UK remanufacturing franchisor Lasertech UK has called a creditors meeting to convene on 8 March 2012 at The Queen Hotel, City Road, Chester, CH1 3AH, reports Channel Register.

Channel Register states that a vote will be held to determine whether Insolvency Practitioners Parkin S Booth will be nominated as liquidator, according to a spokeswoman at the firm although was unable to comment further. Parkin S Booth have offices across the country, with a Chester office at 2 City Road, Chester, CH1 3AE.

Jason Williams, director at Lasertech Franchising and has established Office King, EWJ Management Services and Printer Management Services, was unavailable to comment to The Recycler at the time of publication.

Following Jalay Roy Choudhury’s discussion with Canon, HP and Epson executives on the implications of wireless printing, ITVar have published his latest discussion with OEM executives on the latest trends in India.

Vivek Chandel, Executive Director, Marketing, Xerox India, commented: “Sectors like banking, financial services, insurance, telecom, retail, consumer goods and IT/ITES look very promising for our services growth [and] as the only player in the market that has the capability to streamline the entire value chain for its customers, we are well positioned to participate and gain the leading share of this growth.”

Ram Prasad, Deputy General Manager, Consumer Products, Epson india, also predicted growth in retail and financial segments, remarking: “We foresee the digital imaging industry getting further consolidated in the coming years taking into account the large opportunities arising out of digitisation in the smaller cities and towns across India. We see huge business growth in segments like education, retail and financial segments, just to name the top three.”

However Nitin Hiranandani, Director, LaserJet Enterprise Solutions, HP IPG, elaborated the most on the future of HP. From the consumer angle, “increased mobile and web connectivity across all major cities in India and the fast-growing internet population in India are changing the way consumers interact with content. We continue to deliver Cloud-let and web-connected innovation that allow people to seamlessly integrate print into their digital lives no matter where they are.”

Hiranandani also remarked on how such technologies benefit SMBs, with “business print apps such as Google Docs and box.net help them manage content efficiently [and] HP Smart Web Printing, a free, easy-to-use printing application, can reduce paper use by up to 45 percent when printing from the web.”

Much was made of the proliferation of mobile devices, stated: “Mobile devices continue to outgrow PCs as preferred primary computing devices. According to Gartner, by 2012, at least 50 percent of enterprise email users will rely primarily on a browser, tablet or mobile client, instead of a desktop client. HP continues to bring mobility solutions and a Cloud-unified experience to the enterprise customer.”

Printer manufacturer Xerox have announced that three new MFPs, built on the ColorQube platform, will be distributed in 26 African countries by Bytes Document Solutions, according to ITWeb.

Key features of the ColorQube include an enhanced processor of up to 1.5GHz, a hard drive size increase to 160GB, enhanced image quality and cost reduction through user permissions, which can restrict printing based to several criteria including colour, time of day, job type and application.

Erica Marks, Senior Product Manager, Xerox Division, Bytes Document Solutions, commented: “Companies can dramatically cut colour print costs with the Hybrid Colour Pricing Plan available on the Xerox ColorQube 9300 Series – paying only for the amount of colour on a given page. This is an important differentiation when using just a little bit of colour, such as a company logo on a letterhead.

Robert Palmer, Director, InfoTrends Digital Peripherals Consulting Service, added: “The Xerox ColorQube 9200 Series broke new ground in office colour printing by turning the cost equation on its head. It gave companies an affordable way to use colour every day – something they have requested for years.”

Bytes Document Solutions is a company in Bytes Technology Group, wholly owned by JSE-listed Altron.

Aftermarket supplies distributor Get Smart Cartridges has launched a scheme as of 16 February to accommodate “small businesses and large corporations seeking to Go Green” by alleviating the high cost of printing inkjet and toner cartridges and ribbons with cashback rewards for mailing used, recycled cartridges.

Entitled the Smart Reward Program, Get Smart Cartridges states that “free UPS/ FedEx return labels are sent with each purchase, and each returned cartridge provides a $0.10 (€0.07) credit […] consumers are able to apply the credit to their next purchase, add to PayPal accounts or donate it to over 165 charities throughout the US.”

Get Smart Cartridges will also donate $0.25 (€0.18) for each toner or inkjet printer purchased to American Forests, with the organisation planting a tree for each dollar donated.

The company has recycled over 786,000 cartridges and planted over 2,400 trees through consumer donation since 2007, with a long term target of 1 million trees planted.

The OEM is to include Autonomy’s search software in a selection of new PCs and printers in the next few months.

The Financial Times states that the plan brings HP and its newly-purchased subsidiary “more directly into competition with companies such as Microsoft and Google” in terms of search engines. Autonomy’s software is usually used for insider trading at banks and monitoring call-centre phone calls, and is said to be planned to be included in HP hardware later this year.

The “intelligent” computers and printers would be able to take advantage of the powerful software, which the Financial Times summarised as being able “to extract meaning from unstructured data such as audio, video, social media, email and web content”, and a “mobile phone or tablet computer with Autonomy’s augmented reality software […] would be able to search for information and internet links after simply being pointed at an image”.

The printers would in turn be  “intelligent storage devices“ that could “not only scan documents but also organise them based on the information they contained”. Autonomy’s other tools that HP could possibly use include those in mobile phone software and services, which could prove interesting following the failure of the OEM’s TouchPad tablet and difficulties with its WebOS operating system.

