Office Depot and Office Max cut headquarters staff by 35%

Office Depot and OfficeMax have reduced their combined headquarters staff by 35 percent since merging, new CEO Roland Smith said Tuesday.

The company, based in Boca Raton, declined to say how many of those layoffs were in South Florida, but jobs at the new headquarters eventually will be “higher than before the merger,” spokeswoman Karen Denning said.

Office Depot also has created a “few hundred new positions” to be based in Boca Raton, she said. Those include president of the North American division and chief strategy and innovation officer.

Smith said the next steps in integrating the office-supply retailers will include store closures for both Office Depot and OfficeMax, which completed a $1.2 billion merger in November.

The company on Tuesday reported disappointing revenues and posted losses for its fourth quarter and full year, but Smith said that shouldn’t have been a surprise.

“Office Depot and OfficeMax were competing companies, and associates were spending time on completing the merger. It is difficult to focus on business when your personal future is uncertain,” Smith said.

Still, the news sent Office Depot’s stock down 14 percent in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock closed at $4.88, down 8.79 percent.

Smith said he plans by Friday to finish reorganizing the combined headquarters staff of 3,700. At the same time, new top executives are being hired, with 30 percent so far coming from OfficeMax, he said.

Earlier this month, Office Depot notified the state of Illinois that it plans to close OfficeMax headquarters in Naperville, Ill., a Chicago suburb, by early 2015, which will result in the layoff of 1,600 employees.

The quarterly and 2013 financial report was the first under Smith and his newly formed leadership team.

Smith, former Wendy’s CEO, said he expects the combined company to save more than $600 million annually by the end of 2016. Previous management estimated savings at $400 million to $600 million.

“I’m optimistic we can significantly improve and transform Office Depot’s competitive position and build a strong and growing business for years to come,” Smith told analysts during a conference call Tuesday.

Those figures don’t include closing Office Depot and OfficeMax stores that are not profitable or that don’t fit with Office Depot’s “store of the future,” Smith said. Office Depot also will increase savings through coordinated advertising and bulk purchasing.

By year-end, customers will start seeing the same sales circulars and same merchandise at Office Depot and OfficeMax stores.

“While the signs may be different, by the end of the year the customer experience will be the same,” Smith said.

At the same time, the company will take charges for integration expenses and severance pay to laid-off workers. Office Depot said it will record $400 million in such expenses from 2014 to 2016.

Some analysts on the call said they are concerned that Office Depot will take a further hit in profits this year due to a weak office-supply market, even as the company works to become more efficient.

Liang Feng, analyst for Morningstar, said cost synergies and store closures will help in the short-term, but Office Depot “still needs to improve their productivity. This is a long journey.”

He said rival Staples, based in Framingham, Mass., is still No. 1 in the market, even after the retail chains’ combination, and that Staples’ stores are more profitable.

The next big step for Office Depot is evaluating individual stores for profitability, location, size and competitive factors. Smith said the company expects to complete that process by the end of the second quarter and begin closing stores in the second half of the year.

“It’s not as simple as looking at two stores that might be close to each other and we’re going to close one down,” he told analysts.

During the fourth quarter of 2013, the company closed 16 Office Depot stores and seven OfficeMax stores, and opened one store under each brand.

The combined companies posted a fourth-quarter loss of $144 million, or 34 cents share. For the year, the retailer’s loss was $93 million, or 29 cents a share. Prior quarter and year results are not comparable, as both include the newly integrated OfficeMax’s results.

Revenues were $3.5 billion in the quarter ended Dec. 28 and $11.2 billion for the full year, including $939 million of sales from OfficeMax, Office Depot said.

North American retail sales from 1,912 stores nationwide increased 31 percent to $1.4 billion in the fourth quarter compared with the same period in 2012, including $384 million of sales from OfficeMax. Same-store sales decreased 4 percent, due to lower average order values and decreased store traffic, the company said.

