Blog

Conversations with unhappy customers are never pleasant. It reminds me of all the scolding’s I got as a kid. The silver lining now is that I no longer have to worry about my father taking his belt off, and I also know that unhappy customers make us better. I suppose that was the purpose of the size 36 piece of leather my father wielded with such skill. But I never understood that at the time. I’m happy to say that even with hundreds of customers out there, conversations like I recently had are extraordinarily rare. But this one motivated me to a write Part 2 on this subject. I also hope it makes us better.

In the case of this recent conversation, I learned that there is confusion around how problems with ceramic printing get resolved. But, before we launch into this please go to the blog page on our website and read two blogs. The first was sent in January of 2013 titled “Crisis Management. It Happens to Everyone” and the second, Part 1 on this subject, was sent in April of 2013. In this Part 2 I will try hard to include only advice that adds to or emphasizes points in the other two related blogs.

How do you get help with your ceramic printer? Simple, call us. That is step 1. We are “Tier 1” tech support and we handle essentially 70% of all customer problems (free of charge unless parts are needed). That is because the overwhelming majority of problems relate to color and various other issues that are unique to printing with a very strange chemistry – little jagged colored rocks otherwise known as ceramic pigments. But the support doesn’t end with us. It just starts with us. Your printer, which is a sophisticated piece of electro-mechanical digital equipment, is going to break. All equipment breaks. How you prepare for that is the subject of the two 2013 Blogs mentioned above. Preparing for that inevitable situation means having a plan for it. That plan is vital to your production up-time. So, read the blogs.

Step 2 is to call the Ricoh toll free (and cost free) 800 support line. That number is in the plastic documentation packet that came with your printer, and when we are stumped that is where we will send you. It is where we go when we have equipment problems. The Ricoh 800 line is “Tier 2” tech support. Any significant part failure in the printer will require trained Ricoh service technicians. We know ceramic printing, and after 16 years of using the technology in our own manufacturing, we have learned a few things. But no one at Enduring Images is a trained Ricoh service tech. All of the folks on the toll free line are. There are numerous problems they can solve for you over the phone that we cannot. However, they can’t solve all of them either. When they are stumped or when they know you need to replace a non-user serviceable part, they will dispatch a Ricoh Service Technician. The Ricoh on-site Field Service Organization is “Tier 3” support. When it gets to that point let us know because here is where it can get complicated.

Enduring Images is an authorized Ricoh re-seller. We are authorized to sell Ricoh equipment, and when we sell it the standard Ricoh Warranty (with an exception detailed below) comes with it. We are well known to the folks at very high levels in the Ricoh Sales and Service organizations because we sell a lot of equipment. But, Ricoh will not make nationwide references about their re-sellers because if they do it for one they must do it for all. As a consequence of that, we are not that well known to every single one of the hundreds of field service offices and field service techs located around the country. And, standard Ricoh policy is they will not service any Ricoh device with non-Ricoh parts. The intention is to keep counterfeiters from screwing up their printers with non-Ricoh parts. But unfortunately we get caught in that trap too, even though we are a well respected member of the Ricoh distribution channel.

Here is the official Ricoh policy on servicing Enduring Images ceramic printers:

“The full Ricoh warranty can be found on the Ricoh web site at www.ricoh-usa.com. In summary, Ricoh printers include a standard one year Ricoh warranty including parts and labor. There are 2 exceptions. The Photoconductor Units (PCUs) and the Intermediate Transfer Unit (ITU) are limited to 90 days. For Ricoh printers sold by Enduring Images, the standard Ricoh warranty applies except that there is no warranty at all on the PCUs and ITU. So, within the first year of ownership, Enduring Images customers can expect full warranty repairs on the printer except for any failure of the PCUs and ITU. Those devices will be replaced at the customers expense, or covered by Enduring Images, but there is no Ricoh Warranty of any kind on those components in an Enduring Images ceramic printing system.

After the expiration of the one year warranty period, any Ricoh service office or 3rd party Ricoh Authorized Service Provider can repair Enduring Images printers on a T&M basis (at standard rates). Because they are not modified in any way (except the toner) all standard Ricoh repair procedures are applicable.” Sounds simple. The underlying premise is that any part of the printer that contacts ceramic toner cannot be warranted because the result of that contact has not been studied and is unpredictable.

