever”, an 

assertion that may well be true; but for others, there 

remains work to be done. 

“I hope to see more women in the industry, and at events 

promoting the industry,” said Gottsagen, whilst Smith aimed 

higher still, arguing that there still must be “more women in 

leadership roles.” 

In the wider corporate world, there does indeed appear to 

be a dearth of promotions for women. Fortune Magazine last 

year reported that in the Fortune 500, only 6.4 percent of 

CEOs were women – a grand total of just 32. Furthermore, a 

2016 report from management consulting firm McKinsey & 

Company declared that for every 100 women promoted, 130 

men receive the same reward. 

Gottsagen concurred with Smith, agreeing that “female 

leaders in the aftermarket industry, such as executive 

directors, CEOs, CFOs, of large aftermarket companies 

would be nice to see.” 

Stefanie Unland’s main hope for the future, meanwhile, 

was that the industry would “become open to anyone”, and 

that more women were encouraged “to blossom within 

anyone’s business.” 

“When I meet people and they ask what I do, I love seeing 

their reaction,” concluded April Gottsgagen, proudly. “I think 

they expect me to say that I am a teacher or a nurse or a 

marketing person. But instead I tell them I sell 

remanufactured toner cartridges to businesses. And that I 

run a business doing just that.” 

R 


IN THIS ISSUE 

In this Issue 

3 

Women in the 

aftermarket: 

Breaking the glass 

ceiling and 

building the future 

To celebrate International 

Women’s Day, we examine the 

place of women in the 

aftermarket. Starts page 3 

Paperworld Middle 

East 2018 

Read our review of the 

8th edition of the 

Paperworld ME show. 

Starts page 28 

3: FEATURE: 

Women in the aftermarket: Breaking the 

glass ceiling and building the future 

World Focus 

12: Canon launches onslaught of lawsuits; 

Delacamp renews distribution agreement 

with MCIC 

13: CET conference toasts success and 

expansion; Ninestar rumbles unauthorised 

distributors 

14: The inside straight; Third party supplies: 

the China factor 

16: More regulation of cartridge reuse required; 

Tech Alert - HP63 cartridges 

17: HP’s firmware legal saga continues 

18: GPI to appeal after Canon injunction 

granted; Consent concludes Canon-Kostland 

contention; New seizure and forfeiture order 

issued 

20: Epson’s patent infringement triplicate; 

WEEE collection misses 2017 targets 

21: A new frontier for Fuji Xerox; Static Control 

receives mixed results in Aster case 

23: Editoral 

City News 

24: OEMs release Q3 financial results 

25: A fruitful 2017 for Restore; Dell to opt for 

record reverse-merger? 

26: Visual Edge acquiring at pace; Officeworks 

releases positive financial results 

28: FEATURE: 

Paperworld Middle East 

Around the Industry 

30: A busy month for ARMOR 

31: Two new blogs from ECS;Futor finds a 

foothold in the US; Greenman unveils 

new website; Print-Rite names Employee 

of the Month 

32: wta continues support of children’s 

hospice; KMP celebrates the big 3-0 

34: Paperworld 2018: high standards all round 

35: Marketing pro Madison named Rising 

Stars; Trade Copiers receives ISO 

certification 

36: Jeff Ralyea joins ECi; PrintReleaf supports 

graphic designers, and goes nationwide 

37: ‘Top Company’ Metrofuser launches 

accreditation programme; ITD successful 

in misappropriation lawsuit 

38: Inkjets down, HCPs up, and mixed fortunes 

in India 

40: Print Audit announce new suite and SBB 

roadshows; MR INK takes the Gold 

42: RETAIL COLUMN: 

How to find and keep the best people for 

your business 

44: WIDE FORMAT COLUMN: 

Inkjet-printed solar cells gaining ground; 

Wide-Format - News in brief 

Products & Technology 

48: Effective Consumable Solutions announce 

new products; Greenman launches Eco 

Original toner; Apex release new batch 

of chips 

49: New products released by IR Italiana 

Riprografia; CET releases new products; 

Google Chrome to feature N-up printing?; 

HP launches voice activated printing 

50: ARMOR unveils OWA business inkjet range; 

Katun unveils extended yield colour toners 

51: KMP rolls out a range of new products; 

Photocopier Consumables launches 

quartet of products 

52: Embatex and Turbon announce new 

products; Pantum unveils Simply Smart 

Family New Function 


WORLD FOCUS 

visit www.therecycler.com for all the breaking news 

NORTH AMERICA Canon, IP, USITC 

Canon launches onslaught of lawsuits 

The OEM has begun legal proceedings against dozens of companies, claiming patent infringement. 

Canon has taken out lawsuits in various 

district courts across the USA, accusing 

dozens of entities of patent infringement, via 

32 separate lawsuits. The accused companies 

include such well-known aftermarket names 

as Aster, Ninestar Corporation, Static Control, 

and Print-Rite. 

The alleged infringements all refer to 

the same collection of patents held by 

the OEM, and all concern its Process 

Cartridge, Electrophotographic Image 

Forming Apparatus, and Electrophotographic 

Photosensitive Drum Unit. 

The patents in questions are the 9,746,826 

patent (‘the ‘826 patent’); the 9,836,021 





patent (‘the ‘764 patent’), the 9,857,765 


patent (‘the ‘960 patent’); and the 9,874,846 

patent (‘the ‘846 patent’). 

Canon is accusing the companies of 

infringement, via the import and/or offer of 

sale of toner cartridges, containing elements 

allegedly contravening these patents. The 

cartridges alleged to be in violation of Canon’s 

patents are for us in a range of Canon and HP 

laser beam printers, including models from 

Canon’s imageCLASS, imageRUNNER, and i- 

SENSYS lines, as well as HP’s LaserJet Pro and 

LaserJet Enterprise ranges. 

According to the OEM, 21 of the defendants 

infringed all nine patents cited. These 

companies are: 

• ACM Technologies 

• Apex Excel Ltd (operating as ShopAt247) 

• Arlington Industries 

• Aster 

• Bluedog Distribution 

• CLT Computers (operating as Multiwave, 

and MWave) 

• EIS Office Solutions 

• Frontier Imaging 

• Garvey’s Office Products Inc. 

• Ink Technologies Printer Supplies 

• Kuhlmann Enterprises Inc. (operating as 

Precision Roller) 

• LD Products 

• Master Print Supplies (operating as HQ 

Print) 

• Online Tech Stores LLC & Imaging 

Supplies Investors LLC 

• Print After Print 

• Print-Rite Holdings 

• Print-Rite N.A. Inc. 

• Print-Rite Unicorn Image Products 

• Reliable Imaging Computer Products 

• Union Technology Intl. Co. Ltd. 

• Zinyaw LLC (operating as both Supply 

District, and TonerPirate.com) 

A further 20 companies have been accused 

by Canon of violating seven of the nine 

aforementioned patents – all but the ‘729 and 

‘764 patents. These companies are: 

• 9010-8077 Quebec (operating as Zeetoner) 

• Acecom Inc. – San Antonio (operating as 

InkSell.com) 

• Billiontree Technology (operating as 

Toner Kingdom) 

EUROPE Delacamp, Distribution, MCIC 

Delacamp renews distribution agreement with MCIC 

The German supplier has announced the renewal of the exclusive distribution agreement between the two companies for the whole 

of Europe and all of the CIS Countries. 

Delacamp revealed the renewal of the 

agreement meant that the supplier has again 

been appointed the sole and exclusive 

distributor of Organic Photo Conductors 

(OPC) and chemically prepared toners for 

use in remanufactured laser beam based 

printer cartridges in all of Europe and all of 

the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent 

States) by Mitsubishi Chemical Imaging 

Corporation (MCIC). 

“We are delighted that Mitsubishi 

Chemical has chosen Delacamp, the largest 

independent supplier of quality 

components and consumables to the 

• Ereplacements LLC 

• Fairland LLC (operating as ProPrint) 

• FTrade Inc. (operating as ValueToner) 

• GPC Trading Co. Ltd. (operating as GPC 

Image) 

• Hong Kong Boze Co. Ltd. (operating as 

Greensky) 

• I8 International (operating as Ink4Work) 

• Kingway Image Co. Ltd. 

• Linkyo Corp. (operating as 

SuperMediaStore.com) 

• Ninestar Corporation 

• Ninestar Image Tech Ltd. 

• Ninestar Technology Company Ltd. 

• Ourway Image Co. Ltd. 

• Ourway Image Tech. Co. Ltd. 

• Ourway US Inc. 

• Static Control 

• V4INK 

• Zhuhai Aowei Electronics Co. Ltd. 

Of the 32 lawsuits brought, four were in 

the District Court for the Eastern District of 

New York; two each were in the District 

Court for Arizona, and the Northern District 

of Illinois; and single lawsuits were 

brought to the Northern, Western, and 

Southern Districts of Texas, the Middle and 

Western Districts of Tennessee, the 

Southern District of Ohio, the Northern 

District of California, and the Middle District 

of North Carolina. The remaining lawsuits 

were all opened in the Central District of 

California. 

Court papers seen by The Recycler show 

that in all 32 cases, Canon is seeking a Trial by 

Jury to both rule that the patents were 

infringed by the defendants, and also to 

permanently enjoin the accused from “further 

acts of infringement.” 

The OEM also seeks damages from all of 

the accused companies, as well as payment of 

all its legal costs in relation to each lawsuit. 

genuine laser printer cartridge 

remanufacturing industry, again as its sole 

and exclusive distributor in our core 

markets. This way customers can be sure 

that they receive genuine Mitsubishi OPC 

and toners if they turn to us.” says Volker 

Kappius, CEO of Delacamp. 



ASIA CET Group, Expansion, Awards 

CET conference toasts success 

and expansion 

The Chinese supplier’s annual conference in Beijing at the beginning of February gave it the 

chance to strengthen its team spirit and celebrate recent successes. 

The event, which took place at 

the Longhe Hotel, was divided 

into three sections, entitled 

“Descendants of the Dragon”; 

“Using Excellent Views and Ideas 

from all Over the World”; and “A 

Heart Full of Gratitude”. 

The conference gave CET 

Group an opportunity to mark its 

recent successes in 2017, which 

included “achievements in 

development and innovation”, 

and the opening of four new 

overseas branches, as well as a 

positive beginning to 2018, with a 

successful appearance at Paperworld in Frankfurt. 

CET Group’s Chairman, Mr Steven Ma, attended 

the event, along with 500 company employees. 

At the start of the meeting, President Ma 

expressed his appreciation to all strategic partners 

and delivered a “touching” opening speech. With 

that, the meeting (thematically titled “Always with 

You”) officially began. 

The first chapter of the meeting, “Descendants 

of the Dragon,” was focused on the origins of the 

company and featured an array of songs and 

dances that “recognised China’s unique and 

charming culture”, according to CET Group. 

The second chapter, entitled “Using Excellent 

Views and Ideas from All Over the World” 

“recognised CET Group as an internationallysuccessful 

enterprise full of versatile workers” and 

featured a piano solo and the musical stylings of a 

beatboxer. 

The third and final chapter was called “A Heart 

Full of Gratitude” and “illustrated the friendship, 

understanding, and cooperative ability between 

colleagues in CET Group.” 

CET Group states that the company “has always 

treasured talented people”, and during the 

conference, “recognised a few hundred of our 

own gifted employees with ten separate awards for 

Potential, Performance, and Positive Energy, 

among other good qualities.” 

The company went on to say, “We also 

recognised various employees that have worked 

diligently for CET Group for 10 years.” 

Concluding the event, President Ma and 

General Manager Demi Dai, along with the senior 

management team, made a toast and once again 

expressed gratitude for their staff. 

CET Group recently opened its fourth new 

branch in twelve months, with the registration of 


its new Dubai offshoot, officially called CET Group 

AME DMCC. The branch, set up in order to “better 

serve customers in the Middle East and Africa and 

to further expand” CET’s sales network, will be 

managed by “a senior insider within the OA 

industry”, who has “served Middle Eastern and 

South African customers for decades”. CET also 

added that this General Manager will oversee a 

team “composed of only the most experienced, 

knowledgeable and technically-proficient talents 

in the area.” 

Furthermore, the company has announced the 

construction of a new “integrated industrial 

facility” in Tangshan City, Hebei Province. The 

factory, which CET hope will be completed by 

September this year, is designed to “improve our 

business in all areas, including production, 

research and development, quality control testing 

and logistics.” 

February’s annual conference came on the back 

of a successful outing to Frankfurt, for January’s 

Paperworld 2018 trade show. CET’s travelling 

contingent at the show included included 

President Ma, Vice-General Manager Ivy Yu, 

Director of the General Manager’s Office Tina 

Guo, Manager of MK Teresa Tian and various sales 

representatives from many of the company’s 

international branches. 

During their time at the show, the company 

exhibited a variety of products, including its new 

CET chemical toner, fuser assemblies, drum units, 

waste containers and an assortment of compatible 

spare parts. 

By the end of the four day event, which 

attracted more than 30,000 visitors from around 

the world, the company said it had acquired 

various new customers from “Russia, Britain, Italy, 

France, and other countries.” 

WORLD FOCUS 

GLOBAL Ninestar, Distributors 

Ninestar 

rumbles 

unauthorised 

distributors 

The company has announced that 

unauthorised distributors in 

Argentina are selling G&G 

products. 

Ninestar Image Tech Limited 

(“Ninestar”) is a company that 

specialises in providing professional 

printing solutions for 

global users. It focuses on global 

sales of G&G brand toner 

cartridges, ink cartridges and 

ribbons. 

The company has revealed this 

week that a recent market 

discovery demonstrated that there 

are G&G products which are not 

provided by Ninestar currently 

being sold in Argentina. 

Regarding the unwelcome find, 

Ninestar stated, 

“In order to avoid misunderstanding 

and protect the interests 

of consumers, we hereby solemnly 

state as follows: 

For now, Ninestar has no 

authorized distributors or agents 

selling G&G brand products in 

Argentina. No G&G brand 

products are provided to any local 

distributors or agents in Argentina 

by Ninestar. 

Products purchased from 

unauthorised sources cannot be 

guaranteed to be genuine.” 

13

WORLD FOCUS 

Subscribe to The Recycler at www.therecycler.com/subscribe 

EUROPE wta, Canon, Dongle Gear, Lawsuit 

The inside straight 

Last October Canon lost their legal action against wta and KMP in the German courts. The “David v Goliath” defeat for Canon surprised 

most in the industry, but it is worth understanding the key points in the decision. 

Canon was the OEM sleeping giant for many 

years as counterfeit and clones entered the 

market and Canon took no action to defend 

theirs and HP’s market share. HP insiders 

expressed their frustrations in private at the 

OEM’s lack of action while counterfeit and 

clone products penetrated the market. A 

Canon insider suggested in 2014 that clones 

and counterfeits hurt the aftermarket more 

than the OEM’s. One HP insider suggested that 

the Samsung acquisition was, in part, a 

response to the lack of action by Canon to stem 

the flow of counterfeit and clone cartridges. 

Once the sleeping giant was awakened the 

Canon legal steam roller got underway and a 

slurry of patent infringement actions followed. 

The actions were targeted in the first instance 

towards clone manufacturers. The actions had 

the support of both OEM and aftermarket 

communities. At times, the cross-industry 

support for Canon’s action was more akin to a 

love affair. As the Frank Sinatra record goes 

“Then they go and spoil it all by…” suing wta 

and KMP and the love affair ends. The good will 

was expended in one action. 

Canon argued that the OPC unit within the 

cartridge (flange, dongle gear and OPC) were a 

sub unit of the cartridge and that the patent on 

the dongle gear was valid. Thereby in changing 

the OPC and reusing the dongle gear, the 

cartridge was still under the dongle gear patent 

and further argued that if the OPC replaced this 

constituted more than a permissible repair as 

GLOBAL Infotrends, Keypoint Intelligence, Market Data 

more than 70 percent of the sub unit was being 

replaced. The court in Dusseldorf accepted this 

argument and found in favour of Canon. With 

the support of the remanufacturing 

community wta and KMP appealed that 

decision and last October it was overruled. 

The appeal court determined that the 

dongle gear patent was exhausted once the 

cartridge had been legally placed on the market 

and both companies could demonstrate that 

the cartridges had, indeed, been legally placed 

on the market. They also found that the dongle 

gear was only a small part of the cartridge and 

its reuse did not “re-patent” the whole 

cartridge. 

The court also commented that a different 

entity of the EU may wish to look at this case in 

detail as it appears to conflict with the EU 

industry voluntary agreement to improve the 

environmental performance of imaging 

equipment placed on the European market 

that Canon Europe is a signatory to. In the 

Third party supplies: the China factor 

voluntary agreement, the OEM’s agree that for 

all new product models first placed on the EU 

market after 1 January 2015 any cartridge 

produced by or recommended by the OEM for 

use in the product shall not be designed to 

prevent its reuse and recycling and that the 

machine shall not be designed to prevent the 

use of a non-OEM cartridge. 

A great win for the two companies and for 

the aftermarket where the decision provides 

more clarity for the scope and scale of 

permissible repair and remanufacturing. For 

makers of hybrid (high capacity / yield 

remanufactured) and non-OEM cartridges 

the decision does not provide any material 

benefit. Indeed, the argument would be 

more centred on whether the cartridges 

were legally placed on the market in the first 

instance by the IP holder. 

The impact for both companies involved 

stopping production of some cartridge models 

for several months and the subsequent lost 

business as well as management time and legal 

costs and time is money. 

According to wta’s CEO Carsten Weser 

“Our customers and suppliers have been very 

loyal and supportive during this time, and it 

reinforces our brand loyalty.” Asked what 

advice he had for others who might find 

themselves in a similar situation he said, 

“we have always believed in our process and 

we focus on the risk management and so 

don’t give up.” 

Keypoint Intelligence has announced the publication of a new study entitled “Sizing Ink & Toner E-Commerce: Mapping the Impact of 

China and Third-party Supplies.” 

According to the company, the study helps 

ink and toner OEMs better understand the 

threats that the e-commerce marketplace 

landscape represents. 

This study is divided into U.S. and Western 

European components. 

This study aims to: 

• Identify the impact of e-commerce 

marketplaces 

• Size the annual units and revenue (at final 

sale) of inkjet and toner cartridges by 

Internet-based retailers sourced from 

China 

• Profile the purchase process, product, and 

overall experience from across-section of 

Internet-based retailers 

• Profile the customers of inkjet and toner 

cartridges from Internet-based retailers 

and understand their characteristics, 

behaviour, and experiences 

• Distil multiple data sources to characterize 

the impact of 3rd party supplies on the 

Internet 

• Provide recommendations on product and 

marketing strategies for OEMs 

“From this study, it is apparent that E- 

commerce has become a dominant channel 

for sourcing ink and toner cartridges among 

consumers and SMB’s up to 99 employees,” 

stated John Shane, Director of Keypoint 

Intelligence – InfoTrends’ Communication 

Supplies Consulting Service. “This study has 

found that 3rd party cartridges represent 

about half of cartridges sold on independent 

e-commerce sites.” 

