The Recycler issue 337

Remote working: 

Approved printers and 

collection challenges 

Depending on your job role, having access to a 

printer, copier or a scanner in your office is a right, 

a privilege or just something that is required to 

make your job easier. At least, that was the case 

until COVID-19 changed the way we work. 

Starts page 4 

December 2020 

Issue 337 | £10 

Fuji Xerox in court over unfair contracts 

The Australian Competition and Consumer 

Commission goes to court against Fuji Xerox 

alleging that their small business contracts 

contain 173 unfair contract terms. 

Page 14 

MPS channel optimistic 

despite COVID-19 

The MPS channel is optimistic 

that 2021 will see revenues 

rebound and growth in opportunities to 

offer cloud services, contactless printing and 

support for home printing as customers adapt 

to the demands of remote and hybrid working. 

Page 18 

Despite COVID-19: GM Technology 

continues to see substantial growth 

The company continues to see unprecedented 

growth despite the coronavirus pandemic, 

economic downturn and lockdown began in 

March this year. 

Page 26 

TSTIMPRESO 

TST Impreso to distribute KODAK 

consumables 

DCI Ltd announced a strategic agreement 

with TST Impreso, Texas, for the distribution 

of KODAK remanufactured ink and toner 

cartridges for the US market. 

Page 29

IN THIS ISSUE 

2 Issue 337 December 2020

EDITORIAL 

As we went to press…. 

HP+ 

As we went to press HP had announced 

the launch of their HP+ subscription plan 

for toner and inkjet printers which is an 

expansion of its Instant Ink subscription 

service to include toner. Staples will be 

the first to offer HP+, a complete printing 

solution combining hardware, Instant 

Ink and HP Smart App with subscription 

plans starting at just $1.99 (€1.68) a 

month. To get traction on HP+ there 

are incentives including six months free 

supplies and one extra year of warranty. 

Why now? well the demand for printing 

is high (+6% NPD/GFK) at the moment, 

driven by millions of people working and 

learning from home. However, this home 

demand does not replace the reduction in 

office based MPS revenues seen by many 

OEMs. 

Europe 

Meanwhile in Europe, HP has been 

leading the talks between EuroVAprint, a 

group of eleven OEMs and the European 

Commission on a Voluntary Agreement 

to reduce energy consumption in their 

printers and consumables. There has been 

some input from leading remanufactures, 

but one of the key elements of the draft 

Voluntary Agreement is that the agreement 

won't apply to OEM cartridges or 

containers supplied under a subscription 

Demand for printing is high (+6% NPD/GFK) 

at the moment, driven by millions of people 

working and learning from home. 

(Instant Ink, MPS etc) or service models. 

It seems that HP is trying to get ahead of 

the game and with HP+ is an attempt to 

lock out the aftermarket. From a European 

market perspective, legislation for reuse 

and sustainability would be a better option 

for the whole market. 

You can read the latest state of play on the 

Voluntary Agreement on page 36. 

Theft is theft, but… 

An employee of Austin Public Library 

was able to buy $1.3 million (€1.1 million) 

worth of toners which were later sold 

online, and justice finally caught up 

with him. The employee got away with it 

because he was responsible for ordering 

▲ Stefanie Unland Editor 

& Publisher, The Recycler 

and approving the purchase and paying the 

bills. Seems that thefts like this happen 

because of poor management. A tough 

lessen for Austin taxpayers who won’t get 

their $1.3 million (€1.1 million) back. 

Remote working 

A quick insight from us. 25% of The 

Recycler subscribers have changed the 

delivery address from the office to the 

home. At the same time, more people are 

reading the digital edition of the magazine. 

2000+ people have changed their email 

addresses from work to private. While it 

is clearly not definitive research, it is an 

emerging trend that working from home is 

with us for some time to come. 

All change (again) 

The International Consumer Goods 

Show 2021 will be held on 17 – 20 April 

and in parallel will be an online Digital 

Days show. This is a unique one off 

event. “Office powered by Paperworld” 

will be a key element of the show 

bringing together most of the aspects of 

Paperworld including printer supplies and 

consumables. To find out more, visit our 

website www.therecycler.com/ICGS2021/ 

As a result of this change, The Recycler 

Live conference that was scheduled for 20 

– 21 May 2021 will now be held on 16 -17 

September 2021 at the Holiday Inn Prague 

Congress Centre. ■ 

Issue 337 

December 2020 

3

FEATURE 

Remote working: 

Approved printers and 

collection challenges 

Depending on your job role, having access to a printer, copier or a 

scanner in your office is a right, a privilege or just something that 

is required to make your job easier. At least, that was the case until 

COVID-19 changed the way we work. 

▲ Peter Mayhew Director & Senior 

Analyst, Lightwords Imaging 

When millions of workers were instructed to 

work from home, IT departments scrambled 

to get systems in place to allow employees 

to “sign-in” securely to the business and 

access key folders, files and mission critical 

applications. Print was somewhat an 

afterthought. 

Those used to printing pages to complete 

forms, gain authorisation or finalise reports 

were offered digital versions as an option 

but, not every scenario could remove paper 

from the workflow. For example, the Legal 

Officer reviewing and completing contracts, 

the Project Manager planning time 

allocations and the Designer proof checking 

artwork, all rely on the printed pages for 

their work. But how did they put in place a 

printing facility at home? 

FEATURED 

A R TIC L E 

First question to their employer was who 

is going to pay for the facility? The quick 

answer was employee pays and submits an 

invoice for reimbursement. Not ideal if cash 

flow or credit is a problem for the employee. 

Second choice, the business buys the 

printers (transactional) and has them “drop 

shipped to the employee’s homes. A more 

convenient option for the business but still, 

problematic if the purchasing and approval 

process is bureaucratic. Or the business 

contacts its MPS provider and they “add-on” 

a quantity of lower specification desktop 

printers to the MPS contract (contractual). 

Probably the most convenient option for the 

organized business with the most control 

going forward. 

Those used to printing pages to complete forms, 

gain authorisation or finalise reports were offered 

digital versions as an option... 

Next question is who qualifies to get 

a printer at home? The answer to this 

question is addressed in a recent study 

entitled “The Future of the Office Survey 

(US): Keypoint Intelligence 2020”, 

which also contains a Western European 

component. The study identified that 

what and how American workers at home 

printed varied depending on the size 

of their employer. 

Most American home printing was an 

attempt to replicate a paper-based office 

workflow with documents either printed 

and home and 1.) returned to the office 

by post, 2.) stored and filed when back in 

the office or 3.) scanned and emailed back 

into a digital workflow. Previous Keypoint 

Intelligence studies had also identified 

that the primary reasons to print were for 

permanent storage usually to fulfil a legal 

requirement, signature, approval or, to 

pass a hardcopy to a colleague. Document 

annotation, meeting notes and presentation 

reviews are other popular reasons to print. 


You can contact The Recycler via Twitter at @RecyclerMedia 

Many of these services are offered and implemented 

by the industries OEMs from their copiers and 

MFPs and are accessible from the end-user’s desktop. 

Managers scrambled to put forward these 

typical justifications to IT managers for 

printers at home and IT Departments had 

few arguments against a solid justification. 

IT Services have, over the past few years, 

been implementing document workflow 

services which included standardized forms, 

approval processes and digital signature 

systems. Implementation of document 

workflows has expanded into almost all 

vertical markets with both bespoke and 

standardized offerings. 

Many of these services are offered and 

implemented by the industries OEMs from 

their copiers and MFPs and are accessible 

from the end-user’s desktop. Documents can 

even be captured using apps which convert 

smartphone camera pictures to pdf’s and 

enter them direct into digital workflows. 

Assuming that the employee with a business 

printing at home need was able to get through 

these justifications and was told to buy a 

printer, the next question was what to buy 

and from where? This was probably the most 

expensive option for many businesses. 

When the home worker has latitude to pick 

what they want, brand preferences come into 

play, feature sets quickly become meaningless 

beyond does is print with good quality and 

quite quickly, can it copy, scan, maybe fax 

and, is it easy to connect to the home Wi-Fi? 

A secondary consideration is the cost and 

availability of supplies. Very few buyers were 

able to discover what it costs to print a page 

in colour, if you could easily turn off colour 

printing or, how to dispose of the empties. 

Unused and unwanted 

empty cartridges? 

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December 2020 

5

FEATURE 

FEATURED 

A R TIC L E 

If it were possible to go into a store then, 

the inkjet or toner discussion may have 

happened. But all the shipment reports 

indicate that inkjet was the clear winner 

during European lockdown. We now have 

an enlarged population of home ink jet 

printers consuming volume from toner 

pages that used to be produced on highly 

specified, A3 copiers and MFP’s in offices. 

These inkjets are also responding to the 

increased demands of printing homework 

assignments. 

The home office inkjet winners were 

Brother, Canon, Epson and HP, but only 

where they had inventory at the correct 

locations. Ink tank printers and MFP’s 

proved especially popular along with those 

offering supplies subscription service. The 

compelling argument for ink tank printer 

types was the high number of pages that 

can be printed from one fill of ink and the 

low cost of refill ink. Careful design means 

a mess free refilling experience, a critical 

issue for home users. 

Between the HP Deskjet, Envy and 

NeverStop ranges the brand leader had 

inkjet and toner options with cartridges, 

ink tanks and a toner refill proposition. 

The instant ink option of paying a monthly 

fee for a commitment to print a specific 

number of pages proved popular because, 

users always have ink available. For many 

this was the first time the price to print a 

page was transparent and many, used to 

committing to similarly structured phone 

contracts, signed up. 

Printed page costs vary with HP Instant 

Ink depending on how many pages you 

commit to print. The price could be as 

high as €0.03 ($0.035) per colour A4 page 

charged through a monthly subscription! 

HP NeverStop printers are only available 

as a monochrome device, with toner refill 

costs at €0.007 ($0.008) per page based on 

standard page coverage and yield. 

Throughout the pandemic, HP’s most 

popular laser printers have been their 

Color LaserJet Pro M479fdw and the HP 

LaserJet Pro M404dn, probably because 

of their powerful wi-fi connectivity, wide 

transactional availability, easy to find 

supplies and security upgrade possibilities. 

Epson UK’s Alice Ramsden de Gomez, 

Consumer Product Manager said: “The 

demand for Epson’s entire consumer range, 

including printers, projectors and scanners, 

has been extraordinary as the pandemic has 

unfolded.” Epson claim that in Western 

Europe they saw a surge in demand for 

their Eco-Tank range, especially the 

ET27XX models as well as the ET-3750 

and the ET-4750. Epson arguably had the 

most experience and range to win, they 

had been shipping ink tank products into 

emerging markets for several years and 

understand this market. The refill ink per 

color printed page price for the Epson ET- 

3750 is €0.006 ($0.007). 

Brother also recorded higher than usual 

sales for their cartridge-based printer and 

MFP ranges, probably due to their strong 

channel presence in the micro and small 

business markets. 

If it were possible to go into a store then, the 

inkjet or toner discussion may have happened. 

But all the shipment reports indicate that inkjet 

was the clear winner during European lockdown. 

That leaves Canon with their Pixma and 

Maxify ranges. It was these cartridgebased 

ranges that were readily available 

on the shelves across Western Europe, 

but Canon quickly responded to demand 

adding MegaTank products to the Pixma 

range. The Canon MegaTank ranges offer 

high page yields from a single fill of ink 

at a colour page price of €0.005 ($0.006), 

which compares well to transactional 

toner printed page costs and even some 

bulk ink tank competitors. 




December 2020 

7

FEATURE 

Where business did keep the home users 

buying decision in-house, a different 

scenario emerged. Toner proved a more 

popular choice, probably because B2B 

printers offer a better integration into 

the extended office network than even 

the most advanced Business inkjet MFP’s 

provide. Familiar workflow apps were 

often available for these devices, especially 

when scanning to cloud-based servers was 

required. 

Winners in this segment were those 

brands which resisted the strategy of 

the last few years to build increasingly 

sophisticated A3 copiers with high duty 

cycles and then lock-in medium and large 

sized enterprises with complex MPS 

contracts and punitive exit fees. These 

copiers from Canon, KonicaMinolta, 

Kyocera, Ricoh and Sharp and Xerox 

are now experiencing changed operating 

patterns from workers who only irregularly 

visit the office for collaboration. 

As evidenced by the financial results from 

many of these OEMs, revenues from click 

charges are down significantly and they 

are scrambling to offer new IT Services 

based on document workflows, security 

implications and new, networking roles for 

their office based MFP’s. 

Mono brand channel partners, dealers 

and resellers all struggled to find suitable 

hardware to offer home workers in the 

product ranges of their copier type OEM 

partners. Fortunately, their vendors had 

printer-based alternatives available. But 

often, the printers on offer were too highly 

specified, the wrong footprint for the 

home environment or, very energy hungry. 

Lexmark was typical of the OEM’s with 

smaller footprint printers and mfp’s who 

As evidenced by the financial results from many 

of these OEMs, revenues from click charges 

are down significantly and they are scrambling 

to offer new IT Services based on document 

workflows, security implications and new, 

networking roles for their office based MFP’s. 

gained installations when Enterprise 

customers wanted a secure, networkable 

device with a manageable cost profile 

aligned to existing printing fees, to offer to 

home workers. 

Getting toner cartridges into the home 

office environment is not easy. Gone are 

the days of going to the local Staples or 

Office Depot for a new toner cartridge. 

Fortunately, page yields from toner 

cartridges are now high enough to keep 

home workers printing for many months. 

So, it’s not a huge problem, yet. 

IT Departments also know where these 

toner-based printers are and if they are 

mono, their printing costs are contained 

as personal printing is less attractive. If 

the IT department, or its MPS provider 

has sufficient sophistication they will 

also be able to monitor use in the home 

environment and ensure that automatic 

supplies replenishment happens on-time 

and, to the user’s front door. 

That brings us onto the problem of 

waste. Let’s look at the Ink jet scenario 

first. Ink cartridges are a known entity. 

In the consumer public domain, local 

waste recycling centers used to be the 

default collection point but, waste transfer 

regulations stopped that activity. Now, the 

consumer can choose to: 

1. Return the empty in a postage 

paid bag or box to the OEM. If 

the cartridge was obtained through a 

manufacturer subscription service this is 

probably the only option as the cartridge 

belongs to the manufacturer. They will 

have factored the costs of the cartridge 

into the subscription service and will be 

expecting its return! Users will probably 

use this method if they purchased from an 

on-line retailer, as well. 

