ESP can Increase the Profitability of Your Business: Pick them up from Hytec

ESP technology was invented to solve a problem in the document imaging industry. Canon’s first entry into the “segment 5” copier market, then dominated by Xerox, Kodak, and IBM, was the 7550. Their strategy was to be the lowest priced copier in the segment, and to meet this goal the 7550 needed to yield 25,000 copies between calls (CBC). High CBC means low operating costs.

The copier employed a newly developed integrated circuit technology that was extremely high- end for the time – similar to what was being used in early computers. This allowed Canon to build a machine that was more electronic and less mechanical than anything else in the market. It made the 7550 smaller, less expensive to manufacture, and easier to service.

It looked like Canon had a winner! Lower selling price and lower operating costs meant Canon could become a formidable force in the segment. Canon dealers were very excited and the 7550 launched to great fanfare.

The Problem

Soon after the 7550’s release, Copier Distributor in Vancouver received a call from their best customer Calgary Copier. They were field testing the Canon 7550 and rather than the expected 25,000 copies between service calls, the machines were only getting five or six thousand. With such a high frequency of service calls the machine would not be profitable and customer satisfaction would suffer.

Calgary Copier determined that the 7550 was performing poorly because of sensitivity to “dirty” electrical power. To correct the problem, they tried installing a large, heavy, $1,200 Tycor power filter on every 7550 sold. This was the only option available at the time and soon proved illogical.

Calgary Copier asked the owners of Copier Distributor to fly to Tycor’s headquarters in Calgary and sign a deal with them to distribute Tycor’s product to all Canon dealers in the country. In return, they were hoping it would reduce the price to make it cost-effective.

Copier Distributor became the exclusive distributor of Tycor in the Canadian copier market and eventually got the price down to $350. More importantly, the seed was planted for the development of a new power filter.

The Solution

The Tycor power filter was still expensive, heavy, difficult to install, and only provided adequate protection. Copier Distributor saw an opportunity and formed Electronic Systems Protection (ESP) in 1985.

They enlisted the services of an electrical engineer to design a low-cost, lightweight device that could solve the power problems that were wreaking havoc on the newly computerized copiers. They called the breakthrough product the Digital QC. It offered advanced Multi-Stage surge protection and EMI/RFI noise filtration that was superior to anything in the market. Plus, it weighed only three pounds and, at approximately $100, had a much lower price. It quickly became a standard part of every new copier installation for Canon dealers.

In short time, the other copier manufacturers were introducing their own microprocessor-based copiers. With the same sensitivity to power disturbances, they also began installing the Digital QC to protect their copiers, improve service profitability, and customer satisfaction. The Digital QC was becoming a standard part of copier installations.

By the early 1990’s copier dealers and manufacturers were buying the Digital QC in large numbers, and ESP moved its offices from Vancouver to North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park area to focus on the larger U.S. market.

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Source Your ESP Products from Hytec

Hytec is the industry’s leading source for factory-authorized repairs, service support, and factory warranty administration, providing quality solutions that offer imaging dealers with great savings. The partnership enables ESP’s customers the ability to single-source their power protection and parts from one vendor, streamlining the ordering process to save time and money. Hytec’s support and online ordering system will provide faster order processing times, same day shipping and an overall enhanced level of customer support.