While the legal route might be the most 

potent tool that OEMs have in their limited 

ability to slow the spread of 3rd party 

cartridges on the internet, InfoTrends has 

recommended that OEMS continue to pursue 

various auto-resupply and contract programs 

of interest to consumer and SMB customers. 

Keypoint said that, “Attractive pricing and 

convenience are key to ensure that this 

approach is successful.” 


WORLD FOCUS 

GLOBAL Tech Alert, HP, Cartridges 

Tech Alert - HP63 

cartridges 

HP is shipping printers with the 

cartridge protection set to on 

which permanently disables the 

cartridge for use in all printers, 

except the original printer the 

cartridge was installed in. 

The Recycler is aware that some HP 

Envy 4520, OfficeJet 3830 & 

OfficeJet 4650 printers are being 

shipped in the US with the cartridge 

protection set to on which 

permanently disables the cartridge 

for use in all printers. A recent test 

purchase carried out in California 

revealed that 12% of the printers 

purchased had the cartridge 

protection set to ON. 

When the cartridge protection is 

set to on it will permanently disable 

the cartridge for use in all printers, 

except the original printer the 

cartridge was installed in, making 

the cartridge unsuitable for 

remanufacturing. 

The HP63 cartridge is one of the 

top selling cartridges a very popular 

cartridge and is used seventeen 

models manufactured between 

2014 and 2016. The models are: HP 

DeskJet 1110, 1111, 1112, 2130, 

2132, 3630, 3632, 3633 and 3634 

Printers. The HP ENVY 4512, 4520 

and 4522 Printers. The HP Officejet 

3830, 3833, 4650, 4652 and 4655 

Printers. 

Retail Inkjet Solutions (RIS) has 

produced a useful video explain 

how users can turn the protection 

off. You can view the video at 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v 

=KqiN7AOi2kI 

Search for The Recycler on Facebook for more news and industry coverage 

EUROPE Regulation, Cartridges, Re-use 

More regulation of cartridge reuse 

required 

A new EU-commissioned study on the printer cartridge market will reveal a need for “more 

regulatory action” when it comes to promoting reuse, according to ETIRA. 

The soon-to-be-published is entitled “Study on 

the implementation of product design 

requirements set out in Article 4 of the WEEE 

Directive – The case of reusability of printer 

cartridges”. 

As ETIRA revealed in a recent newsflash 

regarding the study, its findings will show that, 

while the printer cartridge market “is very 

competitive”, the regulatory environment “is not 

well suited to promoting reuse of products or 

encouraging dematerialisation and greater 

material efficacy.” 

As a result, crucial alterations have been 

suggested, with the writers of the study urging 

the implementation of Extended Producer 

Responsibility (EPR) as a must-have solution to 

“enhance over-all cartridge reuse.” 

ETIRA also revealed that, in terms of market 

data, the study indicates “that clones represent 5 

percent of toner and inkjet markets respectively”, 

which the Association views as “a serious 

underestimate”. 

The study also demonstrates that, currently, 

the OEMs’ Voluntary Agreement (Imaging 

Equipment) “does not promote cartridge reuse”; 

as a result, the study writers suggest revising the 

agreement and incorporating “parameters on 

lower emissions of printing”, such as the 

mandatory targets found in the vehicle industry. 

The study cites the reduction of cartridge 

complexity as one means of achieving this. It also 

“supports developing an EU Ecolabel criteria for 

remanufactured cartridges”, a move which was 

called for by ETIRA. 

Various concerns and their “corresponding 

actions” were laid out in the study, including: 

• Creating a level playing field for the new and 

re-use/second-hand markets 

• Consolidating patent holder and OEM 

protection and second user rights 

• Improving design for reuse, recycling and 

recovery 

• Ensuring reused cartridge performance 

• Improving re-use performance disclosure 

To improve the market situation for both 

legitimate new and reused cartridges, a range 

of measures is proposed for consideration: 

• Addressing the issue of ‘rogue clone’ imports 

• Ensuring reuse agents do not mis-represent 

reused units as OEM products 

• Improving access to cartridge design and 

consumables specifications 

• Revising the EU GPP criteria to address 

‘remanufactured and refilled cartridges 

Improving user information on all cartridge 

packaging to reveal true performance. 

• Creating a rating system for cartridge quality 

(‘failure rate’) matched to user expectations 

• Rationalising acceptable phrases to be used to 

describe new and reused cartridges 

• Reviewing the Voluntary Agreement so that 

data on rates of take-back, re-use, recycling 

and other recovery operations is routinely 

collected and published 

• Expanding scope of actions by producers of 

cartridges to promote and support the reuse 

option as an alternative to take-back 

In relation to the study, ETIRA made the 

following statement: 

“In 2016/2017, ETIRA had provided substantial 

input to the writers of the study. We are glad to 

see that it now identifies current OEM market 

behaviour as not contributing to promotion of 

cartridge reuse, and takes on board several of our 

recommendations to address this problem. We 

will now reach out to regulators to put this into 

action!” 


You can contact The Recycler via Twitter at @RecyclerMedia 

NORTH AMERICA HP, Legal, Firmware 

HP’s firmware legal saga 

continues 

The two-year dispute over HP’s controversial firmware update, which blocks 

third party cartridges, rumbles on with the filing of an amended complaint at 

the United States District Court in San Jose. 

The Recycler first reported on this longrunning 

software saga in September 2016, 

when the magazine received reports that 

HP 8610 machines had received a 

mandatory firmware upgrade “overnight”, 

which not only prevented the usage of 

refilled cartridges but reported the OEM’s 

own cartridges as being empty when they 

weren’t. 

Complaints poured in from industry 

figures and from consumers, and although 

HP hastened to control the damage, 

issuing an apology and stating that it would 

reverse the firmware, legal proceedings 

were started by US law firm Girard Gibbs 

LLP, based in San Francisco. 

Girard Gibbs alleged in their original 

complaint that HP had “intentionally 

sabotaged customer printers” and that the 

OEM “installed the disabling software 

update as a means of gaining an advantage 

over its competition in the market for 

printer ink cartridges.” The law firm 

accused HP of violating California’s Unfair 

Competition Law, and sought “restitution 

for customers and an injunction.” 

The Recycler has viewed the court 

papers filed by Girard Gibbs and the law 

offices of Todd M Friedman on behalf of a 

group of plaintiffs, constituting a motion 

for class certification “and memorandum of 

law in support thereof ”. 

The order certified two classes, the 

“Injunctive Relief Class”, consisting of all 

persons in California who own a Class 

Printer”, and the “Disablement Class”, 

consisting of “All persons in the United 

States who purchased a Class Printer and 

experienced a print failure while using a 

non-HP aftermarket cartridge during the 

period between March 1 2015 and 

December 21 2017.” 

The redacted court papers claimed that, 

starting in 2015, HP “implemented secret 

“dynamic security” technology to disable 

aftermarket print cartridges installed in HP 

inkjet printers.” The papers also explained 

that the affected printers “falsely informed 

the consumers that the forcibly disabled 

cartridges were “damaged or missing.”“ 

The plaintiffs stated that the OEM “has 

no right to interfere with customers’ 


printers” and they sought “certification 

of an injunctive relief class for the purpose 

of determining whether HP’s conduct 

violates the unfair prong of the Unfair 

Competition Law.” 

They also proposed a class trial “on 

liability issues, with individualised damages 

proceedings to follow.” 

The plaintiffs have since filed a new 

consolidated amended complaint, seen by 

The Recycler. These legal documents name 

the plaintiffs as Richard San Miguel, 

DeLores Lawty, Richard Faust, Christopher 

Ware, and James Andrews, and describe 

their individual complaints against the 

OEM, as well as giving background 

information on the case and HP’s actions. 

The papers state that the plaintiffs “bring 

this action under Federal Rule of Civil 

Procedure 23 on behalf of the following 

Class and Subclasses”, naming the classes 

as The Injunctive Relief Class, The 

Disablement Class, The Texas Subclass, The 

Washington Subclass, and The New Jersey 

Subclass.” 

The complaint accuses HP of violating 

“the False Advertising Law, the Consumer 

Legal Remedies Act, the Consumer Fraud 

and Abuse Act, and the California 

Computer Crime Law” as well as 

constituting “trespass to 18 chattels”. 

HP is also accused of “false and 

misleading advertising” and “wrong and 

intentional interference” with the printers 

and cartridges of those affected. 

The complaint was amended from the 

previous filing in order to remove one of 

the plaintiffs originally named in the case, 

Robert Doty. 

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17

WORLD FOCUS 

NORTH AMERICA Canon, Kostland, 

IP, Legal 

Consent 

concludes 

Canon-Kostland 

contention 

The OEM’s lawsuit against the 

company has ended with a 

consent judgement. 

Canon Inc’s patent infringement 

battle against California-based 

Kostland Inc., filed at the end of 

last year, has concluded with a 

Consent Judgement being handed 

down by Judge David O. Carter, in 

the United States District Court for 

the Central District of California. 

The original lawsuit was 

brought against Kostland due to 

alleged infringement of the US 

Patent No. 9,581,958 (“the ‘958 

patent”), with the OEM seeking 

judgement and relief from the 

court, as well as legal fees from 

Kostland. 

In court papers seen by The 

Recycler, Kostland has agreed to 

settle the matter, and conclude 

the litigation “without contesting 

infringement, validity, or 

enforceability of any claims of the 

‘958 patent.” 

The papers reassert Canon’s 

ownership of all right, title to and 

interest in the aforementioned 

patent, and permanently restrains 

Kostland from making, using, or 

offering for sale any products that 

infringe upon it, whilst it is still 

valid. 

As a result of the agreement 

between the two parties, each 

shall pay its own legal costs and 

attorney fees relating to the 

lawsuit. 

NORTH AMERICA GPI, Canon, Legal 

GPI to appeal after Canon 

injunction granted 

The company has issued a statement in response to an Atlanta court’s decision to grant 

Canon a permanent injunction and moderate enhancement of damages, in the welldocumented 

legal dispute. 

GPI has issued a statement vowing to continue its 

legal battle against the OEM, following the 

judgement in the United States District Court 

in Atlanta. 

In June 2017, a court had previously found the 

defendants guilty of three counts of patent 

infringement, awarding the OEM $3.74 million 

(€3.04 million) in damages for GPI’s infringement 

and $730,380 (€594,530) for Color Imaging’s 

infringement. 

Then, in the latest instalment of the dispute, 

District Judge Amy Totenberg granted Canon a 

permanent injunction after the OEM has filed a 

motion contending that infringement on the part 

of GPI and Color Imaging had caused it to lose 

market share, and was doing the company 

“irreparable harm.” In doing so, the two 

defendants were enjoined from any further 

infringement of Canon ‘012 patent, whether by 

manufacture, sale, or importation of Type A and 

Type B toner bottles, “and any other product that 

is not more than colourably different from the 

Type A or Type B toner bottles.” 

Totenberg also concluded that Canon was 

entitled to “a modest enhancement of damages by 

20 percent,” which was less than the treble 

damages sought by the OEM. 

Now, GPI has come out fighting, with a 

company statement suggesting the company will 

not take the verdict lying down. 

“General Plastic Industrial Co., Ltd. (“GPI”) 

(TWSE: 6128) has battled patent infringement 

NORTH AMERICA Lexmark, Seizure Orders, USITC 

The Recycler has seen court documents revealing 

that the US International Trade Commission has 

issued a Seizure and Forfeiture order on behalf of 

Lexmark International, Inc against Hangzhou 

Aiyuan Supply Chain Management Co. Ltd, located 

at Taz Shan Road No. 23 Hangzhou ECO, 

Hangzhou, China. 

The order was filed on 12 February 2018 and 

concerns “the importation of articles covered by 

the Commission’s general exclusion order issued in 


claims by Canon, Inc. (“Canon”) in a Georgia trial 

court for over six years,” the statement 

announced. “While the trial court has not yet 

entered a final judgment, GPI has already decided 

to appeal several key rulings from the court that 

GPI believes will result in either a decision by the 

appeal court that GPI’s products did not infringe 

Canon’s patents or the appeal court’s ordering a 

new trial for Canon’s infringement claims.” 

The company also went on to say that it 

“strongly believes that its products do not infringe 

Canon’s patents and that GPI will be vindicated by 

its appeal”, and reiterated its commitment to 

developing “non-infringing aftermarket 

replacement parts that provide superior quality 

and value”. 

New seizure and forfeiture 

order issued 

The United States International Trade Commission has issued a seizure order on behalf of 

Lexmark against Hangzhou Aiyuan Supply Chain Management Co. Ltd. 

September 2011 in Certain Toner Cartridges and 

Components Thereof Inv. No. 337-TA-740.” 

Initial research seems to indicate that Hangzhou 

Aiyuan is an import and export company which 

exports a variety of products to America, but no 

further details are available at this stage. 

This is the first seizure order filed this year. 

Seizure orders are a relatively common occurrence 

in the industry, with 72 being issued in 2016 and a 

number of orders being issued in 2017. 


WORLD FOCUS 


NORTH AMERICA Epson, Legal, IP 

Epson’s patent infringement triplicate 

The OEM has filed two patent infringement lawsuits in American district courts, as well as seeking a final consent judgement and 

permanent injunction in its legal dispute with Gaea Supplies Corporation. 

The first patent infringement lawsuit was filed 

by Epson with the United States District Court 

of New York, and is against New York 

corporation, E-Z Ink Inc, a supplier of 

aftermarket ink and toner cartridges. 

Epson is accusing E-Z Ink Inc of infringing 

its United States Patent No. 8,454,116 (“the 

‘116 patent”), with the “infringing products at 

issue” being aftermarket ink cartridges 

designed for use in the OEM’s printers. 

According to the court documents viewed 

by The Recycler, the New York company is 

described as being a “willful infringer” of 

Epson’s patent, as well as violating two 

general exclusion orders issued by the 

International Trade Commission (ITC). 

Epson has filed the lawsuit against E-Z Ink 

Inc in order to “recover money damages” as 

well as “for a preliminary and permanent 

injunction” and for other relief. According to 

the documents, E-Z Ink Inc stands accused of 

importing, offering for sale, and selling ink 

cartridges which infringe the ‘116 patent. As a 

result, Epson claims it has suffered, and will 

continue to suffer, “substantial damages”. 

The OEM is demanding a jury trial in 

this case. 

The second patent infringement lawsuit 

filed by Epson against two defendants, Try the 

INK LLC and InkPro2Day LLC, centres around 

the alleged infringement of the OEM’s ‘917 

and ‘749 patents. The case was filed in the 

United States District Court of Nevada. 

n court documents viewed by The Recycler, 

both companies are cited as being “willful 

infringers” of Epson’s patents and ITC general 

exclusion orders, with the ITC issuing a Cease 

and Desist Order against InkPro2Day. 

The defendants are accused of both direct 

and indirect patent infringement, consisting 

of “making, using, importing, offering to sell 

and selling” aftermarket ink cartridges that are 

in violation of Epson’s patents. Epson is 

seeking a jury trial in this case, as well as other 

relief including treble damages and the 

payment of its “reasonable” attorney fees and 

other legal costs. 

Finally, in the lawsuit against Gaea Supplies 

Corporation, filed in the United States District 

Court of Oregon, both parties involved in the 

case have agreed to the entry of a Final 

Stipulated Consent Judgement and 

Permanent Injunction. Gaea, which sells and 

imports aftermarket ink cartridges, was 

brought to court by Epson for the 

infringement of the OEM’s ‘917 and ‘749 

patents. 

In court documents seen by The Recycler, 

the final consent judgement and permanent 

injunction would decree that Gaea and any 

others in “active concert or participation” with 

them are permanently enjoined from selling 

the accused products involved in the case. 

They would also be permanently enjoined 

from “any other acts that directly or indirectly 

infringe any claim of the Epson Patents, and 

from causing, inducing or contributing to the 

infringement of the Epson Patents by others.” 

The right to appeal this judgement is 

“expressly waived” by both parties. 

Both Epson and Gaea are paying for their 

own legal costs in this case. 

EUROPE WEEE, Targets, Collection 

WEEE collection misses 2017 targets 

The United Kingdom’s ambitions for WEEE collection last year proved unreachable, the Government has announced. 

DEFRA, the British Government’s 

environmental department, has published 

statistics suggesting that the 2017 WEEE 

collection target was missed, and that 

compliance schemes are therefore awaiting 

a large compliance fee. 

However, some compliance schemes are 

remaining unworried, according to Let’s 

Recycle, saying that the figures are “not 

necessarily disastrous” and that the country 

remains set to meet European Union targets, 

“once substantiated estimates are taken into 

account.” 

Figures released show that overall, the 

target was missed by 14 percent, or nearly 

100,000 tonnes. In the individual categories, 

every target but one (lighting equipment) 

was missed. Consumer equipment 

collection was 4 percent off the goal, 

whilst small household 

appliances and large 

household appliances 

missed it by 5 percent and 

18 percent respectively. 

As a result, compliance 

schemes that failed to 

meet their individual 

obligation must pay a fee 

on the difference; this will 

be calculated by the 

average cost of collection, multiplied by the 

distance from the target. The fee will then go 

back into supporting WEEE initiatives, such 

as supporting local authorities and 

promotional campaigns. 

Some figures, such as John Redmayne, the 

Managing Director of the European 

Recycling Platform, are claiming that the 

drop in collections is 

actually due to the fact that 

“less EEE is being put on the 

market.” 

Mark Burrows-Smith, the 

CEO of Repic, a WEEE 

compliance scheme agreed, 

saying that it was 

“unsurprising” that the rate 

of WEE production was 

falling; there was a 10 

percent decrease in the total amount of EEE 

placed on the market in 2017. 

Others are claiming that the drop in 

tonnage collected is due to lighter products 

being produced, and differences in the way 

that WEEE is defined and recorded by 

regulators. Illegal exports also play a part, 

according to some. 



WORLD FOCUS 

ASIA Fuji Xerox, Xerox, Mergers 

A new frontier for Fuji Xerox 

According to the CEO of Fujifilm Holdings, the company’s well-documented acquisition 

of Xerox is a “game changer”. 

In an interview with the Nikkei Asian 

Review, Shigetaka Komori explained that the 

acquisition will allow Fujifilm to “develop 

products much faster at lower cost and 

distribute them around the world”. 

The goal of the deal between the two 

companies was to simplify “the complex 

partnership arrangement”, which has 

already resulted in a 56-year-old 

collaboration, Fuji Xerox. 

“The combination will create synergies 

and produce cost savings worth $1.7 billion a 

year,” Komori explained. 

As things stand, Fuji Xerox’s operations 

are restricted to the Asia Pacific region while 

Xerox is limited to operating in North 

America and Europe; the acquisition will 

broaden the horizons of both companies, 

“allowing them to operate as one […] and 

unify their product development and 

marketing operations”. 

With the “mature” printer and copier 

market “not expected to grow quickly”, 

Komori believes that “only the strongest 

companies with a large market share will be 

able to survive in this market.” 

The union of Fujifilm and Xerox, if 

approved, would eclipse rivals, Canon and 

Ricoh, while creating a global copier maker 

on the same footing as HP. According to the 

terms of the acquisition, Xerox “will fully 

acquire Fuji Xerox, while Fujifilm will take a 

50.1 percent share of Xerox and change the 

name of the U.S Company to Fuji Xerox.” 

