Ricoh InfoPrint 4100 and InfoPrint 4000 - Adios, Finally?

InfoPrint 4000, InfoPrint 4100 - Ricoh is About to Say Goodbye

George Strait had a great song titled "Baby's Gotten Good at Goodbye." Did George have Ricoh InfoPrint Service in mind? Ricoh is saying goodbye to all the old monochrome hot-roller fusing InfoPrint printers and leaving those systems in the IBM and Ricoh past. 

First, they stopped support, service, and toner supplies for the InfoPrint 75 and InfoPrint 100. Now April 1, 2024, they say 'ADIOS' to the former sweetheart of the InfoPrint Production Printers rodeo - the InfoPrint 4000 and 4100.

Ricoh has set deadlines like this before, only to continue to go out to customers and assist them on a billable per-call basis. Will that happen again? Who knows? George figured out that 'she's' likely not coming back.

In his song, George sits on the front porch and thinks about when she loved him too much to leave him - until now.

"All the times before, she'd break down and cry. She'd make her threats, but her heart wasn't set on goodbye. She just wanted me to hear what she had to say. Now I'm lost for words, saying she went
away. She may not return, for this time, she didn't cry."

Now, what's a cowboy, I mean, what's an InfoPrint 4100 user to do? 

It would be good to do it soon. There are only a few more months of full support from Ricoh.

Consider:

How much of the printer workload is simplex single-sided?

How much of it is label printing?

Is it, or can it be on fan-fold and tractor-fed paper?

What is your total print volume?

Contact us. We can help you with alternatives that accept and print your current AFP/IPDS workload. We can offer printer groups and configurations that will support your print ranch. We are not "All hat and no cattle" - we have helped many good customers change from old brands to products from great vendors.

Contact Warren Neeley at 817-430-6202 or WNeeley@PCIprinters.com

Logistics Mess Making You Search for 57P1743 - the 4247 Printer's Ribbons?

Are you running out of 4247 ribbons, and all the suppliers are out for the next couple of months?

As described on this webpage, https://chooseglmgroup.com/compuprint-57p1743-ribbon/ -- 

The Printronix 260059-002 cartridge ribbon sold for Printronix S828 and S809 printers is fully compatible with the 57P1743 cartridge. The Printronix ribbons are in our inventory at Printer Connection. We are ready to ship ASAP!

You can order on our website by a click on this link -

SHIP ME SOME 4247-Z03 RIBBONS

Use the code of "GLM10" to take another $10 off the order!

We also have the Printronix S828 printers in stock and ready to ship to you.

Contact Warren Neeley at WNeeley@PCIprinters.com for more information.

Serial Dot Matrix Printers - Tough Units from Printronix

Printer Connection, Inc. (PCI) presents the S828 and S809 Dot Matrix Printers from Printronix.   

The new Printronix family of serial dot matrix printers continues the legacy of the InfoPrint serial printer series. Back when IBM had printer resellers, and Printer Connection was a top IBM InfoPrint reseller, we once offered the base of this machine as the InfoPrint 4247. 

Printer Connection, Inc. (or PCI) has been a proud reseller partner of Printronix LLC for many years. Together they will continue to grow and serve the North American Printronix customer base. Printronix has recognized PCI as the top Printronix Partner in Texas and the western United States.

Printronix selected the original OEM manufacturer of the InfoPrint 4247 to now build their newest offering, the Printronix S828 and S809 dot matrix printers.

Printronix is a leader in developing and manufacturing impact and transactional printing solutions for professional, industrial, and front-office applications.

Printer Connection (PCI) is one of the US leaders in Enterprise and Industrial Printer sales. PCI specializes in printers for continuous forms printing. PCI is proud to distribute and inventory the Printronix family of products across their growing network of printer customers and resellers.  

To read more about the rugged Printronix S828, click here.

As always, if a superb high-speed printer is needed, look to PCI for your needs in fanfold pin feed continuous forms (CF) printing of all types:

 - line impact printers and - CF laser printers for labels and batch documents. 

The new Printronix serial dot matrix printers are also available with affordable extended onsite maintenance coverage and lease financing.  For availability and pricing, contact Warren Neeley at Printer Connection, 866-430-6202.

Time & Material Repair: Ricoh and Canon Océ End-of-Service Continuous Forms Laser Printers

Why play Roulette with the Company’s Printer Operations?

Ricoh and Canon Oce have announced the End of Service on some 75 to 100 ppm pin feed mono lasers. Once the announced “end of service” date is passed, the vendor has no obligation to you!

Consider the Stark Differences from the old expired Ricoh or Oce Service Plan. 

REPAIR PARTS - no obligation to ...

