Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Why Choose #2 Printronix over a #1 Zebra Thermal?

PCI sells the Printronix line of thermals.  During the IBM Printing Systems days, I heard a point in an IBM presentation that stated that this printer - the combination of the identical twins PRX.T5000 and IBM.4400/6700 units - was number two in sales volume for top-end tough and high volume industrial thermal printers. 

Zebra has held the #1 position in sales for some time.  Customers with installed Zebra printers require compatibility to even consider a switch.  Printronix has been fully compatible for years with the Zebra and ZPL language.

So why change?  Number Two needs to show why its product would be an improvement over the current leader.  What are the Printronix operational efficiencies as compared to the Zebra line?  Printronix has done a very nice job in a video demonstration of just over eight minutes. 

View the Video.

Are you thinking about a refresh of your installed Zebra thermal printers?  Have questions?  If you would like to evaluate a new Printronix T5000 printer for yourself, let us know.  Contact Warren Neeley at WNeeley@pciprinters.com or call 866-430-6202.

Friday, June 1, 2012

Printer Connection is like IBM's DB2?

On a trip across the Internet one day, as an internet 'surfer' can be swept along, I happened upon a video about Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated's implementation of IBM DB2.

It turns out that DB2 helps them run their business much faster than Oracle.  Some big batch jobs that took 30 to 36 hours are now completed in 2 hours.  Nightly runs were cut from 90 minutes to 30 minutes.  They figure that they have saved $1 million.

Then appeared these little nuggets that caught my eye and had me relaying them to the blog - the basic needs and benefits that Coke Bottling achieved are what we deliver to our customers.

SAVE MONEY
PERFORM WELL
RELIABLE
EASY TO USE
and I added to the list
GOOD COMPANY

IBM was talking about product performance.  I believe that our customers have basic needs and that PCI consistently delivers, not just with our products but with our business approach.

SAVE MONEY - Financial justification is always essential in purchasing new systems, but what if there is not enough budget for all the IT projects?  A big part of our business starts with selling a refurbished impact printer to first-time internet customers.  The reason we have repeat business is the other critical nuggets in that list.  Customers experience our attention to EASY TO USE customer service to test, set up, assure fit, and provide post-sale customer support. Our RELIABLE delivery of products or consulting PERFORM WELL and avoids any buyers' remorse on their selection.

Thankfully the same approach works with new printers, software, and maintenance.  We earn our repeat business by being a GOOD COMPANY for printers because printer output is our focus.  It is easy to slip into dealing with platitudes on this type of subject, but after customers have experienced pain with printers and we take away those pains and deliver the rest of that list, we become "Their Printer Guys."

It's a great list - not just for a product but also for a business approach.  I'm glad we fit the list.