There will be no cash payment involved in 

the deal, as Fujifilm will “make the purchase 

by utilising the unrealised profit on its 75 

percent interest in Fuji Xerox.” 

But despite a positive reaction from the 

stock market, Moody’s Investors’ Service has 

revealed that “it will put its A1 debt ratings 

for Fujifilm on review for possible 

downgrade”. 

“The review for downgrade reflects the 

potential that Fujifilm Holdings’ business 

profile will weaken, due to its larger 

exposure to the declining document 

business,” Moody’s said. 

Though the union of Fujifilm and Xerox is 

predicted to “create synergies”, “it is 

uncertain if these synergies will be enough 

to overcome the decline in the office 

printing industry and to achieve long-term 

revenue growth,” Moody’s concluded. 

NORTH AMERICA Static Control, Aster, Legal, IP 

Static Control receives mixed 

results in Aster case 

In a new turn of events in the well-documented legal dispute between the two 

companies, Static Control’s motion to dismiss Aster’s claims has been only 

partly granted. 

In new court documents viewed by The 

Recycler, the United States District Court in 

the Central District of California has 

partially granted a motion by Static Control 

Components, Inc. to dismiss Aster’s 

counterclaims, but has denied Static’s 

motion to strike Aster’s Affirmative 

Defences. 

Static had originally filed the motion on 

9 November 2017, seeking “to dismiss all 

six of Aster’s counterclaims for patent 

noninfringement, invalidity, and 

unenforceability due to fraud and/or 

inequitable conduct” and “to strike Aster’s 

tenth and eleventh affirmative defences for 

unenforceability due to fraud and/or 

inequitable conduct.” 

Because Aster’s allegations of patent 

noninfringement were deemed by the 


Court to be “sparse”, the Court took the 

decision to dismiss without prejudice the 

company’s first, second, third and fourth 

counterclaims for patent nonfringement 

and patent invalidity, but said that Aster has 

“sufficiently pled the materiality of its 

inequitable conduct counterclaims and 

affirmative defences.” 

As a result, the Court denied Static 

Control’s motion “to dismiss Aster’s fifth 

and sixth counterclaims for 

unenforceability”, and denied Static’s 

motion “to strike Aster’s tenth and 

eleventh affirmative defences for 

unenforceability.” 

The papers concluded by stating that the 

plaintiff could file “second amended 

counterclaims” with a deadline of 26 

February 2018. 

21

EDITORIAL 

Editorial 

Beware the Ides of March 

Admittedly two weeks early, but definitely 

a case of “beware the ides of March” as 

Canon launched a swathe of legal actions 

in the USA against importers and 

manufacturers of new build cartridges. 

The forty-nine entities involved in this 

round of Canon litigation manufacture 

and import into the USA for sale a range of 

new and remanufactured cartridges. The 

patents in question are: 9,746,826, 

9,836,021, 9,841,727, 9,841,728, 9,841,729, 

9,857,764, 9,857,765, 9,869,960, 9,874,846. 

One patent was granted in August 2017, 

four were granted in December 2017, and 

four were granted in January 2018, just a 

few weeks ahead of filing the complaint. 

Sound familiar? 

You would be right, but it’s not quite a 

case of Deja-vu, but you could be forgiven 

for thinking it might be because in June 

2010 Canon filed a complaint against 

twenty or more companies for 

infringement of one or both of patent 

5,903,803 and patent 6,128,454. 

The outcome of this action was an 

exclusion order 337-TA-731 issued in 

February 2011 by the International 

Trade Commission (ITC) and enforced 

by the Customs and Border Agency 

(CBA). The exclusion order meant that 

most remanufactured and non-OEM 

compatible cartridges could not be 

imported and sold in the USA because the 

drum gears would infringe Canon’s 803 

and 454 patents. 

What happens next? 

Well in the past the ITC has generally 

upheld OEM complaints and issued 

exclusion orders banning imports that 

might infringe Canon’s patents. But I 

think that this case will see more legal 

action and arguments by all parties as they 

challenge Canon’s complaint. 


I’m a remanufacturer - 

should I care? 

If you are based in or sell into the US 

market, then yes because some of the 

patents in question could impact on how 

you use and remanufacture a cartridge. If 

you’re based anywhere else if a GEO is 

issued, then you can expect cartridges 

destined for the US market to find their 

way into your local market. 

Look out for the detailed feature and a 

few insights in issue 306, out in April. 

REACH - A big lie? 

Last week an EU based cartridge importer 

contacted us asking what the rules are for 

importing about 5,000 cartridges into the 

EU each year. He had been advised that 

the one-tonne limit only applied to the 

hazardous materials contained in the 

toner. So he didn't need to register. That's 

the lie. 

The last registration deadline for 

existing chemicals will be on 31 May 2018. 

This deadline concerns companies that 

manufacture or import substances in low 

volumes, between 1-100 tonnes a year. 

For REACH purposes printer cartridges 

(toner and ink) are substances/mixtures 

within the cartridge container and are the 

most important part of the function of the 

cartridge, which is a means of controlling 

release of the contents. Where articles 

(cartridges) release substances they 

would need to be considered for 

registration. Note the containers (e.g. 

cartridge) are articles in their own right 

and so all the other provisions relating to 

articles still apply to these components. 

For most small businesses REACH is not 

an easy topic and you should seek 

specialist advice to determine if you need 

to register and to assist with the 

registration process. 

Just remember the deadline is 31 May 

2018. 

Africa 

Stefanie Unland Managing Editor 

We got back from a Middle East trip a 

couple of weeks ago. Not having been in 

the region for a couple of years it was 

good to catch up with the market and to 

hear where the growth opportunities are 

emerging. Africa in particular is growing 

and there are some good trends to 

identify growth opportunities. 

Everyone knows? 

We assume that everyone knows about 

office imaging and remanufactured toner 

and inkjet products. But actually, there are 

still people around who don’t know. We 

met one such person on our trip. 

Johnathon is based in Ghana and buys 

OEM consumables for his government 

and corporate customers. He didn’t 

realise that a remanufactured option 

existed and wanted to find out more – 

He buys about 20,000 cartridges (all 

brands) a year. 

We’re getting ready for 

GDPR… 

At The Recycler, we are busy updating our 

privacy policy and updating the 

information we collect and use to ensure 

we comply with the new GDPR 

framework. Bear with us as we progress 

these changes. 

R 

23

CITY NEWS 

OEM share prices 

April 2018 

Prices correct as of 1st Macrh 2018 

COMPANY NOV JAN 

Brother Industries (Yen) ¥ 2934 2468 

Canon (Yen) ¥ 4358 3861 

Dainippon Ink & (Yen) ¥ 4350 3610 

Chemicals 

Sun Chemicals parent company 

HP Inc. (US$) $ 21.70 18.94 

Hubei Dinglong (RMB) ¥ 12.22 10.45 

Jadi (MYR) M 0.06 0.06 

LG Chem (S Korean Won) W 425k 385k 

Matsushita Electric (Yen) ¥ 1732 1611 

Industrial Co. 

Panasonic parent company 

Mitsubishi Chemicals (Yen) ¥ 1306 1030 

Ninestar Corporation (RMB) ¥ 25.20 26.89 

Formerly Apex Microelectronics 

Oki (Yen) ¥ 1665 1437 

Samsung (S Korean Won) W2520k 2431k 

Seiko Epson (Yen) ¥ 2757 1953 

Turbon AG (Euro) € 9.30 7.05 

Xerox (US$) $ 30.26 30.04 

UK Waste Prices 

price per tonne 

Aluminium € 5.38 53.22 

Plastic €36.11 19.88 

Paper € 2.27 1.26 

Currency 

€/US$ 1.19 1.24 

€/£ 0.88 0.90 

£/US$ 1.35 1.39 

Oil Price 

Crude oil - (US$) 62.07 62.07 

‘Brent Crude futures, 

1-Pos IPE close’ per barrel 

Shipping Prices 

Europe (Hamburg/Antwerp/ 888 827 

Felixstowe/Le Havre) 

Mediterranean (Barcelona/ 738 721 

Valencia/Genoa/Naples 

USWC (Los Angeles/ 1465 1252 

Long Beach/Oakland) 

USEC (New York/Savannah 2425 2375 

Norfolk/Charleston) 

Sources: HMRC, FT.com, krx.co.kr, tse.or.jp, 

Environment Exchange, packagingnews.co.uk 

*Brent Crude price is for March 2018 

Find out more about our Weekly Newsletter at www.therecycler.com/newsletters 

GLOBAL OEMs, Financials, Business 

OEMs release Q3 financial results 

Multiple OEMs have published their latest figures, with the majority reporting good news. 

It was a satisfying quarter for Brother, which saw 

sales revenue rise by 12.7 percent compared to 

Q3 in the preceding financial year, coming to 

¥187.8 billion ($1.7 billion/€1.3 billion) this 

year. Brother also saw a rise in its operating 

profits, reaching ¥21.8 billion ($199.4 

million/€161.6 million) in Q3, up ¥10.6 billion 

($97 million/€78.6 million) year-on year. 

There was equally good news for Kyocera, 

who achieved Q3 net sales of ¥406.6 billion 

($3.7 billion/€2.96 billion), an increase of 

12.5 percent from the same period last year, 

and recorded a profit from operations of 

¥39.4 billion ($359.3 million/€287.6 million). 

This represents a change of 18.5 percent from 

Q3 2016. 

HP Inc, meanwhile, saw its net revenue rise 

14 percent over the period (Q1 of 2018, but Q3 

of the 2017-18 fiscal year) reaching $14.5 billion 

(€11.8 billion), from last year’s total of $13.9 

billion (€11.3 billion). As well as rising overall, 

net revenue went up in each major region 

worldwide, with increases of 10 percent in the 

Americas, 19 percent in the Asia Pacific region, 

and 17 percent in EMEA. 

Ricoh released its figures for the first three 

quarters of the financial year, from April up to 

the end of December. The figures show that the 

OEM’s total sales have increased, now reaching 

¥1.5 trillion ($13.6 billion/€10.9 billion), a rise 

of 3.2 percent from the first nine months of the 

previous financial year, leading up to December 

2016. Its operating profits have also risen, from 

¥28.5 billion ($259.3 million/€207.5 million) to 

¥48 billion ($436.8 million/€349.6 million), an 

increase of 68.1 percent, and good news for the 

company, whose 2016 equivalency was 66.6 

percent down on the year before. 

Toshiba also chose to publish its results for 

the financial year up to the end of Q3. Between 

the 1st of April and the 31st of December 2017, 

the company’s net sales totalled ¥371.9 billion 

($3.5 billion/€2.8 billion), which represents a 

rise of 2 percent on the figures from the same 

period in the preceding financial year; then, net 

sales reached ¥364.7 billion ($3.4 billion/€2.7 

billion). There was also a rise in Toshiba’s 

operating income, climbing from ¥10.4 billion 

($97.8 million/€78.4 million) in 2016 to ¥17.2 

billion ($161.8 million/€129.7 million) last year 

– an increase of 64.2 percent. 

Sharp, too, were celebrating, with net profits 

in Q3 hitting ¥714.2 billion ($6.5 billion/€5.2 

billion), a 25 percent rise compared to the same 

period last year; operating profit, meanwhile, 

reached ¥29.7 billion ($270.8 million/€217.7 

million) in Q3, up from ¥18.8 billion ($171.4 

million/€137.7 million). 

In the same spell, labelled by Xerox as Q4 (of 

2017), it saw a modest rise in total revenue of 

$2.7 billion (€2.17 billion), an increase of 

0.5 percent. Xerox simultaneously published its 

full-year figures for 2017, which saw a slight 

drop of 4.7 percent in total revenue, taking it to 

$10.3 billion (€8.28 billion), but still in line 

with the company’s guidance of down midsingle 

digits. 

Canon, too, published its full-year results. 

Whilst profit was lower than projected, due to 

“impairment loss on goodwill related to 

commercial printing business”, the OEM 

managed to achieve full year net sales of ¥4.08 

trillion ($37.2 billion/€29.8 billion), an increase 

of 19.9 percent from FY 2016, and also saw a 

substantial rise in operating profit: Rising 44.8 

percent from FY 2016 to ¥331.5 billion ($3.028 

billion/€2.428 billion) in 2017. 

In Q3 of the current fiscal year, Epson 

witnessed an 8.8 percent rise in revenue from 

the same period in 2016, increasing from 

¥765.8 billion ($7.03 billion/€5.64 billion) to 

¥833.4 billion ($7.65 billion/€6.14 billion). 

However, its profit for the period was ¥34.72 

billion ($318.78 million/€256.01 million), a 

decrease of 26.3 percent from 2016, when 

profits were ¥47.09 billion ($432.31 million/ 

€347.18 million). 

Konica Minolta also had a case of good news 

and bad news. In Q3, the OEM saw revenue rise 

from ¥237.6 billion ($2.1 billion/€1.7 billion) in 

2016, to ¥262.1 billion ($2.4 billion/€1.9 

billion), a growth of 10.3 percent, whilst gross 

profit also increased, from ¥112 billion ($1.02 

billion/€826.9 million) to ¥125 billion ($1.14 

billion/€922.8 million) – a 12.2 percent rise 

when compared to the same period the 

year before. However, the company’s 

operating profit dropped, from ¥15.9 billion 

($145.6 million/€117.4 million) in the third 

quarter of 2016, to ¥8.6 billion ($78.8 

million/€63.5 million) in 2017, a decrease of 

45.8 percent. 

Finally, OKI offered the most negative results 

of all of the major OEMs, with net sales for the 

first nine months of the current financial year 

totalling ¥300 billion ($2.81 billion/€2.27 

billion), down from ¥304.9 billion ($2.86 

billion/€2.31 billion) in the equivalent period 

the year before. OKI also saw a drop in 

operating income, now running at a loss of ¥2.8 

billion ($26.2 million/€21.2 million), down 

from a profit of ¥400 million ($3.75 

million/€3.03 million) in the previous year - 

although the company insisted this was “along 

with its plan.” 

In ordinary income, meanwhile, OKI are 

also running at a loss, of ¥1.7 billion ($15.9 

million/€12.8 million), although this is 

actually a positive result for the company, as it 

represents a growth of ¥2.6 billion ($24.3 

million/€19.7 million) since the same time 

last year. 



CITY NEWS 

EUROPE Restore, Financials, Business 

A fruitful 2017 for Restore 

UK office services provider, Restore plc, has unveiled its Year End Trading Update for 2017. 

Restore plc, the UK office services provider, 

has confirmed that trading for the year which 

ended 31 December 2017 was in line with 

expectations. 

The company’s Document Management 

division, the core records management 

business which accounts for the majority of 

Group profit, continued to perform well, and 

Restore’s Records Management business also 

continued to trade strongly. 

The Relocation division, which primarily 

comprises the Harrow Green business, 

continued to achieve good year-on-year 

growth, with trading activity at Harrow 

Green described as “strong.” 

In addition, ITP, Restore’s toner cartridge 

recycling business, showed some signs of 

improvement, though the company revealed 

that “its market remains difficult.” 

The Group’s Full Year results will be 

NORTH AMERICA Dell, Merger, Business 

Dell to opt for record 

reverse-merger? 

According to CNBC, Dell is mulling over its 

options regarding its future, one of which is 

a potentially ground-breaking tech deal as it 

considers becoming a public company via a 

reverse-merger with VMware. 

Also being pondered by Dell is the 

possible decision to make “a public offering 

of Dell”, to make further acquisitions, or to 

buy the remaining available 20 percent 

stake of VMware. 

The company has so far made no 

definitive statement regarding its plans, 

saying only that “nothing has been decided 

and alternatives are just being considered at 

this stage.” 

VMware, a $60 billion (€48.9 billion) 

cloud computing company under the 

control of Dell, has experienced a 1 percent 

growth in shares following rumours of a 

potential deal, but has been similarly veiled 

in its public statements. 

“Dell has been a tremendous partner 

since it became our majority owner and as 

we’ve accelerated our growth,” said 

VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger. “We look 

released on 13 March 2018. 

Charles Skinner, Chief Executive of 

Restore, commented: “Our full year results 

will show further significant year-on-year 

growth in revenue, profits and earnings per 

share. This reflects the successful integration 

of PHS Data Solutions, acquired in August 

2016, and a strong underlying performance 

by our businesses. We continue to have an 

excellent platform for further profitable 

growth with strong visibility of earnings.” 

Dell Technologies has recently confirmed that it is in talks with cloud computing 

company, VMware, over a possible reverse-merger. 

forward to Dell’s continued support as we 

work to execute our growth plans in the 

years ahead.” 

If VMware did opt to buy Dell, the 

purchase would probably be “the biggest 

deal in tech industry history, giving 

investors who backed Dell’s move to go 

private in 2013 a way to monetise their deal, 

while helping Dell pay down some of its 

approximately $50 billion (€40.7 billion) 

debt.” 

Dell’s board of directors will meet this 

month “to consider a slew of options, many 

of which are still in the early stages of 

examination, including the reverse merger.” 


25

CITY NEWS 

Find out more about our Weekly Newsletter at www.therecycler.com/newsletters 

NORTH AMERICA Visual Edge, Acquisitions, Business 

Visual Edge acquiring at pace 

The company has acquired four others in the space of a month in its latest burst of rapid expansion. 

Visual Edge Technology has continued its 

expansion, with the acquisition of four different 

companies in recent weeks. Zymphony 

Technology Solutions, a managed IT solutions, 

cloud technologies, cybersecurity, and hosted 

IT solutions provider, Canton, Ohio-based 

CopyRight, Connecticut’s full service office 

equipment provider, JANCO, and Miami-based 

FASTFORWARD Managed Solutions have all 

been purchased; it is a statement of intent from 

the IT and office solutions provider as it 

continues working towards its goal of becoming 

one of the largest US-based independent 

providers of total office solutions. 

Headquartered in Tampa, Florida, with two 

additional locations in Orlando and Sarasota, 

Zymphony specialises in managing IT 

infrastructure and providing end-to-end 

business solutions that incorporate cloud 

computing, PC/Mac support, server and 

network monitoring, managed security 

services, and business optimization software. 

Bob Atherton, president of Zymphony, 

stated: “In today’s competitive office services 

landscape, partnering with a team that allows us 

to offer our solutions to a captive market is 

critical. We are excited to extend Visual Edge’s 

Netwise Managed IT brand into the greater 

Florida marketplace.” 

Atherton and his current management team 

will continue in their current roles, and 

operations will remain in Tampa, Orlando, and 

Sarasota. With the Netwise/Zymphony team, 

Visual Edge will also expand their IT services 

into the greater southeast-US marketplace. Tom 

Frederick, the former owner of Zymphony, will 

join Visual Edge as a consultant. 

Visual Edge Chairman and CEO Austin 

Vanchieri praised his company’s newest 

purchase, and said that “Zymphony is made up 

of excellent quality, dedicated, dynamic 

professionals. Zymphony’s Managed IT 

solutions will complement our strategy of being 

a total office solutions provider in the Florida 

marketplace.” 

