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We Print 50 Trillion Pages a Year, and Xerox Is Betting That Continues (fortune.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: For most of its 111-year history, Xerox has been known as one of the tech industry's most innovative companies. Now the legendary copier company is reinventing itself. In January, Xerox made the bold decision to split itself into two, spinning off its business services operations into a separate company called Conduent. And Jeffrey Jacobson, a Xerox tech executive, was tapped as Xerox's new CEO. Speaking with Fortune's Susie Gharib, Jacobson says Xerox is still "one of the top patent producing companies in the world" and he's counting on that scientific expertise to pivot the company to be a leader in digital print technology. "If I look at the things we're looking at with the Internet of things, artificial intelligence and bridging the digital and physical," he says, "that's what I think we'll be known for."
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You must not work for the government.
50 trillion pages would be more than 5000 pages per person per year. Most of us won't hit that lifetime. My yearly total might hit 20 this year. I don't buy that being even remotely real.
I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
directly on the paper, without ink. That's the future in printing I believe.
Xerox is well-known for missing the significance of what they had at PARC back in the day, and letting Steve Jobs ransack the place to develop the Mac. One of the lesser known stories, mentioned in "Dealers of Lightning: Xerox PARC and the Dawn of the Computer Age" by Michael A. Hiltzik, was how Xerox dismissed the laser printer as they didn't want to cannibalize their copier sales. A delimma that most technology companies encounter when they have a cash cow product and a newer product that would replace it. HP came out with the first personal laser printer in 1980 and turned toner cartridges into a cash cow.
I never print anything. I save to pdf when needed. I have all my documents electronically so I don't receive statements and bills in the mail anymore. I don't buy paper books.
Not sure who is doing all the printing or why. Maybe construction drawings? Newspapers? Advertising?
I don't know why any company would be proud of NOT being green and eco-friendly at all. Think of the number of trees killed to produce this paper.
I've spent 20+ years in the transactional / EDPP print industry helping to support an operation that produces 300+M pages of output annually with equipment handling over 1400 unique pages / minute. I've debugged PostScript jobs in excess of 2GB in size and over 1M pages, and PDFs of similar scope and scale. Worked, advised, and consulted with the key leaders in the industry including Adobe, Xerox, Oce, Konika-Minolta, Kodak, HP, Xeikon. My point to the street cred is that here's what I'm seeing...
Statement print is not dead, but is slowly and steady declining. E-delivery of statements, especially through secure trusted third-party systems such as Dropbox, is enabling this transformation. The area that will continue to see print is in durable copy requirements. Right now physical media (paper, plastic, etc.) is the only one that can meet the specific needs of this industry segment. Physical print is also the only proven medium for ultra-long-term archiveability. Yes, there is millennium disc, and similar technology. However, the printed page only requires two things to interpret it - the ability to view the document in some manner (e.g. light), and knowledge on how to decode the symbology. Everything else requires more steps, and a higher level up the technology curve.
That isn't to say that we should abandon e-delivery for physical print. There are a large number of transient items that e-print is more than perfectly acceptable for - including most monthly/annual bills and statements, receipts for most items, etc. And having an electronic version for searchability just makes a lot of sense in the modern age - books, congressional bills, executive orders, etc. But, the final, unmuteable, version should be on acid-free paper or parchment.
As for packaging print - it will never die. Not until someone can deliver my Honeynut Cheerios electronically - there will still be a need for this technology.
Regarding the OP - Xerox has had two major problems... converting their lab work into sell-able items. Xerox PARC invented PostScript (which beget PDF through project Carousel at Adobe), GUI, Ethernet, and many of the other inventions that made modern technology use able. 2) They have a really, really hard time keeping their equipment up to current technology, outsourced all their engineering. Not just shipped it overseas, OUTSOURCED IT!, and refuse to let new technology cannibalize market-share from their existing installed base. For example, PostScript (initially called Interpress) was found to possibly "compete" with their LCDS and Metacode languages. Rather than add a third, they deep-sixed it. John and Chuck took it, started Adobe (name of the creek behind John's house) and it became Adobe's first product. Xerox attempted to play catch-up, but never could. Eventually LCDS, Metacode (and IBM's AFP) started to become more and more relegated to narrower and narrower workflows as PostScript and PDF have taken over the marketspace.
Good luck to Xerox in getting their cranium extricated from their arse. But, I expect them to end up much like Kodak (which invented digital photography)
Fred in IT
With additional monitors so cheap these days, the rationale I had for printing out code is gone. And Xerox has never made inroads into the SOHO market, so I don't know where they expect to grow. I've print about 2 pages a year, if that. So there's my 2 cents... contribution to the Xerox bottom line.
The society for a thought-free internet welcomes you.