Stephen Hare, chief financial officer, said store sales in the fourth quarter were hurt by low pricing of tablets during the holidays, leading to lower sales overall.

 

 

By Marcia Heroux Pounds, Sun Sentinel

Copyright © 2014, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Kevin Kern, SVP of Marketing talks about business transformation with a strong focus on business outcomes.

Kevin Kern, Senior VP Marketing talks with Cary Sherburne, Senior Editor of WhatTheyThink about Konica Minolta’s business transformation in the graphics communications industry.

Samsung’s New Galaxy S5 To be Released in April 2014

Samsung announces Galaxy S5 with fingerprint scanner, coming in April 2014

February 24, 2014, 12:01 p.m Samsung has unveiled the Galaxy S5, the latest version of its flagship smartphone. The device includes a fingerprint scanner and will go on sale in April.

Unlike in previous years, when Samsung announced new Galaxy S models with larger and larger screens, this year the South Korean tech giant focused its presentation on a handful of key features.

Samsung said the Galaxy S5 will include a fingerprint scanner that can be used to unlock the phone and make mobile payments. If this sounds familiar, that’s because Apple introduced a similar feature with the iPhone 5s when that device was announced last September.

The South Korean tech also said it has improved the camera on its flagship device by giving the gadget a 16-megapixel camera. Samsung claims the Galaxy S5 posses the fastest autofocus of any smartphone camera, taking just 0.3 seconds to center in on users’ targets. 

The Galaxy S5, which features a 5.1-inch HD screen, also comes with a longer-lasting battery. Samsung said users can get up to 21 hours of talk time from one charge. Users can also enable an “Ultra Power Saving Mode” that shuts down unnecessary features and turns the display into black and white, extending the device’s battery life.

The new Galaxy flagship smartphone also comes with more fitness tracking features than previous Samsung devices, the company said. Among these is a built-in heart rate monitor.

Samsung also said the Galaxy S5 is equipped with IP67 dust and water resistance, making the device more durable than its predecessor. Samsung warned users from swimming with the Galaxy S5, but the company said that users don’t have to worry if the device gets wet.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 will go on sale in the U.S. in April along with the Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo smartwatches and the Gear Fit, a fitness tracking device that Samsung also announced on Monday. Samsung did not say how much the Galaxy S5 will cost.

 

 

 

 

 

By Salvador Rodriguez

 

 

Konica Minolta unveils Ipex show plans as it continues to invest heavily in the industry

Konica Minolta will use IPEX 14 to demonstrate how its investments are helping the industry to adapt to the changing landscape for printed communications. Unveiled today, the company will use Ipex to help educate visitors through a packed seminar programme and continue to highlight the importance the company is putting on inkjet technology with further updates on KM1, its B2 digital inkjet press, which will be at the show for the first time.

Industry experts Neil Falconer (printfuture), Matthew Parker (print champion) and Charlotte Graham-Cumming (B2B marketer from creative agency Ice Blue Sky) will present every day in the Konica Minolta’s business zone theatre at Ipex from 24-29 March (Stand N1 C130). They will show how commercial printers should work as a community with the creative industry, building structured business plans that highlight new market opportunities through marketing automation services, and how you should stop selling on price.

Konica Minolta will use new workflow solutions that it has been creating to show how cost and complexity can be removed by demonstrating how multiple jobs can be managed from e-commerce through to production on its new digital colour press range (bizhub PRO/PRESS C1060/70).

Elsewhere on the stand, live production systems will be complemented by demonstrations and displays covering areas such as workflow, variable data printing, web-to-print and colour management, as well as marketing and cross-media applications.

In a new ‘green initiative’, details will be unveiled of a certified Konica Minolta Production Printing Carbon Compensation project where customers buying systems at the show will be compensated for CO2 emission. Konica Minolta’s own stand, including the machines on display, will also be ‘carbon neutral’.

