Planning for Success in 2006

The beginning of a new year is a great time to take stock of past accomplishments and challenges. Regardless of the measurement criteria you use to judge your success, chances are you'll have 2005 figures in hand sometime in January. We will.

As we review the numbers, we'll take a close look at how we did compared with 2004. Have we grown our business? Do we have more customers? How well did we retain customers? Are sales higher? Did we increase profits? Were our capital investments worthwhile?

The answers to these and many other important questions will determine how we adjust our operations to meet our long-term plan. But performance measures can only tell us so much. After all, they only summarize what has already transpired.

As we plan for the months and years ahead, the real challenge will be synthesizing what we know about our past with what we see in the present and think possible for the future. It's a challenge every organization faces.

No matter what your organization's mission is, office productivity will be a key variable determining whether you accomplish all or just some of what you hope to do. Your office machines will either help or hinder that productivity.

When you're ready to take office productivity to the next level, give us a call. We'll be happy to help analyze where you've been and determine whether an investment in more-capable equipment could help spur your success in the future.

Meanwhile, everyone at CRS Printek wishes you a successful 2006! ■

The cost of supplying inkjet printers with cartridges can really add up over time. Here are some easy ways to cut that expense:

1. Buy compatibles. You could save as much as 30% over OEM products.

2. Print in Economy or Draft mode. This is ideal for in-house documents and hard-copy proofing.

3. Only print the graphics you really need. Don't print a whole web page when all you really want is the text. Cut and paste it into a word processing document.

4. Print in gray scale. If color isn't required, set your printer control software to produce black only. Black cartridges cost less.

5. Print at least once a week so print heads don't dry out.

6. Turn the printer off using its switch, whenever no one will be using it.

7. Use cleaning cycles only when necessary. They use a lot of ink! ■

Every once in a while, one manufacturer will take a giant step forward with new technology that changes their entire industry. That's what some experts are predicting for HP's scalable printing technology, a development introduced in 2005 that could jettison HP well ahead of its competitors in the printer industry.

According to Charles Brewer, managing editor of Lyra Research's Hard Copy Supplies Journal, HP's new technology represents "a sea change in terms of how
inkjet printers work." He said, "It shatters established market dynamics by blurring the competitive matrix of ink jet and laser quality, cost, and performance."

That means, according to HP, that their 5-year, $1.4 billion investment will put HP's inkjet printers in the game with today's color laser printers in terms of print quality, speed and low consumables costs.

The new technology is all about how the inkjet printheads are designed and fabricated. The result is a type of printhead,a platform that can accommodate more ink nozzles, place ink more precisely and move more quickly across a page.

The technology is scalable in that it can be applied in all types of machines from photo printers to desktop machines to high-volume systems to top-end commercial equipment. That kind of versatility is expected to cut HP's development costs in half.

See Staying Current (below) to learn about the new printer models currently using scalable printing technology. ■

Transparencies Can Be Slippery!

Many printers are capable of printing on transparencies, but there are some tricks to getting them done right. The following pointers will help:

1. Get the right transparency type for your printer. Laser printers need a more heat-resistant type than inkjets. If the transparency looks a bit melted after printing from a
laser, try a different kind.

2. Print to the correct side. On close examination, you'll notice transparencies have a rough side and a smooth one. The rough side is designed to take the printing.

3. Remove the tape. Some transparency sheets have gripper tape on one edge, to help you pick them up. Make sure to remove the tape before feeding the pages into your printer.

4. Feed manually. Some pick-up mechanisms don't deal well with tray-fed transparencies. Use the machine's manual feed input instead. ■

Staying Current: New Technology, New Inkjets

T he first three products HP introduced with its new scalable printing technology, include two photo printers, the Photosmart 8250 Photo Printer (around $200) and the Photosmart 3000 All-in-One series (around $300 - $500, depending on model). Both printers allow you to print batches of photos, unattended, as fast as 14 seconds for a 4 X 6 bordered print, at a cost as low as 24 cents per print.

The third choice with HP's new technology is the Officejet Pro K550 Color Printer series,single-function printers that produce superior color and laser-like text at up to twice as fast and half the purchase cost of competitive color lasers. Just as good, per-page printing costs are substantially lower than forcomparable laser printers.

Give us a call to find out more!

How many times have you pulled text into a document from a web page or another application only to find a lot of characters that don't belong in the text? It's a tedious process replacing them one by one or even using a Find & Replace option.

Often the problem occurs when the original document was created using an unusual font,one your system doesn't have. In that case, Windows will automatically substitute a different font, but all the characters may not translate.

Rather than changing characters one by one, try simply
changing the font. Select all the text, then go to your Font options (under the Format menu) and select a commonly used font such as Times New Roman or Arial. ■

Read EcoPrint News each month for timely
tips on printing and environmental news.