Meanwhile, JANCO, a full service office 

equipment provider for over 30 years and one 

of Xerox’s top strategic independent partners, 

will join sales and support forces with 

neighbouring dealer, American Copy Service 

(ACS), also a Visual Edge company. Both 

organizations will continue under the 

leadership of Visual Edge-owned Axion 

Business Technologies. 

JANCO brings “significant value” to the ACS 

partnership, as Xerox’s first and only Platinum 

Document Technology Partner in Connecticut 

to sell, install, and service Xerox equipment 

in schools, municipalities, and non-profit 

organisations state-wide. 

“Xerox remains an incredible brand. The 

organic growth potential for JANCO is unlimited 

in the years ahead. Having Xerox’s brand 

recognition in our offering will open doors for 

our sales forces that may not have otherwise 

been an option,” says Robert Ferland, President 

of Axion Business Technologies, “We are very 

excited to bring them into the fold.” 

1,379 miles to the south, the acquisition of 

FastForward Digital Solutions supports Visual 

Edge’s continued strategy to expand in the 

managed IT services (MITS) space. FastForward 

will remain in operation and now play a pivotal 

role in supporting fellow Visual Edge-owned 

WBS Technologies’ growing MITS business in 

South Florida. 

“We are very excited to have them on board,” 

says Michael Brigner, senior vice president of 

business development for Visual Edge. “The 

owner of FastForward, Jose Vazquez, and his 

associates are very dynamic, young 

professionals.” 

Mr. Vazquez related “After becoming 

educated on Visual Edge’s “Go To” market 

Officeworks releases positive financial results 

AUSTRALIASIA Officeworks, Financials, Business 

The supplier has posted its results, showing its twentieth successive half of store transaction growth. 

Australian office products supplier Officeworks 

has released its latest financial results, for the 

second half of 2017, from the beginning of July 

to the end of December. The results point 

towards a productive period for the company, 

which has 165 stores across the country. 

Officeworks’ total revenue increased by 9.7 

percent on the same period the year before, to 

reach AU$1.01 billion ($791.8 million/€642.8 

million). There was also an increase in sales, 

which grew 9.8 percent on the previous year, 

helped in part by an increase in the second 

quarter of 11.8 percent. EBIT, or earnings 

before interest and tax, increased by 9.7 percent 

also, reaching AU$68 million ($53.3 

million/€43.2 million). 

The results continue an encouraging trend 

for the company, with this half its 20th 

consecutive half of store transaction growth. 

They also represent a double-digit increase in 

both online sales and transactions. 

“We are pleased that our strategy of offering 

low prices on the widest range of products and 

brands in the categories that are most important 

to our customers is continuing to resonate, and is 

complemented by great service across every 

channel,” said Managing Director Mark Ward. 

“The investments that we are making in-store and 

strategy, along with taking the dynamics of our 

rapidly changing industry into consideration, 

moving forward with the acquisition was an 

easy decision. Many of the problems we were 

facing as a small business will be of no 

concern, with VET by our side. There is an 

entirely new outlook among all my key players 

and it was very reassuring to see Visual Edge 

be so welcoming & equally excited.” 

Refusing to rest on its laurels, Visual Edge 

has also acquired CopyRight, in a purchase 

described as being “right in line” with its 

strategy of buying strong dealerships, namely 

smaller ones like CopyRight, and uniting them 

with one of the company’s existing businesses 

– in this case, Graphic Enterprises. 

In a letter sent to CopyRight customers 

earlier this month, its founder, Randy Muntean 

stated that it was important to find a local 

company that could carry on his legacy. 

“Graphic Enterprises has been a leader in 

the industry for nearly 50 years and I am 

confident that they will carry on CopyRight’s 

legacy of excellent service on a consistent 

basis,” says Muntean. 

“He really respected the way we have taken 

care of our customers over the years. He was 

really looking out for his customers and he 

chose us,” said Graphic Enterprises’ President, 

and Visual Edge CEO, Brian Frank, of Muntean. 

“This will be a seamless transition, with the 

only real change being the name. The 

customers chose to work with CopyRight for a 

reason, and I want to allow them to continue 

with the same feeling, as if they were still 

working with Randy” 

With strategic growth plans ahead for 

Graphic Enterprises, Frank added: “There are a 

lot of entrepreneurs out there who are looking 

for someone to partner with so eventually they 

have an exit strategy. This is a win-win for 

CopyRight and Graphic Enterprises.” 

online are helping our team to deliver our 

customers a seamless and convenient experience, 

whether they choose to shop in-store, by phone, 

online, or Click & Collect. We are also pleased 

with customers’ feedback on our recently 

expanded service offerings, including the 

enhanced Print, Copy & Create, and our range of 

prepaid services for small business customers 

looking to start, run or grow their business.” 

“Looking ahead,” Ward continued, “we 

remain focused on continuing to strengthen 

and expand our offer and extend our every 

channel reach as we continue to help our 

customers make bigger things happen.” 



27

Feature 

Paperworld Middle East 

The 8th edition of Paperworld Middle East took place between the 27 February - 1 March 2018 at the Dubai International Convention 

and Exhibition Centre. The show typically attracts more than 6,000 trade buyers from more than 90 countries. 

Dubai has been a trading hub connecting 

the markets of Africa, Asia, Europe and the 

Middle East for more than two millennia. 

According to the Dubai Chamber of 

Commerce non-oil trade between the UAE 

and Africa was £24 billion ($33 billion/ €27 

billion) in 2016, up 28 percent on 2014. The 

Paperworld show serves the local and 

regional market and is where you will find 

trade buyers from 90 or more countries like 

Egypt, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Ghana, 

Tanzania, Angola. 

Michael, a buyer from Kenya, explained: 

“We import a range of products into Kenya 

and visit Dubai regularly to source and 

purchase our supplies.” Why Dubai? “It’s 

easy to get here, and there are no hassles 

with visa like there are in other countries. 

We are here at this show to meet with our 

local suppliers and to look at new 

opportunities like toner cartridges.” Why not 

source these in China? “That’s easy really. 

China wants to sell us container loads of 

product, but we only need a pallet or two. 

Buying what we need here in Dubai means 

we can consolidate all our purchases into 

one container. The cost of a forty-foot 

container from Dubai to Mombasa is about 

$900 (€731). About $1,500 (€1,219) less 

than shipping from China and the shipping 

service from Dubai is very reliable.” 

Close to Dubai is Jebel Ali, the world’s 

largest human-made port, with 63 deepwater 

berths and excellent warehousing 

facilities. Dubai has more than 20 “free 

zones” to attract foreign investment, with 

benefits including full foreign ownership, 

100 percent repatriation, zero import-export 

taxes, and more all designed to make 

Dubai a regional trade hub and Africa’s 

biggest trade partner in the Gulf. 

Bring on the brands 

Walking the floor at the show, the exhibitors 

fell into two main categories of brand and 

price-driven products. The Moleskin 

distributor was undoubtedly upbeat with 

how the market was more receptive to the 

brand message, as was The Recycler’s 

editor Stefanie Unland who was very 

impressed with the Moleskin Smart Writing 

set. The busier booths were brand driven 

and often involved a wait to talk with the 

exhibitor. The exhibitors with, dare I say it, 

price-driven products were less busy. 

Daisytek Computers, the Dubai based 

office imaging supplier had their new 

Polaroid-branded toner cartridges on 

display right next to their OEM brands, and 

according to Ajay Virani, the International 

Sales Manager, the interest was solid at the 

show. 

Apex Microelectronics were exhibiting at 

the show and were featuring their latest 

chips and reset device which garnered 

steady interest throughout the show. 

Pelikan were also exhibiting as part of the 

German Pavilion. The small booth was busy 

throughout the show, but only had 

stationery on show. No toner cartridges in 

sight. 

Interactive Printer Solutions, the recent 

Turbon buy out from NCR, were exhibiting 

and promoting their IBM and Agfa branded 

toner cartridges and interest was high. 

According to Kovit Chomphunuchyangyong, 

Turbon’s Sales and Marketing 

Director - Asia interest at the show had 

been very strong in the brand and 

brand values.” Certainly, something I 

experienced. While waiting to talk with Kovit 

(yes, there was a queue) I talked to 

Nigerian based buyer James who normally 

sourced OEM brands. He said “IBM and 

Agfa brands are something we can bring 

into our portfolio. They tick all of the boxes 

for our corporate and government 

customers and maintains our brand values. 


“ 

The most topical part of the presentation was 

exploring the changing profile of remanufacturing. 

“ 

We have bought compatible from China, 

but that is a price driven market, and it is 

not worth tying up capital to make a small 

return, especially as we have encountered 

a few problems which dilutes the margin 

further. For us, it’s easier to focus on brand 

and value for our customers who trust and 

appreciate what we do, and this helps us to 

maintain a good margin.” 

Mark Dawson has been a regular 

exhibitor at the show since the first edition 

in 2011. This year he was there with his new 

“Internet of Printing” (IOP) venture and 

where the focus is a range of reseller 

orientated value ad products and services. 

High on the visitor interest list was the open 

source “Robox” 3D printer that is growing 

rapidly in the educational sector as the 

STEM (science, technology, engineering 

and maths) academic disciplines are 

brought together in an interdisciplinary and 

applied approach. For young students, 

today STEM learning starts with learning to 

code and applying it to 3D modelling and 

printing where open source technology is a 

key requirement in the educational sector. 

According to Dawson “ We also displayed 

our 3D offering for the Education Sector, 

including our dual extraction printer and a 

full range of supplies. Many resellers are 

already working in education to deliver 

conventional print and are indeed aware of 

the STEM revolution going on in schools 

across the region. So, we see some good 

opportunities to support our channel to 

generate new revenue stream from 3D. The 

event has come of age. Both the quantity 

and quality of attendees surpassed 

expectations. All in all, a very worthwhile 

event which will prove to be a significant 

milestone for IOP.” 

Calidad has a very slick approach to 

exhibiting and could run a masterclass on 

successful trade show exhibiting and 

business building. As a long-standing 

Paperworld Middle east exhibitor, the 

Australian based company has built a 

strong business in the region over their 

eight years exhibiting at the show. 

Calidad’s Managing Director, Robin 

Kenyon said “We were pleased with the 

show. Customers from Middle East and 

Africa and a good quality mix of other 

visitors. The show organisation was also 

very good. Only one gripe: the 

announcements from the organisers office 


over the show speaker system were far too 

loud and distorted. We will be back next 

year.” 

Seminar learning 

David Connett, partner at Connett & Unland 

GbR kicked off the shows seminar 

programme with a presentation outlining 

the features and benefits of 

remanufacturing. Exploring some of the key 

influencers that will drive the demand for 

increased use of remanufactured products 

over the next twenty years as oil production 

decreases in line with the decline and 

obsolescence of the combustion engine 

and the government and societal demands 

for cleaner, plastic-free oceans. In a lively 

Q&A session, a Saudi delegate outline the 

problems of current perceptions of 

remanufactured products and how they 

might be overcome. A topical subject was 

the Dubai Governments decision to go 

paperless by 2021 and how that might 

impact on the office imaging sector. 

Navad Hasan is the Associate Editor at 

Africa Business Pages and Business Guide 

Africa, and he has been connected the 

African market for over twenty years and 

gave an excellent presentation of the 

African market and highlighted many of the 

growth drivers behind the expansion of the 

African market. He emphasised the 

educational sector as a growth opportunity 

and accounted for 80 percent of the African 

print and stationery market. 

The office imaging market - David 

Connett made a second presentation on the 

Middle Eastern market, key OEMs and 

aftermarket figures, the synergy between 

faster Internet and market expansion. 

The most topical part of the presentation 

was exploring the changing profile of 

remanufacturing. The decrease in 

remanufacturing of small diameter 

monochrome cartridges, but an increase in 

the remanufacturing of larger diameter and 

colour cartridges. This impact of these 

changing profile is that remanufacturing 

volumes have declined in line with the 

overall market. Profitability and margin were 

increasing significantly, especially in niche 

product lines. 

Visitors we spoke with felt the show 

delivered for them regarding sourcing new 

products and discovering emerging trends 

among an audience not given to travelling 

to European and Asian trade events and the 

visitors were walking the floor in the hour or 

so before the show closed on the last day. 

For The Recycler this show was an 

excellent opportunity to cultivate new 

connections and opportunities. We were 

undoubtedly busy throughout the show and 

into the evenings with meetings and 

renewing connections. As trade show 

junkies we certainly could have done with a 

few extra days to see and speak with 

everyone. Apologies if time conspired 

against us as we tried to connect with you, 

but we are busy following up as fast as 

possible. 

R 

29

AROUND THE INDUSTRY 


EUROPE ARMOR, Partnerships, 3D Printed Speaker 

A busy month for ARMOR 

The Nantes-based company has signed a partnership combatting energy poverty, in a month which also brought a new website and 

advertising campaign, a crowdfunding appeal and stardom in a short film. 

French remanufacturer ARMOR has signed a 

partnership with Electriciens sans Frontières, 

with both partners deepening their 

commitment to tackling energy poverty. 

Over the past year, ARMOR has donated over 

a Euro ($1.2) to the charity every time one of its 

Beautiful Light Factory products was sold, and 

now both the remanufacturer and the charity 

are intensifying their collaboration with “an 

original experiment in the field of education.” 

On Tuesday 6 February, Hubert de 

Boisredon, the CEO of ARMOR, officially 

handed over to the Secretary-General of 

Electriciens Sans Frontières, Jean-Pierre 

Cerdan, the cheque for the donation element 

of products sold by the Beautiful Light Factory 

(BLF) in 2017. This cheque will enable the 

equivalent of 7 classrooms to be lit for a year, or 

3 health centres over a similar period. The BLF 

products (Solar Bag, Solar Set and Solar 

Pocket) incorporating the flexible and lowcarbon 

photovoltaic film designed by ARMOR 

are therefore solar products that carry real 

meaning: “Through the sale of our solar 

products we are delighted to be able to 

support the worldwide efforts of Electriciens 

Sans Frontières to provide access to water and 

energy for the poorest communities”, states 

Hubert de Boisredon. 

In November 2017, ARMOR’s commitment 

took shape on the ground through a novel 

educational project for Electriciens Sans 

Frontières at Al Ka’Abneh school, near Jericho 

in the Palestinian Territories. Two mobile power 

kits composed of a new type of solar charger 

and a lamp selected for its compactness and 

low weight were made available to teachers and 

pupils. The schoolchildren can recharge the 

lamp during the day and take it home to enable 

them to do their homework, as well as 

benefiting the whole family. The initiative 

enables the children to work after school, 

giving them every chance of success and also 

getting their parents involved. 

“The experiment at this school in a Bedouin 

village without electricity demonstrates the 

need to provide innovative techniques to 

support children’s education and improve the 

living conditions of their families”, emphasises 

Jean-Yves Retière, regional representative of 

Electriciens Sans Frontières for the Pays-de-la- 

Loire region. 

By enabling both teachers and families to 

benefit from this photovoltaic innovation, 

ARMOR and Electriciens Sans Frontières are 

convinced that access to solar energy is a vital 

factor in development and education. The 

objective is to extend this pilot project to other 

educational establishments in the Middle East 

and Africa. 

François Barreau, the project manager at 

ARMOR, relates the enthusiasm the initiative 

has generated: “I have nothing but 

admiration for the commitment of the 

volunteers at Electriciens Sans Frontières and 

the groups of teachers working on the 

ground in difficult conditions. The 

confidence they give us pushes us to 

improve our products and ensure that they 

offer maximum benefit on the ground. This 

experiment enables our kits to become more 

versatile by adapting them to the real-life 

conditions in which they are used.” 

The partnership between Electriciens Sans 

Frontières and ARMOR will soon take on new 

forms, according to the remanufacturer; 

“notably through the provision of mobile firstresponse 

emergency power kits for 

communities falling victim to climate-related 

disasters.” It was just one highlight of what 

turned into a busy month for ARMOR, with 

the company launching a sleek new website 

and advertising campaign. 

The new website is dedicated to its OWAbranded 

products, and espouses ARMOR’s 

commitment to the circular economy, 

explaining that the OWA brand is “a unique, 

all-in-one solution for the print consumables 

market”, offering consumers a complete range 

of alternative printing consumables which 

“reconcile economic performance with 

sustainable development.” 

A variety of products and services are made 

available to consumers via the new website, 

including OWA remanufactured cartridges, 

3D printing, and MPS services. ARMOR has 

also begun a new advertising campaign, and 

in keeping with the company’s ethos of 

raising environmental awareness “without 

moralising or assigning blame”, it has opted 

to adopt a polar bear as its mascot. ARMOR 

explains that a “complete communications 

package is being deployed”, which includes a 

video and advertising banners. The “key 

visual” is the polar bear giving an OWA 

product user a hug, in line with OWA’s use of 

the “free hug” phenomenon – something 

which was evidenced by a life-size polar bear 

prowling the booths of January’s Paperworld 

trade show armed with a selfie stick, 

dispensing hugs and causing many amused, 

and bemused, expressions among visitors and 

exhibitors. 

The OWA brand has also been receiving 

good exposure via a short film broadcast on 

RTL7 Doe Maar Duurzaam. The video aired on 

the Dutch channel is one minute in duration 

and features OWA-ARMOR’s General Manager, 

Frans Hondmann. 

Hondmann explains about the “two sides” 

of the industry – the manufacturers who 

produce the printing consumables and the 

businesses like OWA, which use recycled 

cartridges – although, as he points out, not 

all cartridges can be reused. Those that can’t 

are disassembled to make the most of their 

raw materials. 

As a result of this reuse and recycle policy, 

OWA helps companies reach their CSR targets 

via “a very linear” process, consisting of 

production, use and disposal, as well as the 

circular process of reuse. In this way, CSR 

goals are met, and companies can also reduce 

their printing costs. 

Amongst all of this attention and 

excitement, ARMOR still found time to launch 

a Kickstarter campaign to fundraise for its 

customisable OWA speaker and alarm clock. 

After making its official debut at the 

Techshop at Station F in Paris, as well as at the 

VIA, Paris Design Week and at CES 2018 in Las 

Vegas, the OWA speaker has now appeared on 

Kickstarter, with ARMOR seeking to raise 

funds of €750,000 ($929,000). 

The speaker is described by the company as 

the world’s first 3D printed, customisable 

Bluetooth speaker, created using recycled and 

recyclable filaments. It features 2 10 watt 

speakers, a 4.1 Bluetooth connection, high 

quality sound and is portable, with an 

autonomy of more than 10 hours. 

Its alarm clock feature is currently in the 

prototyping phase of application. The 

customisable speaker comes in a variety of 

shapes, sizes, designs and colours, with 

ARMOR able to print according to consumer 

specifications. 



EUROPE ECS, Blogs, Remanufacturing 

Two new blogs from ECS 

A pair of recently-published blogs from Effective Consumable Solutions has spoken of 

the importance of toner testing, as well as the reputation of quality versus quantity. 

In the first, the remanufacturer explains the 

importance of testing toner in order to ensure 

the purchase of a high-quality product, and 

advises that, when considering the purchase 

of toner cartridges for your printer, “removing 

the possibility of buying fake cartridges is a 

good place to start, as fake cartridges can have 

some nasty consequences”. 

