Banking on paper sticking around

By RICHARD PAMATATAU

Printer maker Brother International has spent nearly $500,000 on a demonstration laboratory in Wellington, quashing any notions of a paperless office in the near future.

Graham Walshe, the New Zealand executive chairman of Brother International, said any talk of the paperless office was just that, because people were printing material more than ever before.

The Wellington facility - its Corporate Solutions Centre - has been designed so any organisation with a "printing need" can replicate its corporate network and trial machines in a work site simulation.

Customers see how machines perform in a networked environment and test the versatility of products by running them through different operating systems - such as Microsoft, Windows and Macintosh.

The real challenge for business was not the cost of the printer, said Walshe, but consumables such as inks, toner and paper.

Brother is challenging for the greatest market share of mono printers in New Zealand and is striving to become a market leader, with its dual consumable technology reducing the total cost of ownership.

"We want to provide full and open disclosure of all operating costs to our customers," said Walshe.

Josh Bain, an analyst in printer and peripherals for market researcher IDC, said in the fourth quarter of last year Canon was the overall market leader with 37.5 per cent, pipping Hewlett-Packard.

Oki is the present winner in the colour market, with Brother leading the monochrome laser market.

Bain said market value was not revealed but in the last quarter of last year New Zealanders bought 47,000 printers.

Brother has nearly 40 staff in New Zealand and reported revenue of around $40.5 million for its last financial year with profit before tax of more than $3 million.

Walshe said the company aimed to raise revenue by between 8 and 10 per cent this year.