For reference, the components that contact the toner are: toner cylinders, toner feed system, photoconductor units (PCUs), image transfer unit (ITU), and fuser assembly. The PCUs and the ITU only get a 90 day warranty from Ricoh, so they are essentially exempt from Ricoh’s warranty too. This is because statistically those are the components that break. But there are some techs and field service offices that will simply walk away from making any repairs if they learn ceramic toner and not Ricoh toner is in the device. Again, rare but call us if this happens. You can minimize any delay in repair if you have an authorized 3rd party service provider near you. They don’t care so much about policy but want to provide good service so that you call them next time and not Ricoh. Find one. They can be your best friend at the worst time.

Problems occur when your Ricoh tech has never heard of Enduring Images. If you can avoid discussing ceramic toner then do so, because this will prevent confusion on the part of the service tech. If it never comes up, the service tech will fix the printer like any printer. But if it does come up, and it will if the part is covered in ceramic pigment, you should be prepared to give the tech the statement above. If they have any questions about it have them call us. It is rare that a service tech will care about the toner in the printer unless it is in contact with the component suspected of causing the problem. If the tech deems that the toner is causing the problem, then they can charge for repairs that otherwise would be covered by the one year warranty. After the one year, it no longer matters since all repairs are T&M and why would they care. T&M work is a good gig. So this issue is primarily relevant during the warranty period. Again, call us if it surfaces after the warranty and a tech decides they don’t want to repair a ceramic printer. This is contrary to policy but does happen, and it can take several weeks to resolve the misunderstanding.

We generally cover all of this during training, but it looks like we have missed it for a number of customers. We’ll do better in the future and will make sure it is part of training videos. I hope this blog helps everyone else.

In summary, read Crisis Management and Part 1 of this series on our website blog page. When you have a problem call us first. We are Tier 1 support. If the usual solutions don’t work, we will advise you to call the Ricoh tech support line. They are Tier 2 support. If they can’t fix it they will dispatch a Ricoh tech. The field service organization is Tier 3 support. Remember that you have more options than Ricoh. There is a large network of Ricoh trained and authorized 3rd party service providers. Find them. Bottom line – all equipment breaks. Have a plan for when yours does.

Most people never give a second thought to color theory.  But color is one complicated subject and is a constant focus of R&D in the multi-billion dollar global printing industry.  The physics of light and optics alone scares me but overlay on top of that the fact that everyone’s eyes are different and so each of us see color differently.  How then do you achieve an accurate color reproduction of an image?  The question is how accurate is accurate enough?  Perfection is unlikely.  Beautiful is all that can be promised.  But that is really all that is needed from any printing process – organic or inorganic.  Shown below is an elementary explanation but many textbooks have been written on it so feel free to delve deeper.

The first thing to remember is that digital capture and display devices, such as CRT, LCD monitors, digital cameras and scanners, use the Red-Green-Blue (RGB) color space. Image reproduction devices such as printers, use the Cyan–Magenta-Yellow-Black (CMYK) color space.  More on that later.  When a user generates graphics on a computer for printing, or wishes to print images from a digital camera, it is a common mistake to assume that the colors on the screen will look the same in print.  It is a mistake because the different color modes render color differently. Sometimes the conversion from RGB to CMYK works without any visible problems (accurate enough). In other cases, there will be noticeable color differences between the two.  But why?

RGB is an additive color mode.  It combines the colors, red, green and blue, in various degrees to create a variety of different colors. When all three of the colors are combined and displayed to their full extent, the result is a pure white – like sunlight. When all three colors are combined to the lowest degree, or value, the result is black – absence of color. Photo editing programs typically use the RGB color mode as the default because it offers the widest range of colors.

Printers print color onto (white) paper using the CMYK color mode. This four color mode utilizes the colors cyan, magenta, yellow and black in various amounts to create the printed images. Even though the printer is adding color by laying down toner, CMYK is called a subtractive color mode because each additional color means more light is removed, or subtracted, from the light that would be reflected off of the white paper. When the first three colors are added together, the result is not pure black, but rather dark brown. K, or black, is used to completely remove light reflected from the paper in order to achieve black.  It can be helpful to think of RGB as a transmitted or projected color space and CMYK as a reflective color space.

