Issue #0610/1 - Playing in both printer and copier markets over the past few years seems to have put a spark of new life into Kyocera Mita that is reaching a new high point this year with intelligent product development and multiple product launches.
As Kyocera Mita continues to strengthen its place in the hard copy market, the company has announced that it will launch a major assault on the market in 2006, with 18 new models due to come on stream.
These new models address the Kyocera Mita range almost end-to-end: mono and colour desktop, workgroup and departmental printers; entry-level and mid-range mono MFPs; and mid-range colour MFPs. Fewer than half the product range will remain unaffected and the range will grow from 28 models to 34.
Perhaps the most exciting new products represent two firsts for Kyocera Mita.
Also interesting to note is that Kyocera Mita bills these colour printers as ‘mono and colour printers’. So, no claims of ‘colour capable’ but a clear and straightforward statement that these printers are suitable for both mono and colour printing.
As we’ve said before, almost every printer should be network-ready and many should be duplex capable as standard. Kyocera Mita is coming up with the goods.
On the mono MFP front, three A3 devices join the line-up running at 30, 40 and 50ppm, all with colour touch screen control panels. Again, all are network-ready, which is, again, a progressive feature in an environment where many so-called MFPs are still sold without the basic network print capability as standard.
Sadly, the one area still missing from Kyocera Mita’s line-up is an entry-level A4 colour MFP for general small office use. However, with both single-pass and four-pass colour laser printers now available at the low end of the spectrum, we can hope that an MFP version will be next on the developer’s list.
For more than a decade Kyocera Mita has offered printers based on its unique Ecosys ceramic drum technology with Total Cost of Printing that can easily work out as much as 50% lower than its competitors. Ignoring this fact might mean that, by the time three-years have passed, a company could have paid out more twice as much as it needed to for each and every printer in its fleet!
So why does Kyocera Mita capture only 8% of the mono printer market in Western Europe (figures presented by Kyocera Mita, source IDC)?
Much of the resistance to buying Kyocera Mita, I believe, stems from an innate scepticism that any piece of business hardware that claims to save its owner money must be backed by a catch. We hear of too many scams and so-called special offers or business opportunities that actually cost the buyer more in the end.
And yet:
- Diesel cars are very popular, especially in continental Europe where fuel tax on diesel fuel is rather lower that it is in the UK, because the running costs are lower. The car costs more to buy in the first place but saves money in the long run.
- Companies (and especially government agencies) put out tenders and requests for quote on goods and services and choose the lowest quote.
- Hypermarkets have become very popular because prices are lower than in the small street corner shops – we are even prepared to spend money on fuel in our cars to drive a distance to a hypermarket when a good local store might have been within walking distance – but slightly more expensive.
- In the UK, there is a chain of high street shops in which everything costs £1 and where prices of some products (toiletries etc) are often 30% or more lower than even in supermarkets. A USB cable normally costing around £5 can be bought for £1. This shop is always full!
So why are we generally so unwilling to find out which printing solution will offer us the least cost option?
What this says about the consumer society is that (for many people) if something can be bought cheap, we’ll buy it cheap – we’ll probably buy more items but we’ll buy low cost. We are tending to prefer to spend our money on expensive toys rather than on mundane necessities.
What it says about the business community is that while savings have to be made to meet expectations and profit demands, those savings are frequently made on manpower rather than on logistics/services that could be purchased at lower cost. Companies are all too often willing to throw away years of expertise, paying out large sums in redundancy payments, in order to reduce the headcount and thus the personnel bill, failing to realise that large amounts of money are being wasted elsewhere.