Additionally, any cartridges users buy 

should have been thoroughly tested before 

being put on sale, with the toner being tested 

as much as the cartridge. 

Toner is tested in the following way, as the 

blog describes: “through exposing the toner 

to different atmospheric conditions including 

room and machine operating temperatures to 

ensure that the toner is both functional and 

performs well under any given circumstance.” 

ECS warns that “If your distributor doesn’t 

regularly test their toner then you shouldn’t 

have confidence in their products.” 

The second blog poses the question of 

quality versus quantity, and examines what the 

21st century consumer prefers. 

While the company concedes that an 

interest in quality or quantity comes down to 

personal preference, “it almost always 

The company’s new American office 

is situated in Sarasota, Florida, and will 

cater to US companies with an interest in 

starting or expanding their laser cartridge 

recycling business, using Futor’s Swissmade 

machinery. 

Futor’s TurboClean® cartridge cleaning 

systems have been created to automate the 

cleaning process in order to make it up to 99 

percent dust-free (according to Futor) as well 

as providing a 40 percent decrease in noise 

emissions. The patented design also 

lowers production costs, according to the 

Swiss company. 

In addition, Futor explains, the 

TurboClean ® machines feature “control 

vibration” and adjustable pressure to 

make the system “effective for virtually 

all cartridges.” 

Futor was founded in 2002, in response to 

“the ever-increasing need […] for more 


depends on what we’re buying that makes us 

lean towards one over the other.” 

To demonstrate this, the blog uses the 

banana analogy, explaining that, “If you are 

stranded on a desert island, then the quality 

of the banana is negligible – the more the 

better in this case, however, you may just want 

one banana to take to work and eat. In this 

case you’d prefer it to taste delicious rather 

than average.” 

While data from the clothing and fashion 

industry suggests that the current focus of 

customers in that sector is “fixed on high 

quality and low quantity”, ECS reiterates its 

commitment to providing both to the 

remanufacturing industry, and uses the blog 

to issue a call for new partners. 

NORTH AMERICA Futor, US expansion, Business 

Futor finds a foothold in the US 

The Swiss manufacturer of toner cartridge cleaning systems, Futor Cleaning System AG, 

has expanded their operations to include a location in the United States. 

efficient laser cartridge cleaning methods”. All 

of the products in Futor’s line can be 

delivered with an optional ATEX Certification, 

and the company’s manufacturing locations 

are ISO 9001:2008, ISO 14001:2015, ISO 

50001:2011 certified. 


EUROPE Greenman, Website, Business 

Greenman unveils 

new website 

The Swedish company, Greenman AB, 

which specialises in environmentally 

friendly toner cartridges, has just 

launched a brand-new website. 

The Norrköping-based business, which was 

recently nominated by The Recycler in the 

Reseller of the Year Award category, was first 

established in 1991. Over the ensuing years, 

Greenman has developed to become a major 

distributor of eco-friendly toner cartridges in 

the Nordic region. 

Greenman’s primary product is the 

Greenman Eco Original toner cartridges for 

laser printers, with approximately 60 percent 

of them coming with the Nordic Swan 

label. The company also distributes 

environmentally friendly ink cartridges for 

printers, as well as copy toners and franking 

cartridges. 

Greenman’s new website works on both 

mobile devices and computers, and can be 

used to search for the company’s ecofriendly 

alternatives, which can be then be 

ordered via a supplier. 

EUROPE Print-Rite, Employee of the 

Month, Awards 

Print-Rite names 

Employee of the Month 

Jasmin Davies has been voted Employee 

of the Month for the first time since 

joining the company in October 2017. 

Davies works for PRP 

Solutions in the Customer 

Service division. She 

received a range of 

positive comments from 

colleagues as part of their 

voting process, including: 

“For her hard work” 

“For being Jasmin” 

“For always being so happy and friendly” 

“Works hard and has a positive attitude” 

“For acting calm under pressure and 

excellent management of her customer 

account.” 

31



EUROPE wta, Charity, Business 

wta continues support of children’s hospice 

The German remanufacturer has made a donation of €6000 ($7,354) to the Kinderhospiz Mitteldeutschland Nordhausen e.V., which it 

has been supporting for 6 years. 

The children’s and youth hospice is 

located in Tambach-Dietharz. This week, 

wta Carsten Weser GmbH handed over a 

donation of €6000 ($7,354), money 

which the company decided to donate 

instead of using to buy Christmas gifts for 

customers. 

“For me, as an entrepreneur, but also as 

a family man, this makes more sense and 

I think that our customers see it that way. 

Maybe one or the other will be affected by 

our commitment in 2018,” said company 

boss Carsten Weser, speaking at the 

donation handover. 

Since they first began supporting the 

hospice in 2012, wta has donated over 

€32,500 ($39, 835) for the care of its 

terminally ill children and their families. 

Carsten Weser also joined the Freundeskreis 

Kinderhospiz 4 years ago, an association of 

hospice benefactors, consisting of figures 

from business, politics and the arts, who have 

made it their mission to support the 

children’s and youth hospice in the long term. 

“We meet regularly and develop ideas and 

projects in the spirit of the good cause,” so 

Carsten Weser. 

In 2016 the remanufacturer, which was 

founded as a 2-man business in 1997 and has 

since grown to employ over 130 staff, was 

officially awarded the Beneficus Award for its 

social commitment. 

“We are reactivating about 500,000 toner 

cartridges and over 550,000 ink cartridges 

per year, and demand is increasing. So, we 

want to give back some of our business 

success to society and how could that be 

better than helping families with terminally 

ill children. We will help you,” declared 

company owner Carsten Weser. 

Over 40,000 children and adolescents in 

Germany suffer from terminal, life-altering 

illnesses. The Mitteldeutschland hospice gives 

affected families the opportunity to live 

together in the facility for up to 28 days, and 

promotes holistic care and support, so 

not only the child but also the entire family 

is offered optimal levels of love, care 

and assistance. 

The nonprofit charity association is 

permanently dependent on donations to the 

maximum to maintain its important aid offer. 

More than €1,000,000 ($1.2 million) is 

needed in donations per year to ensure the 

operation of the social institution alone, since 

the current funding by the health insurance 

companies is not sufficient. Hundreds of 

affected families from all over Germany have 

been using the inpatient service offered by the 

sponsoring association since the inauguration 

of the children and youth hospice in 

November 2011. 

Since 2008, €6,700,000 ($8.2 million) has 

been invested in the purchase and 

conversion of the former administration 

building of the Thüringer Fernwasserversorgung 

in Tambach-Dietharz in the 

Thuringian Forest to the Children and 

Youth Hospice Central Germany. 

92 percent of this investment was 

raised through donations from private 

individuals, associations, schools and 

businesses, and non-government grants 

from foundations. 

Thanks to this help, a form of 

“second home” for these affected 

families was created, designed to be far 

as possible from any hospital 

atmosphere. The inpatient children’s hospice 

is run by a non-profit organization. 

A six-headed volunteer board has been 

spearheading developments since 2005, and 

has initiated East Germany’s largest volunteer 

social project over the past ten years. The 

founder, initiator, and – until now – honorary 

CEO Klaus-Dieter Heber was awarded in 2015 

with the “Order of Merit of the Federal 

Republic of Germany”. 

In 2018, the sponsoring association is 

planning the urgently needed expansion of 

the children’s and youth hospice, as demand 

is steadily rising. As a result, in an as-yet 

unrepaired outbuilding, new guest rooms, 

therapy rooms, community and social rooms, 

as well as a wood workshop, are to be created. 

For this an additional €1,000,000 ($1.2 

million) in investment costs are needed. 

Unfortunately, there are currently no state 

subsidies available for this purpose. 

To learn more about the hospice, visit 

www.kinderhospiz-mitteldeutschland.de or 

www.facebook.com/kinderhospiz. 

EUROPE KMP, Celebrations, Anniversary 

KMP celebrates the big 3-0 

The German company has revealed that it has reached the milestone of its thirtieth birthday, having first opened its doors for 

business in 1988. 

The family-run KMP PrintTechnik AG started 

off as “a small ribbon factory” but has since 

developed into “a market leader for printer 

supplies”, according to the company, with 

an emphasis on the distribution of inkjet 

and toner cartridges. 

Claiming the title of the largest family 

business in Europe, KMP has subsidiaries 

spread across the continent, in Poland, 

Portugal, France, Italy, the Czech Republic 

and Romania. 

The company describes the “pillars of its 

success” as being its “loyalty to specialist 

retailers, the manufacturing competence 

ascertained by cutting-edge technologies 

and our consistent brand policies.” 




EUROPE Paperworld, Remanexpo, Events 

Paperworld 2018: high standards all round 

Both manufacturers and retailers made a successful start to the new business season at the Paperworld, Creativeworld, Christmasworld 

and Floradecora trade fairs in Frankfurt am Main, according to Messe Frankfurt. 

3,023 exhibitors from 69 countries made 

presentations to the national and international 

trade. 1,640 exhibitors from 66 countries took 

part in Paperworld. 

With its extensive range of products and the 

inspiring complementary programme of 

events, Paperworld is the world’s biggest trade 

fair for the paper, office supplies and stationery 

sector. It focuses on future-oriented subjects, 

reveals new development opportunities and 

thus makes visitors and exhibitors fit for the 

coming business year. 

“This positive setting is also reflected by the 

increased number of companies exhibiting at 

Paperworld. Altogether, 1,640 exhibitors from 

66 countries made presentations during the 

four-day fair. With growth of eight percent, we 

have reversed the trend – and that in a 

challenging market”, said Julia Uherek, Group 

Show Director Consumer Goods, Messe 

Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH. In comparison to 

2017, there were more exhibitors from India, 

South Korea, Turkey, China, the United 

Kingdom and Russia. 

According to the exhibitor poll, around two 

thirds of exhibitors were very pleased with the 

number of new contacts made and the 

standard of trade visitors. In addition to these 

criteria, many exhibitors gave a higher rating in 

terms of orders placed and target groups 

reached than a year ago. All in all, more than 

three quarters of exhibitors said they were very 

pleased with their results at Paperworld. For 

example, Sebastian Gutberlet, Sales & 

Marketing, Kaweco, said, “This has been a very 

good fair for us, even better than last year. On 

the first day, we had an incredible number of 

visitors. And this continued throughout the 

event with an extremely large number of 

appointments. We were particularly pleased 

with the customer standard and made 

numerous new contacts.” 

This year’s Paperworld also did better than 

the previous year in terms of visitor numbers. 

33,787 trade visitors, 11,072 from Germany and 

22,715 from abroad gained inspiration from the 

latest trends and products. According to the 

visitor poll, 95 percent of trade visitors were 

satisfied or very satisfied with the range of 

products to be seen at Paperworld. This 

positive echo shows that the fair in Frankfurt is 

both an international market place for 

innovations and an indispensable business 

platform for the exchange of ideas and 

information on a personal plane. “Paperworld 

offers a huge assortment of product lines and a 

high level of internationality. The trade benefits 

from this, as it does from the concurrent 

product ranges to be seen at the Creativeworld 

and Christmasworld trade fairs. And then there 

are the events and special shows, in particular, 

the Future Office, which opens our eyes to the 

health at work and thus inspires the whole 

sector”, says Thomas Grothkopp of the 

German Home and Office Trade Association 

(Handelsverband Wohnen und Büro e.V. – 

HWB). 

Striking at this year’s Paperworld: there were 

more trade visitors from outside Germany, 

especially from South Korea, Portugal, Bulgaria, 

China and Morocco, who came to Frankfurt to 

find innovations for the modern office and 

trends for private-oriented stationery and 

school requisites. All channels of distribution, 

from the classic retail trade, via the wholesale 

and import / export trade, to the mail-order 

and online trades, were represented. Many 

exhibitors remarked on the high visitor 

standard with numerous purchasing decision 

makers – three quarters of them are executives 

or come from top management. “Paperworld is 

the European trade fair we use to find new 

target groups and make new contacts, and to 

present our latest products to our best 

customers”, said Beth Wright, Chief 

Commercial Officer, Bi-Silque. After Germany, 

the majority of trade visitors came from Italy, 

the United Kingdom, France, the USA, China, 

the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Turkey and 

Greece. 

Paperworld has been bringing together the 

two main segments of office and stationery 

successfully at the same time and place for 

many years. Moreover, the areas of visitor 

interest indicate that the demand for the two 

product segments is equally high. Particularly 

popular are office paper and shipping materials 

(39 percent), office and desk accessories (30 

percent), writing and drawing utensils (29 

percent) and organisational aids, calendars and 

note books (26 percent). Furthermore, buyers 

also took more time to study the products on 

show: the average length of time spent at the 

fair has risen to two or even three days. 

In addition to its many exhibitors and their 

diverse products and technological 

innovations, Paperworld 2018 also included the 

presentation of awards and a seminar program, 

sponsored and hosted by The Recycler. The 

Recycler Awards celebrated various 

achievements across the industry and The 

Recycler Live Seminars featured talks by highprofile 

figures from the office imaging world, 

who gave in-depth insights into current and 

future trends and developments. 

General attitudes to the event were 

overwhelmingly positive. 

“This show is a very special show,” 

commented Ninestar’s Marketing Director 

Helena Huang when asked to describe her 

highlights of the last four days, “our European 

partners and customers were one big family 

together again.” 

Next year, the consumer-goods fairs will be 

held as usual around the last Saturday in 

January, with the next Paperworld taking place 

from 26 to 29 January 2019. 



EUROPE The Recycler Awards, Winner, Rising Star 

Marketing pro Madison 

named Rising Stars 

Madison Ison, of Laser Pros International, received The Recycler’s Rising 

Star of the Year Award 2018. 


EUROPE Trade Copiers, ISO certification, Business 

Trade Copiers receives 

ISO certification 

The British end-of-life products broker shared the 

good news on LinkedIn. 

Announcing her win via social media, 

the company expressed its pride and 

gratitude to Madison “for playing 

an integral role in launching 

our new website, rebranding 

and implementing new marketing 

strategies.” 

Laser Pros went on to say, “She 

brings fresh, modern ideas to the 

table and is always looking to see 

where our marketing efforts can 

expand next.” 

Madison was one of four people 

nominated for the award, which 

recognises professional talent in the 

office imaging industry. 

On her LinkedIn page, Madison 

expressed her disbelief and joy at 

winning the award, saying, 

“Thank you for the overwhelming 

kind words and support that I received. 

Cheers to a beautiful start of my career!” 

Trade Copiers has announced it has received its 

ISO27001 Information Security Certificate, from 

Certified International Systems (CIS). 

The certificate matches the Cumbrian company’s 

ISO14001 Environmental Management Certificate. 

The end-of-life products broker, which collects used 

machines from across the United Kingdom and 

Europe, as well as supply consumables across the 

continent, recently began work on its new extension 

to its depot in Penrith, in the North of England. 


35



NORTH AMERICA ECi, Business, Appointments 

Jeff Ralyea joins ECi 

Ralyea said he was “excited” to be appointed the company’s new Manufacturing President. 

ECi Software Solutions has announced the 

appointment of Jeff Ralyea as the new 

President of its Manufacturing Division. 

Ralyea’s new role will involve refining the IT 

solutions provider’s manufacturing and 

product positioning strategy, as well as driving 

greater collaboration across the division, 

accelerating growth. 

To do this, he shall work with the leaders of 

the JobBOSS, Macola, and MAX manufacturing 

software businesses, that were acquired by 

ECi in September last year, and which were 

combined into its existing M1 manufacturing 

business. 

Ralyea, who will be based at the company’s 

corporate headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas, 

spoke of his excitement at joining the 

company and helping to take them forward. 

“I look forward to working with ECi’s 8,000- 

plus manufacturing customers to help them 

deliver exceptional products and services to 

their customers,” he said. “The solutions in 

our portfolio have a track record of success 

within the SMB manufacturing space. I am 

excited to leverage and expand on that 

success.” 

Prior to join ECi, Ralyea spent over two 

decades in the manufacturing software 

industry, which included senior leadership 

positions with SAP Software Solutions, Infor, 

and most recently Ellucian. He holds a 

Bachelor’s of Science degree in Management 

Information Systems and Services from 

Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York. 

“Jeff is truly devoted to excellence. He has 

many years of senior leadership experience in 

the manufacturing software industry with a 

strong background in product management 

and the development and delivery of cloudbased 

solutions,” said ECi’s President and 

Chief Operating Officer, Trevor Gruenewald. 

“His skillset and experience put him in a 

unique position to solidify and expand our 

leadership position in the growing SM 

manufacturing market.” 

NORTH AMERICA PrintReleaf, Software, MPS 

PrintReleaf supports graphic designers, 

and goes nationwide 

The reforestation platform, which was recently partnered with Supplies Network, has explained how its certifications will make 

designers’ lives easier. 

PrintReleaf is set to increase the options 

available to graphic designers, by giving 

them the option to produce their designs 

at a PrintReleaf-certified printer. 

Previously, designers serving 

environmentally-conscious clients were 

forced to make use of the limited paper 

type options available with chain-of-custody 

verification. 

Yet now, with PrintReleaf ’s certification 

system, graphic designers can use any 

grade or type of paper that they wish, with 

the company certifying on behalf of the 

client that an equivalent number of trees 

have been planted, per (verified) amount of 

paper used. It will even allow the clients to 

choose the location for planting the new 

trees, from a choice of seven projects 

worldwide in places that have been 

particularly ravaged by tree loss. 

Guaranteeing to ‘releaf ’ the paper 

consumption of its customers, PrintReleaf 

is the only platform to measure paper 

usage and certifiably reforest the 

equivalent. CEO and founder, Jordan 

Darragh, said: “Until now, graphic 

designers have been constrained by the 

limited number of chain-of-custody-verified 

papers available. By choosing to have their 

job produced at a PrintReleaf printer, those 

designers can use any paper they choose, 

knowing that an equivalent number of trees 

will be planted in the appropriate location 

of their choice.” 

“To make the process even simpler,” 

Darragh added, “any printer can become 

PrintReleaf-qualified at no cost.” 

PrintReleaf has also been added to 

Supplies Network’s mpsSELECT® portfolio 

of services. 

This partnership with the wholesale 

supplier to office supply companies, 

managed print services providers, 

information technology resellers, and 

copier dealers makes the PrintReleaf 

certified reforestation program available to 

hundreds of thousands across the United 

States. 

Announcing the relationship, Darragh 

commented: “Our partnership with 

Supplies Network makes PrintReleaf 

reforestation available to more resellers 

throughout the country, and makes 

reforestation a reality for their customers.” 

Sarah Custer, Supplies Network Director 

of Services and Solutions, responded: 

“PrintReleaf is a welcome addition to our 

range of MPS solutions. PrintReleaf will be 

available to our reseller network effective 

March 1, 2018. In addition to making 

PrintReleaf certification available to our 

entire customer base, Supplies Network 

plans to implement reforestation via 

PrintReleaf throughout our internal copy 

and print network.” 




NORTH AMERICA Metrofuser, Honours, Business 

‘Top Company’ Metrofuser 

launches accreditation programme 

Following recognition from NJ BIZ, Metrofuser has developed an Accreditation 

Programme to help its customers compete, differentiate and expand. 