Konica Minolta’s growing portfolio will have 12 systems running live at Ipex. These will cover commercial production, packaging, wide format, document printing, corporate, on-demand publishing, direct mail, labels and photo-printing markets. Among the highlights will be the KM-1 B2 cut-sheet inkjet press, as well as the bizhub PRO and PRESS C1060 and C1070 systems, plus the bizhub PRESS 2250P mono system. Other attractions include a workflow automation area and other partner pre-press and post-press solutions.

Konica Minolta and its partners and customers are also participating in the many visitor attractions at Ipex, including the World Print Summit. Olaf Lorenz, General Manager, International Marketing, Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe, is chairing a debate, ‘Can Print Co-Exist with Digital Communications in the Future’, on 25 March at noon which will also have Andy Barber, General Manager, imail, UK Mail, Andy Fry, Managing Director of Nova Direct, and Charlotte Graham-Cumming, of Ice Blue Sky, as panelists.

Customer case studies and presentations will also be featured in specific sessions for the Cross Media Show and Masterclasses at Ipex. Among the topics will be variable data printing and web-to-print.

Mr Lorenz said: “We look forward to welcoming and supporting visitors on the Konica Minolta stand and demonstrate how our continued focus to develop the industry, through our investments, can help them enable their businesses to transform and adapt to the changing communications landscape. In addition to demonstrating our market-leading production printing systems, solutions and software, we will help the industry to give shape to ideas by providing practical support, information and advice through our Digital 1234 business-builder programme.”

He added: “Konica Minolta is heavily committed to the print and print communication industry and Ipex will be another pivotal step forward as we continue to expand our customer and move into other areas.”

Visitors can register for Ipex HERE.

 

Terms and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders and are hereby acknowledged.

3D-printed exoskeleton helps paralyzed skier walk again

The robotic suit, created by 3D Systems and EksoBionics, allows Amanda Boxtel, who was paralyzed in a skiing accident, to walk for the first time since 1992.

(Credit: 3D Systems)

Amanda Boxtel’s doctors told her she’d never walk again. But her new 3D-printed exoskeleton says otherwise.

In 1992, Boxtel was paralyzed from the waist down in a catastrophic skiing accident. But 22 years later, thanks to a groundbreaking 3D-printed robotic suit developed by 3D Systems and EksoBionics, she’s able to stand up and move around on her own.

Boxtel’s new exoskeleton, the first of its kind, was custom-built for her. Designers from 3D Systems scanned her body, digitizing the contours of her spine, thighs, and shins, a process that helped them mold the robotic suit to her. Then they combined the suit with a set of mechanical actuators and controls made by EksoBionics. The result, said 3D Systems, is the first-ever “bespoke” exoskeleton.

A closeup of the 3D printed exoskeleton.

(Credit: 3D Systems)

According to Scott Summit, the senior director for functional design at 3D Systems, the partnership between the two companies was about coming up with a way to fit the exoskeleton to Boxtel’s body in such a way that it never had hard parts bumping into “bony prominences,” such as the knob on the wrist.

Such body parts “don’t want a hard surface touching them,” Summit explained. “We had to be very specific with the design so we never had 3D-printed parts bumping into bony prominences, which can lead to abrasions” and bruising.

One problem that the designers faced in this case was that a paralyzed person like Boxtel often can’t know that bruising is happening because she can’t feel it. That’s dangerous, Summit said, because undetected bruises or abrasions can become infected. “So we had to be very careful with creating geometry that would dodge the parts of the body that it had to dodge…[designing] parts that wouldn’t impede circulation or cause bruising.”

In addition, because 3D-printing allows the creation of very fine details, Boxtel’s suit was designed to allow her skin to breathe, meaning she can walk around without sweating too much.

The process of creating the 3D-printed robotic suit lasted about three months, Summit said, starting when he and 3D Systems CEO Avi Reichenthal met Boxtel during a visit to EksoBionics. Boxtel is one of ten EksoBionics “test pilots” and Reichenthal was inspired by her vision of what might be done with her new exoskeleton.