2. Take the cartridge back to 

the channel partner who sold the 

cartridge to the user. This is probably 

the simplest return method. If the supplies 

were purchased from a physical store. 

Taking the empty cartridge back is easy 

as the retailer should have a collection 

process in place. 

3. Donate the empty cartridge to 

a charity. This method is appealing to 

many consumers as there are numerous 

“good-causes” offering local collection 

points. The charity hosts a collection 

box or creates a collection point, and 

they are probably paid a fee for each 

cartridge returned. 



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December 2020 

9

FEATURE 

Empty ink refill tanks are a different 

proposition because, these are typically 

empty plastic bottles which can be placed 

into regular household recycling bins and 

recycled with household recycling waste. 

Toner cartridges are different again and 

arguably, were not intended to be placed in 

the home environment. They are WEEE 

and therefore require licensed collection 

and transfer, are candidates for reuse, 

remanufacturing and ultimately, regulated 

disposal. Choices for the home toner 

cartridge user are limited. 

1. Return the cartridge back to the 

office. Probably the easiest method if you 

occasionally return to the office. Simply 

repack the cartridge, take it into the office 

and leave it in a box with the other cartridge 

returns for collection by a licensed collector. 

2. Return to an OEM repair 

facility. Some manufacturers use their 

local service centres to act a toner cartridge 

collection point. 

3. Toner cartridge purchased 

from a catalogue supplier. Place the 

cartridge back its original packaging and 

seal the box. Call the supplier and request 

a return label, that is usually delivered with 

your next order of stationary. Label the 

box and request a collection with your next 

stationary order. A licensed collector calls 

and takes away the cartridge. 

All the OEMs will offer one or some 

of the previous consumer and B2B 

solutions. However, returning the 

empty cartridge will involve some effort 

on the end user’s part. 

4. Return to a cartridge 

remanufacturer for reuse. Simply call 

your local remanufacturer and then ask if 

they will take your empty toner cartridges 

for reuse or remanufacturing. They may be 

able to help you. 

All the OEMs will offer one or some of 

the previous consumer and B2B solutions. 

However, returning the empty cartridge 

will involve some effort on the end user’s 

part. And therein is the problem. 

In the office workplace there is an 

established process for collecting empty 

toner and ink jet cartridges with appropriate 

licensing and incentives to encourage 

returns depending on the collecting 

provider. 

At home though, used cartridges are likely 

to accumulate. There will be many causes 

and reasons; “I forgot to take it back into the 

office with me.” “It’s in the back of 

the cupboard somewhere.” “We were 

moving to a new house and found several 

in the back of the garage.” I am sure there 

will be many more. 

Making it easy for home used, ink and 

toner cartridges to re-enter the recycling, 

reuse and remanufacturing is a new 

problem. It is still looking for a solution. ■ 




December 2020 

11

IN THIS ISSUE 

On the cover 

Remote working: Approved printers 

and collection challenges 

Aftermarket responds to 

the Voluntary Agreement 

36 

ChipJet, it’s all in the 

name; Chips and Jets 

4 

38 

Editorial 

3 As we went to press…. 

Feature 

4 Remote working: Approved 

printers and collection challenges 

World Focus 

14 Fuji Xerox in court over unfair 

contracts • Australian HCP 

market sees spike in inkjets 

16 HP in the news… 

17 Cloud will continue to grow 

18 MPS channel optimistic despite 

COVID-19 

19 Paperworld – New dates and 

early booking extended 

20 $1.3 million toner theft from 

Austin Library • Selling into 

the EU? Read on 

City News 

22 OEM share prices November 

2020 • RBS acquires assets 

of Databranch 

23 Hubei Dinglong releases 2020Q3 

results • Marco purchases 

Advanced Office Systems 

• The Lioce Group acquires DPSI 

24 Toner Inc Ltd enters insolvency 

• Ricoh acquires MTI Technology 

Around the Industry 

26 Despite COVID-19: 

GM Technology continues 

to see substantial growth 

• Ninestar announces Eric Zhang 

as General Manager 

27 EveryonePrint achieves 

ISO 27001 certification 

28 PRPS announces new partnerships 

29 TST Impreso to distribute 

KODAK consumables 

30 MCC and Delacamp extend 

exclusive distributorship • HYB 

adds distributor in Turkmenistan, 

names employee of the month 

31 COVID-19 impact on plastic crisis 

32 RIS expands InkCenters to 

Switzerland • Impression Solutions 

launches imaging dealers website 

33 KMP hosts local mayor, celebrates 

an employees 25 th Anniversary 

34 CTS is 25 and celebrates with 

a new look website • ARMOR 

Office Printing becomes 

ARMOR Print Solutions 

Feature 

36 Aftermarket responds to the 

Voluntary Agreement 

38 ChipJet, it’s all in the name; 

Chips and Jets 

Products & Technology 

40 IR Italiana Riprografia never stops 

41 Katun Europe introduces 

assortment of new products • PRPS 

adds new range of inkjet cartridges 

42 CET announces latest products 

• Apex introduces latest 

replacement chips 

43 GM Technology adds new products 

• HYB launches wide variety 

of new products 

However you consume your 

news make sure you engage: 

Like, Follow and Share 



December 2020 

13

WORLD FOCUS 

AUSTRALASIA Fuji Xerox, Legal, ACCC 

Fuji Xerox in court over 

unfair contracts 

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission goes to court 

against Fuji Xerox alleging that their small business contracts contain 

173 unfair contract terms. 

© Fuji Xerox Australia 

Following a series of complaints by from 

small businesses, including a complaint 

from the Australian Small Business and 

Family Enterprise Ombudsman, the 

Australian Competition and Consumer 

Commission (ACCC) has instituted 

proceedings in the Federal Court against 

printing company Fuji Xerox Australia Pty 

Ltd and a related company (together, Fuji), 

alleging that in total nine types of Fuji’s 

standard form small business contracts 

contain 173 unfair contract terms. 

The ACCC alleges there are 31 different 

terms which are unfair, including automatic 

renewal terms, excessive exit fees and 

unilateral prices increases. The terms have 

been used in contracts between Fuji and its 

small business customers for the supply of 

printing goods and services and technical 

assistance since at least October 2018. 

“We have received a number of complaints 

from small businesses alleging that some 

of the terms in Fuji’s contracts have caused 

them significant financial harm,” ACCC 

Deputy Chair Mick Keogh said. 

“Some of the unilateral variation terms 

allow Fuji to modify contracts by creating 

new rights and obligations, including 

increasing prices, without notifying its 

customers and without giving them any 

corresponding right to negotiate or reject.” 

“The ACCC will argue that the unfair 

terms in these contracts cause a significant 

imbalance in the rights and obligations of 

Fuji and the small businesses they contract 

with,” Mr Keogh said. 

“This court action by the ACCC should 

prompt all other traders in the printing 

support industry to review their standard 

form contracts and make any necessary 

changes to remove unfair contract terms." 

The ACCC is seeking declarations that 

the terms in the existing contracts between 

Fuji and its small business customers are 

unfair and therefore void, and an injunction 

to prevent Fuji from relying on these terms 

in its current contracts or entering into 

future contracts that contain those terms. 

The ACCC is also seeking an order for 

a corrective notice, a compliance program 

and costs. 

Fuji responded to the ACCC’s actions 

saying: “Fuji Xerox Australia Pty Limited 

(FXA) notes the ACCC’s announcement 

that it has commenced legal proceedings 

alleging certain FXA contracts contain 

unfair contract terms under the Australian 

Consumer Law. 

“FXA had been cooperating with 

the ACCC’s investigation and had 

proposed a number of contract changes 

to seek to address the ACCC’s concerns. 

In that context, FXA is disappointed 

that the ACCC has decided to commence 

proceedings, which FXA intends to 

defend.” ■ 

AUSTRALASIA IDC, Market Research, HCP, Inkjet 

Australian HCP market sees spike in inkjets 

Working from home brought both challenges and opportunities to the Australian print market, 

according to latest data from IDC. 

The Australian hardcopy peripherals 

(HCP) shipment recorded 810,000 million 

units in the first half of 2020, according 

to the latest IDC Asia Pacific Quarterly 

Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker. The market 

size was 3.7% less year-on-year (YoY), 

primarily driven by the weaker demand from 

corporates during the COVID-19 lockdown. 

Despite the downturn in the laser singlefunction 

market category (-20% units YoY), 

both inkjet and laser multifunction devices 

(MFDs) benefited from the demand growth 

from home-users and reported almost flat 

YoY performance, against the declining trend 

in previous years. 

“Consumer-targeted products increased in 

sales because of remote working and distance 

learning, predominantly through large local 

retailers whose stores remained open during 

the restrictions,” said Jimmy Li, Market 

Analyst at IDC. 

From the products’ perspective, inkjet 

models within US$100-$300 (€85-€255) 

price band experienced a spike in demand 

from the home-based working environment, 

thanks to the panic buy around March and 

April. In contrast, key laser vendors reduced 

the shipment volume of low-end laser 

devices with a print speed of less than 

20 ppm gradually. Both inkjet and laser 

markets suffered from a certain level of 

stock and logistic issues due to the COVIDoutbreak 

in the Asia Pacific regions. 

“The business world is heading towards 

‘the next normal’, a comprehensive 

hybrid working model with possible 

lower reliance on print,” said Jimmy Li. 

“However, the requirement of day-to-day 

location independent processes also brings 

opportunities to the market. Vendors and 

channels can no longer rely on hardware and 

consumable sales alone but need to focus on 

and expand their offerings into cloud services, 

security control, and solution-based approach 

across offices and home locations.” ■ 


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December 2020 15

WORLD FOCUS 

GLOBAL HP Inc., IP, Firmware, SEC 

HP in the news… 

In the past few weeks headlines included that HP has agreed to pay US$6 

million (€5.11 million) to settle charges levied by the U.S Securities and 

Exchange Commission, the OEM has managed to get the firmware Class 

Action dismissed and more. 

The firmware Class Action was first 

brought by Florida based John Parziale 

and others on 27 August 2019 this year 

in the United States District Court for 

the Northern District of California, 

HP’s principal place of business and 

headquarters. 

The complaint sought to stop HP’s 

practice of modifying and corrupting 

Purchasers’ printers by forcing 

unauthorised changes to their firmware 

and to obtain redress for all Purchasers 

Nationwide (“Class Members”) who, within 

the applicable statute of limitations period, 

had their HP Printers modified to stop 

recognising and accepting third party ink 

cartridges. 

On 29 September 2020, the Court granted 

HP’s motion to dismiss. The documents 

state: “Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil 

Procedure 58, the Court hereby ENTERS 

judgment in favour of Defendant and 

against Plaintiff. The Clerk of Court shall 

close the file in this matter.” United States 

District Judge Edward J. Davila filed the 

judgement, closing the Class Action for 

good. 

The U.S Securities and Exchange 

Commission (SEC) imposed a $6 million 

(€5.11 million) penalty as well instigating 

cease and desist proceedings against HP Inc. 

without admitting or denying the SEC‘s 

findings. 

Between early 2015 and June 2016, 

HP regional managers used a variety of 

incentives to accelerate, or “pull-in,” to the 

current quarter sales of printer consumables 

that they would otherwise expect to 

materialise in later quarters. 

The SEC also found that managers in the 

HP Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) region 

sold printing supplies to distributors 

who HP known to be involved in selling 

HP printing supplies into grey market 

channels causing significant margin erosion 

and cannibalisation of HP sales in HP’s 

European and African markets. 

The SEC said “The practice had occurred 

on a small scale in APJ for years and came 

to be included in APJ’s budgeting process. 

To engage in the A Business [grey market], 

sales managers in APJ provided HP product 

to resellers and brokers within their region 

at higher than normal discounts, knowing 

they would sell the goods through 

a network of firms into the Middle East.” 

In some instances, the discounts were in 

excess of forty percent. 

Despite the risk that these sales practices 

could negatively impact HP’s operating 

profit in future quarters, HP did not 

disclose to the market during the relevant 

time period that its use of the pull-ins and 

grey sales were causing decreased margins 

and increased channel inventory. 

During this period, one regional general 

manager in the Printing segment described 

“unhealthy levels of stock” in Tier 1 and 

Tier 2, saying that “we needed the Supplies 

Revenue & we used significant amounts 

of contra to push in Supplies at T1 to > 2 

weeks above their optimal levels.” 

In June 2016, HP changed its go-tomarket 

model, in part to address the 

undisclosed sales practices and undertook 

a channel inventory reduction that would 

reduce HP’s net revenue by approximately 

$450 million (€383 million) during the 

third and fourth quarters of 2016 the SEC 

said. The $450 million (€383 million) 

reduction represented 5% of HP’s reported 

printing segment net revenue for the second 

half of 2016. 

Furthermore, HP Inc. announced the 

expansion of its Planet Partners supplies 

return and recycling programme to 68 

countries, including Argentina, Chile, and 

Papua New Guinea. 

The OEM said that expanding its OEM 

printing supplies recycling programme into 

new markets furthers the company’s longstanding 

commitment to driving a circular 

and low carbon economy with its partners 

and customers. 

To date, the program has recycled over 

875 million HP ink and toner cartridges. 

Buying and recycling Original HP ink and 

toner cartridges, customers and partners 

take action in HP’s closed loop process. 

Also announced was the expansion of 

HP’s Bug Bounty programme to focus 

specifically on office-class print cartridge 

security vulnerabilities. 

As part of this programme, HP has 

engaged with Bugcrowd, a crowdsourced 

cybersecurity company, to conduct a 

three-month programme in which four 

professional ethical hackers have been 

challenged to identify vulnerabilities in the 

interfaces associated with the HP original 

print cartridges. If any of the hackers are 

successful, HP will award up to $10,000 

(€8,538) per vulnerability. 