Metrofuser has been named among NJ BIZ’s 

list of the Top 250 Privately Held Companies in 

New Jersey. The ranking, provided by one of 

New Jersey’s top business journals, evaluates 

companies based on revenue, growth, and 

employee count. 

Metrofuser is a manufacturer and marketer 

of printer parts, equipment, diagnostics, repair 

information and systems solutions for 

professional users performing critical tasks. 

Products and services include remanufactured 

laser printer parts, remanufactured printers 

and service training for HP, Lexmark and Canon 

brands. 

It has recently launched its Accreditation 

Programme, which allows its customers - 

which include office equipment dealerships, 

online retailers, repair centres and MPS 

service providers across the USA - to gain 

a competitive advantage, differentiate 

themselves in the marketplace, and expand 

their business. 

“We are honoured to have ranked among 

New Jersey’s top 250 privately held 

companies,” said Metrofuser Co-President Will 

DeMuth. “This recognition can be attributed to 

our commitment towards our clients, and 

providing them with the right IT services that 

take them to the next level.” 

The Accreditation Programme recognises 

providers while they earn industry 

certifications and credentials. The programme 

offers a number of tracks for achievement. The 

revolving 12-month marketing campaign 

positions service organizations as industry 

leaders. All credentials are shareable, verifiable 

and come with digital member authorization. 

“Metrofuser rewards its dealers with 

powerful business development tools. 

Evidence-based certifications and awards are 

essential for supercharging employee morale, 

salespeople’s motivation and customer brand 

awareness,” said DeMuth. “We developed a 

programme that will communicate loudly the 

strengths and abilities of our partners. Most 

dealers do not have the opportunity, 

bandwidth or structure to dedicate the 

resources to obtain these credentials. Our 

goal is to give our dealers the best chance to 

succeed in an increasingly competitive and 

shrinking market.” 

NORTH AMERICA ITD, Legal, Business 

ITD successful in 

misappropriation lawsuit 

The company has won a misappropriation lawsuit filed against Yorktown Industries and 

three former ITD employees. 

ITD Print Solutions, also known as Imaging 

Technologies Direct (“ITD”), and its 

President, Cindy Michaels, has revealed that 

the company has “prevailed” in its lawsuit for 

misappropriation of Trade Secrets against 

Yorktown Industries, its President Ken Reick, 

and three former ITD employees, Luis Roselli, 

Christine Flowers and William Matthews III. 

Each of the accused were found to have 

committed wilful misappropriation of trade 

secrets consisting of ITD’s customer and 

related information. Damages were awarded 

by a Santa Monica jury after a two-week trial. 

According to ITD, specific findings of 

“Wilful and Malicious conduct” were made 

against both Ken Reick and Yorktown 

Industries. ITD’s motion for punitive damages 

and attorney fees is pending. 

ITD said it is “pleased that the jury 

vindicated its rights and clearly held no 

person or company has the right to take ITD’s 

confidential information and use it to 

compete against it.” 

ITD was represented in its case by Robert 

Levinson and Jason Jarvis of Levinson 

Arshonsky & Kurtz, LLP of Sherman Oaks. 


37



GLOBAL IDC, CONTEXT, Market Data 

Inkjets down, HCPs up, and mixed fortunes 

in India 

CONTEXT and IDC have released a series of reports over the last month, showing a very different picture for differing segments of 

the industry. 

New data released by CONTEXT reveals that 

distributors across Western Europe (WE) saw 

the ongoing decline in sales of business 

inkjets soften in Q4 2017 with revenues flat, 

which was an improvement on previous 

quarters, according to the data published by 

CONTEXT, the IT market analysis company. 

The data shows year-on-year decline in 

distributor sales stood at minus 4 percent for 

both the quarter and the year as a whole. 

Revenues remained constant due to a 3 

percent price increase: Active Server Pages 

(ASP) reached €119 ($146) due to changes in 

the product mix with vendors introducing 

more expensive business inkjets that feature 

advances in technology. 

According to CONTEXT, HP continues to 

lead with a market share of 56 percent, 

followed by Epson, which had a share of 31 

percent in Q4 2017, then Brother and Canon 

at 7 percent and 4 percent respectively. All 

vendors saw quarterly sales decline, except for 

Canon, whose sales increased by 14 percent 

year-on-year on a small base. 

“Sales of business inkjets grew in most 

major Western European countries”, said 

Zivile Brazdziunaite, Imaging Market Analyst 

at CONTEXT. “However, in Germany, which is 

the largest market in the region, there was a 

strong decline in Q4 2017 with sales falling by 

12 percent year-on-year.” 

The analysis continued, that distributor 

sales of business inkjets increased by 15 

percent in France and returned into growth in 

Spain, Italy and the UK. The positive 

performance in these countries is mainly due 

to higher sales of A3 business inkjets. 

Although A3 printers account for less than 

20 percent of all business inkjets sold by WE 

distributors, sales continue to increase and 

grew by 3 percent year-on-year in Q4 2017. 

According to CONTEXT the main driver of this 

HP, which performed well in retail and SMB 

channels and saw its share of the segment 

increase to 38 percent, with distribution sales 

of both low-end and high-end A3 business 

inkjets increasing. At the high end, where 

Epson dominates, HP’s growth was mainly 

due to sales of its new PageWide models, 

which started selling in Q3 2017. Brother 

holds a share of 35 percent in the segment, 

followed by Epson with 20 percent. 

However, there was good news in the 

worldwide hardcopy peripherals market, 

which grew 1.2 percent year-over-year in the 

fourth quarter of 2017, reaching nearly 28.1 

million units, according to the latest data from 

IDC’s ‘Worldwide Quarterly Hardcopy 

Peripherals Tracker’. The growth was driven 

by a solid performance in the inkjet market, 

which grew 3.3 percent year-over-year. 

Shipment value, on the other hand, decreased 

1.0 percent year-over-year to $13.7 billion 

(€11.15 billion) in the quarter. 

Three out of the top five companies saw 

year-over-year shipment growth in 4Q17, with 

Epson leading the way at 12.2 percent, 

followed by Brother at 5.2 percent and Canon 

Group’s 1.4 percent. Top-ranked HP Inc. 

recorded a year-over-year decline of 3.8 

percent in 4Q17. 

The data shows that for the full year 

2017, HP Inc.’s shipments of more than 39 

million units remained unchanged from 

2016 while Epson, Brother, and Canon 

Group posted positive year-over-year 

growth of 4.6 percent, 3.6 percent, and 1.3 

percent, respectively. 

Contributing to inkjet’s growth of 3.3 

percent year-over-year in 4Q17 were 

increases from Latin America, Central & 

Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa, and 

Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) (APeJ). Some 

of the factors behind these gains included a 

rise in shipments of ink tank devices outside 

of the APeJ region, increased salary levels that 

had helped to boost consumption along with 

the rapid growth of e-tail channels in China, 

and high demand from businesses after the 

implementation of GST in India. 

Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) outperformed 

all other regions in the laser 

segment, posting 6.1 percent year-over-year 

growth to 3.9 million units shipped in 4Q17. 

China continued to be the main source of 

growth in the region due to strong expansion 

of the small and medium-size business 

segment and strong demand during the yearend 

online shopping festivals. India was also a 




major contribution to growth in the region 

with a 19.0 percent year-over-year increase in 

shipments. 

IDC also published data showing that 

India’s HCP market enjoyed a robust Q4, 

according to the IDC Asia Pacific Quarterly 

Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker, 2017 Q4. 

Shipments of inkjet units rose by 19.3 percent 

YoY to 415,135, and laser printers (as well as 

copiers) witnessed unit shipments of 408,891, 

experiencing a YoY growth of 19 percent. As a 

result, India’s laser market “was the secondbest” 

in the Asia Pacific region. 

Japanese brands have been responsible for 

a significant portion of sales, accounting for 

three out of five of the top performing 

companies and “capturing almost half of the 

India market (48.6 percent).” American 

companies came second with a 41.4 percent 

market share, a slight decrease from Q3 

2017’s 41.9 percent. 

“The growth in the last quarter of the year 

was driven by GST implementation in the 

country continuing its momentum from 

previous quarter. Government lowered the 

tax slab on Multi-Function Printers from 28 

percent to 18 percent effective November 15, 

leading to increase in preference for MFPs 

post the slab change. From a YoY perspective, 

2017Q4 performed significantly better than 

the demonetization affected 2016Q4. In the 

Inkjet market, ink tank printers continue to 

dominate the market with all the leading 

vendors focusing on Home and SMB segment 

to drive the shipments. Laser printer market 

witnessed a strong growth in the Copier 

segment which saw high demand from BFSI 

sector, followed by Government,” says Bani 

Johri, Market Analyst, IPDS, IDC India. 

However, in less encouraging news, IDC 

also reported that the country saw a 17.5 

percent decline in the printer market across 

50 major cities in last year’s Q4. This decline 

was reported in IDC’s most recent India 

Monthly City-Level A4 printer Tracker, and 

follows on from a “momentous” Q3. The 

tracker also revealed that inkjet printers were 

the strongest in the market, leading with a 

52.2 percent share, while in terms of sales, 

Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai were the “top 

three cities” and Pune, Vadodara and 

Bangalore represented “ m a j o r g r o w t h 

markets” for Q4. 

The printer market decline was attributed 

to “mitigation of post GST impact”, vendors 

and channel partners managed to drive sales 

“through channel schemes and end user 

promotions across major markets along with 

regular channel expansion program.” 

Abhishek Mukherjee, Senior Market Analyst 

at IDC India, explained, “Low cost of 

ownership and printing compared to Laser 

printers account for the increasing uptake of 

Inkjet printer category.” 

CISS ink tank printers were the market 

dominators within the inkjet category, with 

Tier 3 and 4 cities driving 50 percent of their 

sales volume. 

“Wide reach and depth of the distribution 

network are the key to catering to the 

demand coming from Tier 3 and 4 cities. 

Almost all the brands have increased channel 

presence in smaller cities to fulfil the 

demand,” added Mukherjee. 

In terms of vendors, HP Inc “maintained 

overall leadership in A4 printer market 

with 45.9 percent market share in 50 cities 

across India”, focusing on sales of entry level 

laser printers. 

Epson took the top spot in the Inkjet 

Printer Market, with a 46.3 percent market 

share, while Canon “secured 3rd spot in 

overall A4 printer market with 22.5 percent 

market share in 2017 Q4.” 

“With Canon expanding its CISS portfolio 

and Epson also launching new printer models 

in January, CISS share in Inkjet printers will 

continue to grow with major contribution 

coming from Tier 3 and 4 cities. In the A4 laser 

category, 21-30 ppm printers are gaining 

traction over 1-20 ppm printers which have 

dominated the market historically. Strong 

demand of the higher speed printers is likely 

to continue with major contribution coming 

from West Zone,” said Nishant Bansal, 

Research Manager, IDC India. 


39



NORTH AMERICA Print Audit, Roadshow, Business 

Print Audit announce new suite and SBB roadshows 

The company, which has recently published a blog on Seat-Based Billing, has also announced the replacement of its flagship product, 

Print Audit 6, with a fully revamped software suite called Infinite User Management. 

Infinite User Management is a set of tools 

designed “from the ground up”, according to 

Print Audit, to make user and print 

management “simpler, more intuitive, and 

feature rich”. 

“Our development team continues to amaze 

me with their ability to design and deliver 

solutions that are far beyond anything else in 

the market,” stated John MacInnes, President 

of Print Audit. “Infinite User Management was 

built with input from our Premier Members 

and their customers. The result of that 

collaboration is the strongest offering we’ve 

released to date and we know the office 

equipment channel is going to love it as much 

as we do.” 

Infinite User Management is the second 

addition to the Print Audit Infinite family of 

solutions. The company states that it brings 

dealers and their customers “a more 

streamlined and secure way to manage 

devices, documents and users.” 

Here are a few of the features of Infinite 

User Management, as described by the 

company: 

“User-based licensing: As SBB (Seat Based 

Billing) continues to replace CPP (Cost Per 

Page) contracts, user accounting and billing 

is critical. Tracking “active printing users” 

is far superior and more accurate than any 

other method. 

Mobile print tracking via Google Cloud 

Print: Mobile print tracking is seamless 

and effort free, no matter where you are 

printing from. 

Ultra-fast deployment: Making it easier for 

dealers and I.T. to effortlessly install desktop 

clients. 

Intelligent printer 

matching: Printer naming 

conventions leave a lot to 

be desired and Infinite 

User Management does the 

heavy lifting of printer 

matching for you. 

Secure printing reimagined: 

Turn any 

network printing device into a secure release 

station with no input screen required! Just tap, 

release and go! 

Statistical reports on rules-effectiveness: 

SBB requires a new way to measure the 

financial impact and effectiveness of rules 

based printing to ensure greater profitability. 

For traditional CPP programs the reports show 

customers evidence of rules effectiveness.” 

The company has also recently published a 

new blog, considering what effect office 

printing’s decline will have on CPP, following 

an IDC report that predicted that 40 percent of 

companies in developed regions will suffer a 

double-digit decline in office-based printing by 

2021. 

The blog suggests as an alternative “a little 

thing called SBB” – that is, seat-based billing. It 

notes several key points about SBB for those 

who are sceptical, or “have to much invested 

in your current CPP model.” 

The first thing it points out is that some 

major vendors are already moving towards it, 

citing Clover Imaging’s Axess Express SBB 

offering as “a world first” and “a big deal”. It 

also gives the example of GreatAmerica 

Financial Services, which has “built the world’s 

first SBB financing model for office equipment 

dealers… It really is a game changer.” 

Print Audit’s blog also quotes 

the Cannata Report, which last 

year called SBB the “trend to 

watch in 2018”, and a webinar 

from John Shane of Infotrends 

called ‘Emerging Market 

rends for 2018’, in which he 

named SBB as “the future of 

Managed Print.” 

“Watching per/user volumes decline year 

after year”, the blog states, “it became clear 

that the traditional MPS model was under 

pressure, and that pressure was only going to 

continue to grow.” 

Describing the status quo as “simply not 

good enough anymore”, it reports that Print 

Audit was adopting the model as part of its 

‘Save The Office Equipment Industry’ mission. 

“We worked tirelessly with the SBB Executive 

Council, a group of 29 dealers and partners, 

over a span of 3 years to make sure we got it 

right. Once we knew we did, we launched a 

training and certification program for the 

world’s first SBB Certification.” 

Print Audit now hosts its own SBB 

Roadshows to help show off the model to 

office equipment dealers, and help them get to 

grips with it themselves. It has announced two 

more for 2018, although with places limited, 

and with the following caveat: 

“Is this for everybody? I don’t think it is. It’s 

not for MPS purists. It’s not for dealers looking 

to get out of the business. It is for progressive 

dealers who are looking to grow, to make 

higher margins, and to have a billing platform 

that will allow them to capitalize on other seatbased 

offerings like Managed Services and 

Document Management in the future.” 

NORTH AMERICA MrInk, Business 

MR INK takes the Gold 

Omair Khan, Director of MR INK LTD – Complete Business Supplies, has revealed via LinkedIn that the company has been named 

a Brother Approved Gold Partner. 

Founded in 2011, MR INK is a family run 

business which has undergone steady 

expansion over the last 7 years, offering a 

variety of products and services “from 

standard office supplies to full office refit”. 

The company has over 35,000 items in 

stock, with a comprehensive online and 

offline product catalogue, as well as a 

high street store providing face-to-face 

advice and customer service. 

They are also an authorised reseller for 

leading manufacturers, and offer a 

range of MPS including printing, copying 

and scanning. 

Now, the company has received fresh 

OEM recognition from Brother, being 

named a Brother Approved Gold Partner, 

which means MR INK is “offering even 

more offers and deals on Brother products 

than before.” 


We’re getting 

ready for GDPR… 

On the 25th May 2018 enforcement of the General Data Protection Regulation 

will commence in all 28-member states of the European Union. The United 

Kingdom is in discussions to exit the European Union but has agreed to 

implement GDPR, irrespective of the outcome of the exit negotiations. 

GDPR rules are designed to reflect the internet connected age we live in and give 

EU citizens more control over their data and simplify the regulatory environment for 

business so both citizens and businesses can fully benefit from the digital economy. 

The main changes are: 

Consent 

Out go long illegible terms and conditions full of legalese, and the request for 

consent must be given in an intelligible and easily accessible form, with the purpose 

of data processing attached to that consent. Consent must be clear and 

distinguishable from other matters and provided in an intelligible and easily 

accessible form, using clear and plain language. It must be as easy to withdraw 

consent as it is to give it. 

Right to Access 

GDPR provides the right for data subjects to obtain confirmation as to whether or 

not personal data concerning them is being processed, where and for what purpose. 

You are also entitled, free of charge, a copy of the personal data, in an electronic 

format. This change is a dramatic shift in data transparency and empowerment of 

data subjects. 

Right to be Forgotten 

Also known as Data Erasure, the right to be forgotten entitles the data subject to 

have the data controller erase his/her personal data, cease further dissemination of 

the data, and potentially have third parties halt processing of the data. It should also 

be noted that this right requires controllers to compare the subjects' rights to "the 

public interest in the availability of the data" when considering such requests. 

At The Recycler, we are busy updating our privacy policy and updating the 

information we collect and use to ensure we comply with the new GDPR framework. 

So bear with us as we progress these changes. 

General Data Protection Regulation 

You can find out more about GDPR 

at https://www.eugdpr.org 

www.therecycler.com

Retail Column 

How to find and keep the best 

people for your business 

In a competitive industry like ours, our people and staff are key to building sales and 

profitability. Any store that spends most of its time bringing new talent on board and initial 

training will struggle to build strong relationships with customers or to become more efficient 

in back of the store remanufacturing processes. 

Flora Delaney 

If your store feels like it either cannot 

keep a stable staff or has settled into a 

less-than-stellar group of employees 

just because they show up for their 

shifts, it is time to look at making 

adjustments to attracting and keeping 

great people. 

First, it usually surprises managers to 

hear that more money will not 

resolve the issue. Money may attract 

talent and make people interested in a 

job, but it does not create long-term 

dedication to a job. Of course, your 

offer has to be right in the market, but 

to offer more pay will not increase 

your likelihood of attracting better 

talent or your ability to recognize 

better talent when you see it. 

Great people (defined as the top 10 

percent of the workforce by their 

managers) say that the most 

important thing they value in a job 

is a great boss. They want someone 

who gets to know them, cares about 

them and helps them develop at a rate 

that keeps them challenged. They want 

opportunities and personal growth. 

They want a manager who gives them 

guidance but also lets them take on 

new challenges. 