Already, Summit said, the exoskeleton was designed to attach to the body very loosely with Velcro straps, with an adjustable fit. But it wasn’t meant for any one person.

That’s where 3D Systems came into play. By using a special 3D scanning system, Summit’s team was able to create the custom underlying geometry they used in making the parts that attach to the exoskeleton. “When the robot becomes the enabling device to take every step for the rest of your life,” Summit said of Boxtel and her exoskeleton, “the connection between the body and the robot is everything. So our goal is to enhance the quality of that connection so the robot becomes more symbiotic.”

 

 

Originally published @ http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57619037-76/3d-printed-exoskeleton-helps-paralyzed-skier-walk-again/

Author:Daniel Terdiman

HP Shares Slide Despite Better-Than-Expected Q1 Results

 

Despite a quarterly earnings report that included better-than-expected sales and profits, shares of computing giant Hewlett-Packard slid by more than one percent today, as shareholders digested the relative strengths and weaknesses. HP shares closed today at $29.79, down from the closing price of $30.19 on Thursday.

 

While the company’s results certainly contained some positive news — revenue improved both on PC sales and in the all-important Enterprise Group — what appeared to be missing was a sense that the turnaround that CEO Meg Whitman promised when she took over the job two-and-a-half years ago is beginning to take hold and actually stick.

 

 

• First quarter non-GAAP diluted net earnings per share of $0.90, up 10% from the prior-year period, versus the previously provided outlook of $0.82 to $0.86 per share
• First quarter GAAP diluted net earnings per share of $0.74, up 17% from the prior-year period, versus the previously provided outlook of $0.60 to $0.64 per share
• First quarter net revenue of $28.2 billion, down 1% from the prior-year period and flat on a constant currency basis
• First quarter cash flow from operations of $3.0 billion, up 17% from the prior-year period
• Returned $843 million to shareholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases in the first quarter
• Improved operating company net cash position by $1.6 billion, the eighth consecutive quarterly improvement of over $1 billion

Full details for download from the below links:

• Q1 2014 Earnings release
• Q1 2014 Audio webcast
• Q1 2014 Quarterly results
• Q1 2014 Results presentation
• Q1 2014 Reclassification tables
• Q1 2014 Earnings summary
• Q1 2014 Results transcript

Konica Minolta Receives Diamond Honors from Hyland Software

Hyland Software recognizes Konica Minolta for helping organizations operate more efficiently by using the OnBase enterprise content management (ECM) solution…

Konica Minolta, an award-winning enterprise content management solution provider, today announces that it has received the Diamond support award honors from Hyland Software for helping organizations operate more efficiently using the OnBase® enterprise content management (ECM) solution. The announcement was made during Hyland Software’s Team OnBase conference on February 17, 2014, an annual gathering of OnBase resellers taking place in Phoenix Arizona. The Diamond support award recognizes a select number of companies each year for their ongoing commitment to training, customer retention, upgrading to new releases and growing a powerful OnBase support team.

“At Konica Minolta, we are committed to the success of our customers and this award validates our team’s dedication to our customers, our ability to deliver industry leading solutions customized for their specific business needs, and the ability to provide them with ongoing support for their solutions to increase their business efficiencies and decrease their overall business costs,” says Sam Errigo, senior vice president, Business Intelligence Services, Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. “By providing them with the OnBase enterprise content management solution we are helping to make their organizations more efficient and effective.”

“This award shows Konica Minolta’s dedication to providing customers with the best enterprise content management solutions that solve a wide range of business problems for organizations,” said Bill Kavanaugh, director of U.S. channel sales for Hyland Software. “Our partners are held to the highest standards and Konica Minolta went above and beyond those benchmarks.”

The Authorized OnBase Solution Provider community is an exclusive team of more than 300 Hyland partners. They provide expertise and hands-on support for OnBase, as well as the many complementary technologies that make up ECM solutions. Providers work with Hyland to give customers the highest level of technical support. And they get continuous OnBase training and the backing of Hyland, a highly respected channel-friendly vendor.