The purchase of Autonomy by HP for $10.3 billion (€7.77 billion) last year was said to have cost previous CEO Leo Apotheker his job with the OEM only initially incorporating the technology from its acquisition into servers.

Mike Lynch, who sold Autonomy to HP and is now head of HP’s information management business, stated: “What we have done with people from HP is give them assets and technology to do things with. We have the luxury of very high margins that allow them to be experimental. I think they are enjoying that.”

Frank Gillett, analyst at technology researcher Forrester, added: “It [the Autonomy software] would create an electronic document storage system that could be linked to an online HP service. The printer might even be able to say ‘hey that looks like an insurance document and the last date of the insurance is coming up, do you want to renew?’”

Gillett warned however that HP would face “more direct competition” in Microsoft, Google and Apple, which already dominate web and mobile search and are continuing to innovate search engine technology.

The University of Cambridge has published research in the journal Physical Review Letters that may help solve the so-called inkjet paradox of creating tiny droplets from viscous fluids, reports Print Week.

Scientists from the Department of Engineering and Institute for Manufacturing have devised a method of predicting whether a thread of liquid will condense along its length and form a single droplet or collapse into several droplets. The process of droplet generation was recreated using a large-scale model of a printhead, with ultrafast imaging technologies employed to observe droplet formation within a solution of water and glycerine.

With the solution at an adequately viscous degree, filaments would be formed across several centimetres and would slowly contract to form a single droplet rather than break up.

Professor Ian Hutchings, who led the research team, commented: “Our regime diagram can predict whether or not a certain liquid can be broken into useful droplets; it is, in simple words, a rule of thumb to determine whether a liquid can be used to produce a droplet or not.”

Dr Alfonso Pita added: “For the first time in an experimental and quantitative way, the ultimate behaviour of a filament under nothing but the action of viscous and surface tension forces has been explored.

Barney Cox, a senior consultant at InfoTrends, remarked: “Hopefully, it will enable the development of printing systems that overcome current limitations ins peed, cost, reliability and application. Ultimately, these developments should help printing remain competitive in the current graphical and information markets it addresses, as well making it suitable for other industries and manufacturing processes.”

Wanganui Chronicle has reported on the opening of a new Cartridge World store in the town by Brian Kettle, who also owns the franchise in New Plymouth. The store was opened shortly after Christmas 2011.

Kettle remarked on customers experiencing an average saving of 60 percent, and stated that previously people have had to send cartridges away for refilling.

Former teacher of engineering at a New Plymouth industry training school and keen surfing enthusiast, Kettle is looking to employ a staff member in the Wanganui branch.

Cartridge World have also recently announced the appointment of John Dunsford as its new European Finance Director, who will be in charge of managing the day-to-day working capital requirements of the business as well as looking for further financial opportunities.

Cartridge World has announced the appointment of John Dunsford as its new European finance director. Dunsford will head up the company’s UK and European finance teams, and will manage the day-to-day working capital requirements of the business as well as identifying and capitalising on all finance-related opportunities.

Dunsford, who qualified as an accountant during his tenure at Ernst & Young, London, spoke on his appointment: “I wanted to be part of an established, successful brand that is well respected in the industry and has ambitious growth plans for the business network and the franchisees.

“Cartridge World’s franchise network is constantly developing. I’m excited about the plans for 2012 and the role I can play in implementing the various initiatives.”

John Richardson, Chairman, Cartridge World, added: “John’s impressive financial and analytical background makes him a great fit for his new role at Cartridge World. I welcome John to the team with confidence that he will contribute greatly to our future success.”

Former Cartridge World CEO Tom Fricke left the company in late 2011, and as of January 2012 as emerged as CEO of HMS Host, claimed to be “the world’s largest provider of food, beverage and retail services for travellers”.

Armor Office Printing, a division of French remanufacturer Armor, has announced that its distribution site at Nantes has recently been awarded the OHSAS 18001 assessment specification for health and safety at work as of January 2012, adding to its ISO 9001 accreditation on quality and ISO 14001 accreditation on environmental management.

According to Armor, this establishes the company as one of the few in the industry to have been awarded “the triple certification for quality, environment and health/safety”. The aftermarket company states that establishing a management system for health and safety leads to an optimum work environment, and as it identifies risks associated with health and safety, it reduces the number of accidents.

Armor also stated that the OHSAS 18001 is “the number one worldwide benchmark for health and safety management systems at work”.

Armor recently celebrated its 90^th birthday at Remanexpo Frankfurt 2012 with a press conference and cocktail party held for exhibitor and visitors. Managing Director Pierre-Yves Léger and Marketing Manager Sophie Lansac spoke with journalists on the predictions, targets and expectations for 2012.

Manufacturer DCI/Jet Tec has recently announced its attendance at the 2012 Stationery Show, held at the Business Design Centre, London, from 24 to 25 April, and will be using the show as a platform to showcase its range of products.

DCI/Jet Tec, who produce a range of remanufactured and compatible cartridges from brands including Brother, HP and Lexmark, noted that the show allows the company the opportunity to meet with new and existing customers, and to promote the latest additions to its toner range.

During the show, Jet Tec will be offering a special offer of five percent off Jet Tec toners and 10 percent off ink cartridges for any customer wishing to place an order.

DCI/Jet Tec attended the recent Remanexpo Frankfurt 2012 exhibition, noting it had been “another highly successful year” with Commercial Manager Phil Sneath commenting: “Paperworld is always an important event for DCI/Jet Tec. It is crucial for meeting new contacts and reinforcing relationships with our existing customers.”