...have an inventory of replacement parts or have any source of used parts. Ricoh and Oce have been planning to shut down the service coverage for at least five years. They likely made plans to scrap the defunct and fully depreciated inventory. Their service techs may search for used market parts, but maybe not very hard, as it is now not a top priority. The search time involved is likely billable as well. According to Ricoh service personnel, they will not even come out for repair until they find the likely needed part.  

...charge a set price for parts. Ricoh and Oce can charge whatever they choose. There was a reason that the service contract was thousands of dollars annually. Some components could be the total cost of the old annual service bill – before labor charges. Some installed customers may choose to gather a spare printer or two just to have service spare parts ready and sitting on site. 

...continue selling supplies like toners. Customers may buy a stockpile of toner, but without a critical repair part such as a drum, developer unit, or fuser unit, however much toner is in the stock room will not allow the printer to run correctly.

SERVICE TECHNICIANS - no obligation to…

...answer a call in a timely response time. T&M customers are the second priority. Any previous “SLA” or service level agreement on those printers is now a thing of the past. Service techs go first to service contract customers. They can leave your site to go take a higher priority service call.

...concern themselves that your printing is “mission-critical.” Your print jobs may wait on the repairs for days or maybe weeks. Printing your current labels or reports should not be a crucial part of your operation if you plan to rely on Ricoh and Oce T&M repair. They cared so much in the past because you paid for a top priority service contract.

...complete the service call repair. A call from a customer with a service contract takes top priority, and the Ricoh and Oce service tech can leave before the repair is completed. Emergency dispatch repair calls take top priority over time and materials work.

...fix the printer. Any Ricoh or Oce service call will be on a “best efforts basis.” They are not under contract to get it fixed.

...continue to offer T&M for any length of time. They may initially agree to help you for a while but may withdraw the offer at any time. Management can reassign coverage and willingness to do time and materials work.

...keep within a price for labor or parts. If they search for parts, expect that the search time not on your site can be billed as well.

...provide any “second-level” technical support for drivers and controller code issues. Here is a quote from Ricoh: “Once maintenance service and support are withdrawn, Ricoh no longer provides any support, such as assistance for installation, usage (how-to) or code defect-related questions for that version and release level.”  

DESIRE TO HELP: - no obligation to…

...care if you are in a bind or not. If Ricoh still sells a printer in the range of the withdrawn unit, they hoped to sell you the new one. If they do not sell a replacement printer, their motivation to worry for you had ended when you did not buy an alternative replacement. They may offer help only as a short-term accommodation to you.

Now, what is YOUR own Obligation for your Company? 

Those printers from Ricoh and Oce were suitable, and the vendor did offer good, complete, supportive service. Now that offering is no longer the same wise decision the company once selected. It is now much different, with more risk and uncertainty for a reliable future.

There is a saying in the Distribution Industry. “If trucks don’t roll, then HEADS DO.” Where does your business turn for support on those old Ricoh and Oce printers, now that your printer vendor has turned away from their install base? 

What is the answer to Top Management when the printer goes down for good, no repair is possible, and they ask, “Could you not find an alternative to keep our business running?”

The intelligent action is to plan, test, evaluate - then act. Do you have EOS printers? Mission-Critical tractor-feed labels or printout needs, running on InfoPrint 75 or Oce Variostream 7120 units, and have no printer alternative tested and ready to adopt? It’s like playing Roulette in Vegas, betting RED or BLACK, or 1/3 the board. You may hope you will be fine, but what if the little ball falls into GREEN 0 or 00? When the market has excellent replacement printers available, is the avoidance of budget approval and the associated risk really worth it? With Ricoh and Oce printers at end-of-service, why risk the company’s operations on “we will probably be ok?”

We can help. For more information, contact Warren Neeley with Printer Connection at  wneeley@pciprinters.com or 866-430-6202.

High-speed Microplex F140 Continuous Form Laser Printer

Meet the fastest flash fusion printer sold today!

Meet the Microplex F140, providing 140 page-per-minute print on a 2-Up job. 2-Up printing is two 8.5x11-inch pages, side-by-side, and a popular speed quoted by printer vendors. If the print job is 8.5x11 bills or letters, and you have the post-processing to slice and dice and merge the output, it can do a fine job.

In our experience, not one of our customers is printing 2-Up!

Many customers print on 11-inch tall pages of labels or plain paper. It could be for a big distribution center to generate pick and sort labels for shipping their products. It could be for programmer listings, and mainframe system dumps. Often the continuous forms laser user is printing mailing labels. The Microplex F140 delivers those jobs at 70 ppm.

Others use a smaller page of 8.5-inch tall. Sometimes customers run on 'Landscape Letter' of 11" wide and 8.5" tall pages. Some jobs are shorter folds of labels and even a 'short green bar paper' that's 8.5" tall. On this media, the Microplex F140 is 91 ppm.

