Toning Up Their Printer Image

Sydney Morning Herald

Tuesday July 28, 1998

By DAVID HIGGINS

DAVID Finn sounds a bit testy. The Kyocera managing director knows his company's network printers do not enjoy the same brand awareness as those bearing names such as Lexmark and Hewlett-Packard.

But he has no doubt that Kyocera printers are at least three, and as much as six, times cheaper to operate than those of his competitors. And by God, it's about time everyone knew about it.

So last week Kyocera launched a unique marketing campaign to prove its case. The company has invited businesses to pick up a free Printer Economy Check CD and benchmark the performance of their printers against Kyocera or any other competing machines.

"A lot of our competitors are jumping on the bandwagon and talking about total cost of ownership (TCO), but they can't substantiate it," says Finn.

"We're 70 per cent cheaper to run - Hewlett-Packard and Lexmark know they can't match us. We've owned the area for [economic] laser printers for years, so we developed the software to settle it.

"You can load in all the parameters for our printers and other laser printers, including special deals on toner supplies or other super cheap prices, and it calculates the TCO over the years you own the product and how many pages you use."

Finn says Kyocera printers cost about 0.6 cents per page, compared with two cents or four cents for other printers.

"Without doubt, cost per page is the most compelling [marketing] argument. One company is saving $1 million a year by changing to us."

Most of the cost savings come from long-life components. Kyocera guarantees the printer drum for 300,000 pages. "All you change with our product is the toner cartridge," says Finn.

But Hewlett-Packard marketing manager Paul Fisher doubts this policy. He says HP's printers give a better result because their components are completely replaced when they wear out.

Both Lexmark and Hewlett-Packard also dismiss Kyocera's emphasis on the per page cost of printing.

Lexmark's business manager, Ross Clohessy, says the measurement is simplistic: "That's not the end of the story, it's just the starting point."

Nevertheless, Kyocera is sticking to its position. The company is entering the colour laser market this week and, in keeping with its present campaign, Finn promises "our colour will be cheaper than theirs".

The CD is available by calling Kyocera on 1300 364 429.