In India, the OEM’s Anti Counterfeiting 

and Fraud (ACF) Programme for the 

EMEA announced it has seized counterfeit 

supplies worth $6 million (€5.08 million) 

within nine months. HP’s ACF Programme 

also managed to identify and de-list 10,000 

websites selling counterfeit supplies. ■ 



GLOBAL IDC, Cloud, Forecasts, Market Research 

Cloud will continue to grow 

Cloud adoption and opportunities will continue to 

expand leading to a $1 trillion (€0.85 trillion) market 

in 2024, according to latest research from IDC. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has largely 

proven to be an accelerator of cloud 

adoption and extension and will continue 

to drive a faster conversion to cloud-centric 

IT. According to a new whole cloud forecast 

from International Data Corporation 

(IDC), total worldwide spending on 

cloud services, the hardware and software 

components underpinning cloud services, 

and the professional and managed services 

opportunities around cloud services will 

surpass $1.0 trillion (€0.85 trillion) in 2024 

while sustaining a double-digit compound 

annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.7%. 

"Cloud in all its permutations – hardware/ 

software/services/as a service as well as 

public/private/hybrid/multi/edge – will 

play ever greater, and even dominant, roles 

across the IT industry for the foreseeable 

future," said Richard L. Villars, Group Vice 

President, Worldwide Research at IDC. "By 

the end of 2021, based on lessons learned in 

the pandemic, most enterprises will put a 

mechanism in place to accelerate their shift 

to cloud-centric digital infrastructure and 

application services twice as fast as before 

the pandemic." 

The strongest growth in cloud revenues 

will come in the as a service category – 

public (shared) cloud services and dedicated 

(private) cloud services, according to IDC. 

This category, which is also the largest 

category in terms of overall revenues, is 

forecast to deliver a five-year CAGR of 

21.0%. By 2024, the as a service category 

will account for more than 60% of all cloud 

revenues worldwide. The services category, 

which includes cloud-related professional 

services and cloud-related management 

services, will be the second largest category 

in terms of revenue but will experience the 

slowest growth with an 8.3% CAGR. This is 

due to a variety of factors, including greater 

use of automation in cloud migrations. 

The smallest cloud category, infrastructure 

build, which includes hardware, software, 

and support for enterprise private clouds 

and service provider public clouds, will 

enjoy solid growth (11.1% CAGR) over the 

forecast period. 

While the impact of COVID-19 could 

have some negative effects on cloud 

adoption over the next several years, there 

are a number of factors that are driving the 

cloud market forward. 

The ecosystem of tech companies helping 

customers migrate to cloud environments, 

create new innovations in the cloud, 

and manage their expanding cloud 

environments will enable enterprises to 

meet their accelerated schedules for moving 

to cloud. 

The emergence of consumption-based 

IT offerings are aimed at leveraging public 

cloud-like capabilities in an on-premises 

environment that reduces the complexity 

and restructures the cost for enterprises 

that want additional security, dedicated 

resources, and more granular management 

capabilities. 

The adoption of cloud services should 

enable organizations to shift IT from 

maintenance of legacy IT to new digital 

transformation initiatives, which can lead 

to new business revenue and competitiveness 

as well as create new opportunities for 

suppliers of professional services. 

IDC concluded that hybrid cloud 

has become central to successful digital 

transformation efforts by defining an 

IT architectural approach, an IT 

investment strategy, and an IT 

staffing model that ensures the 

enterprise can achieve the optimal 

balance across dimensions without 

sacrificing performance, reliability, 

or control. ■ 

New Look Trade Only 

Website from CTS 

Toner Supplies 

E: sales@ctstonersupplies.co.uk 

T: 01543 474920 

www.ctstonersupplies.co.uk 

*Orders received by email or phone have a 5pm cut off for same day dispatch. 

Orders received by website or EDI have a 6pm cut off for same day dispatch. 


December 2020 17

WORLD FOCUS 

EUROPE Quocirca, Research, MPS, Opportunities 

MPS channel optimistic despite COVID-19 

The Managed Print Services (MPS) channel is optimistic that 2021 will see revenues rebound and growth in 

opportunities to offer cloud services, contactless printing and support for home printing as customers adapt to the 

demands of remote and hybrid working. 

Quocirca’s 2020 State of the Channel survey 

investigated attitudes among 205 channel 

organisations selling managed print services 

(MPS) in the UK, France, Germany and 

the US. Although 50% of respondents 

reported that revenue has declined in 2020, 

the majority display optimism for the next 

year, with 66% predicting that revenue 

will rise in 2021. 

According to the latest research, COVID-19 

had a severe impact on the sector, with 45% of 

respondents saying customer print volumes 

have fallen. This rose to 62% among UK 

respondents and 64% in the USA, while 

only 24% of French organisations said print 

volumes had dropped. Overall, 53% said the 

pandemic had a negative impact on their 

business, although for 25% the effect was 

positive. 

Quocirca Director Louella Fernandes 

commented: “The pandemic has accelerated 

changes that were already under way in the 

print market. The channel is optimistic 

but must adapt fast to capitalise on new 

opportunities and secure its place as a trusted 

partner for organisations that are pivoting to 

hybrid and remote-working.” 

Key findings from the study at a glance: 

• 53% of respondents say COVID-19 has had 

a negative impact on their business. 25% 

indicated a positive impact. 

• 45% say customer print volumes have 

dropped due to the pandemic 

• 34% say selling MPS has opened new 

opportunities to provide value-added 

services; 32% say it has helped build longer 

term customer relationships 

• 37% say broader market disruption is the top 

channel concern for the coming year. Other 

key concerns were adapting to a managed 

services model (23%) and digital disruption 

(22%) 

• Cloud is viewed as the leading growth area 

between now and 2022, followed by home 

printing services and contactless print 

provision. 

• Channel companies report satisfaction gaps 

with key elements of vendor programmes 

including market development funds 

(MDF), training and support for app 

development, and financial support. 

MPS programmes are mature and they 

are delivering additional benefits. 34% of 

respondents said they had accessed new 

opportunities to sell value-added services such 

as information management and collaboration 

tools; 32% said they have built longer term 

relationships with customers; 29% said there 

were more opportunities to sell non-print 

related services such as IT services. 

Diversification is under way, with 32% 

saying they now offer managed IT services 

alongside MPS. There are significant regional 

variations, however. Half of UK respondents 

offer managed IT services alongside MPS, 

compared to just 16% of German respondents. 

Overall, 29% offer print security services and 

28% offer cloud print services. 

Looking ahead, cloud print services are 

viewed as the most important growth area in 

the next two years, followed by the provision 

of home printing services and contactless 

printing. While cloud migration has been 

a driver for some time, the other areas are 

directly associated with pandemic factors. 

This is reflected in the top challenge facing 

channel businesses in the coming year, with 

37% citing broader market disruption as a key 

area of concern. 

Commenting on the research findings, 

Fernandes said: “MPS is undoubtedly 

providing opportunities for the channel 

to diversify into adjacent areas. It can be a 

platform for future growth if companies 

can successfully build partnerships with 

complementary service providers and invest 

in the sales, technical and marketing skills 

needed to deliver a broader range of services.” 

18 Issue 337 December 2020 

The study identified a disconnection 

between elements of a vendor’s channel 

programme seen as important by channel 

companies and their satisfaction with those 

elements. Respondents rated training and 

support for app development, access to 

market development funds (MDF) and 

lead generation as the three most important 

criteria in a vendor’s channel programme. 

However, they were least satisfied with MDF 

and financial support, and the biggest gap 

between importance and satisfaction rates 

occurred in training and support for app 

development. 

Analysing the effect of satisfaction gaps, 

Fernandes commented: “The channel needs 

to be clear with vendors about the support it 

needs to adapt to the changing environment, 

and vendors must respond. The channel 

recognises opportunities around integrated 

document workflow apps and solutions, 

especially for hybrid and remote-working 

environments, but doesn’t feel equipped to 

capitalise on these.” 

Quocirca’s State of the Channel 2020 

contains in-depth analysis of vendor 

programmes and recommendations for 

channel partners so they can successfully 

navigate the challenges 

ahead. Download a 

complimentary executive 

summary and infographic 

by scanning the QR code. ■

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

GLOBAL Paperworld 2021, International Consumer Goods Show 

– Special Edition, Paperworld Middle East 

Paperworld – New dates 

and early booking extended 

Restyled for one year only as the International Consumer Goods Show 

– Special Edition, brings Paperworld, the Remanexpo product group, 

Christmasworld and Ambiente together from 17 to 20 April 2021. 

The Largest UK 

Remanufacturer 

Toner Cartridges 

Chips 

Waste Toner Bottles 

Fuser Units 

Drum Units 

Developers 

OEM STOCK 

PPE 

Messe Frankfurt, the show organisers, 

are advising customers they will need to reregister 

for the newly created International 

Consumer Goods Show – Special Edition 

and the invitation and registration link will 

be sent out in the middle of October. 

Register by the 30 October 2020 and you 

will benefit from an early booking discount 

and will be part of the initial planning of the 

halls. Once Messe Frankfurt have received 

the registrations, the conceptual hall 

planning will begin. 

If you have already registered or firmly 

committed to Paperworld 2021, Messe 

Frankfurt will cancel the registration, 

stand space proposal and, if applicable, the 

exhibition contract that has already been 

concluded, free of charge. 

In Dubai, Paperworld Middle East, the 

region’s dedicated trade fair for paper, 

stationery, and office supplies announced 

it will now run in 24 – 26 May 2021 at the 

Dubai World Trade Centre. 

Syed Ali Akbar, Show Director for both 

exhibitions, said the decision to move the 

dates comes after extensive consultation 

with industry stakeholders, including 

exhibitors and trade partner associations. 

“Paperworld Middle East will return with 

its full complement of international and 

local exhibitors, while the first edition of 

Gifts & Lifestyle Middle East will debut 

with some of the most innovative designdriven 

solutions for interior designers, 

distributors, and retailers of gifts and dining 

products, as well as finished leather goods,” 

said Mr Akbar. 

“All our value-added features such as the 

Green Room for eco-friendly office supplies; 

and Playworld Village, presenting the 

magical world of children’s toys and games, 

will return, so there will be plenty to look 

forward to when the industry safely reunites 

under one roof for three days in Dubai.” 

Paperworld Middle East will also feature 

the Remanexpo Pavilion, a dedicated area 

for OEM and aftermarket printer supplies, 

computer hardware and software. 

In India, Messe Frankfurt India has also 

co-locates Paperworld India, Corporate 

Gifts Show and Interior Lifestyle India 

presented by Ambiente India and scheduled 

it for March 2021. 

Initially slated in January 2021 at the 

Bombay Exhibition Centre in Mumbai, 

the co-located fairs are now set to take 

place from 11 – 13 March 2021 at the 

same venue. Scheduled in the first quarter 

of the year, the new dates bring in ease 

of planning, preparation and participation 

for all stakeholders. ■ 

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products, services & facilities 

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development teams 

The largest range of 

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Contact ECS NOW 

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December 2020 19

WORLD FOCUS 

NORTH AMERICA Crime, Cartridges, Reselling, Credit Card Fraud 

$1.3 million toner theft from Austin Library 

Austin Public Library (APL) found evidence that one of its former employees stole at least $1.3 million (€1.1 million) 

in printer toner cartridges and resold them online. 

In an investigative report entitled Austin 

Public Library: Fraud and Waste, the 

Library has admitted to finding evidence 

that Randall Whited, previously employed 

at the library, fraudulently bought and 

stole at least $1.3 million (€1.1 million) in 

printer toner cartridges and resold it online. 

The report also said Whited also misused a 

Library credit card to buy electronics and 

home goods for personal use. 

In March 2019 the Office of the City 

Auditor received an allegation that Randall 

Whited, an Austin Public Library employee, 

was stealing printer toner cartridges, storing 

it in his garage, and selling it online. As 

an Accounting Associate, Whited was 

responsible for making and approving 

purchases, cash receipts, billing, and other 

accounting transactions. 

Findings of the report showed that Whited 

had access to ten Library credit cards and 

was responsible for purchasing supplies, 

including printer toner cartridges, for APL. 

Whited purchased at least $1.5 million 

(€1.27 million) in printer toner cartridges 

between October 2007 and July 2019. Based 

on available printer usage information, 

but according to the report, the office 

estimated that APL would have needed at 

most $150,000 (€127,212) worth of printer 

toner cartridges during this time. The report 

shows video evidence of Whited carrying 

the cartridges away from his workplace and 

altered receipts for the purchases. 

The report stated: “The Library’s poor 

practices and procedures provided an 

opportunity for Whited to steal from the 

City during his tenure, leading to waste 

and overspending by the department. 

Whited took advantage of poor purchasing 

reviews by his supervisors, former Financial 

Manager Victoria Rieger and Contract 

Management Specialist Monica McClure. 

Whited also took advantage of several 

other purchasing and budget-related 

shortcomings, such as having a role in 

the approval of his own purchases and 

insufficient oversight of the Library’s 

budget by Rieger and Assistant Director 

Dana McBee.” 

Whited resigned in lieu of termination 

for an unrelated issue in August 2019 

and APL referred these issues to the 

Austin Police Department, due to the 

potentially criminal nature of Whited’s 

actions. ■ 

EUROPE EU, Shaping Europe’s Digital Future, Business, Selling 

Selling into the EU? Read on. 

New regulations that come into force in July 2021 will require all products 

sold in the European Union to be registered with an EU based, official 

responsible party. 

If you are based outside of the European 

Union (EU) and you sell directly, online, 

or through a fulfilment service like eBay or 

Amazon, this regulation affects you. All the 

products you sell will need registering with an 

EU based, official responsible party. 

The regulation, Regulation (EU) 

2019/1020 comes into force in July 2021, 

and it's purpose is to strengthen the controls 

on products sold in the EU. The regulation 

introduces stricter border controls, increased 

market surveillance and the requirement for 

all non-EU manufacturers to have an EU 

based 'responsible party'. 

The regulation is part of the EU's "Shaping 

Europe's digital future" policy to break down 

online barriers and improve full access to 

all goods and services offered online by EU 

businesses. Unjustified cross-border barriers 

will go and facilitate cheaper cross-border 

parcel deliveries and the protection of online 

customer rights. 

The regulation is expected to have the 

greatest impact on online sales crossing the 

EU’s border where the business is based 

outside of the EU, and the consumer in 

the EU. At the moment no organisation 

has responsible for regulatory compliance 

because the consumer is the ‘importer’ who 

is responsible for compliance of what they 

buy online from vendors located outside of 

the EU. 

The list of products is extensive, but for the 

office imaging market this EU legislation 

covers imaging devises and consumables 

under the Ecodesign Directive, the Ecolabel 

Regulation and the Energy Labelling 

Regulation. 

