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Tag: Inkjet

  • Epson Is Exiting the Laser Printer Business

    Epson Is Exiting the Laser Printer Business

    Epson has announced it is exiting the laser printer business, citing environmental and business concerns.

    Laser printers may be the preferred option for office environments, but customers will have one less choice as Epson exits the market and throws its full weight behind inkjet technology. The company said it will end all sales of laser printers by 2026, coinciding with increased investment in its Heat-Free inkjet tech. The company will, however, continue to offer existing customers repair parts and other consumables.

    “We’ve long been committed to sustainable inkjet technology and have now decided to phase out sales of laser printer hardware,” said Koichi Kubota, general administrative manager of Epson’s Sales & Marketing Division. “As a company we’re totally committed to sustainable innovation and action, and inkjets simply use less energy and fewer consumable parts. While laser printers work by heating and fusing toner to a page, Epson’s Heat-Free inkjet technology consumes less electricity by using mechanical energy to fire ink onto the page.

    “Our printing business will from now put the focus on inkjet, leveraging our propriety technology to deliver efficient, sustainable print solutions for our partners and end users.”

    The news follows a study the company conducted in 2019 that shows a tremendous difference in the environmental impact between inkjet and laser printers.

    “As Epson’s inkjet printers do not use heat in the printing process, they consume far less power than laser printers,” the company writes. “Epson’s inkjet printers consumes up to 85% less energy than a similar-speed laser printer which means for a typical office that requires frequent printing, this can amount to distinct savings in their annual energy bills[1].

    “Epson inkjet printers also produce up to 85% less carbon dioxide than those of comparable laser printers2. This means that for every 6 cedar trees required to absorb the amount of carbon dioxide as a result of using a laser printer, an Epson inkjet printer requires only 1 cedar tree.”

    The company also makes clear that inkjets are also the better option for customers, since they require far less replacement parts over the lifetime of the printer.

    “In terms of waste generation, Epson inkjet printers come with fewer components that need replacing, making it more convenient to operate as it requires only changing the ink and waste ink box versus toner, drum, developer, fusers and more components for laser models,” the company adds. “This is not a tiny detail as – with up to 59% less replacement parts compared to laser printers3– it results in a significant reduced impact on the environment over the lifetime of a printer.”

    Kudos to Epson for demonstrating that the responsible choice can also be one that is good for consumers and putting that choice above profits.

  • Lexmark Ditches Inkjets, Lays Off 1,700 Worldwide To Cut Costs

    I remember my family’s first Inkjet printer. It was a Lexmark and I was proud to own a piece of hardware designed in Kentucky. The era of inkjet printers from Lexmark ends today, however, as the company is selling off that part of the business.

    Lexmark announced today that they will no longer be involved with “the development and manufacturing” of inkjet hardware. Getting rid of their inkjet business will save Lexmark $95 million a year. As part of the restructuring, the company also announced 1,700 layoffs worldwide with 550 affecting their headquarters in Lexington, KY.

    “Today’s announcement represents difficult decisions, which are necessary to drive improved profitability and significant savings,” said Paul Rooke, Lexmark chairman and chief executive officer. “Our investments are focused on higher value imaging and software solutions, and we believe the synergies between imaging and the emerging software elements of our business will continue to drive growth across the organization. As we move forward, we remain confident in our strategy, competitiveness and ability to create value for shareholders.”

    Lexmark anticipates to offload their entire inkjet business by the end of 2013. The company is also hoping to close its Philippines-based manufacturing facility by the end of 2015. They’re also working to sell off all of their inkjet related technology and patents.

    Speaking to Business Lexington, Rooke said that Lexmark was evolving “from a hardware-centric company to a solutions company.” By that, he means that the company will now focus primarily on software, specifically in the field of “higher value imagining and software solutions.”

    Lexmark expects the restructuring to cost them $160 million over the next three years. The company also plans to return more than 50 percent of free cash flow to its investors. To accomplish this, they will be purchasing $100 million worth of stock in the third and fourth quarters of this year.

