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Old 08-28-2012, 06:31 PM
Pixelpusher Pixelpusher is offline
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Lexmark to shut Inkjet plants.

I wonder if this will be the start of a trend.

Lexmark to stop making inkjet printers, lay off 1,700 employees in effort to boost profits

Lexmark to stop making inkjet printers, lay off 1,700 employees in effort to boost profits - Winnipeg Free Press

c/p

SAN FRANCISCO - Lexmark is jettisoning its inkjet printers and laying off 1,700 workers as paper becomes increasingly passe in an age of ever-sleeker digital devices and online photo albums on Internet hangouts like Facebook.

The shake-up announced Tuesday is the latest fallout from the growing popularity of smartphones and tablet computers that make it easier to store and retrieve content from anywhere with an Internet connection. As a result computer printers are used less frequently, especially at home.

That's hurting printer makers, whose revenue is falling at the same time profit margins are being squeezed by fierce competition.

"It's a declining market with far too many players," said Gartner Inc. analyst Federico De Silva. He estimates the number of monthly pages printed by the average consumer has fallen by more than 40 per cent in recent years.

Lexmark International Inc. responded by pulling the plug on its inkjet business. The company, based in Lexington Ky., will stop making inkjet printers that were primarily sold to consumers and instead focus on more sophisticated machines aimed at offices and customers that still produce a lot of content on paper, like advertisers and catalogue publishers.

People who already own Lexmark inkjets should have no immediate worries. Lexmark plans to sell replacement ink cartridges and other supplies for its obsolescent machines for several more years.

The most immediate impact will fall on Lexmark workers. The company's planned 1,700 job cuts include 1,100 in its manufacturing operations. One of the biggest hits will come in Cebu, Philippines, where Lexmark plans to close a plant by the end of 2015.

The cutbacks will affect about 13 per cent of Lexmark's workforce, based on the 13,300 employees on the company payroll at the start of this year.

Lexmark is trying to trim annual expenses by $85 million next year, with savings expected to escalate to $95 million annually when the cuts are completed in 2015. The company expects about $160 million in charges over the next three years for severance pay and other costs.

Lexmark hopes to recoup some of its money by selling its roughly 1,000 patents on inkjet technology and other items from its discarded business.

Investors applauded Lexmark's moves as the company's surged by $2.61, or nearly 14 per cent, to close Tuesday at $21.62. The stock remains well off its 52-week high of $38.34 reached six months ago, shortly after the company disclosed plans to eliminate 625 jobs.

The decision to leave inkjet printers comes a month after Lexmark reported a 61 per cent decline in earnings for the latest quarter.

Hewlett-Packard Co., the world's largest maker of computer printers, is also having a tough time selling its less expensive machines to consumers. Its sales of consumer printer units plunged by 23 per cent from last year during its most recent quarter.

Analyst De Silva said printer makers have compounded their problems by maintaining high prices for ink cartridges at the same time people are finding it just as easy to read many documents on Internet-connected tablets such as Apple Inc.'s iPad.

"Printing isn't going to go away completely, but more people are learning the best way to consume content these days is on a digital device," De Silva said.
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Old 08-28-2012, 06:46 PM
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Couldn't happen to have anything to do with the way those two companies have allowed their quiality to go to hell coupled with gouging the unfortunates owning those brands for ink, could it?
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Old 08-28-2012, 07:28 PM
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I agree with Darwin, they made the poorest quality printers on the market, the last one I purchased would print maybe a half dozen sheets then run out of ink. I contacted them and was told there was nothing wrong with it. I hate to see the loss of jobs but Lexmark brought it on themselves.
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Old 08-28-2012, 07:43 PM
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In a true Capitalist Market, consumers will support only the best product(s) at the lowest price(s).

Or in other works.......... "You get what you pay for!"

I predict that HP will be the next to announce changes in it's structure pertaining to their Printer Divition. Just my opinion, but they have been ripping off consumers for a very long time.
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Old 08-28-2012, 08:22 PM
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I just wonder, will this trend drive ink prices higher or lower? I suspect higher, with ink becoming harder to get, and the remaining suppliers insist on maintaining/increasing their profits. Hopefully I'm wrong, and the prices actually come down as they try to retain customers, but...

Scott K.
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Old 08-28-2012, 10:22 PM
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I'm with Darwin quality survives.

As for printers going away I remember all of the talk of the paperless office back in the 80's and early 90's. As I look around my personal office I see two laser printers (one color) and just outside of my office is a high speed document printer/scanner. On my side desk there are several stacks of documents on various projects we are working. You have to wonder what happened to the paperless office.

Jim Nunn
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Old 08-29-2012, 06:25 AM
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Quote:
You have to wonder what happened to the paperless office.
Let's hope that it stays around for quite awhile. If small businesses truly go paperless then we will be left with printers for large business publishing and high-priced printers for the crafts market. Can you say scrapbooks? I hate to say it but I might need to think about getting a good large format printer now while the gettin' is still good.

Curt
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Old 08-29-2012, 07:01 AM
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I hope this situation will lead to more affordable color laser printers for home use...without the makers gouging on the cartridge prices. Of course, if one is convenient to a Staples/FedEx/other office center, it would be a long time before one recouped the printer and consumables cost compared to the price-per-sheet printed on a high-quality color printer at an office center. Unless one is printing massive quantities of kit sheets...
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Old 08-29-2012, 11:13 AM
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Texman Texman is offline
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Originally Posted by BillO View Post
I hope this situation will lead to more affordable color laser printers for home use...without the makers gouging on the cartridge prices. Of course, if one is convenient to a Staples/FedEx/other office center, it would be a long time before one recouped the printer and consumables cost compared to the price-per-sheet printed on a high-quality color printer at an office center. Unless one is printing massive quantities of kit sheets...

The problem here, laser print tends to crack and flake when you score and fold, a necessary part of paper modeling.
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Old 08-29-2012, 11:31 AM
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You have that right, Ray. And imagine the cost of a wide format laser printer.
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