Vendors such as IBM/Ricoh InfoPrint and Canon Oce leave this market niche of pin-feed continuous form laser printers. Consider the Microplex F140 as a replacement for the IBM/Ricoh InfoPrint 100 or 75 or the fast Oce Variostream 7100 models that soon will be no longer supported by Oce.

Printers with on-site maintenance service, supplies, and labels are available from Printer Connection, Inc. Contact Warren Neeley at wneeley@pciprinters.com. Read more about the printer on his webpage by clicking here.   

Zebra 105SL Plus Replacement Choice is the Zebra ZT510

 Choose the Zebra 105SL Replacement Choice - the Zebra ZT510.

Zebra’s 105SL Plus thermal printer sales ended in 2018. Repair parts may be available until 2023. 

The Zebra 105SL Plus replacement is the ZT510, a rugged industrial printer with basic operating features while adding a powerful operating system. 

Link-OS provides remote tech support and site supervisors with remote device management. Link-OS gives the ability to gather information from the cloud, such as device locations and workload capacity. The ZT510 is ideal for labeling/packaging and shipping/receiving.

Contact Warren Neeley at 866-430-6202 or wneeley@pciprinters.com to discuss your replacement needs. Visit Warren’s webpage on the subject by clicking here.

Use your Thermal Printer for Workplace Safety

REFLECTIVE VINYL LABEL TAPE PROVIDES VISIBILITY TO IMPROVE SAFETY AND WORKFLOW

Reflective vinyl label tape is a unique material infused with light-reflective particles, or beaded plastic material, making it retro-reflective. Retro-reflective means that when a light source hits the material, it doesn't merely reflect light back to the source but reflects in all directions. This wide-angle reflectivity provides high visibility both in the daytime and at night.

BENEFITS OF REFLECTIVE VINYL LABEL TAPE 

Reflective Label Tape delivers a wide variety of benefits, including:

Visible in Low Light Areas - Reflective labels can provide the desired information and be clearly seen even in poorly lit indoor areas such as dark corners, storage areas, or hallways.

Visibility After Dark - The need for labels and signage doesn't stop once the sun goes down. Retro-reflective labels make it easier to read vital signs after dark.

Long Distance Visibility -  Reflective label tape allows you to see your signs and labels further away than traditional labels.

Helpful During Power Outage - Power Outages can make regular signs and labels hard to see even in the naturally best-lit spots. Using reflective vinyl allows for visible signs when the lights are on and when they're out.

More Extended Distance Barcode Scanning - Retro-reflective label material allows for scanning from longer distances. It is perfect for high-level racks that need to be scanned from the ground.

Flexible Sizing - Users can create the exact labels and signs in the best size needed. Reflective vinyl label tape is offered in a variety of widths. It can be used to print labels of just about any length.

Apply to a Variety of Surfaces - Reflective label tape is pliable material with an aggressive permanent adhesive. This adhesive makes it possible to apply the labels to almost any surface.

Durable - Reflective tape is highly resistant to and ready for duty in various harsh weather conditions, including cold, heat, and humid environments. Combined with its aggressive, permanent adhesive, it has up to a 7-year durability rating.

Color Coding Options - Reflective vinyl is available in a variety of colors to allow for color-coding. Using your color code standards can help increase safety communication, streamline processes, and improve organization.

Print the Labels You Need Now When You Need Them - Print reflective labels on demand using your current or new tabletop, portable or desktop thermal printers. Save time and money. Act now by printing the labels you need now because you need them now. 

USES OF REFLECTIVE VINYL 

Warehouse Racking: Print highly reflective and practical warehouse rack labels. Scan them from a distance and see them even in low light.

Loading Docks: Clearly mark bays and safety barriers to keep loading docks running smoothly. Users can highlight other important safety and essential instructional information.

Construction Sites: Ensure that critical safety and informational labels and signs can be seen regardless of lighting or weather.

Industrial Signs - Create visible, durable industrial signs, including pipe markings, OHSA signs, Arcflash warnings, and more.

Safety/Warning Messaging- Reflective vinyl helps keep employees safe by ensuring that safety and warning signs and labels are always visible.

Marking of Equipment: Ensure that your workforce can find the tools and equipment to get the job done.

PRINTER CONNECTION, INC SHOULD BE YOUR SOURCE FOR GREAT REFLECTIVE VINYL LABEL SUPPLIES 

PCI can be your source for reflective vinyl label tape for your critical applications. Choose PCI's Reflective Vinyl Label Tape when highly-visible labels are crucial. Choose among seven different colors. This great reflective vinyl label tape can meet ASTM Type 1 field performance standards. This great product is for both indoor and outdoor applications. Click to contact Warren Neeley for more information. Call 866-430-6202

Don't forget - PCI also provides a wide range of sizes and colors of traditional vinyl label tape.