To translate that into your situation, 

ask yourself if you keep some tasks for 

yourself because you are not sure your 

staff is capable of doing as good a job 

as you can. If so, you are creating the 

very conditions where team members 

feel stifled and start to look elsewhere 

for opportunities. Your role as a great 

boss is to be a teacher and coach - not 

a player - in running your shop. To 

make progress, start by talking with 

each staff member and listening to 

what else they would like to learn in 

their role. Then explicitly discuss the 

steps you will take to help them learn 

more. Set aside time to show them 

how to do more in their role and help 

them understand that you will be 

monitoring their performance. Once 

they show mastery, give them new 

challenges and new responsibilities. It 

is important that you link the new 

expectations with the original 

conversation and that you help them 

recognise that you are putting trust 

into them to help them build a more 

diverse skill set that will be valuable in 

the future. In that way, you can delay 

conversations about new pay rates 

until they are truly performing at an 

accomplished new level. Importantly, 

this key transition for you (from do-er 

to delegator) will free you up to work 

on your business in more valuable 

ways, making the entire business more 

productive. 

Great people want to understand 

how their role fits into a bigger 

picture. Help them see that their 

efforts do not just complete a task list 

but connects to helping the 

environment or making a difference for 

customers. A reseller I know has a 

wonderful story he shares with his staff 

about how a service as simple as 

keeping printing costs down helps a 

local homeless shelter serve more 

people. If you already have a strong 

vision or mission within your company, 

connect it to your staff’s day to day 

work. If not, show how they provide a 

service to your customers that 


Tel: 01993 899800 • info@therecycler.com • therecycler.com 

empower your customers to 

achieve their goals. The point is, 

people feel more dedicated and 

derive a deeper sense of 

accomplishment when they 

connect their efforts to a bigger 

mission. If you can create 

celebrations around milestones 

(for example: every five tonnes of 

material kept from landfills) the 

staff will be better able to make 

the connections between their 

work and the overarching goals of 

your business. 

Maybe you are already feeling like 

you have a great story about how you 

compensate your team, develop them 

and connect their work to a bigger 

vision. If so, congratulations. It sounds 

like you have created a positive culture 

inside your company. If you still find it 

difficult to attract and retain top 

talent, ask yourself: do you tell the 

story early enough in the hiring process 

to make sure that strong candidates 

are interested in your company? Many 

companies wait until orientation (once 

the hire is complete) to tell the story 

about how people are developed, how 

their growth prepares them for other 

challenges in their career and how the 

company supports a bigger vision. Talk 

up the long-term positive story about 

developing talent early enough in your 

interviewing phase that top tier talent 

are excited to work for you. 

Telling your story about how your 

company builds a strong team and 

supports a meaningful mission not 

only can help you attract strong job 

candidates, but also build loyalty with 

your customers as well. Use your 

website, email blasts and even 

advertising to help shout your story to 

the world. Enter “best places to work” 

contests and create press releases to 

build your company’s reputation. If 

there is a long-time employee who has 

an inspiring career story, make it public 

as part of a celebration of their work 

anniversary. 

Let’s assume you can attract people 

to your open jobs. Do you know how 

to identify the highest potential talent 

in the candidate pool? First, look at 

their energy levels. Capable people 

have ample energy. Note how they 

engage in the conversation. Do they 

want to tell you stories and have 

they thought enough about your 

company to come prepared with 

questions? That shows energy 

around the position. Rather than 

rely on the time they spent in 

past positions (which we have 

already stated comes from 

having a great boss and a 

meaningful development) ask 

them to tell you about when 

they felt they performed at their 

best. Talented people will light up 

to tell you about when they felt 

most capable and empowered. If 

your candidate flails and isn’t clear 

about what conditions help them be 

their best selves, they may not be 

mature or self-aware enough to be a 

dedicated team contributor. 

Finally, don’t be afraid to hire people 

who seem more intelligent, capable or 

driven than you are. The best managers 

are not intimidated by talent but want 

to be surrounded by it. Bring in people 

who seem more adept in the role than 

you could imagine being satisfied then 

unleash their energy and drive to make 

your business better. 

R 

Flora Delaney is a retail consultant and 

advisor to the remanufactured cartridge 

industry in the US. A seasoned retail 

executive, Flora’s clients benefit from 

her holistic approach and pragmatic 

solutions. Email flora@floradelaney.com 

to reach her. 


43

Wide-Format Column 

Inkjet-printed solar cells gaining 

ground 

What if all you needed was a special electricity-sensitive ink to print solar panels using an inkjet printer? 

Scientists in about every major 

university in the world are 

researching just such a process – 

from using chemicals to using 

specialized bacteria. It’s a process 

that could revolutionize use of solar 

power in the next generation. 

One group working on inkjet-printed 

solar cells is the Commonwealth 

Scientific and Industrial Research 

Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia. 

The government-backed organisation 

uses science to solve issues. 

At this point the printers for inkjetprinted 

solar are not your ordinary 

inkjet printers - many mimicking 

costly industrial printers. However, 

there is some work among the 

world’s universities finding a process 

for printing solar cells with less 

expensive and more mainstreamtype 

inkjet printers. 

The University of Toronto is 

refining a process using tiny crystals 

of perovskite about a thousand times 

smaller in width than a human hair. 

Perovskite is a calcium titanium 

oxide mineral found in Russia, 

Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, 

Brazil, Greenland, Canada, and the 

United States in calcium-rich skarn - 

calcium-bearing silicate rocks - and 

is a common accessory mineral in 

areas rich in calcium and aluminum. 

Mixed in liquid to make solar ink, 

the inks are shot from an inkjet 

printer, albeit specialised. The 

inks are special – the dye and 

electrolyte in one ink published in 

Energy & Environmental Science 

comes from a research group in the 

Swiss Ecole Polytechniquie Fedeerale 

de Lausanne. 

Ink can be printed on any number 

of surfaces, including paper, glass or 

plastic (imagine having solar ink in 

artistic hangings). 

Perfecting the process has been a 

challenge, as high temperatures are 

needed, but a nanotechnology 

method has been developed with 

lower temperatures, and according to 

Science magazine, can yield an 

efficiency of solar sells at 20.1 

percent. The University of Texas 

found that the efficiency of its thin 

printed cells is 15-18 percent. But 

some inkjet printed solar cells have 

an efficiency of only 5 percent. 

Another process uses cyanobacteria, 

being perfected by 

European scientists, including those 

at the University of Cambridge. It has 

about a 100-hour lifespan and is 

temporary in use. Costs have been 

decreased by using an inkjet printer 

and regular A4-sized paper. 

Another process deposits copper, 

iridium, gallium and selenium 

minerals as thin films, but uses a 

more sophisticated printer. This CIGS 

process is used at Oregon State 

University, USA, and is much 

cheaper than silicon cells as the 

silicon accounts for about two-thirds 

of the cost of the cell. Some of the 

components, such as iridium, 

gallium and selenium, are rare-earth 

minerals, especially iridium, and the 

element is used in LCD screens and 

thin-film coatings. Its supply is 

estimated at about 15 years by 

Forbes magazine. There is an 

ongoing attempt to find other 

substances that can be used to make 

solar cells through inkjet printing. 

Using a specialized Ardeje digital 

printer shooting an organic polymer, 

Dracula Technologies of France has 

enabled what it calls ‘Light As Your 

Energetic Response’ (LAYER) 

technology that can print photoactive 


WIDE FORMAT COLUMN 

material that works in sunlight or 

ambient light. Printed onto something 

like a backpack, it is being designed 

to power or recharge electronic 

devices. 

A different approach has been 

designed by the University of 

Newcastle in Australia, which is 

making thicker cells from PET plastic 

that are recyclable. Printing with 

specialised, inkjet-type printers, the 

solar cells are on plastic film that is 

less than one-tenth of a millimeter 

thick. These cells generate more 

electricity at low light than 

conventional photovoltaics, says Paul 

Dastoor in Mashable magazine. The 

cells are also cheap - about $7.40 per 

square meter (€5.94 Euros). 

It’s an interesting prospect in a 

continent that is experimenting with 

other ways to use solar. Elon Musk, 

the same innovator who has been 

shooting payloads in space and relanding 

rocket boosters, is bringing 

solar to 50,000 homes in South 

Australia in the next four years and 

setting up a virtual solar power plant. 

The solar plant is expected to be the 

largest solar plant ever. 

Musk’s move comes at a time when 

the USA solar industry is on the lam, 

losing 9,800 jobs the past year. A 

move by the Trump administration for 

assessing tariffs on solar panels and 

components coming into the USA will 

not help. Less expensive solar panels 

from places like China are expected to 

be impacted the most by the tariffs. 

But the tariffs are expected to do little 

to revive the flagging USA solar 

industry. While the cost of solar has 

fallen 80 percent since 2010, USA 

share has fallen to over 5 percent. 

But materials such as perovskite, 

printed inexpensively and innovatively 

used in places such as on the sides 

of buildings with solar paint or 

inkjet solar panels, could make the 

tariffs irrelevant. And the Newcastle, 

Toronto and France experiments may 

provide a methodology for use of the 

new materials in ways not yet 

imagined. 

Wide-Format - News in brief 

China puts a cork in importing 

some recyclables 

China’s one-year halt to importing 

recycled fodder from other countries 

means hundreds of millions of tons 

less rubbish per year, but in 2018 

when the law becomes effective, it 

means other countries, including EU 

members and the USA, are 

scrambling for ways to ferry out their 

recyclables or place it somewhere incountry. 

The printer cartridge 

industry is a large source of the 

pollution to rivers and land in China 

because it is at the behest of many of 

the OEMs, including ones like 

Hewlett-Packard. 

China has banned 24 types of solid 

waste, including certain plastics 

paper and textiles under its National 

Sword program. It is meant to 

eliminate or reduce low-quality 

shipments. Cleaner material can 

still go through. In 2015, China 

bought 49.6 tons (45,000 kg) 

of waste, according to its own 

governmental figures. 

About 80 percent of the electronic 

waste dropped off for recycling in the 

USA ends up in Asia. The American 

Institute of Scrap Recycling (ISRI), 

quoted in The Recycler, have 

“highlighted potential chaos over the 

new restrictions, according to Simon 

Ellis of the institute, and the institute 

is concerned that copycat rules may 

occur in other countries. USA 

collectors of recyclables are already 

reporting significant stockpiles, 

according to Adlina Renee Adler, 

director of international relations at 

the ISRI. 


45

Wide Format Column: News in brief 

Canon increases ImagePROGRAF line 

The eight-color, 60” (152.4 cm) 

imagePROGRAF Pro-6000S for 

production signage and commercial 

photography is an example of the 

expansion of the ImagePROGRAF line 

of aqueous printers that is propelled 

by new ink technology. It uses a 

new 1.28” (3.25 cm) wide, 

12-channel integrated compact 

printhead and the Lucia Pro inkset and 

its L-Coa Pro high-speed image 

processing engine on a high-precision 

mechanical platform. 

The company, which is exclusively 

aqueous, says its L-Coa Pro highspeed 

image processing engine, 

achieves a good balance between 

printing speed and quality. In addition 

the Lucia ink set includes pigments 

that enhance reds, reduce graininess 

and improve dark areas. 

Canon’s launch of the Canon Océ 

PlotWave 550 monochrome printer is 

aimed at the Architect, Engineering 

and Construction (AEC) industry, 

computer-assisted drafting and 

commercial printing sectors. It was 

developed to handle a larger amount 

of technical documents with better 

security. It features 600 x 1200 dpi 

monochrome, speed of 10 “A1”-sizes 

per minute or five “A0” sizes per 

minute, two or four-roll printing, a 

500-gigabyte hard disc. Its 

waterfast technology is designed for 

heavy use. Océ Image Logic facilitates 

copying and scanning by 

compensating for wrinkles and paper 

folds on originals. 

Growth areas dominate wide-format printing expansion 

Infotrends has said digital wide-format 

printing is one of the fastest growth 

areas in printing in a 2016 report. The 

major growth areas are in soft signage, 

rigid panel printing, textiles, backlit 

displays, etc.), as well as more 

efficient workflow solutions. 

The report remarks that wide format 

equipment acquisitions showed 

steady growth in 2015 and changes in 

ink and machine preferences. UVcurable 

machines, which use UV 

lamps to cure UV-sensitive ink, may 

soon overtake aqueous and solvent 

inkjet printing systems. The combined 

UV-curable inkjet printer ownership is 

up 35 percent over the past two years. 

Aqueous inkjet is up by 19 percent. 

InfoTrends expects print volumes to 

increase 6.5 percent in compound 

annual growth rate (CAGR) in the 

years from 2015-2020. In that same 

time period, dye-sublimation is 

expected to increase 32 percent. The 

report shows that wide-format printing 

continues to grow steadily while other 

traditional print areas decline. 

‘Construction is really the last frontier for [3D printing] 

automation’ 

China, Dubai, the Philippines, and 

other regions already have commercially 

oriented 3-D construction 

projects underway. Behrokh 

Khoshnevis an engineering professor 

and director of the University of 

Southern California’s Center for 

Rapid Automated Fabrication 

Technologies and told Realtor 

magazine this trend will only expand. 

His prototype employs a robotic arm 

controlled via computer-assisted 

design that applies layers of quickdrying 

concrete in a pattern that 

resembles corrugated cardboard. In 

every other discipline in which 

automation has entered, there have 

been major changes, Khoshnevis was 

quoted as saying to Realtor 

magazine: “Construction is really the 

last frontier for automation.” 

WinSun, a Chinese 3D construction 

firm, prints houses and industrial 

structures. Ma Yihe, founder and 

chairman of WinSun, told 

www.3ders.org, a 3D printing 

information Web site, that the process 

saves 50-70 percent of construction 

time, uses 50-80 percent less labor 

and the need for new construction 

materials is reduced by 30 percent. A 

new material called “crazy magic 

stone” is making the structures more 

appealing, Yihe says. 

R 

Editor’s Note: Neal McChristy is a 

freelance writer with over 30 years 

journalism experience in magazine, 

newspaper and web-based work. He has 

been contributing editor for a magazine 

column in the wide-format industry for 

seven years. He also has 20 years’ 

experience as writer, editor and editorial 

contributor in the printing and 

imaging area. He likes to correspond with 

readers and can be reached at 

freelance9@cox.net. 


PRODUCTS & TECHNOLOGY 


EUROPE ECS, Cartridges, Remanufacturing 

Effective Consumable Solutions announce new products 

The UK-based remanufacturer revealed a new range of remanufactured toner cartridges and components across three brands. 

This month, ECS (UK) Ltd released four new 

remanufactured ranges including Toshiba, 

Kyocera and Ricoh cartridges and 

components. 

The first announcement was for the 

company’s range of remanufactured 

components for use in the Toshiba E-Studio 

2551C & 5055C series, including Toshiba T- 

FC30 and T-FC50 toner cartridges as well as 

waste toner bottles and developer packs 

which can be used in Toshiba E-Studio 2050C, 

2051C, 2505C, 2550C, 2551C, 2555C, 3005C, 

3055C, 3505C, 3555C, 4505C, 4555C, 5005C 

and 5055C devices. 

Also available is a new range of 

remanufactured Kyocera TK8335, TK8345, 

TK8515 and TK8525 toner cartridges for use in 

Kyocera TASKalfa 3252ci, 2552ci, 5052ci, 

6052ci, 3553ci and 4042ci devices respectively. 

Remanufactured WT8500 waste toner bottles 

are also available for these machines. 

ECS has followed up on both of these 

releases by launching a range of Ricoh MP 

C4503/4504 components including toner 

cartridges, developer packs, drum rebuild kit 

and waste toner bottles, for use in Ricoh 

MPC4503, 4504, 5503, 6003 and 6004 devices. 

The final product announced was the series 

of Remanufactured Ricoh MP C306/307 toner 

cartridges for Ricoh MP C306/406 devices. 

ECS also underlined that the quality of 

products is what really matters when it comes 

to buying toner cartridges and stressed that 

each of their products live up to the 

consistently high quality and performance 

levels that their Partners demand. 

Director Chris Fink spoke regarding what 

sets ECS’s products apart from the rest; 

“We’ve implemented some of the highest 

quality control measures in the industry, as 

well as some of the latest technical screening 

procedures to make sure that all of our 

products not only meet the industry’s 

technical specifications, but also externally 

verified benchmark data. We don’t 

compromise on quality, which allows us to 

guarantee long term reliability as a result of 

extensive, on-going testing of all our 

reprographic supplies, and our latest releases 

are testament to that.” 

For more information, please visit www.ecsuk-ltd.co.uk. 

EUROPE Greenman, Cartridges, Environment 

Greenman launches 

Eco Original toner 

The Swedish company has unveiled its new 

re-branded reusable original toner cartridge, 

over 60 percent of which come with the 

Nordic Swan eco-label. 

Greenman explained that the company has 

chosen to give its reusable toner cartridges “their 

own product name”, Greenman Eco Original, 

opting to abandon the previous designation of 

“environmental toner”. 

The business went on to state that its reusable 

cartridges should not “be confused with other 

products that are […] manufactured without 

environmental considerations”, and explained 

that over 60 percent of them come with the 

Nordic Swan label. 

Greenman Eco Original toners come with full 

guarantees. 

For more information visit www.greenman.se. 

NORTH AMERICA Apex, Chips, Remanufacturing 

Apex release new batch of chips 

The chip manufacturer has released a new range of replacement chips for use 

in various HP models. 

The first set of chips released is for use 

with HP’s LaserJet Enterprise series. 

Available only for black cartridges, they 

are designed to work with the 

M607dn/607n/608n/608x/608dn/609dn/6 

09x models, as well as the Enterprise MFP 

models M632h/631dn/631z/632fht/633fh 

and the Enterprise Flow MFP models 

MFP M631h/632z/633z. The page yield is 

said by Apex to be 11,000. 

It has also released two further chips 

for black cartridges, for the Enterprise 

608n/608x/608dn/609dn/609x models, 

the Enterprise MFP models 

M632h/631dn/631z/ 632fht/633fh, and 

the Enterprise Flow MFP models MFP 

M631h/632z/633z. These come with a 

page yield of 25,000 and 41,000. 

Apex has also released a series of chips 

for colour cartridges, for use in the HP 

Colour LaserJet Enterprise M652n/ 

M652dn/M653dn/ M653x/653dh, as well 

as in the Enterprise MFP M681f/M681dh/ 

M681z and the Enterprise Flow MFP 

M681f/682z. The page yield for these 

chips is 12,500 for the black and 10,500 

for each of the colours. 

Furthermore, the manufacturer has 

launched chips for the Enterprise 

M652n/M652dn/M653dn/M653x/653dh, 

with a page yield of 27,000 for black and 

22,000 for CMY. 

It has also released a set of chips for 

CMYK cartridges for the Enterprise MFP 

M681f/M681dh/M681z and the Enterprise 

Flow MFP M681f/682z. These have a page 

yield of 28,000 (black) and 23,000 (CMY.) 

For more information, please visit 

www.apexmic.com. 



EUROPE IR Italiana, Cartridges 

New products released by 

IR Italiana Riprografia 

The Italian company announced new compatible toner cartridges for use in Samsung printers range 

and introduced more compatible toner cartridges with chips for use in Kyocera-Mita machines. 

The latest cartridges 

launched by IR Italiana 

Riprografia are compatible 

toner cartridges for use in 

Samsung Multixpress 

X4220RX machines. The 

three compatible cartridges 

launched are compatible cyan, magenta and 

yellow toner cartridges for use in Samsung 

Multixpress X4220RX with a page yield of 20,000. 

