Falcon - Falcon

Potential RAM shortage may hike photocopier prices

michael.bryson@falcon.co.uk (Michael) — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 15:13:47 +0000

With the new tension between the two Korea's created by North Korean's declaration of a ‘state of war’, the prospect of conflict becomes ever more likely with each passing day. North Korea's recent provocations led to South Korea's markets dropping a quarter of a percent lower than its closing numbers Friday. The market has since recovered but what would happen if conflict was to break out and how would it affect world industry? Lets first look at what South Korea's primary industry interests are.

South Korea's main industry is based in the manufacture of electrical goods, in particular, solid state memory (RAM). Over half of the world's solid state memory is produced in South Korea and the country's exports are based around electronic integrated circuits and automatic data processing machines contributing to nearly 20% of total exports. As the world's biggest producer, if South Korea's manufacture of memory was to be disrupted in any way, its economy would receive a serious blow and there would be large memory shortages worldwide. This in turn would lead to supply issues in all manner of digital electrical devices from microwaves to photocopiers and large price hikes are to be expected. A similar event occurred in 2011 when severe flooding hit Thailand, home to the world's manufacture of hard drives. Hard drives doubled in cost and Computer Manufacturers could only meet 65% of demand for that quarter and reported heavy losses. Hard drive prices have still not fully recovered since and memory pricing/supply could be soon to follow.

But how likely is a shortage in memory? Manufacture of memory in South Korea predominantly takes place within just 85 miles of the DMZ. It seems that North Korea has recognised South Korea's economic dependence on memory and may even be actively plotting to target South Korea's memory factories. North Korea recently released an image of their new leader, Kim Jong Un with a map of the U.S. behind him with a number of attack locations plotted. One of the targets is Austin Texas, which would be an odd target if it wasn't for its main distinguishing feature; a large South Korean owned memory plant. The ease in which North Korea could disrupt South Korea's memory plants and the possibility that they're actively planning to do so, makes the production of memory highly likely to be disrupted if conflict was to occur.

The potential increases in prices to appliances such as photocopiers may lead to significant hardship for businesses. Printer leasing and rental could be a way of dealing with increasing prices in photocopiers. Your cash flow will be improved as no large up-front cash payments or deposits will be required and with fixed monthly payments, photocopier leasing will help you maximise your budget through better management. Further advantages include the ability to upgrade or acquire new photocopiers with ease, minimising the risk of obsolescence of existing photocopiers. This measure would prove particularly pertinent if your business is experiencing large growths and changes. All in all photocopier and printer leasing provides a much more economical alternative and is recommended to avoid the potential in increasing photocopier/printer prices.

Belated Congratulations to Falcon Sponsored Charity Event, Eastwoods Pepper Golf Day

mg@falcon.co.uk (Max Guttfield) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 12:00:00 +0000

Falcon would like to send its belated congratulations to Janet Edwards and Joe Collier, the organisers, and everyone else who participated in this year's Eastwoods Pepper Charity Golf Day held at Ashbridge Golf Course in Hertfordshire almost two months ago now (!). The day, which was the most successful yet, raising a total of £21,300 from sponsorship and an auction, sees the golf event through its fourteenth incredible year, all in the name of support for the care of terminally ill children. One of the highlights of the day was the auctioning-off of a still photograph from celebrated TV comedy series, Only Fools and Horses, capturing possibly one of the most hilarious moments in British televisual history, Del Boy very swarvely falling through the bar at a wine bar. This item alone bagged a fanastic £1000 for the Foundation....

Falcon Provides High Quality, Great Value Document Solutions to Leading London Commercial Rentals Company, Workspace Group

mg@falcon.co.uk (Max Guttfield) — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Falcon is delighted to report on its highly successful implementation of a range of document solutions for innovative London-based commercial property rentals company, Workspace Group. Workspace Group, which has established itself as the leading provider of flexible and affordable office/commercial space in Greater London has benefited from a range of Falcon document solutions, both for its own staff at Workspace HQ as well as its many clients at the exciting new Club Workspace drop-in style office centres. A consistent requirement for all implementations was impressive document security, which Falcon, in conjunction with its various technology partners, was able to ensure across each of the sites. In line with Workspace's environmental commitments, as well as providing greater security, functionality and flexibility, the new Falcon document solutions should significantly reduce paper waste and environmental impact going forward.