Conventional printing with inks and toners derived from organic chemistry has been under a constant state of development for hundreds of years with the colors easily manipulated chemically in a laboratory.  Further, ink-jet technology enables the addition of colors to the standard four color CMYK.  Some ink-jet printers can lay down as many as 12 colors to achieve almost as many colors as an RGB computer screen.  Since LASER printers are limited to 4 (sometimes 5) colors, they cannot mimic the total RGB color space.  Ceramic (inorganic) printing uses LASER printers and so is limited to a 4 color reproduction.

So why print with inorganic chemistry when organic inks can give a better color match to the original art?  The answer is simple – durability.  An image printed with organic chemistry in an 8 to 12 color ink jet printer will look stunningly accurate immediately after production.  However, in the Earth’s environment, that image is constantly degrading due to oxidation and UV fading.  It will be far less stunning and far less accurate 5 years later and will continue to deviate from the original to a greater and greater extent as the inks degrade over time and are subject to abrasive wear.  Ceramic images on the other hand may be less accurate immediately after production but kiln fired ceramic items will remain essentially unaltered over time. They do not fade and are highly resistant to scratch and abrasive damage.  In the end, the trade off is driven by the importance of longevity and durability.  The ink-jet color deviation is small at first but over time will ultimately end up less accurate than the ceramic.

For further information about RGB and CMYK, see the following links:

• Collins College: What You See Isn’t Always What You Get: RGB vs CMYK color
• University of Oregon: Art Technology Support: Getting the most from Printing
• Bioinformatics & Research Computing: Color Management
• The College of New Jersey: RGB

University of California, San Diego: RGB vs CMYK

We are pursuing further improvements in our porcelain inventory.   Beginning in June, we will place monthly replenishment orders to take inventory to a two month quantity.  The plan is to have one to two months of inventory at all times.  Please send in all orders for your porcelain requirements by the 23^th of each month.  If we have the items, we will ship them.  If we don’t, they will be included on the next order we place around the end of that month for receipt mid to late the following month.  If you miss the 23^rd cutoff we’ll do the best we can but if we stock out it will have to wait until the next order the following month.  That may sound scary but we usually have what you need.  Just to be sure though, plan ahead and keep track of your inventory.  We all run out of stuff so, in the words of Jerry McGuire, help us help you.  Plan ahead and hopefully none of us will ever run out.  As we have been looking at this particular issue we find in our current inventory an abundance of  –

OC-1a,  4 x 6 cm ovals

RT-2,  18 x 24 cm rectangles (about 7 by 9.5 inches) and

ST-1,  10 x 10 cm (4 x 4 inch) squares.

These parts are now priced at a 20% discount (that’s about $6/part on the RT-2’s).  Get ‘em while they last!  First come first served!  Send us an email and we’ll get them out in a hurry.

And – we also have 300 extra A3 sheets of standard flux lamination paper.  If you need some we will ship from our inventory at $2.70/sheet plus freight to you.  This saves about 15% in handling, freight from Germany and import fees.

The seasons are finally changing and winter is behind us.  The ski resorts in the Rockies are closing one by one (except Loveland and A-Basin which will be open through May) and my skis are put away for the season.   As we enjoy season change, here is one from my daughter –

Spring has sprung.  Fall has fell.   Here comes Summer, hot as … ever.

Health and happiness to all …

Ron Manwiller
303-278-8868

The Devil is in the details –One of the greatest resources to the US consumer is Consumers Union, the publishers of Consumers Report. Consumers Report puts Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) data into the hands of the consumer. I’ve been a life long reader and recommend it highly. They are a non profit organization that accepts no advertising – a one of a kind. They collect enormous amounts of objective comparison data on a wide array of products. Over time, one of the many things I have learned from the data they collect is that, in fact, it is simply a fallacy to believe low price saves money.A Lexus will likely cost substantially less over it’s life than the Volvo which has a purchase price $4000 less. Maybe it doesn’t matter that an $80 pair of running shoes will last 3 times longer than a $35 pair of running shoes. But I bet it really does matter to a lot of people who just never give it a second thought and simply buy that “low price all the time.

”One of the greatest feats of marketing that I have witnessed in my lifetime is Walmart’s success at convincing the US consumer that low price is the most important thing. As millions of US consumers bought into that and as Walmart moved their purchasing headquarters to Shanghai, millions of US jobs went with it to China. Walmart lead this charge and survival dictated that many other US companies do the same thing with devastating effects on the US economy and peoples lives. What is so ironic about this is that the very people who bought into the simplicity of “buy cheap” participated in eliminating their own jobs. Why do so many people believe that buying low price is the most important thing? If they simply stopped, looked at the economy and gave it a little thought the consequences would be apparent. As Mark Felt said “Follow the money.” But the loss of American jobs isn’t the only penalty to be paid, as devastating as that penalty has been.