According to the Certification Experts 

website: "A 'responsible party' can be 

a manufacturer, importer, distributor, 

fulfilment service provider, or Authorised 

Representative. " 

The responsible party's role is to be the EU 

point of contact, and you need to formally 

register for this and making available the 

product conformity and technical files 

and documentation. The responsible party 

is responsible for verifying CE marking 

and informing the authorities if a product 

presents a risk. 

The contact information of the responsible 

party must be provided on the product and/ 

or its packaging. 

When the regulation comes into force, there 

will be increased market surveillance and 

possible penalties under the new regulation. ■ 




December 2020 21

CITY NEWS 

OEM share prices 

November 2020 

Share Prices 

Prices correct as of 1 st November 2020 

NORTH AMERICA Acquisition, RBS, USA 

Company OCTOBER NOVEMBER 

Brother Industries (Yen) ¥ 1658 1704 

Canon (Yen) ¥ 1698.5 1790 

Dainippon Ink & Chemicals (Yen) 

Sun Chemicals parent company 

¥ 2572 2580 

HP Inc. (US$) $ 19 19.25 

Hubei Dinglong (RMB) ¥ 15.7 15.94 

Jadi (MYR) M 0.095 0.12 

LG Chem (S Korean Won) W 654k 734k 

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. 

(Yen) Panasonic parent company 

¥ 869.5 1018 

Mitsubishi Chemicals (Yen) ¥ 592 566.8 

Ninestar Corporation (RMB) 

Formerly Apex Microelectronics 

¥ 28.5 30.51 

Oki (Yen) ¥ 1091 960 

Seiko Epson (Yen) ¥ 1192 1339 

Turbon AG (Euro) € 2.48 2.34 

Xerox (US$) $ 18.24 19.82 

UK Waste Prices 

price per tonne 

Aluminium € 16.57 8.31 

Plastic € 28.24 11.96 

Paper € 7.18 1.93 

Currency 

€/US$ 1.17 1.19 

€/£ 0.91 0.9 

£/US$ 1.29 1.32 

£/€ 1.1 1.11 

Oil Price 

Crude oil - (US$) 'Brent Crude 

futures, 1-Pos IPE close' per barrel* 

Shipping Prices 

Europe 

(Hamburg/Antwerp/Felixstowe 

/Le Havre) 

Mediterranean 

(Barcelona/ Valencia/Genoa/Naples) 

USWC 

(Los Angeles/Long Beach/Oakland) 

USEC 

(New York/ Savannah /Norfolk 

/Charleston) 

$ 39.4 43.07 

$ 1168 1246 

$ 1211 1365 

$ 3863 3871 

$ 4622 4665 

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

packagingnews.co.uk *Brent Crude price is for October 2020 

RBS acquires assets 

of Databranch 

Repeat Business Systems, Inc. (RBS) acquired the assets 

of Databranch in Olean, N.Y. 

This will be the company’s 

13 th acquisition and will 

continue to fill in the corridor 

between their current 

Corporate Headquarters in 

Albany, NY and their Western 

New York branch. 

RBS owned and founded by 

Dawn and John Abbuhl in 

1987 has been offering office 

technology solutions including 

copiers, printers, scanners, 

document imaging software 

and Network and IT services 

with a focus on IT Security. 

Repeat Business Systems, Inc. 

was named one of the Top 

Workplaces in the Capital 

Region seven straight years 

and has numerous local and 

national awards for excellence. 

Databranch has been serving 

local, regional, national, 

and international businesses 

in Western/Central New 

York and Northwestern 

Pennsylvania since 1985. 

Their mission is to help 

clients implement technology 

solutions in order to reduce 

risk, protect their critical 

business data, increase 

productivity, and enhance 

customer service across four 

key areas: managed services, 

networking, security, and 

business continuity. 

“Acquisition discussions 

began before the pandemic. 

We continued to move forward 

as IT performance and security 

are even more important than 

ever, especially protecting 

those organisations where staff 

are working from home. We are 

very excited to add Databranch 

and their 35 years of experience 

in the IT industry as a new 

member of the RBS family,” 

Dawn Abbuhl, President of 

Repeat Business Systems, Inc. 

said. “The Databranch division 

will allow us to further expand 

our geographic market and 

add technical abilities while 

giving us the opportunity to 

leverage additional innovative 

technology solutions and 

success as a managed services 

provider. Both of our 

companies share similar values 

as family-owned businesses 

and through this change we 

will both be able serve our 

clients at an even higher level 

moving forward.” 

With this latest acquisition, 

Repeat Business Systems. 

Inc. now services over 14,000 

customers throughout New 

York, Vermont Pennsylvania, 

and Massachusetts. The 

projected revenue will be in 

excess of $20 million (€17 

million). RBS will add twelve 

staff members to their team 

following this acquisition. ■ 



ASIA Hubei Dinglong, Financials, Business 

Hubei Dinglong releases 

2020Q3 results 

The company has released its 2020 third quarter results, recording 

year-on-year increases in income and profits. 

In the 2020 third quarter of Hubei 

Dinglong Holdings Co., Ltd, the company 

reported operating income of ¥443.050 

million ($66 million/ €56 million) for the 

reporting period, a year-on-year increase 

of 57.47%. Net profit for the period was 

¥40.91 million ($6 million/ €5 million), 

a year-on-year increase of 36.08%. 

Forward looking, Hubei predicts that 

calculated net profit may show a loss 

or a significant change compared with 

the same period of the previous year. 

Hubei added: “With the gradual 

implementation of the company's 

strategic layout in the printing and 

copying consumables industry and the 

smooth development of its ink cartridge 

business, the company's product structure 

adjustment has achieved expected results.” 

This reporting period, the company's 

related business gradually returned to 

normal, which basically eliminated the 

impact of the shutdown during the first 

quarter of the epidemic. 

Hubei Dinglong concluded: “The 

uncertainty of the external epidemic 

situation is still strong and affected 

by market factors such as terminal 

overcapacity, the sales price of the 

company's toner cartridges continues 

to decline, and the product sales price 

is in the market. The cycle's low price 

level has led to a year-on-year decline 

in gross profit margin.” ■ 

NORTH AMERICA The Lioce Group, Zygoquest Group, Acquisition 

The Lioce Group acquires DPSI 

Zygoquest Group, a firm which specialises in mergers and acquisitions, 

has revealed that it has served as advisor for The Lioce Group regarding its 

acquisition of Digital Print Solutions International (DPSI). 

Digital Print Solutions International 

(DPSI), headquartered in Decatur, 

Alabama was owned and operated by 

Eric Grisham and Trey Clark. DPSI was 

a full-line authorized Sharp dealer and 

authorised to sell and service printers for 

HP and Lexmark. DPSI provided office 

equipment and document solutions 

and services to customers located 

throughout Northern Alabama. 

The Lioce Group, headquartered in 

Huntsville, Alabama, with a satellite 

location in Birmingham, is owned and 

operated by Nick Lioce. The Lioce 

Group is a provider of sales, service 

and support for office equipment 

and automation software in North & 

Central Alabama. The Lioce Group is 

an authorised Canon, Toshiba, Konica 

Minolta, HP and Lexmark dealer. 

The Lioce Group plans to integrate 

DPSI’s employees into TLG’s Huntsville 

location. Eric Grisham and Trey Clark 

will assist in transitioning DPSI’s 

employees and customers into The Lioce 

Group family. 

Terms of the transaction are 

confidential. ■ 

NORTH AMERICA Marco, 

Acquisition, Business 

Marco purchases 

Advanced 

Office Systems 

Marco announced its acquisition 

of Advanced Office Systems, 

a copier and printer company 

in Roselle, New Jersey. 

Marco first expanded its presence to 

the east coast in November 2018 with 

its purchase of Phillips Office Solutions 

in Pennsylvania. The company recently 

expanded to New Jersey in December 

2019 with the purchase of Image 

Systems for Business. Marco’s eastern 

region now includes three locations 

throughout Pennsylvania, one location 

in Maryland and one in New Jersey. 

Marco’s sales and service team will 

serve and support clients from Marco’s 

current location in Somerset. 

“We are pleased to expand in our 

New Jersey market,” said Marco CEO 

Jeff Gau. “We look forward to serving 

our new clients and investing in this 

community.” 

Marco is a technology services 

provider with 53 locations throughout 

the United States. The company has 

acquired 47 companies since 2005. 

Marco has more than 1,100 employees 

and serves over 30,000 clients around 

the country. 

“We know our clients are in good 

hands,” Advanced Office Systems 

owners Gene Naspo and Jim DeBonis 

said. “Marco has a long history of 

satisfied customers thanks to a wide 

variety of innovative technology.” ■ 


December 2020 

23

CITY NEWS 

EUROPE Toner Inc Ltd, Insolvency, UK 

Toner Inc Ltd enters insolvency 

The UK based surplus OEM supplies trader filed for insolvency. 

Toner Inc Ltd, based in Brentwood, 

United Kingdom filed for insolvency with 

debts of £980,000 (€1.086 million / $1.27 

million) and assets of £18.800 (€20.600/ 

$24.200). 

Toner Inc Ltd was incorporated in 

January 2004 and specialised as a surplus 

OEM supplies trader. According to their 

website, “Toner Inc Ltd have built a solid 

reputation for reliability and quality, as 

Trade Buyers and Resellers of OEM Toner 

and Inkjet Cartridges.” 

In June 2018 the company had assets 

of £2,07million (€2.27 million/ $2.67 

million) and liabilities of £1.7 million 

(€1.87 million/ $2.18 million). 

In March 2020 the company entered into 

a new factoring or invoice discounting 

agreement with Advantedge Commercial 

Finance Limited, a specialist in providing 

cash flow solutions to UK small and 

medium-sized businesses. 

On 21 April 2020 the company satisfied 

their factoring or invoice discounting 

agreement with RBS Invoice Finance 

Limited. 

On 14 May 2020 the company filed an 

extraordinary resolution to wind up the 

company and appointed Mark Grahame 

Tailby (IP No. 9115) and Graham Stuart 

Wolloff (IP No. 8879) both of Voscap 

Limited, 8 Hill Street, Mayfair, London, 

W1J 5NG as liquidators. 

If the company is insolvent the directors 

can wind up their company through 

a creditors voluntary or a compulsory 

liquidation. Creditors can also apply to 

wind-up an insolvent company up through 

compulsory liquidation at their expense. 

Directors of an insolvent company that 

has gone into liquidation will be banned 

for five years from forming, managing 

or promoting any business (including 

companies) with the same or similar name 

to the liquidated company. ■ 

EUROPE Ricoh, Acquisition, MTI Technology 

Ricoh acquires 

MTI Technology 

Ricoh customers across Europe are set to 

benefit from enhanced IT Services and 

support through the company’s acquisition 

of MTI Technology. 

Headquartered in the UK, MTI 

Technology has over 200 employees 

based across locations in Germany, 

the UK and France. 

The acquisition will enable Ricoh 

customers to gain access to MTI 

Technology’s expertise and competencies 

in Cyber & Data Security, Datacentre 

Modernisation, IT Managed Services 

and IT Transformation Services. MTI 

Technology customers will benefit from 

Ricoh’s global visibility, continuous 

support, financial capacity, IT 

infrastructure and international 

area of influence. 

They will also have access to the 

wide range of Ricoh products, which 

include document management systems, 

business process services, production 

printing solutions, workplace 

management, digital cameras and 

industrial systems. 

Alberto Mariani, Senior Vice President, 

Office Services, Ricoh Europe, said: 

“This acquisition is a genuine game 

changer in the IT Services space and 

fits perfectly with Ricoh’s strategy 

to transform into a digital services 

company. MTI Technology has a very 

strong and capable Board of Directors 

and European management team and 

they will all maintain their current roles 

and responsibilities. Their expertise, 

along with the company’s existing 

portfolio of services, supports our ability 

to offer an even more comprehensive 

breadth of IT and Digital Services.” 

David Mills, CEO, Ricoh Europe, 

added: “This exciting acquisition 

enables us to expand our IT services 

expertise across EMEA and to build on 

our existing competences around data 

centre transformation, cyber security 

and other IT transformation offerings. 

We are acquiring a fast growing and agile 

IT Services company while inheriting a 

proven and dynamic leadership team.” 

MTI Technology will continue to 

operate under its existing name as a 

separate Ricoh entity. 

Scott Haddow, CEO, MTI 

Technology, concluded: “Our mission 

is to help customers accelerate digital 

transformation by modernising their 

IT systems and refining IT operations 

with security assurance as standard and 

privacy by design. Becoming a Ricoh 

company means we can take this to the 

next level.” ■ 



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Anniversary 

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December 2020 

25

AROUND THE INDUSTRY 

EUROPE GM Technology, COVID-19, Growth 

Despite COVID-19: GM Technology 

continues to see substantial growth 

The company continues to see unprecedented growth despite the coronavirus 

pandemic, economic downturn and lockdown began in March this year. 

From their base in Seville, Spain, GM 

Technology serves clients in all 27 EU 

member states as well as Africa, Middle 

East, Asia and Latin America. The day 

the lockdown and state of emergency was 

declared in Spain the company had 166 

employees. A few weeks into their circular 

economy growth marketing strategy. 

Seven months later the picture has 

changed significantly at the company 

which now has 204 employees and 3 

freelance agents developing new sales 

territories for the company. 

The expanded international sales 

team closed an all-time record month 

in September that boosted their Q3 

(July-August-September) that delivered 

a staggering 107% increase in volume 

resulting in the export of 81 containers to 

various markets globally. 

The strength of the growth has prompted 

the company to bring forward their new 

diamond partner programme for their 

channel partners. 

On the hardware equipment side the 

company collected more than 3100 used 

devices in September alone saving them 

from recycling or landfill. 

The company reports that their copier 

remanufacturing plant is now outputting 

more than 50,000 remanufactured copier 

toner cartridges per month, including the 

unique R-OEM range filled with genuine 

reclaimed OEM toner. 

GM Technologies Green Line 

manufacturing plant is running on 

full capacity and currently we are selling 

more green line refurbished machines 

than we can make. In the third quarter 

we remanufactured and sold more than 

400 machines. 

According to Zoltan Matyas, GM 

Technologies Director of International 

Business Development, attributes 

this growth as “a great proof that the 

circular economy is not only great for the 

environment but creates local jobs as well. 

Our focus on cost-saving, profitability 

and circular economy made us a clear 

market leader in this sector. 

