International BUSINESS-INFORM 2012 Conference – a New Informational Source about Printing Equipment and Supplies Market

During 18^th–20^th September in Moscow, within the framework of the International Special Stationery and Office Products Exhibition SKREPKA EXPO (Moscow Exhibition Centre –Crocus City Hall) took place International BUSINESS-INFORM 2012 Conference. The conference was dedicated to modern office equipment, supplies, and parts. The conference was organized by Informational Agency BUSINESS-INFORM.

During the first day of the conference 4 reports were made. The first one being “Russian Supplies Market in 2012 – Main Tendencies” made by BUSINESS-INFROM General Director, Malinsky Stanislav. The report represented the analysis of the marketing data collected by the agency specialists in 2004-2012 concerning the printing equipment and supplies. It demonstrated the market’s main tendencies and contained forecasts for years 2012-2015. Special attention was paid to considerable growth of office equipment and supplies procurements by the state and negative (for Russian market) consequences of supplying low-quality Chinese compatible products. In the second report, “The Distinctive Features of Russian Compatible Supplies Market”, the director of Russian company Ramis, Belikov Eugeniy Petrovich told in detail about the main milestones of Russian compatible supplies market establishment, about recent market developments, and its distinctive features in 2011-2012. The special attention was paid to the subject of providing quality printing using compatible supplies from Germany, Japan, USA and China; and to the review of the most common mistakes made by Russian users while printing with compatible supplies. In the following report “Intellectually Re-engineered MSE Cartridges” the author, Peter Kulakov, development manager for Russia and CIS states of the US-based Micro Solutions Enterprise (MSE) directed listeners attention to the problem of intellectual property infringements during the production of compatible cartridges for laser printing. The speaker presented valuable information about the segment of remanufactured cartridges and its features, analyzed the advantages of using remanufactured MSE cartridges instead of new compatibles. In the closing report of the first day of the Conference, “Cost per Copy Outsourcing – We Solve Customer’s Problems”, the project manager of Admis company, Alexey Buchakov shared the experience of selling cost-per-copy contracts to Russian companies. The speaker analyzed different variants of actual contract realization, described organizational, financial and technical problems faced by companies offering cost per copy contracts. All reports made during the first day of the Conference were informative and timely. That is proved by a considerable number of listeners and questions addressed to the speakers.

The second day was opened with a report, “Objectives Pursued by Original Equipment Manufacturers and Their Influence on the Aftermarket” by mr. Volker Kappius from Delacamp (Germany). While analyzing methods that are used by OEMs to protect the supplies market from compatible products, Volker Kappius reviewed the main tendencies of the Global printing market and ways of protecting intellectual property by OEMs. A special attention was paid to demonstrating the advantages of chemical toner for color printing. The second report done by Reinhardt Jippa (Fuji Electric - Germany) introduced an interesting novelty, Fuji Q-technology, implemented in new Fuji Electric drums. The speaker made a detailed introduction of major Q-Technology advantages for laser printing and answered the questions of the participants. In the next report Chekanov Sergei Vladimirovich, the director of Russian-based Polyram presented a detailed overview of organizational, financial, and technical aspects of putting up a corporate cartridge-filling department. He directed the attention of the audience to the legal aspects of recycling, reviewed the refilling industry development in Russia in 1995-2012, and noted according to his opinion the most common mistakes of Russian laser refilling companies. The last report for the second day, “Kyocera Technology – Savings for Business”, was made by Igor Kozachenko, Kyocera Document Solution Russia. Mr. Kozachenko introduced to the audience modern solutions from KYOCERA company in the field of office printing, told about main technical and technological advantages of KYOCERA equipment, its environmental safety, efficiency, reliability and productivity. In the end of the report he answered all the questions of the participants.

The third day of the Conference was marked by two reports. The first report called “Success Guides on Original Cartridges Recycling Market” was prepared by one of the leaders of the recycling industry, Static Control (USA). The speaker, Juan Carlos Bonell, provided in depth overview of his company, its principles and priorities, reviewed legal aspects of recycling, mentioned the examples of OEMs filing complaints against compatible cartridge producers. Special attention was paid to intellectual property protection issues not only considering OEMs, but recycling companies as well. The second report called “Compatible Color Printing Supplies and Their Integration into MPS – Risks and Opportunities” was read by Katun (USA) representative Tomas Wolf, who reviewed every detail considering of making compatible consumables without infringing intellectual property of OEMs. The speaker mentioned multiple examples of high-quality Katun products, produced without any legal infringements and demonstrated a wide range of prints made with Katun consumables. Besides that he also told about new Katun’s development – a new MPS system designed that allows a significant increase the effectiveness of printing fleet in middle-sized and large businesses.

During 18^th-20^th September the International Conference was visited by more than 180 specialists from different regions of Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Belarus and Armenia. All of them had a chance to listen to informative reports from leading management of the companies – leaders of the Global office equipment and supplies market, as well as being presented with a brochure BUSINESS-INFORM REVIEW (issue 1, 2012), which contained most interesting reports from International BUSINESS-INFORM 2012 Expo (6^th-8^th of June 2012, Moscow, All-Russia Exhibition Centre, pavilion №57). The next conference dedicated to modern office equipment will take place in Moscow during International BUSINESS-INFORM 2013 Expo (21^st-23^rd May 2013, All-Russia Exhibition Centre, pavilion №20).