In addition to achieving Diamond status, Konica Minolta has also earned Silver Partner status for sales performance and excellence in 2013.

Click here to find out more about Konica Minolta’s ECM solutions.

About Hyland Software
For over 20 years, Hyland Software has helped our more than 12,100 lifetime customers by providing real-world solutions to everyday business challenges. That dedication is why Hyland achieves double-digit growth, and why 98 percent of our customer base continues to renew its annual maintenance. Our customers see the ongoing value of partnering with Hyland and continue to work with us year after year.

Hyland’s enterprise content management (ECM) solution, OnBase, is one of the most flexible and comprehensive ECM products on the market today. OnBase empowers users to grow their solutions as needs change and business evolves. It is tailored for departments, but comprehensive for the enterprise, designed to give you what you need today and evolve with you over time. For more information about Hyland Software’s ECM solutions, please visit Hyland.com.

Acacia grows with Konica Minolta bizhubPRESS

Acacia Park Enterprises, a not-for-profit outfit that provides employment opportunities for people with a disability, has installed a new Konica Minolta bizhub Press C7000 in its rural New South Wales print shop.

The C7000 is currently firing out educational materials, flyers, newsletters, documents and business cards and carrying out perfect binding for books. Educational institutions and local businesses make up a large chunk of its print pack post business, run from its site in Armidale.

Kerrie Sauer, employment services manager with the Ascent Group, Acacia’s parent company, says the bizhub is producing faster and higher quality print at a lower cost than its previous machine, allowing Acacia to pass on savings to its customers while still making the business viable.

She tells Australian Printer, “There are so many more things we can do now that we couldn’t offer before; we had to turn customers away or outsource jobs to be printed, because we didn’t have the capacity. Now we can do the work ourselves, and just as fast.”

The new bizhub was installed by local Konica Minolta agent Digital Colour Australia, also based in Armidale. The supplier trained up its service technicians especially to look after Acacia’s C7000 press, which is the first to be installed in the area. A new cutter is soon to follow.

Sauer says, “We couldn’t ask for better support from David Walsh and his team from Digital Colour. When we were looking at our options they didn’t try the hard sell, they told us straight up about each machine’s features and limitations.

“Konica Minolta then flew us to Sydney to see the machines in operation, Devan and the team in Sydney couldn’t have been more helpful and honest. So we got exactly what we wanted – nothing too big or with features we weren’t going to use. We were extremely impressed.”

Digital Colour arranged for Acacia staff to attend training in Sydney with the Konica Minolta team. Sauer says, “We had one training day in Sydney and two days onsite, learning how to produce the jobs we carry out most often for our clients so we could hit the ground running.

“Since then we have had regular phone calls and drop-ins from Digital Colour to check up and see how the machine is going. The service has been really good.”

Acacia Park Enterprises currently employs 35 people with a disability across its printing, recycling, document destruction and collation services – Sauer says the print shop is an ideal workplace for its employees as it provides job satisfaction and the chance to interact with customers and the community.

She says, “They are learning new skills that they probably wouldn’t normally get an opportunity to. You think of printing as quite high tech – we have been able to teach our employees a large portion of the operations. We are in the process of training our employees to use the perfect binding machine, they also use the folder and help with mailouts.

“We had a mailout of 2,500 six-page documents yesterday, so as the pages came off the machine there were 12 staff folding and putting them in envelopes – were able to get it done in an hour. The variety of work that comes in and the satisfaction of seeing the work produced and ready to go – that is really rewarding for them.”

 

Originally posted @ http://www.i-grafix.com/

Konica Minolta announces production printing user community PROKOM

Konica Minolta has announced the launch and sponsorship of the foundation for an independent European user group, called PROKOM, as part of its ongoing commitment and support to the print industry.

 

Companies across Europe are being invited to join this production printing community of Konica Minolta bizhub PRESS users. PROKOM will help members share, develop and grow efficient digital communication services, as well as become a platform for members to express their “voice of customer”.