Combine this with our highly skilled 

multilingual sales team, who have 

extensive experience dedicated 

exclusively to the international market. 

This approach allows us to develop 

unique and outstanding trade 

relationships.” ■ 

ASIA Ninestar, Business, Promotion 

Ninestar announces Eric 

Zhang as General Manager 

The company announced that Eric Zhang has been 

appointed as Ninestar Image’s new General Manager 

as of 13 October 2020. 

In this role, he will be fully responsible 

for the company’s daily management. 

Eric also currently holds the position 

of Vice General Manager of the 

Printing Consumables Business Unit 

of Ninestar Corporation. Ninestar said 

that throughout his 18-year career with 

Ninestar, Eric has built up extensive 

experience and knowledge of the group 

company and the global imaging 

industry. 

Adding his own thoughts on his new 

role, Eric said: “I am honoured to be 

given this opportunity to lead the team. 

I hope my understanding of customer 

needs coupled with my experience in this 

industry can help the company and our 

customers to evolve and capitalise on the 

changing market conditions.” 

Jason Wang, General Manager of 

Consumables Business Unit, Ninestar 

Corporation, said: “The breadth and 

depth of Eric’s experience, along with 

his passion and commitment to our 

customers place him in an excellent 

position to drive our business growth 

and sustainability.” ■ 


visit 

visit www.therecycler.com 

www.therecycler.com 

for 

for 

all 

all 

the 

the 

breaking 

breaking 

news 

news 

EUROPE EveryonePrint, ISO Certification, Security 

EveryonePrint achieves 

ISO 27001 certification 

EveryonePrint has achieved ISO/IEC 27001 certification, the internationally 

recognised standard for information security management systems (ISMS). 

Prepared and published by the 

International Organisation for 

Standardisation (ISO), the certification, 

which requires a rigorous assessment of 

an organisation’s information security 

management controls, confirms that a 

company’s data security systems meet 

industry best practices. 

The certification was attained following 

an assessment of EveryonePrint’s 

policies, procedures, processes and 

systems, completed by global inspection, 

verification, testing and certification 

company, SGS. EveronePrint said that the 

award recognises its systematic approach 

to managing its and its customers’ 

sensitive information. The company 

added that it also demonstrates that 

robust processes are in place to build 

resilience and help avoid potential data 

security issues. 

Attaining ISO 27001 forms part 

of EveryonePrint’s ongoing effort to 

set the standard for security. Hybrid 

Cloud Platform (HCP), its multi-tenant 

Software as a Service (SaaS) cloud print 

infrastructure platform has been built 

from the ground up to ensure the highest 

possible security compliance. Full 

data encryption and built-in auditing 

functionality helps customers proactively 

protect information, track documents, 

manage risk and achieve compliance. 

HCP provides the strongest security 

between endpoints including encryption 

of data at rest, role-based permissions 

can be achieved through integration 

with cloud-based authentication 

providers such as Okta, and customers 

implementing a Zero Trust network 

are able to use their own certificate 

infrastructure. 

“This certification is a significant 

achievement and clearly demonstrates 

our commitment to the highest standards 

of data security,” said Tavs Dalaa, CEO, 

EveryonePrint. “Compliance with this 

internationally recognised standard 

proves the completeness and strength 

of our security controls, providing our 

partners and clients with independently 

verified assurance that we take the 

protection of their data extremely 

seriously. Customers and partners can 

be confident in our ability to meet and 

exceed their expectations in terms of 

secure information handling.” ■ 

Issue 337 335 

December October 2020 2020 

27


GLOBAL Pelikan, Print-Rite, Partnerships 

PRPS announces new partnerships 

PRPS announced a new partnership with Tradesupply, FusionPlus Data and DeLace Pty Ltd that 

will provide channel partners and resellers with its products and access to its reward programme. 

The company announced that the 

global 182-year-old brand will now be 

available to channel partners and resellers 

through Tradesupply, which is a UK & 

Ireland based business providing a range 

of Print Consumables & Office Seating & 

Furniture. The company deals strictly with 

trade only and are focused on working 

with its customers to support them to 

achieve better margins. 

Steve Weedon commented on the new 

partnership: “I am extremely pleased to 

partner with Tradesupply, who are well 

respected in both Ireland and UK. They 

understand the market and are serious 

about building a partnership for the long 

term, with our Pelikan branded products.” 

Jason Doran General Manager Europe – 

Sales & Marketing, Print-Rite Europe Ltd 

said: “We recently launched a programme 

in the UK to find a small number of new 

strategic partners to help us launch this 

iconic brand. It can be a real challenge to 

find a good Partner where the chemistry 

and inter-personal relationship is just 

as important as the business model 

itself. When we met Trade Supply we 

were struck not only by the energy and 

enthusiasm shown for the brand, but also 

by the business strategy and ambition of 

the team to move this project forward. 

Trade Supply understand the market, the 

channel and the logistics of this industry 

really well and we feel totally confident 

in working with them to ensure Pelikan 

becomes the number one alternative brand 

to OEM products in the UK and Ireland.” 

Mark Greene, Sales and Marketing 

Director of Tradesupply, added: “We are 

excited to partner with PRPS and the 

Pelikan brand range of consumables and 

look forward to expanding the market for 

both Ireland and the UK. We are especially 

delighted to have the opportunity to 

introduce the new bio-based cartridge 

range to our resellers as these products 

align perfectly with our commitment 

to the consideration of the environment 

whilst executing our business activities. 

We also look forward to teaming with the 

Rewards Club to incentivise and reward 

our loyal customers.” 

The second announcement was that 

the Pelikan brand will now be available 

to channel partners and resellers through 

FusionPlus Data, which allows its products 

to be easily available for the dealers to 

integrate into their e-commerce offerings. 

Steve Bilton, Managing Director of 

FusionPlus Data, added: “With more and 

more sales switching to on-line, the timing 

could not be better to welcome PRPS and 

such a well-established and high-profile 

brand as Pelikan to the FusionPlus partner 

programme – I’m sure their innovative 

product range and sales approach will 

prove to be extremely popular with the 

dealer community, and their customers!” 

Print-Rite Europe Limited announced 

a formal alliance with DeLace Pty Ltd 

South Africa and appoints the company 

as an authorised non-exclusive distributor 

for both Print-Rite and Pelikan branded 

printing consumables for Africa and the 

Middle East, this will provide local sales 

and marketing support for dealers and 

resellers. 

Steve Weedon commented on the new 

partnership: “DeLace Pty Ltd may be a 

new company but we have had a business 

relationship with the owners for decades. 

Highly trusted and regarded, it’s good 

to work with people who have the same 

drive, passion and enthusiasm as we do 

to make the Pelikan brand for imaging 

consumables an African success." 

Stuart Lacey, Managing Director 

at DeLace added: “Obviously, we are 

delighted to be partnering with PRE and 

PRPS for the Pelikan branded product 

range and see this as a huge opportunity 

to offer dealers and resellers a superior 

product at a saving compared to the OEM, 

whilst generating increased margins for 

them. The bio-based cartridges add an 

extra dimension and this remarkable 

product is a game-changer, partly because 

they are eco-friendly and reduce CO2 

footprint, but also because they are 

designed to be remanufactured. 

“This is a particularly important part 

of our strategy for the future, and will 

allow us to help create considerable 

opportunities to re-establish local 

manufacturing across the continent …” ■ 



NORTH AMERICA DCI Ltd., TST Impreso, Distribution, KODAK 

TST Impreso to distribute KODAK consumables 

DCI Ltd announced a strategic agreement with TST Impreso, Texas, for the distribution of KODAK 

remanufactured ink and toner cartridges for the US market. 

DCI Ltd was awarded the licence to 

produce remanufactured ink and toner 

cartridges under the KODAK brand in 

2016 with the product range covering 

consumables for use in HP, Canon, 

Brother, Epson and Samsung printers. 

TST Impreso, established in 1976, 

has a long history of supplying printer 

consumables and recently announced a 

partnership with Paper Trade Network 

(PTN) to distribute KODAK branded 

consumer photo inkjet and speciality 

media. TST has eight locations servicing 

over 3000 resellers and major retailers 

across the USA. 

Phil Sneath, Head of Business 

Development at DCI explained: “Having 

grown our distribution base across Europe 

and the Middle East, we are excited to 

partner with TST for the US market. 

TSTIMPRESO 

TST’s distribution hubs, coupled 

with their wide customer base and 

expertise make them the perfect 

distribution partner.” 

Jeff Boren, President of TST Impreso 

stated: “The KODAK ink and toner 

range compliments our current product 

portfolio perfectly with the KODAK 

brand offering a true ‘A’ brand alternative 

to the printer branded consumables with 

excellent margin opportunities 

for the reseller.” 

TST and DCI are welcoming new 

reseller and retail partners who would 

like to represent the KODAK branded 

remanufactured ink and toner range 

within the US. All enquiries should be sent 

to info@tstimpreso.com or call 800-521- 

8781. Alternatively, contact DCI directly 

sales@dci.co.uk or + 44 1205 355 555. ■ 

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December 2020 

29


EUROPE Delacamp, Mitsubishi 

Chemical Corporation, Distributorship 

ASIA HYB Toner, Employee of the month, Business 

MCC and 

Delacamp 

extend exclusive 

distributorship 

Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation 

(MCC) and Delacamp announced 

the extension of the exclusive 

distributorship for Europe, CIS, 

the Middle East and Africa. 

Delacamp AG, the independent 

supplier of components and 

consumables to the genuine printer 

cartridge remanufacturing industry 

has been chosen again by Mitsubishi 

Chemical Corporation as their sole 

and exclusive distributor of OPCs and 

Chemical Toners for Europe, CIS, 

Middle East and Africa. 

“We are very delighted to continue 

this long-term successful partnership 

and are proud to mark the 15th year of 

successful cooperation with Mitsubishi 

in 2021. The year 2020 is a difficult 

year. It presents us all with new 

challenges. The global spread of the 

SARS-CoV-2 virus and the measures to 

slow the virus spread affect both social 

life and the global economy. 

“We are all affected in some way and 

most of us have had difficult months 

this year. I had been promoted to Sales 

Manager at the beginning of this year 

and honestly speaking I expected my 

first year in the new role to be quite 

a bit different. However, it makes me 

very proud working with such a good 

team, customers and business-partners 

that let us get through this challenging 

situation and year. I would like to use 

this opportunity to thank our longterm 

business partners and absolutely 

loyal customers – thank you very 

much!” said Susanne Dannehl, Sales 

Manager of Delacamp. ■ 

HYB adds distributor in Turkmenistan, 

names employee of the month 

HYB Toner introduced its new partner Аманаев Komputers in 

Turkmenistan and awarded two employees with the “Employee of the 

month” award for September. 

According to Mr. Amanayew, they are 

a 12-year old company in Turkmenistan 

with its business range covering printers, 

copiers, computers and supplies. The 

company’s cooperation with HYB started 

in 2019 when it was introduced from 

another trusted supplier. HYB said: “With 

the first order from HYB, they witnessed 

the products gained great popularity in 

their wholesale and retail channels.” 

Having collaborated throughout 2020 

HYB and Аманаев Komputers the 

companies had an intention to gain a longterm 

cooperation. In September, HYB 

officially authorised Аманаев Komputers 

as its distributor for HYB products with its 

HYB (High Yield and Beneficial Toner for 

the Users) trademark in Turkmenistan. 

Dealers and local customers in 

Turkmenistan will have access to the new 

inventory at the beginning of November. 

The HYB product range available in the 

country will include toner, cartridges, 

spare parts and technician tooling such as 

service vacuum cleaners and filter. 

HYB commented: “We are grateful to see 

the customers in Turkmenistan benefited 

from our premium products. Expansion 

of HYB in their brand building has proved 

that consistent premium quality will 

maintain the loyalty of customers. So far, 

HYB has more 38 distributors who are 

carrying authorization to sell products 

under our registered trademarks - HYB 

TONER (High Yield and Beneficial Toner 

for the Users), ZIKOM and Zeus Toner 

despite of their existing 700+ importers 

customer base.” 

HYB named Mr Yang and Mr Lee 

outstanding employees of September 2020. 

Mr Yang, Responsible for Process Control 

and Mr Lee, Responsible for Inventory 

Management were awarded the “5 Stars 

Employee of September” awards. 

HYB explained that the employees had 

“consistently maintained a pattern of work 

performance with their innovation and/ 

or sparkling service to other department”, 

“adhered to department and company 

policies and procedures” and “provided 

timely service to other department in every 

situation.” The company added: “The 

employees consistently contribute ideas, in 

an effort to improve working procedures 

and minimisation of mistake.” 

Pleased about the awards, HYB said: “We 

would like to have our customers be aware 

of the fact that our team members are all 

bearing a common concept to perform 

the best in their job to make sure goods 

produced by HYB will be delivered to the 

customers with their extensive value.” ■ 



EUROPE ECS The Greener Side, ECS, Plastics, Cartridges 

COVID-19 impact on plastic crisis 

An investigation by Reuters found that the majority of recycling businesses have 

shrunk by more than 20% in Europe, by 50% in parts of Asia and as much as 60% 

in the US. 

The Reuters investigation entitled 

“The Plastic Pandemic, fount that 

“COVID-19 has hit plastic recycling, just 

as big oil firms are investing hundreds of 

billions of dollars to make new plastic. 

These investments massively exceed the 

industry’s spending to tackle plastic 

waste.” 

The report adds: “This year alone, 

Exxon, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BASF 

have announced petrochemical plant 

investments in China worth a combined 

$25 billion (€21 million), tapping into 

rising demand for consumer goods in 

the world's most populous country.” 

ECS’s Director of Recycling, Adrian 

Lovatt explained: “It’s no secret that 

COVID-19 has had detrimental effects 

on the issue of plastic as a whole. 

Recycling centre closures are a common 

feature across the UK and recent statistics 

have shown that fly tipping and the 

illegal removal of waste are at an 

unprecedented level. 

“Combined with the fact the pandemic 

has sparked a fresh rush for more plastic 

as the demand for gloves, face shields 

and takeaway food containers rises, the 

overall situation is even worse than twelve 

months ago, but that doesn’t mean our 

industry’s goals or approach to plastic have 

to change, in fact, it puts more onus on us 

as an industry who can have a clear, long 

lasting and positive effect.” 