    The news of Lexmark ditching the inkjet business caused their share price to skyrocket by three points today. The company is currently trading at $22 per share.

  • Bioprinting Uses Inkjet Printer On Living Cells

    Bioprinting Uses Inkjet Printer On Living Cells

    Researchers from Clemson University have found a way to create temporary holes in the membranes of live cells using a standard inkjet printer. The method will be published in JoVE, the Journal of Visualized Experiments, on March 16.

    “We first had the idea for this method when we wanted to be able to visualize changes in the cytoskeleton arrangement due to applied forces on cells,” said paper-author Dr. Delphine Dean.

    She said other researchers have been using this method to print cells onto slides, but that they have only recently discovered that printing the cells causes the disruption in their membranes for a few hours. Creating temporary pores allow researchers to put molecules inside of cells that wouldn’t otherwise fit, and study how the cells react.

    “The authors have used an extremely innovative approach for bioprinting cells. Moreover, this approach can be used for applications other than cell printing,” said JoVE Science Editor, Dr. Nandita Singh. “Matrix proteins can be printed onto substrates with this technique for cell patterning. This JoVE publication will make this approach simple and approachable and enable other labs to replicate the procedure.”

    The printer is modified by removing the paperfeed mechanism and adding a “stage” from which to feed the slides. The ink is replaced with a cell solution, and the cells are printed directly on to the slides.

    Using this method, the researchers are able to process thousands of cells in a matter of minutes. Dr. Dean’s team used the holes to introduce fluorescent molecules that illuminate the skeleton of the cell.

    “We are actually interested in the cell mechanics of compressed cells. This method allows us to push on the cells and watch the response easily,” said Dr. Dean. “We are interested in cardiovascular cells, and how they respond to mechanical force.”

    Dr. Dean chose to submit her method to JoVE, the only peer reviewed, PubMed-indexed science journal to publish all of its content in both text and video format, because, according to her, “until you’ve seen it done, it’s hard to understand the process.”

    You can watch a video of the process here.

  • Lexmark Reveals New Line of Inkjet Printers

    On Monday, January 31st, Lexmark International revealed its new inkjet printer designed for businesses. It originates from the company’s decision to target business customers with its line of printers. The OfficeEdge series of printers is targeted for small and medium sized companies and can range in price from 249 dollars to 499 dollars. The Pro5500 models are immediately available while the Pro4000 model will be available in the month of April. A spokeswoman from Lexmark, Melissa Lucas explained to the Herald-Leader a few ways the Pro5500 was designed for businesses.

    As mentioned earlier, the line of printers is intended for business purposes and they do mesh well with business and IT environments. The Pro5500 and Pro4000 printers are definitely built for fast and heavy duty scanning and printing. The new line proudly exudes astonishing new speeds that surpasses previous models.

    The Pro5500 model features a single pass, duplex, auto document feeder, which gives the user the ability to quickly feed printable and scannable documents. Additionally the feeder has a capacity of up to 50 sheets of document. An awesome time saver, the machine has the ability to simultaneously scan two sides of a given document saving a lot of work too. The device is also able to fit a variety of paper sizes as well.

    The printers have an outstanding print quality which truly surpasses those qualities of lesser models. Featuring clear, vivid colors, deep black and katana blade sharp grays, These colors are made possible by Lexmark’s new pigment based Vizix Pro ink. This new ink is now used in both standard models and the new models as well.

    The Pro5500 features a sleek 4.3 inch touchscreen menu for quick and easy command navigation; you can even download new software and updates to the systems. Lexmark says these machines are truly the most business efficient line of printers yet. Lexmark Executive Vice President, Marty Canning had this to say about the company’s new line:

    “The tremendous business-class capabilities we’ve integrated into our new business inkjets, along with a compelling value proposition, make them viable alternatives for demanding, heavy use workgroups, our customers working in shared use environments, such as doctor offices and branch banks, will find that the OfficeEdge Series is an ideal choice for managing their workflows and professional-quality color documents.”