The Italian company also introduced more 

compatible toner cartridges with chips for use in 

Kyocera-Mita machines which include 

compatible toner cartridges with chips for use in 

KYOCERA ECOSYS M2135DN machines, with a 

page yield of 3,000 pages. 

Also launched were compatible toner 

cartridges with chips for use in KYOCERA 

ECOSYS P2040DN, with a yield of 7,200 pages 

and compatible toner cartridges with chips for 

use in KYOCERA ECOSYS M2040DN with a page 

ASIA CET, Parts, Fuser Units 

CET releases new products 

CET Group has announced the release of a 

compatible fuser assembly unit for use in HP 

LaserJet Pro M402/403 and HP LaserJet Pro MFP 

M426/427 series printers. 

The assembly units are assured by the 

company to have been “OEM-equivalent 

performance in fusing, function and image 

quality”, “rigorously tested before packing”, 

according to CET’s LinkedIn page. 

The second launch was for compatible Canon 

parts. These include two fixing film assembly 

yield of 7,200 pages. 

The above-mentioned 

cartridges feature the 

“following advantages”, 

according to IR Italiana 

Riprografia: “OEM equivalent 

print quality”; “100 percent 

compatibility with OEM toners”; “significant 

savings over [the] OEM”; “MSDS in compliance 

with REACH”. 

Additionally, the cartridges were produced “in 

a certificated environment” including the ISO 

9001:2015 quality management system 

certificate; the ISO 14001:2015 environmental 

management system certificate; and the BS 

OHSAS 18001:2007 occupational health and 

safety management system certificate. The 

“product performances of several items 

distributed” follow the standards set by STMC 

and ISO 19752 and ISO 19798. 

For more information, please visit www.itrip.it. 

The Chinese manufacturer has unveiled its latest range of parts and products. 

NORTH AMERICA Google Chrome, N-up printing, Technology 

units (110V and 220V) for use in IR Advance 

C3325/3330i/3320/3320L/3320i/C3520i/3525i/353 

0i printers and a compatible paper feed roller for 

use in IR Adance C5560/5550/5540/5535/C5560i/ 

5550i/5540i/5535i. 

All three products are assured by the company 

to have been “tested and evaluated in our R&D 

lab”, and the trio offer “OEM performance at a 

fraction of the cost,” according to CET Group.. 

More details on all of CET’s new products can 

be found at www.cetgroupco.com. 

Google Chrome to feature N-up printing? 

A possible change in the browser has been reported, allowing use of the layout strategy. 

xda developers report that an upcoming 

version of Google Chrome will offer N-up 

printing, a page layout strategy that allows 

several pages of a document to be 

printed compositely on a single sheet of paper, 

thus reducing the total amount of paper 

needed whilst preserving the content of the 

document. 

The website reports that “a merged commit in 

the Chromium Gerrit […] suggests N-up 

printing is being added in a flag” and that “since 

the feature will be hidden in Chrome’s flag page 


initially, it’s considered to be in active 

development until it makes its way to the stable 

version of Chrome.” 

N-up printing employs various strategies to 

composite multiple pages onto one single 

page, including size reduction, rotation and 

rearrangements. It has proved useful for 

businesses that commonly print hundreds or 

thousands of sheets every day, and has been 

used for publications such as the Compact 

Oxford English Dictionary, which would 

ordinarily run to dozens of volumes. 


GLOBAL HP, Voice activation, ALEXA 

HP launches voice 

activated printing 

The OEM has become the first 

printer company to enable intuitive 

voice commands on leading smart 

speaker platforms. 

As Sarah Murry of The Garage reveals, HP 

“believes the consumer printer market is 

ripe for voice integration, making it the 

first print hardware company to roll out 

voice support for its web-enabled 

printers via a skill for Amazon Alexa, 

Google Assistant, and Microsoft Cortana.” 

“Integrating voice into the home 

printer is an undeniably useful 

application of the technology,” says 

Anneliese Olson, general manager and 

global head of home printing at HP. “For 

busy families, the virtual assistant 

ecosystem makes a lot of sense and 

connecting a printer to it is a natural 

extension within the smart home.” 

The kind of content you can print will 

differ depending on which platform you 

use e.g. Google or Amazon, but “it’s easy 

to see the convenience and utility of 

having the printer as part of the voice 

assistant ecosystem,” according to Olson. 

“We’ve developed printer skills to 

target the hands-free, busy parent on the 

go,” she said. “Our tests with customers 

show that they want to print whenever, 

wherever.” 

Using HP Printer skills and actions, 

consumers will be able to print a 

shopping list, produce a weekly sports 

calendar for their kids, print a sheet of 

graph paper, a Sudoku puzzle “or even a 

blank colouring page of a favourite 

character.” 

HP’s collaboration with Google 

Assistant, Amazon Alexa and Microsoft 

Cortana is described as “only the first 

step toward a fully-voice responsive 

home office or business” and Olson 

predicts that voice commands “will, in 

the future, be integrated directly into 

printers without the need for an 

intermediary speaker device.” 

49



EUROPE ARMOR, Cartridges, Business inkjet range 

ARMOR unveils OWA business inkjet range 

The French company is expanding its OWA product line with a new business inkjet range designed to meet growing demand 

from SMEs. 

ARMOR debuted the range, which is 

targeted at professional users, at 

Paperworld 2018, held from 27-30 

January 2018 in Frankfurt. 

Described by the remanufacturer 

as “economic and ecological”, the 

business inkjet range consists of 60 

different remanufactured products, all 

of which comply with OWA’s brand 

commitments. 

The range has been created in 

response to a growth in sales of 

business inkjet printers, which 

accounted for 20 percent of the inkjet 

market in 2016; a trend which is 

predicted to continue, until, by 2021, 

IDC estimates that inkjet technology “will 

account for 1 printer in 5 of all business 

printers.” 

ARMOR states that, “The new OWA offering 

for business inkjet will accompany the growth 

of this new market segment, notably in terms 

of VSEs and SMEs, which 

account for over 60 percent of 

print consumables.” 

Marie Plissonneau, Inkjet 

Category Manager at ARMOR 

Office printing, comments, “We 

have adapted our Inkjet 

offering to the demands of 

professionals, who are using 

Business Inkjet printers in everincreasing 

numbers. We help 

them to print more and more 

quickly. And at lower cost! The 

quality of our offering is also 

represented by the free services 

we offer to companies, from 

collection to technical support.” 

For more information visit www.armorgroup.com. 

NORTH AMERICA Katun, Cartridges, Extended yield 

Katun unveils extended yield colour toners 

The manufacturer has launched a new range of extended yield colour toners for the North American market, designed to help 

users improve their MPS profitability. 

The toner cartridges, which come with 

a two-year warranty, are designed for 

use in HP printers. According to Katun, 

they provide up to two times the OEM 

stated yield, and fit and function like 

OEM cartridges. 

There are 30+ colour products 

either available now or soon to be 

released, and 30+ monochrome 

products are already available. 

Katun released replacement toner 

cartridges for use in HP Colour LaserJet 

CM2320/CP 2020/CP 2025 devices. The 

extended yield cartridges have page 

yields of 4,700 for the black and 3,500 

for the CMY cartridges. 

Replacement toner cartridges are 

available for HP Colour LaserJet CM 3530/CP 

3525. The extended yield cartridges have 

page yields of 16,000 for the black and 13,000 

for the CMY cartridges. 

Katun has also released extended yield 

replacement toner cartridges for HP Colour 

LaserJet CP 4525 printers. These black 

cartridges have a page yield of 18,000. 

Extended yield replacement toner 

cartridges are available for HP Colour 

LaserJet CP 4025/CP4525 devices. The CMY 

cartridges all have a page yield of 14,000. 

Katun has released replacement toner 

cartridges for use in HP LaserJet Enterprise M 

551/M570/M575 printers. The extended yield 

cartridges have a page yield of 16,000 for the 

black, while the CMY cartridges come with a 

yield of 13,000. 

Katun has released extended yield 

replacement toner cartridges for use 

in HP LaserJet Pro 400 Colour M 

351/M375/ M451/M475. The black 

cartridges come with a page yield of 

4,400 and the CMY cartridges come 

with a yield of 3,500. 

Extended yield replacement toner 

cartridges are available for HP 

LaserJet 

Pro CM 1410/1415/CP 1525. The black 

cartridges come with a page yield of 

2,500 and the CMY cartridges come 

with a page yield of 2,000. 

Extended yield toner cartridges are 

on offer for HP LaserJet Pro Colour M 

251/276 devices. The black cartridges 

offer a page yield of 2,700 and the CMY 

cartridges offer page yields of 2,200. 

Finally, extended yield toner cartridges 

have been released for use in Colour LaserJet 

Pro M 476 printers. The black cartridges have 

a page yield of 4,700 and the CMY cartridges 

come with a page yield of 3,500. 

For more information visit 

www.katun.com. 




EUROPE KMP, Cartridges, Remanufacturing 

KMP rolls out a range of new products 

The German remanufacturer announced that it has already released 17 new products since the beginning of 2018. 

Starting the announcement KMP said: 

“Pursuant to the motto ‘The perfect 

alternative’, KMP offers inexpensive printer 

cartridges as alternatives to the original 

supplies for almost every current printer.” 

Since the beginning of the year the 

remanufacturer released 17 new articles in 

seven product groups. 

The latest new additions to the product 

range included remanufactured CMYK set of 

cartridges for use in Epson Expression 

Premium XP-530, Epson Expression Premium 

XP-540, Epson Expression Premium XP-630, 

Epson Expression Premium XP-630 Series, 

Epson Expression Premium XP-635, Epson 

Expression Premium XP-640, Epson 

Expression Premium XP-640 Series, Epson 

Expression Premium XP-645, Epson 

Expression Premium XP-900 and Epson 

Expression Premium XP-830. These cartridges 

come without chips in standard and high yield 

editions. 

Also launched were remanufactured XL 

cartridges for use in HP OfficeJet Pro 7700 

Series, HP OfficeJet Pro 7730, HP OfficeJet Pro 

7740 WF, HP OfficeJet Pro 8200 Series, HP 

OfficeJet Pro 8210, HP OfficeJet Pro 8216, HP 




OfficeJet Pro 8720 Series, HP OfficeJet Pro 

8725, HP OfficeJet Pro 8730, HP OfficeJet Pro 

8740 and HP OfficeJet Pro 7720. The 

cartridges come with chip in high yield 

edition. 

The HP range was further expanded with 

remanufactured cartridges for use in HP 

Colour LaserJet Pro M 450 Series, HP Colour 

LaserJet Pro M 452, HP Colour LaserJet Pro M 

452 dn, HP Colour LaserJet Pro M 452 dw, HP 

Colour LaserJet Pro M 452 nw, HP Colour 

LaserJet Pro M 470 Series, HP Colour LaserJet 

Pro MFP M 377 dw, HP Colour LaserJet Pro 

MFP M 477 Series, HP Colour LaserJet Pro MFP 

M 477 fdn, HP Colour LaserJet Pro MFP M 477 

fdw and HP Colour LaserJet Pro MFP M 477 

fnw as well as remanufactured cartridges for 

use in HP Colour LaserJet Pro M 252 dw, HP 

Colour LaserJet Pro M 270 Series, HP Colour 

LaserJet Pro M 274 dn, HP Colour LaserJet Pro 

M 274 n, HP Colour LaserJet Pro MFP M 270 

Series, HP Colour LaserJet Pro MFP M 277 dw, 

HP Colour LaserJet Pro MFP M 277 n and HP 

Colour LaserJet Pro M 252 n. 

KMP added to its Kyocera range with 

remanufactured cartridges for use in Kyocera 

Ecosys M 2135 dn, Kyocera Ecosys M 2635 dn, 

Kyocera Ecosys M 2635 dnw, Kyocera Ecosys P 

2200 Series, Kyocera Ecosys P 2235 dn, 

Kyocera Ecosys P 2235 dw, Kyocera Ecosys M 

2735 dw, Kyocera Ecosys M 2040 DN, Kyocera 

Ecosys M 2540 DN, Kyocera Ecosys M 2540 

DNe, Kyocera Ecosys M 2540 DNw, Kyocera 

Ecosys M 2540 Series, Kyocera Ecosys M 2640 

IDW, Kyocera Ecosys P 3045 dn, Kyocera 

Ecosys P 3055 dn, Kyocera Ecosys P 3060 dn 

and Kyocera Ecosys P 3050 dn. 

And finally the remanufacturer launched 

replacement Samsung cartridges for use in 

Samsung CLP 410 Series, Samsung CLP 415 N, 

Samsung CLP 415 NW, Samsung CLX 4100 

Series, Samsung CLX 4195 FN, Samsung 

CLX 4195 FN Premium Line, Samsung CLX 

4195 FW, Samsung CLX 4195 N, Samsung CLX 

4195 N Premium Line, Samsung CLX 4195 

Series, Samsung Xpress C 1800 Series, 

Samsung Xpress C 1810 W, Samsung Xpress C 

1810 W Premium Line, Samsung Xpress C 

1860 Series, Samsung Xpress C 1860 fw, 

Samsung Xpress C 1860 fw Premium Line and 

Samsung Xpress C 1860. 

For more information, visit www.kmp.com. 

EUROPE Photocopier Consumables, Cartridges, Fuser Units, Remanufacturing 

Photocopier Consumables launches quartet 

of products 

The UK-based remanufacturer has released four new products for use in a variety of OEM machines. 

Coventry-based company Photocopier 

Consumables has launched a new 

remanufactured fuser unit, for use in the 

Konica Minolta Bizhub 3300P/3320P/4000P/ 

4020P/4050P/4700P/4750P. 

In addition to this, the remanufacturer 

has also released a remanufactured 

universal black developing unit, which can 

be used in the Bizhub C258/C308/C368/ 

C458/C558/C658, as well as in the Develop 

Ineo+ 258/308/368/458/558/658, and the 

Olivetti MF254/304/364/454/554. The unit 

offers a lifespan of 600,000 pages. 

It has also launched a new OEM cyan 

developing unit, to be used in the Bizhub 

C258/C308/C368, the Develop Ineo+ 

258/308/368, and the Olivetti d-Colour 

MF254/304/364. 

Photocopier Consumables has also 

released a new remanufactured 

colour drum unit, which can be used in 

the BizhubC258/C308/C368/C458/ 

C558/ C658, and also in the Develop 

Ineo+ 258/308/368/ 458/558/658, 

and the Olivetti d-Colour MF254/ 

304/364/454/554. 

For more information on all of these 

products, visit www.pcl-direct.com. 


51



EUROPE Embatex, Turbon, Cartridges, Remanufacturing 

Embatex and Turbon announce new products 

The two remanufacturers have launched a wide range of remanufactured cartridges for use in Brother, HP, Kyocera, OKI, Ricoh, 

Samsung and Xerox machines. 

This month the remanufacturers extended 

their remanufactured cartridge range for use 

in Brother printers with a drum unit for use in 

Brother DCP-L5000 with a page yield of 50,000 

and the Brother HL-L6400 MA monochrome 

cartridge with a page yield of 20,000. 

The remanufacturers extended their HP 

range with remanufactured cartridge CMYK 

sets for use in HP Colour LJ Pro M452 ST with 

page yields of 2,300. Also launched was a 

CMYK set for use in HP Colour LJ Pro M452 

MA . The black cartridge comes with a page 

yield of 6,500 and the CMY come with page 

yields of 5,000. Embatex and Turbon also 

announced a CMYK set for use in HP Colour LJ 

Enterprise M553 ST with the black having a 

page yield of 6,000 and the CMY cartridges 

having a page yield of 5,000. The 

remanufactured cartridges for use in HP 

Colour LJ Enterprise M553 MA come with a 

page yield of 12,500 for the black and 9,500 for 

the CMY cartridges. Added was also a 

remanufactured monochrome cartridge for 

use in HP LJ Enterprise M506 MA with a page 


The Kyocera Ecosys range was extended 

with monochrome cartridges for use in 

Kyocera Ecosys M2040/M2640 which is 

available in standard and extended yield with 

page yields of 7,200 and 14,400. Also added 

were extended yield cartridges for use in 

Kyocera Ecosys P2040dn/dw with a page yield 

of 14,400 and standard sized and extended 

yield sized cartridges for use in Kyocera 

Ecosys P3045/P3060 with page yields of 12,500 

and 18,750, as well as standard sized and 

extended yield sized cartridges for use in 

Kyocera Ecosys P3055dn/P3060dn with page 

yields of 25,500 and 37,500 and standard sized 

and extended yield sized cartridges for use in 

Kyocera Ecosys P2235/M2135 with page yields 

of 3,000 and 6,000. And finally the Kyocera 

Ecosys range was extended with a CMYK set 

for use in Kyocera Ecosys M6030cdn/ 

P6130cdn with the black having a page yield of 

10,500 and the CMY cartridges having a page 


The OKI range was extended with 

cartridges for use in OKI B731 dn MA with a 

page yield of 36,000 and cartridges for use in 

OKI ES 4132 with a page yield of 12,000. 

Remanufactured cartridges for use in Ricoh 

Aficio MP C3002/MP C3502 were added to the 

Ricoh Aficio range. The black cartridge has a 

page yield of 28,000 and the CMY have page 

yields of 18,000. 

The Samsung range was extended with 

monochrome cartridges for use in Samsung 

ProXpress M4030 MA with a page yield of 

20,000 and a CMYK set for use in Samsung 

CLX C9250/9350ND with the black having a 

page yield of 25,000 and the CMY having a 

page yield of 15,000. Also now available are 

CMY cartridges for use in Samsung CLX 

9350NC with page yields of 20,000. 

The Xerox range was increased with a 

CMYK set for use in Xerox DocuColour 

242/260 EE with page yields of 30,000 for the 

black and 34,000 for the CMY. 

The speciality range has also had a cartridge 

added, the HP 45 inkjets – printing in colour 

green – to mark and put used by dates in 

egg production. The ink is edible and is 

certified ink. 

The announcement also included 

cartridges that are available again within their 

range; these are remanufactured cartridges 

for use in Dell B2360, Dell B3460 and Dell 

B5460 series as well as the Lexmark 

MS/MX,CS/CX series. 

ASIA Pantum, Technology, Printers 

Pantum unveils Simply Smart Family New Function 

Pantum has announced the introduction of Simply Smart Family New Function, describing it as “The New Era for Printing.” 

Offering one-step wireless network installation, 

the direct printing of office documents from 

mobile devices and more convenient mobile 

phone connection, the new function is compatible 

with a variety of Pantum printers. 

These include (SPF) P2500 series, (3-in-1) 

M6500 series, (3-in-1 ADF) M6550 series and (4-in- 

1) M6600 series. 

The function requires only one click to connect 

a printer to a PC or mobile device via wireless, and 

with the latest version of the Pantum Android App 

users can print Word, Excel and Power Point 

documents straight from their mobile phones. 

More convenient mobile connection is also part 

of the function. 

For more information visit global.pantum.com. 


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THE RECYCLER - ISSN 2045-2047 (Print) 

APRIL 2018 EDITION 

305 PUBLISHED 

29 March 2018 

THE RECYCLER TEAM 

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