ECS also added that over the next few 

decades, population growth and income 

growth are also expected to increase 

demand for new plastics which will help to 

support safety, convenience and improved 

living standards. 

Despite SME’s only having a small 

impact at one end of the scale in 

comparison with large oil companies who 

produce new plastic at a rate greater than 

any recycling scheme can match, The 

Greener Side insist that our industry still 

has its own part to play, and will not be 

to blame for the plastic crisis due to the 

number of recycling options available, 

including their own service, which sees 

over 1,000,000 cartridges pass through 

their recycling plant on a yearly basis. 

As always, ECS The Greener Side are 

flying the green flag high for British 

recycling, determined to encourage and 

provide hope for the rest of the industry 

despite a disheartening 

2020. 

You can read the Reuters 

investigation by scanning 

the QR code: ■ 


December 2020 

31


EUROPE Retail Inkjet Solutions, Inc., InkCenter, Refill, Partnership 

RIS expands InkCenters to Switzerland 

Retail Inkjet Solutions (RIS) and Swiss supermarket retailer Migros Geneva 

announced InkCenter installations at two retail locations in Switzerland. 

Customers shopping at the MParc – La 

Praille "melectronics" in Geneva, as well as 

those shopping at the "mprint-shop" within 

the Centre Commercial Lancy-Onex, can 

now take advantage of the InkCenter refill 

service, powered by RIS. 

The expansion into the Swiss market 

with Migros, headquartered in Zurich, 

Switzerland, follows an earlier successful 

InkCenter launch at Migros France in July of 

this year, and reflects the growing presence 

of RIS in the European market. The RIS 

InkCenter features a patented, precision 

refill system that professionally cleans, fills, 

and tests each cartridge to ensure flawless 

performance at up to 50% in cost savings 

over a new cartridge each time. 

"Taking this next step with Migros Geneva 

by installing two more InkCenters in 

Switzerland is a testament to the relationship 

we have already cultivated with Migros 

this year. It shows again that retailers are 

acknowledging a rising demand for our ink 

refilling services. We are seeing a heightened 

awareness of eco-friendly alternatives that 

give consumers the power to make their own 

choices on how to minimise their plastic 

waste and our ink cartridge refill service 

provides exactly that," said David Lenny, 

President and CEO of RIS. 

"Moreover, we are pleased to be able to 

offer consumers a much more cost-effective 

way to use their home office printers during 

this global pandemic as we continue to work 

towards making affordable, high-quality ink 

available to all consumers in Europe." 

"We are pleased to offer our customers an 

efficient, economical and environmentally 

friendly solution for filling used ink 

cartridges. I am convinced of the commercial 

success of the concept in our stores," said 

Romuald Langeron, Head of melectronics 

and mprint-shop at Migros Geneva. 

Vincent Hormovitis, Vice President of Sales 

& Business Development at RIS, added: 

"We have found a like-minded partner in 

Migros Geneva as we are both passionate 

about offering customers great quality ink 

refills at an even better price, especially 

during these trying times. Expanding our 

InkCenter network to Switzerland for the 

first time through our partnership with 

Migros Geneva demonstrates their strong 

willingness to readily provide an eco-friendly 

and economical solution to customers at 

these two retail locations. We are optimistic 

that there are more to come soon." ■ 

NORTH AMERICA Impression Solutions, New Website, Dealers 

Impression Solutions launches imaging dealers website 

Impression Solutions announced the official launch of their new corporate website and digital communication 

platform at www.impressionsolutions.com. 

ISI dealers will now enjoy state-of-the-art 

user experience to accelerate access to the 

information and products they need to 

start and win more business vs local and 

online competitors. 

Highlights of the new website include: 

• Easy online ordering 

• Live technical support 

• Advanced Kyocera & Epson 

product search 

• Technical product manuals 

• Partner rewards program 

• Nationwide distribution timelines 

• Ongoing educational content 

• Webinar theatre 

• Social Media integration 

“This is an important milestone for us 

and it’s my pleasure to introduce the new 

Impression Solutions website to our valued 

customers,” stated Ron Harper, CEO 

of Impression Solutions Inc. 

“We made this investment to improve 

ease of doing business with us and make 

sure we are communicating everything our 

customers need from ISI to be successful. 

The problem in communication is the 

illusion that it has taken place and we 

want to make sure you are receiving 

valuable information from us the way our 

dealers want to receive it. For this reason, 

we partnered with the industry leaders 

at IN2communications to leverage new 

mediums like social media and digital 

communications to deliver key messages 

and solicit feedback directly from our 

customers on how we can help them 

grow their top and bottom line with ISI 

at their side.” 

Impression Solutions Inc. is a value-add, 

full-service distributor of printing and 

imaging solutions. ISI offers their dealers, 

resellers and their end users service and 

support as an OEM full line authorised 

distributor of Kyocera monochrome and 

colour printers, multi-function units, 

printer accessories, printer supplies and 

customised printing solutions. ■ 



EUROPE KMP AG, Anniversary, Employees, Business 

KMP hosts local 

mayor, celebrates 

an employees 

25 th Anniversary 

The remanufacturer has revealed that it had 

a visit from the local mayor recently at its 

headquarters in Eggenfelden. 

▲ Slag jana Cavdarovska, KMP’s CEO Jan-Michael Sieg, 

Gerti Stockbauer and Andreas Schopf 

CEO Jan-Michael Sieg welcomed the 

Lord Mayor of Eggenfelden, Martin 

Biber, to its company headquarters 

together with the representative for 

economic development, Silke Zurr, and 

the economic advisor Rupert Starzner. 

After a detailed company presentation 

and the presentation of its SMART²Glass 

machine, the representatives of the town 

of Eggenfelden exchanged ideas with Mr 

Sieg over coffee and cake in the company’s 

conference room. 

The meeting closed with a tour 

through KMP's administration, logistics 

and development department at its 

headquarter. 

Gerti Stockbauer, who works in KMP’s 

shipping department has been honoured 

for her 25 years of service within the 

company. 

On 18 September 1995, Gerti 

Stockbauer joined KMP, at that time still 

at the location in the Karl-Rolle-Strasse. 

She took over the tasks in the production 

of the inkjet cartridges for ten years 

before the production was moved to the 

Czech Republic. Then, Stockbauer took 

care of the shipping activities, which she 

still does today. 

KMP’s Chief Executive Officer Jan- 

Michael Sieg, as well as their two loyal 

colleagues Slagjana Cavdarovska and 

Andreas Schopf, congratulated and 

thanked her for her 25th anniversary 

with a glass of sparkling wine in the 

conference room. ■ 


December 2020 

33


EUROPE CTS Toner Supplies, 

Website, New Look, Business 

EUROPE ARMOR Office Printing, Restructure, Business 

ARMOR Office Printing becomes 

ARMOR Print Solutions 

ARMOR Office Printing is strengthening its core business sector and 

incorporating semi-industrial inks into its range of products. 

CTS is 25 and 

celebrates with a 

new look website 

The company, currently 

celebrating 25 years of trading, 

has revamped its internet presence 

with a new look trade only website. 

CTS Toner Supplies Ltd, a familyowned 

business, set up in 1995 by Steve 

Clayton, are currently celebrating 25 years 

of trading. The company describes itself 

as a trusted brand-agnostic aftermarket 

printer consumables supplier which 

prides itself on fastidious customer service 

with reliable products. Its route to market 

is exclusively via trade resellers. 

The company has announced its new 

internet presence, with a brand new 

modern look, mobile friendly design and 

extended new features. 

Steve Clayton, MD said: “We are 

delighted with the new modern look and 

vastly improved customer experience 

this site now offers. Our extensive 4000+ 

product range is now easy to navigate via 

the predictive search box and individual 

product detail has been greatly enhanced 

through FusionPlus data. 

“The quick order pad will be a welcome 

addition for efficient shopping with 

our business customers. They can also 

expect to see a variety of website exclusive 

offers, expert advice and new products 

over the coming months in addition to 

their detailed account activity through 

individual dashboards.” 

Curious? See for yourself at www. 

ctstonersupplies.co.uk and if you do not 

already deal with CTS, there is a simple 

no obligation enquiry form on the website 

to receive further information about their 

products and services. ■ 

In doing so, the company said it aims to 

sustain its growth and invest in high valueadded 

activities for professional customers by 

capitalising on the OWA circular economy 

brand. 

From October 2020, ARMOR Office 

Printing will become ARMOR Print 

Solutions, which will now be made up of 

three main divisions. 

ARMOR Office Products includes the 

remanufacturing and retail of printing 

consumables. This concerns in particular 

laser, business inkjet and photocopier 

printing technologies. This business division 

will strengthen the circular economy 

strategy while expanding existing product 

lines and creating new solutions, ARMOR 

explained. All of these developments will 

be accompanied by value-added logistics 

services such as drop shipping, real-time 

stock visibility and EDI deployment. 

DYALOG, a new brand in the Managed 

Print Services (MPS) division, which 

provides companies with printing solutions 

and software; services that provide MPS 

solutions for all businesses including small 

and medium enterprises. 

ARMOR Industrial Inks focuses 

on the development and distribution of 

semi-industrial inks, sharing its 100 years 

of expertise in ink formulation with new 

markets. 

"The inks that we design are based 

on the group's core values: formulation 

know-how, innovation and respect for the 

environment." stated Gerwald van der Gijp, 

VP & Managing Director of ARMOR Print 

Solutions. 

"Armor Print Solutions' new dynamic 

combines our know-how of the circular 

economy with our expertise in ink 

formulation. This will provide new valueadded 

opportunities for customers involved 

in printing. We build strong relationships 

with our customers by developing new 

specialised distribution channels, while 

continuing to invest in our usual channels." 

concluded Hubert de Boisredon, Chairman 

and CEO of the ARMOR Group. 

Also in the news was that Armor’s 

OWA brand consumables are now being 

supplied to the NATO Joint Force 

Command headquarters in Brunssum, 

The Netherlands. 

Armor’s OWA brand consumables are now 

being supplied to the NATO Joint Force 

Command headquarters in Brunssum, The 

Netherlands via the local Office Centre 

branch in Nuth. 

In 2014 NATO adopted their Green 

Defence framework which looks at reducing 

the environmental footprint of military 

operations. The NATO headquarters in 

Brussels has an environmentally friendly 

footprint, using geothermal power for 

heat and rainwater collection for building 

maintenance. 

According to Armor, the NATO Joint 

Force Command headquarters in Brunssum, 

Limburg, was “chosen as part of a sustainable 

business operation is a good example of 

the increasing social awareness that the 

ecological footprint needs to be reduced.” 

In a speech on the 28 September 2020, 

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg 

called for the Alliance to take further action 

to address the threat of climate change. 

Speaking to students from 10 universities 

across the Alliance, he said: “NATO’s core 

task is to keep us all safe. Climate change is 

making the world more unsafe. So to fulfil 

our main responsibility, NATO must help to 

curb climate change.” 

Frans Hondmann, General Manager at 

ARMOR B.V. said of the collaboration: 

“Congratulations Office Centre Nuth and 

Nato Joint Command on this important 

collaboration. Together you take an 

important step towards circular thinking 

and acting.” 

The 39 Office Centre stores were 

sold by Staples to the relatively smaller 

KantoorExpert that specialises in office 

supplies and equipment with 4 stores. The 

acquisition made KantoorExpert / Office 

Centre a top player in The Netherlands 

office supplies and furniture market. ■ 




December 2020 

35

FEATURE 

Aftermarket responds to 

the Voluntary Agreement 

FEATURED 

A R TIC L E 

Ahead of the 9 December deadline, feedback on the latest version of the voluntary 

agreement that was published in October doesn't garner aftermarket support. 

There is a sense of urgency on the part of the 

OEM's to get a new voluntary agreement in 

place and to avoid any upcoming legislation as 

part of Europe's Green Deal. 

EuroVAprint, the OEM group that negotiates 

on behalf of the OEMs with the EU has been 

mandated by the EU to include consumables 

within the voluntary agreement. To achieve 

this EuroVAprint reached out to a small group 

of industry players (3T Supplies AG/Peach, 

ARMOR SAS, Clover Imaging Group and 

KMP AG) earlier this year and invited them 

to get around the table and map out what a 

new voluntary arrangement might look like 

in an effort to get a deal over the line as soon 

as possible. ETIRA, the European Toner 

and Inkjet Remanufactures Association did 

not partake negotiations because they are in 

favour of mandatory legislation to replace the 

Voluntary Agreement because that would 

apply to the whole market. 

Static Control, who counts more than a 

thousand European remanufactures in 

their customer base advised the European 

Commission that they were denied a request 

to participate and were unable "to participate 

in any meaningful way in the negotiations." 

The original Voluntary Agreement (signed on 

16 February 2011) established a set of targets 

to be met for all products sold on the EU 

market. Requirements for energy-efficiency 

and duplexing availability must be met by at 

least 90% of products sold. 

The agreement aimed to reduce the 

environmental footprint of imaging 

equipment by design and by helping 

customers make informed choices during 

purchase and usage of the equipment. 

Design requirements relate to energy 

consumption, default delay times, recto-verso 

printing, the ability to print several pages on 

one sheet of paper, recycling and cartridge reuse. 

Machines must be designed for easy recycling 

of plastic and other materials and must be able 

to accommodate non-OEM ink and toner 

cartridges. Most aftermarket companies would 

feel that this element is not adhered to when 

OEM's issue firmware that aften lock out non- 

OEM ink and toner cartridges. 

The latest version of the Voluntary Agreement 

covers energy efficiency and commitments for 

Resource Efficiency and Information to align 

the Voluntary Agreement with the Circular 

Economy objectives set by the European 

Commission and the latest approved Ecodesign 

Implementing Measures. 

The draft Voluntary Agreement seeks to maintain 

alignment with wording of both the WEEE Directive 

and recent Ecodesign Implementing Measures. 

To maintain the alignment with the regulatory 

framework on design for recycling and 

recovery the draft Voluntary Agreement seeks 

to maintain alignment with wording of both 

the WEEE Directive and recent Ecodesign 

Implementing Measures. 

Enabling repair is a key interest to the imaging 

sector to assure long life of products in order 

to sustain a continuity of its supplies business. 

The EuroVAprint members will now, via the 

Voluntary Agreement set a minimum period for 

the provision of spare parts of 5 years, up from 

3 years. 