Purchases for personal use are one thing but what about the purchase of manufacturing equipment for your business? Is purchasing based on lowest price the smart thing to do? In fact, lots of industry data confirms that, in general, it is not the smart thing to do. There is a great deal of research that demonstrates how small a role purchase price plays in the total cost associated with a manufacturing asset. So, how do you decide what to buy? Are you compelled to go for that “low low” purchase price? Or, do you take the time to ask questions and really understanding if price is the only difference, or if there are other costs that need to be considered?

The concept of TCO has been around for a long time and is used widely by industrial purchasing professions to get to the root of what an item really costs over the life of the asset. For this reason, TCO is sometimes called life cycle cost analysis. TCO is an analysis meant to uncover all the lifetime ownership costs that follow from owning certain kinds of assets. These costs include purchase costs, of course, but ownership also brings costs for installing, deploying, operating, upgrading, maintaining and disposing of the asset or the materials used by the asset. For many kinds of acquisitions, and particularly manufacturing systems, TCO analysis finds a very large difference between purchase price and total long term cost. Many studies and lots of data have been collected demonstrating the importance of looking deeper than just the purchase price of an item. One recent industry study published by ITT found –

“Though many plants shop for equipment based on price, industry data shows that purchase costs represent only 10 percent of the total cost of ownership”.

Another example of the relevance of TCO can be found at the Edmund’s.com car valuation guide. Edmunds has developed their own proprietary method of calculating what they call the “True Cost to Own” (TCO, clever) each vehicle. With their system you can find out if “saving” $1000 on purchase price really saves you money or if that car will actually cost more to own than the car thathas a $1000 higher price tag. Like Consumer Reports, Edmund’s is following the lead of industrial purchasing pros in giving greater consideration to the costs you will pay after you buy the asset. The Kelly Blue Book has just started doing the very same thing. It makes sense because while cheap purchase price is easy to find the best economics can only be found with some further investigation. Edmund’s, Kelly Blue Book, Consumer Reports and others are helping to bring TCO thinking to the mass market.So, back to the question, how do you decide what to buy and is the long term cost of ownership part of your thinking? For many of us the hard part is knowing what questions to ask. So, here is a list of some of the questions industrial buyers ask.

Is the manufacturing process for each option the same or, is there a process technology or efficiency advantage to one vs. the other?
Who developed the technology? Am I buying from them or a “fast follower” who may have an incomplete or only empirical understanding?
How does the cost of waste disposal/clean up, environmental impact or pollution control
compare?
Are there operating cost advantages – labor, energy, speed etc?
Are there potential employee hazards created by one of the options?
Are repair and spare parts costs the same?
Are future upgrades possible?
Are there any supplier experience and capability advantages?
Does one option give improved operational capability ie. – higher quality, manufacturing
flexibility etc?
What do their customers say about them?

The list of hidden cost categories above could be extended for many kinds of purchases and you could make it shorter as well. But if you ask questions about some of these areas you may find real differences between the options you are considering; differences that over the useful life the purchase could save far more money than any price difference between them.

Price is important, of course. And it’s easy to know, which makes it useful as a decision criteria. But next time you are gearing up to strike that hard bargain and negotiate that excellent price, keep in mind that the assumption price is most important in choosing one option over another is, in many cases, simply wrong and a potentially expensive error in thinking. Invest that effort uncovering some of the hidden costs and you will likely save more money and make a wiser choice of supplier. Companies who place great emphasis on the low price of the products they sell often have little else to differentiate what they are selling.

So, next time you’re trying to decide between several options, do what the pros do and use a little TCO thinking. Ask some of the questions above. With just a little extra effort, you should be able to find out if that low price is really a good deal or a way for the supplier to capitalize on what you don’t know and the questions most people don’t ask.

As Will Rogers once said – “It’s not what you pay but what it costs you that counts.”

Until next time … best of health and happiness

Ron

Enduring Images was featured in an article for A & E Magazine about how we create our tile murals. See the entire article here

Wishing all of our clients, vendors, colleagues and friends a happy and prosperous 2012!