ITEX 2016 IN 3D
By Lou Slawetsky – Last week, I found myself at the 15th annual ITEX show. When I saw that the show was in Ft. Lauderdale, I thought, “This is in Florida. I LIVE in Florida. How far can it be? Don’t ask. Florida is only three feet wide, but a million miles long.
A bit of confusing history (for me). Fifteen years ago, Marc Spring gave birth to ITEX with some help from Dick Norton (RIP), Bob Sostilio and yours truly. The show had a definite tilt toward third party supplies. The show was sold to Questex, part of InfoTrends. InfoTrends was sold to BLI. BLI assigned the show to Questex (which went with the deal).
Confused? Me too. Bottom line, this was the first time that InfoTrends was running the show. Many of the sessions were conducted by InfoTrends analysts – qualified people all. But, throughout, they were asking analysts and dealers how to improve the offering. I didn’t hear any general consensus, other than a change in venue.
The exhibit floor revealed offerings by slightly more than 100 vendors, roughly 40% selling third party supplies and parts. So, the original focus of the show remains. Attendees? About 1,000 – unchanged from previous years.
Keynote addresses (there were five) began with Jeff Hayes, president of InfoTrends. He discussed the state of the imaging market, revealing that page volumes are dropping at a rate of 1.5% per annum, underscoring the need for dealers to find new sources of revenue and margin.
Next, we heard from Ken Thibault, Director, Americas Region iMPS at Hewlett-Packard who shared information on HP’s new Managed Hardware Device. This is a PageWide MFP (not called inkjet anymore). These products are available only to authorized partners under MPS contracts. Cartridges offer increased yield of 10% – 40, driven by software. Thibault stated that cost for color pages is less than that offered by remanufactured cartridges by approximately 25%. HP has partnered with FM Audit for page monitoring and auto supplies shipments.
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Like the systems they replace, the new products are all A4 units. Perhaps the most significant data referred to the fact that 43% of A3 devices have never printed an A3 page. What’s more, for those units that do print A3, total volume is less than .5%! That would account for the fact that A4 unit populations are growing at a significant rate, but offering lower revenue and margins.
It was interesting to note that, although HP was listed as an exhibitor, they were not. Their only presence on the exhibit floor was a private room with one of the new systems. I felt a slight disconnect between the significance of these new products and the statement that could be made with a larger presence.
The first day ended with one of my unabashed favorites – Laura Blackmer, SVP, Sales for Sharp Electronics. Rather than focusing on the market, or hardware, she spoke apparently unscripted about the customer – millennials in particular. They think differently, work differently, buy differently and love differently. She succeeded in having everyone call everyone else a Millennial. She also made me (the one who is too old to even be a Baby Boomer) feel even older. Thanks for that!
David Ramos, Director of Channel Service for InfoTrends used his day 2 opener to provide more detail on the imaging market with a focus on services as an added source of revenue.
Cathy Lewis, EVP and CMO for 3D Systems addressed the use of 3D printers in the manufacturing arena. Frankly, unless a dealer is already selling to that market with, say, wide format printers, the fit is a stretch, in my opinion. However, Lewis did introduce an interesting strategy employing the use of a dealer owned system used for outsourcing design jobs to ease into the market.
Green Project seems to be going in a different direction. Rather than recommending costly equipment for the demo room, they are marketing 3D printers starting at $500.00. What dealer couldn’t buy a few of these to “play around?” It seems a natural for the education market – one that is typically strapped for budget funds, but one that could benefit greatly from 3D printing resources.
Under the category of “You’re never too old to be surprised,” I stopped by Tiger Drum, attracted by their Hershey Kisses filled with peanut butter (who knew). Among the seemingly disjointed offerings, I spotted third party supplies for 3D printers! Are you kidding? The industry is barely off the ground, at least for this channel, and we’re already seeing non-OEM supplies! It’s almost as though the supplies got here before the hardware.
Of course, 3D supplies are more complicated than toner or ink. Higher volume systems use powder. Entry-level systems lean toward filament. Filaments are available in a variety of colors and widths. Materials are varied and include polyamide (nylon), ABS, PLA, stainless steel. Titanium, bio materials and even food (chocolate is my favorite). These can be used alone or combined to produce more than 140 unique materials.
I saw these materials in only two booths. It’s a certainty that there will be many more next year.
InfoTrends presented dealer awards to:
TGI Office Automation (Business Transformation)
MARCO (Customer Engagement)
Braden Business Systems (Employee and Community Service)
MARCO (Dealer of the Year)
Congrats for jobs well done.