Just like the price of pumpkin stocks is increasing. I'll hold on to these bad boys for 6 months then bail. Easy money.
in my experience: 1. mainframe/tower, low page count.relatively expensive. 2. laptop, printing quadrupled.easy/cheap. 3. smartphone, massive due to medical.
That's good, Apple and MS still need new ideas to steal.
Table-ized A.I.
Is there any color laser that does not cost an arm and a leg in consumables? Seems the technology has been stagnant for 20 years.
Used to print reams of code to mark for changes. Now the only thing I print at the office is a few nice colour maps for walking etc. - I find them more convenient than phone/tablet. (And no, I'm not 'stealing', we're explicitly allowed reasonable personal use of work facilities).
As an EE, I always print data sheets. It's a lot more convenient to have multiple in a desk, flipping between them and highlighting. Same for technical books. I always buy print. Ebooks are for casual reading where the page will never be revisited.
Xerox also has had a string of bad management. The previous CEO was Marissa Mayer on steroids. The company has really been coasting by since the late 2000s and also shedding a lot of US factories, labs and divisions to stay afloat.
Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
I remember in the mid 80's, the paperwork reduction act came along...printing went UP. Computers, have been the biggest asset to printing/copying more, as more and more data in detail is available. When the HIPPA health law came along, my volumes went UP. As long as you have lawyers & government, there WILL be paperwork. Our FM audit tracking program counts "the clicks" on all of our clients, and quarter after quarter, the volumes continue to increase. Just about every photocopier manufacturer, at one point or another has introduced "erasable" copiers. Most bomb because the cost of the toner is way out of line. What it does is melts the toner at a LOWER heat rate. The "ink" on the paper, is a blue color. To "erase" it, you run it through a separate box, about the size of a paper shredder. The "eraser" passes the paper through a special set of fuser rollers (heat & pressure), at a HIGHER temperature. It changes the dye in the ink on the page, from a blue color, to a transparent color. If you look at the paper under the correct lighting, you can see where the print was, you just cant read it. It's good for about 3-4 passes before so many layers have been deposited on the paper, that it can't add anymore through the normal copy process. It's good for "throwaway" stuff, meetings and what not, but still too expensive to make it mainstream. We have A LOT of people now, scanning and archiving store documents, but they continue to PRINT hard copies of new stuff. I really don't see "the copier" going away anytime soon, since now, most are what is known as multi function printers (MFP). Print, copy, scan, fax, email, web all from one box. And with cloud printing, you can print to the machine from your smartphone, or store it on a private box to print later, or you can pull documents remotely. Most have contactless touch to print using your phone also. On the tech side of it, we really like these new machines. We can remote into them, check error logs, remotely change settings if needed, update the software and do all sorts of things, that before, you would have to respond to the location, see what it needs, either bring a bunch of stuff with you, or make a return trip. Now you can do a lot of it right from your phone. I tell people that sometimes, I don't even get my tools out, I just plug my laptop into the machines, or, whip out my phone.
I bought a $100 laser printer 4 years ago to print out "official" documents for bureaucrats that don't take email. I print a dozen documents a year and mainly keep the dust off it.
I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
Erasable is completely useless. Have you ever tried putting even slightly wrinkled paper back in a printer? Forget it.
love is just extroverted narcissism
I used to print out web sites. So the copy editor could mark them up and hand me back the changes. God, it seems stupid how that works.
Also, it took nearly a year for her to stop querying the lack of double spaces after periods. I kept insisting that HTML didn't support double spaces and she didn't really believe me. (I know I could have faked it with forced whitespace, but I wasn't going to admit to that atrocious possibility.)
The Quirkz Handbook of Self-Improvement for People Who Are Already Pretty Okay
... regarding so-called 'paper-less offices':
The paper-less office is just as likely as the paper-less bathroom
Ken
What we need is e-paper
1) that has the advantages of physical paper - low cost, thin, lightweight, foldable, doesn't break if you drop it
2) and the advantages of electronic devices - re-usable, read/write computer files, can display videos with sound.
Current e-tablets aren't convenient, if you have to flip between pages a lot. I'd love to have someone invent e-paper that was as thin and flexible as paper, and that cost only $10 a "page".
How many pages of e-paper would you need to buy? Well, how many pieces of paper do you look at, at one time? Maybe 5 or 6 maximum, for most people. 6 pages at $10/page is $60, which is about the cost of 2 ink cartridges.
And think of this: Suppose your display software let you use multiple displays, so that you could put four e-paper pages next to each other in a square, and see an image with each dimension twice as large. So you buy twenty 8.5-by-11 inch e-paper pages. You put them on your wall next to each other, in 5 columns and 4 rows, with the pages in landscape orientation. Then each row is 5 x 11 or 55 inches long, and each column is 4 x 8.5 or 34 inches tall. So you make a 55 x 34 inch TV, with paper-sharp resolution, for $200 (20 pages at $10 each).