| UK – Mono |
Purchase / Duty Cycle |
Print Speed |
Nominal CPP |
Long-term CPP over 3 years |
% higher than Kyocera Mita |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Kyocera Mita FS-3830N |
£650 175,000 |
33 ppm | 0.33 pence | 0.65 pence | - |
|
Dell Workgroup Laser M 5200n |
£499 175,000 |
35 ppm | 0.74 pence | 0.91 pence | 40% |
| Oki B6300n |
£609 150,000 |
34 ppm | 0.74 pence | 0.91 pence | 40% |
| Epson EPL-N3000 |
£664 150,000 |
34 ppm | 0.82 pence | 1.03 pence | 58% |
|
Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 4250n |
£940 200,000 |
35 ppm | 0.74 pence | 1.08 pence | 66% |
| Brother HL-8050N |
£829 150,000 |
34 ppm | 0.82 pence | 1.11 pence | 71% |
| Xerox Phaser 4500 |
£949 150,000 |
34 ppm | 0.95 pence | 1.27 pence | 95% |
| Lexmark T640 |
£644 200,000 |
33 ppm | 1.17 pence | 1.39 pence | 114% |
| Xerox Phaser 3500 |
£540 100,000 |
33 ppm | 1.25 pence | 1.40 pence | 115% |
Note that for this level of machine, the mixed mono/colour CPP over three years shown in the accompanying table is calculated on the basis of 10,000 pages per month using maximum capacity toners and takes into account any standard, or starter, toner cartridges shipped with the printer and includes the purchase price.
As a whole, the TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) message, or in this instance TCP (Total Cost of Printing), has been largely ignored despite the fact that so many companies are under financial pressure and need to cut costs. The purchase decision is more likely to be about the purchase price rather than the full package.
Although we will have to wait till full details and pricing has been released before we can undertake comparisons with the new products, we can easily demonstrate the Kyocera Mita Ecosys cost advantage where mono products are concerned.
Here we see a group of 33-35ppm mono laser printers with duty cycle ratings mostly at 150,000 to 175,000 pages (the Xerox Phaser 3500 is a light-duty printer by comparison with most, rated at 100,000 pages, while the Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 4250 is a heavy duty machine, rated at 200,000 pages).
Even the lowest cost of the competitors, the Dell Workgroup Laser M5200n, while being the least expensive to buy is still 40% more expensive to run over three years than the Kyocera Mita FS-3830N.
At the other end of the scale, it is the light-duty Phaser 3500 that proves the most expensive to run despite its competitive purchase price. Together with the Lexmark T640, nominal Cost Per Page of the Phaser 3500 is significantly higher than any of the other printers. So, despite the purchase price of both these machines being lower than the FS-3830N, the overall Total Cost of Printing is well over double.
33-35ppm Mono Laser Printers Long-Term CPP
Because Kyocera Mita is achieving economies of scale through the manufacture of Ecosys engines for both printers and MFPs, the purchase price of the FS-3830N is not as high relative to the competition as it would have been a few years ago. Now, the price falls neatly in the middle of the group while Total Cost of Printing still remains appealingly low.
Running a Kyocera Mita printer or MFP is very much like running a diesel car – the initial outlay may often be a little higher but the fuel costs work out lower, such that the owner spends less over an extended period of time.
To capture 8% of the market is actually not a bad result for Kyocera Mita by any means. That is sufficient to give the company 4th place, behind Hewlett-Packard, Brother and Lexmark, and bears testimony to its rise through the ranks over the last decade. The problem for any contender for market leadership is that Hewlett-Packard still commands such a high percentage share (43%). Even Brother (2nd place) can find no more than 15% to take at present.
In the copier/MFP arena, where Kyocera Mita takes 6th place with 6% of the market, there are a greater number of active players because every printer company has the capability to produce an MFP, which is where the major growth is. By contrast, copier manufacturers have tended not to diversify into the printer arena. So, there is not so much scope for a runaway leader in the way Hewlett-Packard has led the laser printer market for 15 years.
Here, it is Canon (again the long–term major player) that leads the market but with a share of only 17%. Brother again follows up with 15% but then the market drops to a group of eight players all capturing just 6% share.
Most importantly though, Kyocera Mita is in a growth situation. Its 8% share of the European mono laser printer market in 2005 represents 4.5 million units – nearly 10% higher than in the previous year. And, Kyocera Mita expects to be passing the €1bn revenue point within two years, up from €600 million in 2001. Unlike Lexmark, Kyocera Mita’s growth in unit sales is translated into revenue growth.
One factor than has contributed towards this steady growth was the purchase of the Mita Corporation (copiers) by Kyocera several years ago. This has allowed the company to draw on the individual strengths of each company and to play in both printer and copier/MFP markets with common Ecosys engines across the two ranges, thus bringing lower cost manufacturing potential to add to low cost of operation in both areas.
~End~