PROKOM, which is being sponsored by Konica Minolta, wants to achieve three important objectives:

• Share: to provide a forum where they can share business ideas and experiences to build and profitably expand our businesses.
• Influence: to develop communications with Konica Minolta’s senior management about their priorities for future design, functionality, technology and services.
• Network: to build profitable long-lasting relationships between members and to provide support and education through workshops, conferences, publications and electronic meeting places.

PROKOM members can actively engage with Konica Minolta about their priorities for future design, functionality, technology and services and they will be uniquely enabled to build profitable long-lasting relationships. The result is continued leading edge development of industry relevant solutions.

 

Andy Barber, General Manager of imail, UK Mail, who is PROKOM’S first chairman, said: “I want to thank the management of Konica Minolta for giving us the opportunity to form PROKOM, which is a great platform for members to express our “voice of the customer” and will provide many opportunities to learn, to share and represent our interests to further enable us to grow. As somebody who is a regular speaker at industry conferences, I know how important it is to share relevant information with and learn from fellow professionals.”

Ken Osuga, President of Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe, said: “We fully support a platform for engagement with and amongst active reference customers, while maintaining the benefits of a collaborative user network that shares and influences the Konica Minolta road maps.”

 

“Konica Minolta is strongly committed to the production printing industry. After all, our success story in production printing is unique: having entered the industry in 2004 we became market leader in cutsheet printing in small and mid-production in less than ten years. This is something to be proud of, but it is also the source of new challenges, as we constantly strive to enable our customers’ business.”

 

Etienne Van Damme, Deputy General Manager, International Marketing Division, Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe, said: “The user community offers the opportunity to express customer challenges, issues and aspirations. This will allow members to continue to invest in their Konica Minolta production solutions now and in the future.”

 

More details about the new user group by visiting www.prokom.org

 

About PROKOM

PROKOM is an independent user group community that has been founded and launched by Konica Minolta in February 2014. Members are being invited to join this production printing community of Konica Minolta bizhub PRESS users. PROKOM members will have the opportunity to actively engage with Konica Minolta about their priorities for future design, functionality, technology and services.

 

Konica Minolta joins the Mopria Alliance as an executive member.

Aiming to realize a simple printing environment with mobile devices

Konica Minolta will become an executive member of the Mopria Alliance, a non-profit membership organization that promotes the standardization of wireless printing from smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices.

New work styles have emerged in recent years with the growing use of cloud services and mobile devices in offices and business. To meet such changes in our customers’office environments, Konica Minolta is focusing on enhancing usability and productivity in the office by strengthening compatibility between multi-functional peripherals (MFP) and mobile devices as part of our business strategy.
PageScope Mobile^*, a printing application for mobile devices utilizing our unique technologies, is one such example.

And now, Konica Minolta has joined the Mopria Alliance, which promotes to realize the standardization of an intuitive printing environment, as an executive member.

The Mopria Alliance is developing an interface standard that provides extensive compatibility with printers by any manufacturer for easy printing from mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets regardless of location, with the intention of significantly improving convenience for customers, and is currently preparing to begin support for Android OS mobile devices, the most popular mobile operating system in terms of number of users.

We will agree to the mission of the Mopria Alliance, and actively participate in the selection and development of printing standards for the realization of an easy mobile printing environment for our customers.

Konica Minolta supports the changes in work styles by providing value-added services that match customer needs under our communication message, “Giving Shape to ideas.”

 

The Mopria Alliance is a non-profit membership organization of leading global technology companies with the shared goal of providing intuitively simple wireless printing from smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices. The Mopria Alliance’s goal is to bring together the entire industry to drive selected standards adoption, support mobile software application providers to deploy print functionality in their applications, develop experience guidelines in the interaction of mobile and print devices, certify products which will carry the Mopria logo and educate consumers and business customers about the ability to easily print from mobile devices.

Please refer to the Mopria Alliance Website (www.mopria.org) for more information about this article.