Whoever invents cheap, practical e-paper like this will make a mint.
In December, Xerox board members decided they couldn't see normal business providing enough bonuses and pay rises over the next year and because there were no mergers on the horizon, they'd have to split the company to give the illusion of progress and provide the kind of remuneration they deserve.
In January, Xerox made the bold decision to split itself into two, spinning off its business services operations into a separate company called Conduent.
You must not work for the government.
Everything I have printed on paper in the last few years was for a doctor, a lawyer, or a bureaucrat. My kids don't even use paper for school work. Project reports are done in Google docs and turned in electronically.
I was just trying to think of the last time I printed something. I believe it was about four years ago, when I had to print a single-page release form because that's what a company required.
I'm the exact opposite with eBooks. I now have all of my technical reference books in eBook form -- they're much easier for me to use that way, and I always have my entire library with me.
For recreational reading, though, eBooks aren't for me at all.
I print code. I print email. I print news articles. I print jokes. If I'm bored, I print spam. Heck, I'm sure I account for at least a trillion of the 50 trillion pages, and I'm only seventh in the world rankings at last count.
What is the point of your anecdote? Was it meant to counter the headline? Ok. So you don't print. Many people do. And?
Not quite as drastic as it sounds. In 2010 or so Xerox bought a service company called ACS in a multi billion dollar deal. Trying to stay in competition with with Dell and HP as they bought up big service companies. Turned out to not be as profitable as they hoped among other problems.
The "split" or spin off company is nothing more than the old ACS being made it's own company again, with a name change. Very little of it ever had anything to do with the Xerox printer portion of the company.
Technical ebooks are far easier and cheaper to update, especially if you get them from a publisher who understands that, and does so, free of charge. (Hi PragProg! I hope others do the same...)
Paper is still a better format for a lot of things - It's much easier to skim through e.g. a book to look for something when you don't know what that thing is, than to do it in electronic form. :)
When you do know, electronic is better as you can just search, so I like to have both dead-tree and un-real formats
Paper is also full open and transportable, not so with electronic formats which may not render correctly when taken from one location to another.
Paper also has far more longevity than electronic formats unless they are constantly moved around; You can stick paper in a box and it'll still be readable in 50 years time easily - With CD's and DVD's that is far less certain, and with Tapes the data would probably still there but there is a good chance there won't be a working drive or in fact a computer with an interface for that drive any more by that time.
Also, schools get through *vast* amounts of paper - Just the SATS papers alone, not to mention reports, which they both have to do multiple times a year.
Paper will not be going away any time soon.
" A delimma [sic]"
Delimma, huh?
" HP came out with the first personal laser printer in 1980"
Bzt. Wrong.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_printing
"In 1979,[6] inspired by the Xerox 9700's commercial success, Japanese camera and optics company, Canon, developed a low-cost, desktop laser printer: the Canon LBP-10. "
"The first laser printer designed for office use reached market in 1981: the Xerox Star 8010. "
"The first laser printer intended for mass-market sales was the HP LaserJet, released in 1984; it used the Canon CX engine"
You're wrong on everything. As usual. Go take a bigger dump.
You're wrong on everything. As usual.
Not according to the source that I cited in my comment.
Xerox failed to connect the dots and realize that the profit wasn't in the printer but in the toner and the paper. As a result, the company was beaten to market by Hewlett-Packard, which introduced the first personal laser printer in 1980.
Better tell Canon.
http://global.canon/en/corporate/history/03.html
Oh, and tell HP too.
http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/abouthp/histnfacts/museum/imagingprinting/0018/index.html
Jackass. Can't wait to see how you dodge, avoid, redefine, and wiggle your way out of that one, fat failure.
you sound sweet, bitter tits
I love this. When kids are old enough to work for the government they will find everything that's is printed to be a huge waste of time.
As long as you have lawyers & government, there WILL be paperwork.
Agreed and I would add insurance and medical to that list. Been working in the legal industry for the last 20 years or so and convinced that paper is not going anywhere anytime soon.
We used to have a 3rd party printer guy to fix our HP 8000s and other big copier units (Kyocera).. now they are all leased Ricoh MFPs and other 'smart' printers where the tech knows there is a problem before I do :)
Please stop APK.. you're only hurting yourself.
I'm more concerned about the dust on used paper. The dust goes right into the machine, onto the rolls and whatnot. Then what are you going to do, call a technician to clean it up, replace the printer, disassemble everything by yourself and risk breaking it?
I think it's more "green" to use new paper and burn useless old paper than to slowly ruin a printer, have streaks on your print, need another printer for your prints to look "professional" enough.
Thanks for that erudite [sic] within a quote where you mock the misspelling on the very next line. Are you a language wizard?