For the first time, this VA includes cartridges 

and containers (consumables) where the 

11 OEM members of EuroVAprint and the 

leading Remanufacturers to navigate a way 

forward to include consumables within the 

Voluntary Agreement. 

As far as cartridges are concerned, the OEMs 

(signatories) have agreed that any OEM 

cartridge or container will not be designed or 

modified to prevent printing. This included 

cartridge acceptance, calibration, clean and 

align printheads, and not blocking any data 

collection agents) in the printer for which it 

is intended with a remanufactured, or refilled 

cartridge, or a remanufactured or refilled 

container produced by any Supporting 

Signatory. Equally it will not prevent the 

recycling of the consumable. 

The Voluntary Agreement won't apply to 

OEM cartridges or containers supplied under a 

subscription (Instant Ink, MPS etc) or service 

model. For these cartridges the OEM will either 

take back the cartridges from the Supporting 

Signatory EU location(s) and either recycle or 

remanufacture the OEM Cartridges. 

Individual OEM Signatories can enter into 

individual bilateral arrangements to enable 

the OEM cartridges to be remanufactured by 

Supporting Signatories. 

OEM cartridges or software or firmware 

updates will be designed to prevent printing 

(including cartridge acceptance, calibration 

and, clean and align printheads) when using 

a remanufactured or refilled cartridge or a 

remanufactured or refilled container produced 

by a Supporting Signatory that functions using 

only Original Electronic Circuitry. 



Probably of greatest concern to the aftermarket 

is the exclusion where an end user customer 

made a decision through a contract, terms 

and conditions, or printer features based on 

clearly presented information to use only OEM 

cartridges or containers. 

To become a Supporting Signatory to the 

Voluntary Agreement, companies must have: 

A substantial operational establishment 

in the EU 

Remanufactured or refilled cartridges or 

containers must make up at least 80% of all 

cartridge and container units produced or made 

available by a Supporting Signatory. 

Javier Martinez, President of ETIRA, said: 

"ETIRA has always called for mandatory 

legislation to replace the Voluntary Agreement. 

In our view, only a mandatory approach can 

bring tangible and enforceable implementation 

of the goals defined under the Circular 

Economy Action Plan, because only a 

regulation is applicable to all market players." 

In their response ETIRA is calling for amends 

to be made to the latest draft of the Voluntary 

Agreement and considers the proposal is a 

'useful step forward' but urges amendments 

to be made, outlining its suggested minimum 

changes. 

"Legislation therefore continues to be 

our preferred option. However, ETIRA 

acknowledges that the October 2020 draft 

VA represents a useful step forward and, if the 

core objectives we continue to lobby for can be 

achieved through a more stringent voluntary 

agreement, ETIRA would be interested to 

participate and engage in the process, provided 

the proposal includes our suggested minimum 

amendments in line with EU Treaty, EU 

Circular Economy Action Plan and EU 

Eco-design directive." 

ETIRA is seeking: 

• The removal of the various exemptions 

because cartridges under contract or 

subscription means that a very large part of 

the cartridge market would be excluded from 

the Voluntary Agreement, resulting in less 

cartridge reuse in the EU. 

• Clear and ambitious re-use target for all 

cartridges marketed by the OEMs: 45% within 

two years and 60% within four years. Without 

fixed targets, reuse of cartridges will not grow, 

in particular if contract or subscription sales 

are also excluded; 

• To avoid a distorted market there needs to 

be transparency on the Bilateral Agreements 

(BAs) of equal terms, including volume 

pricing, equal technical solutions, equal 

product range etc. and offered to all 

supporting signatories who want to agree 

a BA with that OEM signatory; 

• Criteria for qualifying as supporting 

signatory: ETIRA calls for a transparent 

and non-discriminatory decision-making 

process as to who can and who cannot become 

supporting signatory; 

• The VA should be limited in time, 

e.g. maximum three-year period. During this 

period, the EU should prepare a regulation to 

replace the VA. ETIRA is happy to assist in 

this task; 

• ETIRA asks that the VA recognizes ISO 

standards EN 45552, EN 45553 to EN 45559 

(resource efficiency) and also findings by the 

UNEP resource panel on "Value retention 

Processes 

Static Control were unable to participate in 

any meaningful way in the negotiations and 

expressed serious concerns about the proposed 

Voluntary Agreement. Their chief concern is 

"that the negotiations leading up to the proposal 

have not been sufficiently transparent and that 

the proposal itself distorts competition in the 

markets for printer consumables as well in the 

upstream markets for components," and impact 

on "over 1,000 European remanufacturers" that 

the company supports. 

According to Static Control the current 

proposal "effectively denies remanufacturers 

and components suppliers such as Static 

Control access to critical inputs, thereby 

restricting competition from non-OEM 

suppliers on the aftermarkets for printer 

consumables." 

Of particular concern is the criteria to become 

a Supporting Signatory of the VA, which a 

company such as Static Control is unable to 

fulfil and considers that these criteria "are 

discriminatory barriers to entry and not 

objectively justified having regard to the stated 

objectives of the VA. Access to Supporting 

Signatory status is absolutely critical to non- 

OEM suppliers' ability to compete in EU 

markets for printer consumables. Without 

it, non-OEM suppliers have no access to 

critical information to ensure compatibility 

of their products with the OEM's devices, nor 

any protection against strategies by OEMs 

to undermine such compatibility through 

firmware or software updates or other means." 

What is the alternative to a new voluntary 

agreement? 

Simple really, legislation. The EU have made it 

clear, do a voluntary agreement and do it soon, 

or they will legislate the ICT printer market. 

Don’t panic - The consultation process 

will end in December, but with the current 

COVID-19 working limitations and EU 

backlog, it is unlikely a decision to agree 

the Voluntary Agreement or proceed with 

legislation will be made until Q1 next year. ■ 


December 2020 

37

FEATURE 

ChipJet, it’s all in the 

name; Chips and Jets 

In this issue we take a look at Chipjet Technology which is a wholly 

owned subsidiary of Hubei Dinglong Co., Ltd and as the name 

suggests, they produce chips for ink and laser jet printer consumables. 

FEATURED 

A R TIC L E 

What you might not know is that ChipJet 

has been developing and producing chips 

since 2007 and is a trusted player in the 

highly competitive printer aftermarket 

were few players have the resources to 

develop and manufacture todays chips. 

In the printer aftermarket you need some 

core skills to produce chips and it starts 

with people. R&D, Manufacturing, 

intellectual property, sales and marketing. 

So it is no surprise that 60% of ChipJets 

staff work in R&D and have an average 

age of just 29 and are able to transition the 

latest knowledge gained at university to 

the cutting edge development of chips. So 

it is no coincidence that a third of Chipjets 

engineers have a master’s degree or above. 

At the heart of the business is the 

Chipjet advanced analysis laboratory 

that provides the support for developing 

product technology quality for the always 

proactive R&D team that has seen Chipjet 

become a national high-tech enterprise for 

development, production and marketing of 

professional integrated circuit design and 

application ability. 

At the heart of the business is the Chipjet 

advanced analysis laboratory that provides the 

support for developing product technology 

quality for the always proactive R&D team. 

Behind every chip product is a wealth of 

independent intellectual property rights 

and more than 350 successful R&D patent 

projects that are all necessary to be a firstclass 

IC design and application solutions 

provider. 

Chipjet sees a growing aftermarket for 

printer consumables and the need for 

increased investment and invests more 

than 20% of revenues in the R&D and 

the global cooperation to leverage in 

their trusted position and competitive 

edge in the areas of chip research and 

development. 

It is not all R&D, Chipjet has recently 

produced a range of “How To” videos to 

assist customers and consumers to navigate 

some of the everyday challenges your 

printer can present. 

One of the most popular “How to” video 

gives tips on how to disable the printer 

cartridge protection feature. This is an 

important issue because when the HP 

cartridge protection feature is enabled, 

the cartridge installed into the printer will 

be permanently “protected” and can only 

be used in that printer. Put a “protected” 

cartridge into another printer, the 

cartridge will not be recognised. 

Another video in the series gives tips on 

how to recognise the production date of 

HP printers and how users can find the 

information on the printer’s firmware 

version. This is needed because HP 

keeps upgrading its firmware and some 

replacement chips in the market cannot be 

recognised by the printers, often occurs. 

Knowing the production date enables 

Chipjet’s R&D teams to provide ongoing 

product optimisation and user solutions 

and maintain their trusted status. ■ 


DOES YOUR 

PRINTER NEED 

ITS OWN PPE? 


If you are using or 

supplying PPE for your 

employees or customers, 

don’t forget the laser 

printers. 

Have you ever noticed a plastic odour from your laser printer? 

This may be printer emitted particles (PEPs) which may be harmful. 

• TONER CATCHER can minimise the potentially harmful emitted particles 

(PEPs) from laser printers. 

• TONER CATCHER is PPE for your printer and you can profitably add 

it to your range of PPE products. 

• TONER CATCHER can be overprinted with instructions and your brand. 

To get your 

FREE 

sample and further 

information email 

candu@candugbr.com 


December 2020 

39

PRODUCTS & TECHNOLOGY 

EUROPE IR Italiana Riprografia, New Products, Remanufacturing, Cartridges 

IR Italiana Riprografia never stops 

The Italian company has announced new compatible Graphic-Jet cartridges for use in HP Neverstop devices, new 

remanufactured and compatible Graphic-Jet inkjet cartridges for use in various Canon, Epson and HP devices. 

IR Italiana Riprografia introduced 

new compatible cartridges for use in HP 

Neverstop 1001NW/1201N/1202NW 

devices into its Graphic-Jet cartridge 

range. These compatible toner cartridges 

come with page yields of 2,500 pages. The 

company also offers these cartridges in a 

DUAL PACK. 

The company also announced the 

expansion of its product portfolio with 

new remanufactured Graphic-Jet inkjet 

cartridges for use in Canon Maxify MB 

2050 with a page yield of 1,200 pages for 

the black and 1,935 pages for the cyan, 

1,380 pages for the magenta and 1,645 

pages for the yellow cartridges. 

The company’s compatible Graphic-Jet 

inkjet range was expanded with cartridges 

for use in Epson Workforce Pro WP 

M4015DN with a page yield of 10,000 

pages, compatible cartridges for use in 

Epson Workforce Pro 6090 with a page 

yield of 5,000 pages for the black and 

4,000 for the colour cartridges, compatible 

cartridges for use in Epson Workforce Pro 

WF-M5298DW with page yields of 5,000 

pages and compatible inkjet cartridges 

for use in Epson Workforce Pro WF- 

M5298DW with page yields of 10,000. 

Also added were compatible Graphic- 

Jet inkjet cartridges for use in Epson 

Workforce Pro WF-M5298DW with a page 

yield of 40,000, compatible cartridges for 

use in Epson Workforce Pro WF-C529R 

which come with a page yield of 10,000 

pages for the black and 5,000 for the 

colour cartridges and compatible Graphic- 

Jet inkjet cartridges for use in Epson 

Workforce Pro WF-C529R with page 

yields of 50,000 pages for the black and 

20,000 for the colour cartridges. 

The Graphic-Jet range was further 

expanded with compatible inkjet 

cartridges for use in Epson Workforce Pro 

WF-C8190 with page yields of 11,500 

pages for the black and 8,000 for the 

colour cartridges, compatible cartridges 

for use in Epson Workforce Pro WF- 

C8190 with page yields of 5,800 pages for 

the black and 4,600 pages for the colour 

cartridges and compatible inkjet cartridges 

for use in HP OfficeJet X585 with page 


6,600 pages for the colour cartridges. 

IR Italiana Riprografia’s remanufactured 

range saw the addition of remanufactured 

Graphic-Jet inkjet cartridges for use in 

HP Pagewide Pro 750DW with page 


16,000 pages for the colour cartridges, 

remanufactured inkjet cartridges for use 

in HP Pagewide 556 with page of 11,000 

for the black and 10,000 for the colour 

cartridges and remanufactured inkjet 

cartridges for use in HP Pagewide 556DN 

with a page yield of 20,000 pages for the 

black and 16,000 for the colour cartridges. 

Furthermore, the compan has widened 

its products portfolio with new additions 

of compatible toner cartridges for use in 

Canon IR Advance C1325/C1335/C250/ 

C351 devices. These cartridges come with 

page ranges of 16,500 pages for the black 

and 11,500 pages for the colour cartridges. 

According to the company, the toner 

cartridges provide not only “OEM 

equivalent print quality,” but also “100% 

compatibility” with OEM products, as 

well as “significant savings” over the OEM. 

The compatible toner cartridges also offer 

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” by IR follow the standards set 

by STMC and ISO 19752 and ISO 19798. 

IR Italiana Riprografia products are in 

compliance with the RoHS II directive 

(when required). ■ 

For more information 

about the above-mentioned 

products and more, please 

scan the QR code. 



EUROPE Katun, Remanufacturing, Refilling, Printers 

EUROPE Pelikan, Inkjet, 

New Products, Aftermarket 

PRPS adds new 

range of inkjet 

cartridges 

Katun Europe introduces 

assortment of new products 

Katun Corporation announced the introduction of new eco-friendly 

refurbished and remanufactured printers, supplies and parts to help dealers 

increase their profitability in Europe. 

The company added new OEM-refill 

colour toner cartridges for use in Kyocera 

Mita TASKalfa 4052-series devices. 

All four colours, cyan, magenta, yellow 

and black are available. Katun said 

these refilled cartridges come “OEMequivalent 

yields and image quality, 

along with cost savings”. These toner 

cartridges have been tested in Katun’s 

Research and Development laboratory in 

Minneapolis, Minnesota to ensure they 

meet its high quality standards. 

Newly introduced parts include a 

replacement image transfer belt for 

Canon iR Advance C3300i-series 

machines, as well as CMYK replacement 

chips for use with Konica Minolta 

BIZHUB C3351 / C3851 / C3851 FS 

drum units. 

Katun Europe also announced the 

expansion of their range of eco-friendly 

refurbished and remanufactured 

printers and the availability of a new 

video detailing the remanufacturing/ 

refurbishment process. 

The company explained that 

these devices perform and look like 

new printers and provide reliable 

performance thanks to stringent 

remanufacturing and refurbishing 

processes completed in Europe. They 

connect to users’ network and MPS 

programme software straight out of 

the box and offer 6-month (Katun 

Access) and two-year (Katun Certified) 

warranties. The remanufacturing and 

refurbishment process is thorough and 

extensive; a new video details the process 

on the Katun website. 

