Hello, I’m Stephen Ellison, the owner and manager of Equipment Sourcing.
Here is a bit of personal history and ramble about myself and photocopiers over the years
I left Tauranga Boys’ College after being ushered out of the 7th Form as I surfaced from the underwater race at the school swimming sports in March 1971.
After spending a bit too much time on big motorcycles, I got a haircut and started working with my Dad at BOP Typewriter Co in Tauranga as the “Business Machines Man.”
In those days, all we had were electric typewriters, adding machines and Gestetner duplicators. Spreadsheets were large pieces of paper which were constantly adjusted with a pencil and eraser and the help of an adding machine (hopefully electric.)
Big industry names back then were IBM, Olympia, Olivetti, Hermes, and Imperial. Electronic calculators were just beginning to trickle out of Japan and Taiwan. I remember selling (swapping) a second-hand Burroughs accounting machine to Bob’s Marine in Whakatane for a pair of water skis in fact. There was a canvas bag under the machine, which I came to learn was to stop oil from dripping onto the operator’s stockings.
The first calculators were very basic with Sharp, Casio and Lloyd producing the first products to be sold in New Zealand. In 1972, they cost about $100 (2 weeks’ wages) each for a small, portable calculator. No memory, no percentage key, and a feeble red display that could only be read during an eclipse.
I have seen a massive transformation in the business machine industry from manual and electric typewriters of the 1960’s, through the IBM Golf-ball era in the mid ’70s, to the daisy-wheels of the early ‘80s. And finally to the demise of previous technologies to the current world of digital laser colour printers and scanners with image quality and colour matching never imagined back 30-40 years ago.
At the same time, the building and construction industry has gone from drawing plans on drawing boards and reproducing them in ammonia baths, to the very latest A1 and A0 Wide printers from HP, Canon and Epson, that print fast and easily in colour. These days, plans are often not printed at all, but rather transmitted, redrawn, and stored electronically.
In New Zealand, various companies of the past have failed make the transition to the digital age. Names like Armstrong and Springhall, Thompson and Ward, Burroughs and NCR: such strong and dominant players prior to the 1970s. Where are they today? Only those in their 60s will have any memory of their existence.
Another aspect of colour laser printing technology that most folk today don’t understand, is the history of the development of computer printers from analogue to digital. Of course, many will know that Xerox was the ‘inventor’ of toner-based photocopying.
A gentleman by the name of Trotsky invented the Xerographic system back in the 40s. It took him and his accomplices many years to develop the first copier, but they finally succeeded around 1950. In the early 70s, the Xerox machines were similar to battleships, just twice as ugly.
The Owens Group of Mount Maunganui had a very large RX7000. Holland Beckett had a slightly smaller RX4000, and nobody admitted to owning the orange and beige FX3100. I imagine the designer of that machine met a bitter end. Then there was the boat-shaped RX2300, which the Tauranga Milk Company rented and reminded me of Noah’s Ark. When you saw it perform, you might think it was from a similar era also.
Then in the 80s, the Japanese exploded onto the scene (well, the New Zealand market anyway.) What was happening overseas, I am not sure. This was only a year after the Air New Zealand DC 10 ploughed into Mount Erebus in the Antarctic. As soon as the first of the new copiers from Canon, Minolta, Toshiba, Sharp, and Ricoh (then Nashua) appeared, the then dominant player Xerox was under fierce and unrelenting attack.
You see, until then, Xerox had had it all their way. They dominated like some upper class from another planet. After all, there was no competition. But now the customer could choose from a range of manufacturers, with local suppliers and service, that produced reliable, attractive, compact, feature-laden, photocopiers THAT THEY COULD BUY, and they didn’t have to rent. Another thing: the Xerox machines were very unreliable. I suppose being American, I would liken them to the modern-day Harley Davidson.
They say that if you want a busy workshop, buy a Harley Davidson franchise. In case I hadn’t made it clear, I am a very faithful and steadfast detractor of Harley Davidson, even managing to successfully indoctrinate my sons against these manifestations of road worthiness.
Back to photocopiers! From the early ‘80s until ’95, all the Japanese companies prospered, and Xerox really came a cropper, with few expecting a resurrection. Canon (Japan) was light-years ahead of all other manufacturers in terms of their colour technology and even Xerox Copy Centres would use Canon machines for the high-end print jobs. Then Canon went digital, which meant that instead of “scan once, print once”, it was now “scan once and print many”. The copying industry was on the cusp of a new era, and Canon and Xerox were the industry leaders. In fact, it took about a decade for the others to catch up, but catch up they did!
Now in 2015, digital print shops can source excellent and reliable machines from any of the top four manufacturers and there seems to be little between them.
As was always the case, Canon has retained its reputation at the top of the pile for longevity in the field and conservative appearance.
Canon has never been afraid to buck the trend and although this has led to the production of a few duds, they are consistently in the top 10 companies worldwide for new patents…Year after year after year.
Finally, Canon NZ, together with (I suspect ) all international offices, hold fast to a Japanese expression or phrase called ”San-Ji” spirit.
What is it and what does it mean?
Basically, it holds Canon Inc Japan president, directors, and staff be accountable to the following set of values and directives; namely:
Ji-hatsu … (self motivation)
Take the initiative and be proactive in everything you do.
Ji-chi … (self-management)
Conduct yourself responsibly and be accountable for all speech and actions.
Ji-kaku ….. (self-awareness)
Understand “your” situation, and fulfil the expectations accordingly.