Document Security Briefing - Part One - Photocopiers and MFPs

mg@falcon.co.uk (Max Guttfield) — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 19:00:00 +0000

With the ever-increasing threat of data compromise, organisations have to ensure the utmost vigilance when it comes to their and their clients' information security. Most commonly we see concerns raised in the arena of online banking transactions and web-based communications but the increasing convergence of technologies, with essentially bordlerless interractions between previously separate business processes/systems, means that few environments are now entirely risk free. This does not have to mean panic but it should necessitate a timely move away from more old-fashioned, 'analogue' conventions on risk towards a view more informed by the actual technologies we're all using and their full, often potentially harmful capabilities...

Canon uniFLOW Document Workflow Solution Awarded at Buyers Lab 'Summer Picks'

mg@falcon.co.uk (Max Guttfield) — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 16:00:00 +0000

Buyers Laboratory Inc., one of the world's leading authorities when it comes to assessing reprographics/imaging devices and software has this month announced the winners of Buyers Laboratory Inc 'Summer Pick 2011'. In recognition of Canon's efforts to set the standards when it comes to document workflow security, the company's flagship solution, Canon uniFLOW 5.0 has been awarded 'Outstanding Document Security Solution'.

Canon imagePROGRAF iPF 8300S Receives 'Outstanding Colour Inkjet Wide Format Production Photo Printer' Award at BLI's Summer Pick

mg@falcon.co.uk (Max Guttfield) — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 12:00:00 +0000

Here at Falcon, it's not often that we take time to acknowledge the many accolades Canon regularly receives when it comes to its conventional printing devices but this month's award of the 'Outstanding Colour Inkjet Wide Format Production Photo Printer" at BLI's 'Summer Pick', where Canon also picked-up awards for its Canon uniFLOW document workflow solution, seemed like an opportune moment. The Canon imagePROGRAF iPF 8300S wide format printer impressed BLI earlier in the year with its high levels of productivity and exceptional print quality at widths of up to 44 inches and has been singled-out at the summer awards which recognise the best products and software reviewed by BLI over the previous six months.

Environmental Standards for Photocopiers - What the Symbols Actually Mean

mg@falcon.co.uk (Max Guttfield) — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 12:00:00 +0000

The environment is more important today than it has ever been. Companies worldwide go to great lengths to reduce their carbon emissions and minimise environmental impact. It is simply no longer a sound business strategy to turn a blind-eye to what is clearly becoming one of the most critical issues in contemporary society. Understandably, manufacturers of office equipment, whose photocopiers and multifunction printers consume considerable amounts of energy in office environments the world-over have to be a part of the solution and companies like Canon, renowned for its technological innnovation, have gone to great lengths to ensure devices match-up to growing expectations in this area. But understanding exactly which standards manufacturers hold themselves to - seeing through all the acronyms and symbols - can be something of a minefield. Here we provide the most straightforward guide we can....

Canon Among "15 Most Innovative Companies of all Time"

mg@falcon.co.uk (Max Guttfield) — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 18:00:00 +0000

Business Insider has selected Canon as one of the most innovative companies of all time. The magazine's Top 15 list judges companies on their historic patent applications and the number of patents actually granted to them. The list includes some of the most iconic names in the history of electronics and design and Canon, the leading imaging solutions company, ranked 2nd, beating General Electric, Sony and Intel among a roster of other world-beating corporations. Here, we look at Canon's performance on the Business Insider Top 15 and examine further the company's unparallelled history of innovation in imaging technology.

Canon on Forbes 'Top Genuinely Green Companies' List

mg@falcon.co.uk (Max Guttfield) — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Forbes, the magazine best known for ranking the world's richest individuals and its most successful corporations has listed Canon, the well-known manufacturer of cameras, photocopiers and other electronics devices as one of the world's top ten most genuinely green companies. With a selection from a very wide spectrum of industries, Forbes singled-out Canon's environmental activities which are at the heart of what it does as a company. These include the Environmental Planning Center and the Environment Promotion Center in the US, which enable Canon to keep track of its environmental performance as well as Canon's publication of an annual sustainability report, published in both English and Japanese.

How the Photocopiers Industry Authority, BERTL, Picks the Best

ak@falcon.co.uk (Andy Kindell) — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 03:00:00 +0000

When reading about Canon's recent success at BERTL's 'Spring Pick' Awards a month or so ago, it quickly became apparent that BERTL, who are now the major assessment authority within the photocopiers industry, have made some pretty significant changes to the way they judge performance for the world's major photocopiers manufacturers. In many ways echoing the view of Trevor Dodsworth, Canon UK's Head of Product Marketing, who recently spoke of Canon's own device product development drivers, BERTL are placing ever more emphasis on end-user needs than whatever the rest of the industry's own internal performance criteria happen to be at any given time. BERTL and Art Wynne, the company's President, very kindly agreed to shed some light on how the world's leading photocopiers manufacturers are being assessed today.