Katun sadi: “In addition to cost savings 

and value, this range of 13 eco-friendly 

Samsung, HP and Lexmark printers 

reinforces Katun’s support of a circular 

economy model, promoting the reuse of 

materials and reducing waste destined 

for landfill.” 

According to a comparison analysis 

based on the Life Cycle Assessment 

study (under ISO 14044:18) and external 

peer review, the overall environmental 

impact of producing a remanufactured 

machine is 77% less compared to 

production of a new printer. Therefore, 

as well as being a cost-effective choice to 

purchase a remanufactured machine, it 

also contributes to the preservation of 

our planet. ■ 

The video of the 

remanufacturing 

process can be viewed by 

scanning the QR code. 

The company has launched a new 

line of multi pack replacement 

inkjet cartridges to their catalogue 

under the Pelikan Brand. 

PRPS said that one of the features 

about this new range is that they are 

available in a new slimline pack, which 

makes them a lot easier to get out to those 

customers now working from home 

as the pack fits through the letterbox. 

This new multi pack range includes 

replacement Pelikan cartridges for the 

popular HP 304XL and the Epson 

29XL. There are a total of 40 multi 

packs featured in this launch which are 

available to order and ship today. 

PRPS pleased about the new launch 

said: “Pelikan inkjet cartridges offer 

you the clever alternative to expensive 

OEM cartridges and are known for their 

highest quality at an unbeatable price/ 

performance ratio. Pelikan ink is wiperesistant 

for smudge-free and streak-free 

printing, giving you professional-looking 

documents first time, every time.” 

With these Pelikan branded inkjet 

cartridges resellers can earn points 

each time they purchase, along with all 

Pelikan branded products, those loyalty 

points can then be claimed and used 

to purchase a wide variety of gifts and 

benefits from the Pelikan brand Rewards 

Club online catalogue. ■ 

For further information about the 

new range of replacement Pelikan inkjet 

cartridges for Brother LC1100, Brother 

LC1000, Brother LC970, Epson T0556, 

Epson T0615, Epson T0445, Epson 

24XL, Epson 29XL. HP 301XL, HP 

302XL, HP 304XL, 

contact Reinder Dijkstra 

@ rdijkstra@prp-eu.com 

or scan the QR code. 


December 2020 

41

PRODUCTS & TECHNOLOGY 

ASIA CET Group, Cartridges, 

Toner, Parts 

ASIA Apex, Chips, Remanufacturing 

CET announces 

latest products 

Over the 

Issue 

past 

335 

few weeks, 

October 

the 

2020 

company has recently released 

various new products for use in 

various Konica Minolta, Xerox, 

Ricoh and Canon devices. 

One of the latest additions to CET’s 

products range are CET Toner, OPC 

drum units and spare parts for use in 

Konica Minolta Bizhub C458/C558 and 

C658 devices. Spare parts include paper 

feed and ADF rollers, replacement chips, 

cleaning blades and much more. 

CET’s Xerox range saw the addition of 

OPC drums for use in Xerox Color J75/ 

C75 Press, Xerox Color 550/560/570/ 

C60/C70/700 Press. For these machines, 

CET has added OPC drums for use 

in the black and the colour cartridges. 

The range was also expanded with a 

OPC drum for use in Xerox AltaLink 

B8045/8055/8065/8075/8090, Xerox 

WorkCentre 5945/5955/5945i and Xerox 

WorkCentre 5955i devices. 

Newly introduced were also 

chemical toners for use in Ricoh IM 

C4500/4500A/5500/5500A and 600 

devices. CET said about the toner that 

they are “tested and approved to be 

equivalent to OEM in image quality, yield 

and fusing properties”. 

In a new video made to introduce its 

new products, CET has showcased new 

additions to its Canon range. These latest 

additions are “CET patent” replacement 

toner cartridges for use in Canon iR 

ADVANCE C5535/5540/5550 and 

5560 series devices. Also available for 

this series are drum unit rebuild kits 

and components for all colours, fuser 

replacement parts, transfer belts, paper 

pick-up roller, paper feed roller and paper 

separator roller. ■ 


on the above and more 

products from CET, 

please scan the QR code. 

Apex introduces latest 

03/09/2020 16:43 

replacement chips 

The company announced the addition of replacement chips for use with 

various devices to its product range. 

One of Apex’s latest replacement chips 

are for use in Canon imageRUNNER 

ADVANCE DX C477i/C477iZ and 

Canon imageRUNNER ADVANCE 

DX C477iFZ/C477iF devices and come 

with page yields of 11,000. 

The company has also announced the 

launch of new replacement chips for use 

with Kyocera TK-7313 series cartridges. 

In October 2020, Kyocera released 

the compact A3 black and white printer 

ECOSYS P4135dn/P4140dn 

in China, which is the updated version 

to ECOSYS P4040dn series. With 

high efficiency and stable performance, 

it is suitable for small and medium 

-sized working groups with less than 

10 people. 

In the same month, Apex has managed 

to be “first-to-market” with its “ASIC 

design with consistent performance” 

chips for use with Kyocera TK- 

7313 series cartridges. Apex said its 

replacement chips are “easy to install in 

recycled cartridges”. The replacement 

chips are for use in Kyocera ECOSYS 

P4135dn/P4140dn, are regionalised for 

China and are available with page yields 

of 15,000. 

Also now available are replacement 

chips for use with Epson 405XL series 

cartridges to its product range. 

According to Apex its “first-tomarket” 

replacement chip solution 

comes with “consistent performance” 

and are “easy to install in recycled 

cartridges”. These latest replacement 

chips are for use in Epson WF- 

4830DTWF/WF-4820DWF, Epson 

WF-3820DWF/WF-7830DTWF 

and Epson WF-7835DTWF/WF- 

7840DTWF devices. 

Furthermore, the company has 

announced the launch of new 

replacement chips for use with HP 

1330X series cartridges. 

In April 2020, HP launched the A4 

monochrome laser printer 408dn and 

MFP 432fdn series of printers in the 

Americas. With a print/copy speed: 

up to 40 pages per minute the printer 

has been awarded with the Blue Angel 

according to DE-UZ 205 in Germany 

for meeting more than 100 strict 

criteria. 

The Apex chip Apex Chip, part 

number ALH-W1330X0, is for the 

1330X remanufactured monochrome 

cartridge and has a 15K page count and 

is for use in the HP AMS region. 

The easy to install chip offers 

consistent performance throughout the 

print cycle life of the remanufactured 

cartridge. 

According to the Blue Angel 

certification process the use of 

refurbished toner modules and 

refurbished ink modules and containers 

according to DIN 33870-1 and 33870-2 

should not prevented by constructive, 

software-based or other measures. ■ 


on the above or any other 

of Apex’s range, please 




EUROPE GM Technology, Cartridges, Remanufacturing, New Products 

GM Technology adds new products 

The company has introduced new remanufactured original cartridges for use in various Canon copier machines. 

The latest products addition to 

GM Technology’s product range are 

remanufactured toner cartridges for use in 

various Canon imageRunner machines. The 

new range includes replacement models for 

Canon EXV-11, EXV-12, EXV-33, EXV-35 

cartridges and the new EXV53 cartridges. 

For colour devices the range includes 

remanufactured EXV-28, EXV-29, EXV49 

and EXV 51 and the new EXV-54 and EXV- 

55 cartridges. 

Zoltan Matyas GM´s Director of 

International Business Development 

commented on this release: "These new 

additions are particularly important for 

GM as Canon is historically one of the 

most popular brands in the copier industry, 

especially in Eastern European countries. 

This new release is an answer to an existing 

demand based on continuous requests from 

our existing distribution partners in different 

regions." 

After completing a lengthy and extensive 

R&D cycle the Spanish remanufacturer is 

now ready to go to market with its circular 

economy focused Canon remanufactured 

toner cartridge range. 

As all other remanufactured toner 

cartridges of the company this range 

will also be available in the company’s 

OR version (using Genuine Original OEM 

toner) as well as its remanufactured version 

using the highest quality toners on the 

aftermarket. GM Technology added that “all 

references are remanufactured using an OEM 

empty toner bottle to guarantee 100% patent 

safety to the reseller.” 

The company said that production volumes 

of the OR version are limited and partners 

have priority access to these products. ■ 


on the above-listed and 

other GM Technology 

products available, please 


ASIA HYB Toner, Cartridges, Aftermarket, New Products 

HYB launches wide 

variety of new products 

The company and its toner manufacturing partner in Japan released products for use in Ricoh’s Pro C651EX/C751EX/ 

C751 Color Production Systems, remanufactured drum units for use in various Konica Minolta devices, a new range of 

remanufactured Ricoh devices and compatible toner cartridges for use in Kyocera ECOSYS devices. 

HYB Toner said that it has developed their 

moulding which enabled them to produce 

compatible waste toner boxes for use in the 

toner collection section of Ricoh Pro C651EX/ 

C751EX/C751/Pro 7100/Pro C7100s/ 

Pro C7100sx/Pro C7100x/Pro C7110/ 

Pro C7110s/Pro C7110sx/Pro C7200e/ 

Pro C7210sx/ Pro C7210x/ Pro C751EX/ 

Lanier Pro C7100/Pro C7100s/Pro C7100sx/ 

Pro C7100x/Pro C7110/Pro C7110s/Pro 

C7110sx/Pro C7200e/Pro C7210sx/ Savin 

Pro C651EX/Pro C7100/Pro C7100s/ 

Pro C7100sx/Pro C7100x/ Pro C7110/Pro 

C7110s/Pro C7110sx devices. 

The company added that its waste toner box 

effectively creates a saving for the distributors 

with 80% cost reduction compared to the 

OEM products. 

Also announced were chemical colour 

toners for the above-mentioned models. The 

formulation was a new development between 

HYB and their partner in Japan. So far, HYB 

started to supply this toner as bulk and refill 

packing to their customers who are using the 

toner in remanufacturing toner cartridges of 

Ricoh Pro C651 and C751EX machines. 

HYB Toner also released remanufactured 

Konica Minolta DU-105, A5WH0Y0 for use 

in Konica Minolta Bizhub PRESS C1060/ 

C1070/C71hc/ AccurioPress C2070 and 

Konica Minolta AccurioPress C83hc devices. 

The HYB-KM-DU105 was estimated to have a 

page yield of 410,000 pages. 

The company started with the 

remanufacturing copiers business in 2019 

and has been offering remanufactured copiers 

of Konica Minolta, Xerox, and Sharp. 

Recently HYB said it has removed the Sharp 

copiers and added the Ricoh machine models 

into their catalogue with below models 

available to supply. 

Now available from HYB are 

remanufactured Ricoh MP 3054, MP 3554. 

MP 4054, MP 5054, MP 6054, MPC 2004, 

MPC 2504, MPC 4504, MPC 6004 models 

and more. 

Most of the Ricoh machines originate from 

the U.S.A market which enables most of HYB’s 

customers in Latin America to get default 

110V copiers after a series of production and 

QC processes of HYB’s remanufacturing team. 

Furthermore, HYB Toner has launched 

compatible toner cartridges for use in Kyocera 

ECOSYS P4060dn machines which come with 

page yields of 32,000 pages. 

HYB commented on the launch: “In order 

to satisfy our customers, whose customers are 

mostly composed of dealers and having a high 

expectation when they compare our toner with 

Original ones.” The company added: “To make 

sure of supplying the performance equivalent 

products with the OEM, HYB always run 

systematic testing under different conditions 

with collection of data.” ■ 

For more information on 

the above and other products 

from HYB, please scan the 

QR code. 


December 2020 

43

MARKETPLACE 

TONER MANUFACTURER 

COLLECTOR 

COLLECTOR 

CBC (Europe) GmbH 

toner@cbc-europe.com 

Tel: +49 211 530670 

www.cbc-europe.com 

FBO Organisation, S.L. 

fbo@fbo-org.com 

Tel: +34 936724863 

www.fbo-org.com 

LVL 

hb.sales@lvlcartridge.com 

Tel: +33 251 70 14 58 

www.lvl.fr 

REMANUFACTURER 

RESELLER 


wta Carsten Weser GmbH 

info@wta-suhl.de 

Tel: +49 3681 4529710 

www.wta-suhl.de 

Copyclic 

info@copyclic.com 

Tel: +33 01 60 78 78 78 

www.copyclic.com 

Integral GmbH 

info@integral-international.de 

TEL: + 49 (0) 28 33 60 60 

www.integral-international.de 

MARKET INTELLIGENCE 

CARTRIDGE CLEANING SYSTEMS 

SUPPLIER 

LightWords Imaging 

admin@lightwords.co.uk 

Tel: +44 1270 878850 

www.lightwordsimaging.com 

Futor Cleaning System AG 

info@futorag.ch 

+41 716800549 

www.futorag.com 

TOKO Srl 

toko@toko.ro 

Tel: +40212327270 

www.toko.ro 

SUPPLIER 

BROKER AND RECYCLER 


Freckles Ltd 

info@freckles.bg 

Tel: +359 2 955 5560 

www.freckles.bg 

The Greener Side 

info@greener-side.co.uk 

Tel: +44 1427 700 700 

www.greener-side.co.uk 

Primedia Products 

tmiller@primediamicr.com 

Tel: +1 304-277-2050 

www.primediamicr.com 


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» Looking to sell your business? 

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Phone: +49 (0) 2582 991 0702 

Email: candu@candugbr.com 

United Kingdom 

kontakt@itp-group.com 

kontakt@itp-group.com 

ETIRA membership benefits include: 

Meeting new clients and partners at our 

network meetings! 

A strong fight against clever chips, unfair 

patents, waste transport rules etc.! 

PR-work to tell the world about remanufactured 

cartridges and why they are good for both 

consumers and the environment! 

Promotion of top-quality remanufacturing 

(standardisation)! 

Join our business Code of Conduct, and sell 

more cartridges thanks to our logo! 

Meeting 60 top remanufacturers already 

members of ETIRA... 

ETIRA brings the remanufacturing Industry 

together. Be part of the family! 

Haydnlaan 13, 4837 CS Breda, 

The Netherlands Tel: + 31 6 414 614 63 

info@etira.org 

www.etira.org 

ETIRA: WORKING FOR ALL REMANUFACTURERS AND PARTNERS 


December 2020 

45

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